Pronunciation- How do you say "___"?

[ElaySmith]

The idea for this thread came from Ambers "Threw vs. Through" thread http://www.ambercutie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=5775 and even though these could probably go together I didn't want to derail that thread so I decided to start this one.

I come about this thread from personal experience. Growing up in the south I have a very strong southern accent, it is a part of who I am and I feel like it makes me unique. As the saying goes "You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl" so this leads me to the point of this thread.

Whenever I travel and especially when I am on cam I always get "OMG you are from the south" or "I love how you say _____" or "Can you say ____ again?" and I must admit I always get a good laugh out of this because I don't think I sound country/southern but apparently I do.

My question for you is what is something that you say or pronounce different that you often get asked to repeat or what are things you have heard others pronounce that really pushes your buttons?

 

[LacieLaPlante]

This was a funny one from the other day.. Roundabout vs Rotary.

I grew up in Massachusetts (not the Boston area.. I don't have a Boston accent..), so we called it a "Rotary" but someone was telling a story about an accident in a Roundabout and we got onto this conversation. I don't think it's very common word but you made me think of it.

I think this one is just me being weird as well but I used to say "Ein" instead of "I'm" until an ex-boyfriend pointed it out every time I said it. I would get so embarrassed because it was an accident!

(also, I love your southern accent and if I could have any accent in the world it would be southern. You're so lucky!)

 

[ElaySmith]

As most southerns do I tend to drawl out my words. There is very rarely a 1 or 2 syllable word in my vocabulary.

Some common words I say differently than most people are water and oil. I pronounce water more like wuter and oil only has 1 syllable when I say it because I tend to leave out the "i".

It is common knowledge as well that grocery/shopping carts are "buggys"

When I speak of calf muscles I say calves with a silent "l" but if you're talking about baby cows I would say calves and pronounce it more like calf but with a silent "l" as well.


I hope all this makes sense...it seemed much less confusing in theory...haha!

 

[MadisonLeigh]

I have such a strong Michigan accent. Hmm I can't think of specific words off the top of my head but I know I have a tendency to cut off "t" and "g" sounds at the end of words. We kinda do the opposite of southerners and clip our words to be really short instead of drawing them out.

I wish I had your attitude about it Elay, I get so embarrassed when anyone calls me out on it, and I feel like they're making fun of me! I used to think I didn't have an accent til I traveled out of state more and now I feel like I talk like a backwoods Midwestern hick.

 

[Jupiter551]

Can you say 'pothole' for me please Elay?

 

[LacieLaPlante]

I have such a strong Michigan accent. Hmm I can't think of specific words off the top of my head but I know I have a tendency to cut off "t" and "g" sounds at the end of words. We kinda do the opposite of southerners and clip our words to be really short instead of drawing them out.

I wish I had your attitude about it Elay, I get so embarrassed when anyone calls me out on it, and I feel like they're making fun of me! I used to think I didn't have an accent til I traveled out of state more and now I feel like I talk like a backwoods Midwestern hick.

I think it's more a realization that the area even has an accent. I knew a dude from Michigan and we used to skype and whenever I heard the accent I'd point it out because it wasn't there ALL the time.. Just some words and it's really hard to pick out what makes it so.. Michigan-y.

(Post #666 !! Evilness is found here)

 

[ElaySmith]

I think its natural for people to want to hear an accent that they don't hear often so don't be embarrassed, embrace it and use it to your advantage! I have even gone as far as to have people tip to hear me read a poem or a sentence or something like that.

One of the words I have heard people say is "you's" as in "you's guys" and I can only imagine that it would be used in place of you all or y'all as us southerners say, but I may be wrong about that. It always makes me giggle when I hear it though.

 

[LadyLuna]

Gah! My accent constantly changes... 11.5 years in New England and Boston area, 2 years in Western NY, 8 years in the south, and an untold number of months in Canada and where I currently am ( ) has left me with being told I sound southern one day, NY another, and Michigan the third x.x

 

[SoTxBob]

Elay, yes dear you do sound very southern..... But thats cool to me since I'm from Texas. :mrgreen:
What I always notice pronunciation wise, is washed /warshed, drawing /drawering, barn/ born, that are all dialect related. Don't even get me started on the just plain wrong things like ambulance /am-blance.
Yes, I'm also guilty of being grammar police sometimes.... :law-policered:

The family is a bit odd with our own language dialect around the house. We have always picked up and used what we hear others using very quickly... like during a conversation with the person quick. On any given day you may hear a blend of "southern bubba", irish, Ausie or english, "Canuk" or northern Mich/ 'Wiskansen', Russian and even some Chinese since our neighbor is from Hong Kong. Makes for less of a southern drawl also. :dance: :lol:

 

[ElaySmith]

Can you say 'pothole' for me please Elay?

Just for you bb

 

[ViruSphere]

The classic Canadian "about" sounds like "aboot". I've also been told I have a Canadian accent, whatever that means.

 

[GreatDane]

I was in Tennessee a few weeks ago and the young lady I went to spend time with asked me if I wanted some Ahss Cream had to stop and wrap my mind around what she meant considering what all we had done the night before and she pulled out the carton from the freezer and THEN it hit me what she meant :lol: :lol:

 

[bawksy]

this

 

[BCamden]

Roundabout vs Rotary

Traffic Circle

 

[Jessi]

My regulars are always asking me to repeat "about" and "you".
Apparently everyone outside of Canada ignores the "u" ?

 

[Longhorn9in]

One of the words I have heard people say is "you's" as in "you's guys" and I can only imagine that it would be used in place of you all or y'all as us southerners say, but I may be wrong about that. It always makes me giggle when I hear it though.

I grew up in southern Ohio where everybody would say "You'ins". The word was all run together like, "U-n's going to the ballgame tonight?" I moved across the river to Kentucky less than a mile and they say "Y'all" - "Y'all going to the ballgame?"

I don't think I have much of an accent but some of the people here in Kentucky are real "twangy" when they talk. "Git that there cheer and put it next to that there lat (light) that way you can see that there pitcher (picture) better."

Well I'm going now, baa!

 

[Rose]

I was in Tennessee a few weeks ago and the young lady I went to spend time with asked me if I wanted some Ahss Cream had to stop and wrap my mind around what she meant considering what all we had done the night before and she pulled out the carton from the freezer and THEN it hit me what she meant :lol: :lol:

I'm guilty of this pronunciation. It doesn't get brought up very often on cam but whenever I visit my mom the people there often stop me about it. Lol it can be embarassing sometimes because I'll say something and it will sound right to me, but totally off to everyone else. When I'm feeling particularly lazy I slur a lot of my words and my drawl seems to be more pronounced.

 

[LadyLuna]

This article on daily writing tips goes into some of the worst mispronunciations in America.

 

[Oy vey]

This isn't about individual words, but something odd I've noticed about accents. I grew up in central Illinois, had cousins in Tennessee. When we were kids we alternated spending summers with each other's families. We would always come home to Illinois sounding like the Clampett's and they would return home to Tenn sounding pretty much the same as they had. Always wondered why their pronunciations weren't affected much and ours seemed to be strongly affected.

 

[Mirah]

since I am canadian, I get the typical requests to say "about" and "sorry"
I think people are disappointed when I don't pronounce it as aboot or sore-ry.

 

[RogueWarrior]

This isn't about individual words, but something odd I've noticed about accents. I grew up in central Illinois, had cousins in Tennessee. When we were kids we alternated spending summers with each other's families. We would always come home to Illinois sounding like the Clampett's and they would return home to Tenn sounding pretty much the same as they had. Always wondered why their pronunciations weren't affected much and ours seemed to be strongly affected.

Because a southern accent is infectious and a "normal" midwestern accent is benign.

 

[Wilfy84]

Roundabout vs Rotary

Traffic Circle

Traffic Circles are slightly different to roundabouts - details can be found on this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundabout

By the way, everyone in the UK calls them roundabouts and not rotaries.

 

[Shaun__]

Models are always shocked by my southern accent. It is a bit embarrassing.