Worst American Accent

[RichZ]

i noticed those similarities even in a towns like Monroe CT ( (pronounced Menroe by the old timers ) among the rural areas
throughout the country I dubbed it 4H speak.

I lived in Monroe from October 67 to October 21. Heard lots of Muhnro & Mohnro with a Minro here and there, but can't recall anyone saying Menroe. And I was surrounded by old timers. My next door neighbor (born in 1917) had lived there all his life, as had his parents before him.
Maybe that accent belonged to the high falutin' rich folks over in Stepney on the west fide of town, and never reached the poor side of town in Stevenson. That reminds me. A lot of my neighbors did make Stepney into a 3 syllable word -- Step-uh-knee.

 

[tykurez]

Tim Welsh

 

[tykurez]

I lived in Monroe from October 67 to October 21. Heard lots of Muhnro & Mohnro with a Minro here and there, but can't recall anyone saying Menroe. And I was surrounded by old timers. My next door neighbor (born in 1917) had lived there all his life, as had his parents before him.
Maybe that accent belonged to the high falutin' rich folks over in Stepney on the west fide of town, and never reached the poor side of town in Stevenson. That reminds me. A lot of my neighbors did make Stepney into a 3 syllable word -- Step-uh-knee.

I live in Stepney and the old folks from the Save Our Stepney task force love to ‘syllabalize’ the word.

 

[dennismenace]

I remember reading a study of accents across the United States years ago by some linguistic professor. It pretty much said every state has an accent or dialect it uses and that Connecticut (even though there were some accent/dialect variation across the state) spoke the most proper English without an accent as a whole.

Having been to about 35 of 50 states I would have to agree with those findings. Think the worst accent I’ve come across is the Tallahassee/pan handle area of Florida. Knew someone from that area and it would take like 3-4 times for them to say something for me to understand what was being said. After a while I got accustomed to it and could understand it better but if when I didn’t talk/see them for a few months there was a learning curve to understand it again without it being repeated 3 times

When I was in the service the guys from Cleveland and Milwaukee sounded just like CT. I think the Cleveland area was once a frontier settlement for people from Hartford.

 

[superjohn]

When I was a little kid I thought we had intercepted a mafia conversation on our answering machine. The entire conversation had the thickest accents I've ever heard and all they were talking about was cutting snitches balls off and whacking people. I told my mom there's a conversation with two mob guys talking about killing people on our answering machine. I played it for her and my mom said, "Oh that's just your dad talking to his brother."

My dad always had a strong Jersey City accent but it went to another level when he was with his brother.

 

[Austin316]

Californian accent that talks really slow

 

[Viet Vet]

Noo Yawk

 

[Improviser]

When I was in the service the guys from Cleveland and Milwaukee sounded just like CT. I think the Cleveland area was once a frontier settlement for people from Hartford.

This connection is well documented.

When Cleveland Belonged to Connecticut - New England Historical Society

If you're familiar with Northeastern Ohio, you can see signs of Connecticut in the architecture, the names of towns and in the Public Square of Cleveland.

www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com

 

[August_West]

Philadelphia. Totally unpleasant. Worse than Jersey.

Yup, this.
The enchilada is Camden/Cherry Hill NJ which is the worst of Philly and the worst of jersey combined. Boston girls accents are sexy by comparison.

A NJ/Metro philly girl is the only person on earth who can make the word YO! into 3-4 syllables.

 

[August_West]

The Old Money, Ivy League Accent.

"Eastern Lockjaw"

 

[temery]

"Eastern Lockjaw"

 

[8893]

"Eastern Lockjaw"

Darien

 

[Lefty2one]

"Eastern Lockjaw"

Locust Valley Lockjaw.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Locust Valley Lockjaw.

Came here to write the same.

The pie-shaped wedge between Rts. 106 & 107 on Long Island's North Shore, plus Old Westbury where the Northern State Parkway was built with a sharp right turn south in order to leave the horse country estates undisturbed by a highway until the LIE had enough clout to go straight through but without any exits is rivaled in Darien only by Great Island, Long Neck Pt, and parts of Tokeneke.

Times have changed, but when boarding schools, legacy admissions, and the Eastern Establishment ruled the day, Nassau County's north shore, coastal & back country Westchester & Greenwich, Fairfield's Southport & Greenfield Hill, parts of Somerset County, NJ, and Manhattan's Upper East Side were otherworldly and talked the talk.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

The New England mine=Mayan.

My grandmother said it like that. She also said "yeah" like "ai-yah." It was mystifying to me.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Yup, this.
The enchilada is Camden/Cherry Hill NJ which is the worst of Philly and the worst of jersey combined. Boston girls accents are sexy by comparison.

A NJ/Metro philly girl is the only person on earth who can make the word YO! into 3-4 syllables.

I think accents that are unusual are often exotic. My wife can turn her Boston accent on or off (mostly, the word fork remains a problem), and found it was popular with the guys when she was in college in New Orleans. I recall meeting a lot of SEC/ACC (the old version) girls at Hilton Head spring break and I was helpless against those accents.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Darien

Please elaborate for my own entertainment (Darien is my least favorite rich town by a mile).

 

[8893]

Please elaborate for my own entertainment (Darien is my least favorite rich town by a mile).

It’s meant to be said with a clenched jaw. I think that says it all.

 

[RowdyFan]

Even in Connecticut, people from Nah Wich, have an accent different from the rest of Connecticut, IMO.

I was just getting ready to post the same. Those folks in Nah Ich sound similar to The Wes-Lee, RI. denizens.

 

[TerryBoyz]

Minnesota/Wisconsin dontcha know.

 

[mauconnfan]

 

[Improviser]

The proverbial "tale of the tape."

 

[cullaville]

Suzyn Waldman (Yankees) or Pete Gillen

 

[Chin Diesel]

Minnesota/Wisconsin dontcha know.

You Betcha.