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'Ey, You Got an Accent Aw Whaht?

post #1 of 73
12/1/07 at 11:13pm
Thread Starter 
I know I've got one. Serious urban Jersey accent goin' on here. A lot like a New York Outer Borough accent. We here in Jersey have a tough time with "r" (as words like "your" become "yaw", like: "What's YAW problem?", and I've noticed in the last couple years that it's becoming increasingly hard for me to say "emergency"; my mouth so wants to make it "emoigency"). We also have a tough time with "th", turning it into a "d" (as in: "What de fuck is dis shit dey're doin'?").

When I was in college in Central (don't DARE call it Upstate) New York - Utica to be precise - I'd lose my accent after awhile, only to have it reassert itself after I'd come home for Christmas or Summer break. Having been back since 1992 full time, I've noticed a marked increase in its prominence. When I was in school, and noticed its decline, I missed it, and welcomed it back like an old friend every January and June. And now that it's getting more prominent than ever? I like it. It's part of what makes me who I am. Sometimes I even exaggerate it a little on purpose (although I never let on I'm doing that). My wife thinks it's kind of funny, especially when I say words like "invawlved" or "revawlved".

It'd be pretty obvious to anyone speaking to me where I was from; no guess could possibly be off by more than 10 miles. I guess it could make me sound kind of ignorant at first blush, too, to someone that ain't from around here (when I passed the bar in 96, all my out of state relatives were cracking "My Cousin Vinny" jokes; I said, Yeah, but here the Judge is from Jersey too so when I say "yoots" , were I to pause & wait for his reaction, I'd get an impatient "Yeah, counsellah, da two yoots; whaddaboudem?").

So for some reason, I got to wondering while accompanying my missus on some X-Mas shopping this afternoon: do any of you know you speak with an accent? Can someone tell immediately where you're from just by the way you speak? And I'm not limiting this to Americans or even English speakers, either; I know a Yorkshire accent is different from a Cockney is different from a Cornish is different from a Liverpool accent, and although I can't tell them apart, my Spanish speaking friends tell me a South American sounds different froma Cuban sounds different from a Mexican sounds different from a Dominican. And lastly, are you embarrassed by your accent, do you embrace it, or do you generally not even think about it?
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post #2 of 73
12/1/07 at 11:32pm
I had a pretty thick Upstate (Albany) New York accent when I moved to Ohio at 10. I had enough words down at that point that I never took on the nasal-ness of the Ohio/Great Lakes area, plus, I refused for the 10 years I lived in Ohio to adopt any of the regionalism of the area, i.e., it will always be "soda" not "pop" and they're fucking "sneakers," not "tennis shoes."

However, in the past few years, a lot of my really close friends are from the Boston to New Jersey area, plus I lived in New York for three years, so I've reverted back to what I'd describe as a general "East Coast" accent. (Which is really just certain words like "quarter," "water," "car," "bar," etc.) I'll slip in and out of it, or it'll get thicker or more regionalized depending on who I'm around, but I've always enjoyed this area's accent and so I don't have much of a problem with it.
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post #3 of 73
12/1/07 at 11:36pm
My Bronx accent really only comes out in full force when I'm angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
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post #4 of 73
12/1/07 at 11:39pm
Why does Bruce Springsteen have a southern accent when he is from New Jersey? Is that a legitimate southern Jersey accent?

I like having a mild RI accent. I'm proud of where I'm from.
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post #5 of 73
12/1/07 at 11:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Riviello
My Bronx accent really only comes out in full force when I'm angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
Yeah, mine comes out when I'm drunk, which is usually accompanied by anger.
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post #6 of 73
12/1/07 at 11:42pm
I used to be horrible with the "th" sound.

Back in the summer between 10th and 11th I went to Penn State for a summer program (SEPS, I believe).

I met a girl called Ruth there and we kinda crushed on each other. When I mentioned her to my friends there I'd always pronounce it "wroof" and they'd give me shit 'cause it sounded like I was barking.

I tried so hard to fix that during my three years at Iowa State that I went too far and all but spit at the end of the "th" from stretching it out so much.

I've almost got it down now, though.

Now I only have to get the hang of saying "zero" without it sounding like "sirro".

Aside from that, I've managed to lose my accent almost completely when changing from spanish to english.
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post #7 of 73
12/1/07 at 11:46pm
I have an Indiana accent, which is actually not an accent so much as an accumulation of mispronunciations.
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post #8 of 73
12/1/07 at 11:48pm
Double-post, but it's a whole different thing from my other one:

I dunno if it's as common in english, but when I'm speaking Spanish and start talking with somebody from Argentina or Peru or Venezuela or wherever I unconsciously (subconsciously?) start talking back to them in their own accent (and dropping conjunctions, which people from South America hardly ever use). It's embarassing when I catch myself because I don't want them to think I'm making fun of them or anything.

Does that happen speaking English? If you speak with a Southerner, or Brit or Australian or whatever?
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post #9 of 73
12/1/07 at 11:57pm
Thread Starter 
It can, and the longer you're in an area or around people witha particular accent, the more you start to sound like it. I had a friend worked in NYC for a British company. All his bosses & some of his coworkers were Brits, and when I'd see him after a few months, he'd have a lil' bit of a Limey accent himself; took to saying: "Sorry?" when he didn't hear something instead of the more Jersey-an "Huh?"

And I'm with Stump & Riviello on the accent coming out when you're angry or excited. I COMPLETELY lose the ability to pronounce "th" at those times.
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post #10 of 73
12/2/07 at 12:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by IggytheBorg
It can, and the longer you're in an area or around people witha particular accent, the more you start to sound like it. I had a friend worked in NYC for a British company. All his bosses & some of his coworkers were Brits, and when I'd see him after a few months, he'd have a lil' bit of a Limey accent himself; took to saying: "Sorry?" when he didn't hear something instead of the more Jersey-an "Huh?"
did he say it "sari" or "soar-y"?
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post #11 of 73
12/2/07 at 12:01am
But what about the Boss? I don't get that one.
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post #12 of 73
12/2/07 at 12:46am
It depends on my mood and my temperament but the despite living in LA my whole life. People have said time and time again that they thought I was back east particularly New York (NYC and Long Island) where my family is from. Although my parents don't sound like Brooklynites. But I used to get made fun of all the time in middle school for saying "Water" in that particular New York way.

And then there was this one random time that this girl from Rhode Island said I would fit right in Warwick. I never understood what that meant even to this day.
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post #13 of 73
12/2/07 at 12:50am
Thread Starter 
It sounded more like "soar-y".

As for Bruce, my guess is either A) Litle known fact: the Southernmost parts of Jersey were actually BELOW the Mason/Dixon line. Lots of Southern sympathizers (a/k/a Copperheads) down there during the Civil War; hence,a lot of places in North Jersey renamed themselves. I live, for example, in Union County. My wife hails from Union Township. There's a Union Beach a little South of here, and I worked in Union City for 5 years. I used to live on Custer (as in George Armstrong) Avenue in Jersey City, w/ Gates Ave. being the next block over. Point being: Closer you get to Delaware & Maryland, more of a Southern sounding twang you pick up; or B) It's just his country-folk-rock influence asserting itself. The Rolling Stones sound like Southern black men sometimes for the same reason.

Now: Free rep to the first person that can correctly translate the following:

Jay: "Jeet?"

Bob: "Naaah. Jew?"
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post #14 of 73
12/2/07 at 12:51am
Jay: "Did ya eat?"

Bob: "Nah, you?"
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post #15 of 73
12/2/07 at 12:56am
Thread Starter 
Close, but not QUITE.
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post #16 of 73
12/2/07 at 12:58am
Damn, missed it by that much.

Man, I can only wonder if Moltisanti has an accent and if not. Does he suffer from the Norcal problem that is saying "Hella" every two words?
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post #17 of 73
12/2/07 at 1:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by IggytheBorg

Now: Free rep to the first person that can correctly translate the following:

Jay: "Jeet?"

Bob: "Naaah. Jew?"
Let's see....

Did you eat yet?

No, did you?

The Jersey stuff is interesting. Who knew!
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post #18 of 73
12/2/07 at 1:59am
Thread Starter 
Give dat man a prize!
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post #19 of 73
12/2/07 at 2:37am
Back in college I had a roommate from Texas and another from Boston. I spent too much time with them, I guess, because I ended up picking up some of their idiosyncrasies. It really can throw people off when I let a "y'all" slip in or talk about driving the "caa"

I've also been told that I do sound like someone that has lived in southern California my whole life, but I'm not really sure what that means.
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post #20 of 73
12/2/07 at 2:40am
Yeah it's a strange thing. While having no distinctions, the sound of Western U.S speakers is in of itself an accent. Well, I guess it's better than sounding like you're from Minnesota, don't cha know?
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post #21 of 73
12/2/07 at 2:50am
The use of 'howdy' and 'y'all' tends to give me away as a Texan but otherwise I don't have much of an accent (unless I'm around a lot of east Texas cowboys). Mostly I just talk fast without the best enunciation. So I'm pretty accent-free, or so I'm guessing -- unless someone here who has heard me cares to dispute that.
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post #22 of 73
12/2/07 at 2:57am
No, I can say for a fact that Belethedheiel does not sound like Sandy Squirrel from Spongebob Squarepants.
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post #23 of 73
12/2/07 at 3:19am
Connecticut's the weirdest for accents, as we're being pulled in all these different directions. I know girls who sound like they're from the Bronx when they get pissed off, and other people like myself who drop Rs and get Bostony when talking fast. After living in Boston for a while and surrounding myself in Massholes I picked up a minor Boston accent, and when I moved to LA for the fun of it whenever I'd get a short-term part time job I'd let it rip full force just for the fun of it because it didn't matter, I loved confusing some people by asking if they wanted butta on theah pawp cahn.

But even in my regular speak I guess I got an accent just from my family, as the other day a mechanic asked me what my first name was and when I told him he wrote down "Tem" instead of Tim on his notepad.
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post #24 of 73
12/2/07 at 3:24am
Hey Iggy, my mom and her sisters are from the Oranges, is it a common thing over there to pronounce words like "wash" as "warsh" and stuff? It just seems weird because most Jerseyites remove their Rs instead of adding new ones.
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post #25 of 73
12/2/07 at 3:31am
Any accent one has is capable of being slowly subsumed by the state in which you live a signifcant part of your adult life.

That is to say, my accent is distinctly alcoholic.
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post #26 of 73
12/2/07 at 3:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormin
After living in Boston for a while and surrounding myself in Massholes I picked up a minor Boston accent, and when I moved to LA for the fun of it whenever I'd get a short-term part time job I'd let it rip full force just for the fun of it because it didn't matter, I loved confusing some people by asking if they wanted butta on theah pawp cahn.
Hey man, don't think you're the only one doing that. I'm sure the police chief likes to pull the same shit on occasion when talking to reporters.
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post #27 of 73
12/2/07 at 3:58am
When I was little, I had a pretty bad Boston accent, which I definitely picked up from my mom. I remember once almost failing a spelling test because, for example, the normal pronunciation of a word like Chicago sounds like it's Chicargo if pronounced with a Boston accent and so that's how my mom taught me to spell it. I think I started losing the accent around middle school and it was completely gone by high school, though it's crept back in slightly since I've been living in the city for the past four years.

Occasionally, though, I'll slip into what sounds like anywhere between a Russian and an Israeli accent. Most of the time I don't even realize when it happens and it can get really awkward. I figure it's either some sort of weird genetic hereditary influence or I occasionally get momentarily possessed by my dead ancestors.
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post #28 of 73
12/2/07 at 4:19am
I'm pretty sure the "warsh" thing has Appalachian origins, so you could be from Georgia or Maine and say that, maybe.

One other thing I still don't get - what is the New Orleans accent that is supposedly like not southern or something, the one that the guy supposedly has in Confederacy of Dunces? I've only been down there for a couple of days and I didn't get to here this.
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post #29 of 73
12/2/07 at 5:40am
I took pride in growing up in the South affect-free, but after moving to CA, I've been outed by a few particularly observant people - my fiancee in particular. She's OC born and raised, and she has a list of words I say that 'out' me.

The weirdest thing she's pointed out, are idiosyncrasies of my speech that I was totally unaware of. For example, I say 'How come?' instead of 'Why?' more often than not, and I say 'Can you put that up?' instead of 'Can you put this away?'. According to her, Californians don't speak this way.

Though I was born in Alabama, people in the South always assumed I was a 'yankee' due to my lack of accent.
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post #30 of 73
12/2/07 at 6:09am
When I was a kid I assumed every English-speaking person on the planet used "wicked" as a modifier.
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post #31 of 73
12/2/07 at 6:17am
Whenever my relatives from Dallas visit they always point out that we talk too fast in Southern California.

But you see...to us, they talk too slow.


My buddy told me that saying "Dude" in NYC gave him away to the locals and made him feel uncomfortable.


While I refuse to believe that us Californians have accents I have noticed little weird things about our speech cadence. And I'll never be able to forgive Northern California for using the word "Hella".
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post #32 of 73
12/2/07 at 6:29am
Growing up in Texas has left me with a slight southern drawl, especially when I get excited.
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post #33 of 73
12/2/07 at 8:09am
I sound like awesome.
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post #34 of 73
12/2/07 at 1:54pm
Im in the middle of CT..equi-distant from "Noo Yawk" and "Bahston".

Near as I can tell, we don't have an accent round these here parts. Granted in Greenwich..some folks sound a lot like Thurston Howell III...but that may be bank account related.
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post #35 of 73
12/2/07 at 2:12pm
I still have a slight Texas drawl that shows up from time to time in coversation ("oil" tends to become "awl").

What really threw me, when I first arrived in Albuquerque, was the New Mexican accent. Well, it's not really an accent as much as it is an adoption of a Spanish cadence when speaking English.
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post #36 of 73
12/2/07 at 2:30pm
Well, on behalf of all colored peoples, I thank you, Quarant.
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post #37 of 73
12/2/07 at 2:56pm
I've been told on business calls that I sound like one of the Superfans (Da invoiccce!), but I don't think my accent is all that thick. Being raised on the South Side of Chicago by a family of Polacks tends to give you a pretty thick Chicago accent, but after six years in college downstate, and another four in the burbs, I thought I'd lost it. Guess not.
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post #38 of 73
12/2/07 at 4:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Mohamed
I've been told I sound like a CNN International anchor.
See when I lived in Alabama, that's exactly what they told me too. Standard American English. When I got to CA, that all changed.
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post #39 of 73
12/2/07 at 4:41pm
After hearing myself on XBox Live I've discovered that I sound like South Park's very own Pip. Which is kinda worrying as I seem to have completely eradicated my Yorkshire drawl.
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post #40 of 73
12/2/07 at 4:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric C
I've been all around the country and I can say with confidence that I have no detectable accent or affectations that could place me to a specific local. I'm from South Florida and the area where I grew up, most people don't have any discernible accents. Oh well.
Same with me. Although, I had to work at it. I've been from Oregon to Maryland with people left guessing as to my origin.

When I'm around my family, however, it sneaks back a little. Thank the Odinson my Oregonian girlfriend is around these days to raise her eyebrow and cough at me when I revert.
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post #41 of 73
12/2/07 at 4:57pm
I'm from Mississippi. I definitely have a southern accent. Mine isn't as severe as some down here are, but if I am around someone that isn't from the South they can really hear it. It is actually the worst on words like Sprite and light. I say ya'll. I don't really mind it though. I know everybody here has a hard-on for hating on the South, and there are a lot of shitty things down here, but I have grown to love it despite its faults.
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post #42 of 73
12/2/07 at 5:08pm
I've got a Central/South Jersey accent, but I barely notice it since I spend most of my time in Central/South Jersey. That's me, going out on that limb, yessir.

I do notice that I take on an Irish lilt/accent when I'm pissed though, and that my voice is MUCH deeper than I think it is (it's been likened to Peter Steele deep, folks).
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post #43 of 73
12/2/07 at 5:40pm
I'm from Detroit, and like many lower peninsula Michiganders, I sound like a nightly Newscaster. Also, like most Detroiters, I can switch to a fairly passable impression of rapper 50-cent style Ebonics upon request.

Michigan has been gaining an accent in the past 25 years. A lot of people stretch their A's (Faaaantastic!), so there's a mix of accents. Also, the Upper penisunla people all sound like they're from Canada.
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post #44 of 73
12/2/07 at 6:00pm
I'm from MS, too, and I probably have more of a southern drawl than most down here (seeing as how Atlanta is mostly made up of imported Yankees/Floridians/foreigners these days), and I'm cool with it. My accent is MUCH less severe than it was during my childhood, though. I moved off to Bakersfield, CA for a year in 9th grade, and that really knocked it down a few notches. Then I moved to TX, where it was probably bolstered in new ways. Some people tell me I don't have much of a Southern accent, but others call me out on "light" and "rural" (juror?) like the Yacht mentioned above, so I'm probably kinda middle of the road. I do percieve the difference when I go back to MS-- my relatives sound really backwoods to me at times, but I love 'em.

I use y'all and y'all's, and always will. All other second person plural phrases are stupid and awkward. STUPID AND AWKWARD.

"Your guys's?" Oh yeah, that's smooth...
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post #45 of 73
12/2/07 at 6:38pm
Born and raised Maine-ah here. Wearing mitt-ens. Now I live in Georgia, and I'm mixing my northern accent with a new southern one. It's a strange hybrid.

This is a pretty accurate depiction of how Maine-ahs talk:
http://www.myspace.com/mastahefeatbizzyb
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post #46 of 73
12/2/07 at 6:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Syd
Born and raised Maine-ah here. Wearing mitt-ens. Now I live in Georgia, and I'm mixing my northern accent with a new southern one. It's a strange hybrid.

This is a pretty accurate depiction of how Maine-ahs talk:
http://www.myspace.com/mastahefeatbizzyb
I was just thinking somebody should make an MP3 or YouTube showcasing all the accents found in the U.S.A., or at least the bigger ones. I for one am really curious to put name to accent, especially since I'm hardly ever in the mainland.
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post #47 of 73
12/2/07 at 7:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTSMGL
I was just thinking somebody should make an MP3 or YouTube showcasing all the accents found in the U.S.A., or at least the bigger ones. I for one am really curious to put name to accent, especially since I'm hardly ever in the mainland.
Speech Accent Archive

ETA: And some British ones.
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post #48 of 73
12/2/07 at 7:34pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormin
Hey Iggy, my mom and her sisters are from the Oranges, is it a common thing over there to pronounce words like "wash" as "warsh" and stuff? It just seems weird because most Jerseyites remove their Rs instead of adding new ones.
It's not all that common, but it's not unheard of.
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post #49 of 73
12/2/07 at 7:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vader
My buddy told me that saying "Dude" in NYC gave him away to the locals and made him feel uncomfortable.
I find that a little surprising. We here in North Jersey say "dude" all the time. I presume it's the same in our neighboring NY State. Maybe it's the WAY it's said; we tend to say it real quick: "Dude!"

If you say it Keanu Reeves circa "Bill and Ted" style: "Duuuuude!" That's a noticeable difference.
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post #50 of 73
12/2/07 at 7:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Belethedheliel
There go a few hours of my life.

Lots of hilarious ones there, though!

Case in point: http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?...&speakerid=419 and http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_languag...&speakerid=396
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