What is your least favorite regional U.S. accent?

south jersey

Yeah, that one springs to mind for me, as well. People torturing those poor vowels.

Long Island.

The way that the "a" is said in a word like "basket" just maddens me to no end. (in some jersey accents)

wisconsin

I <3 LI!

Surfer dude accents - but they are sort of adopted accents, and I hate many adopted accents. Elongated vowels and ending every sentence on an questioning tone? drives me crazy?

MASSACHUSETTS

OMG MA is totally <3able too.

Elongated vowels and ending every sentence on an questioning tone?

haha, this kind of describes a lot of Canadians. Probably including me?

Wisconsin seconded. Sounds way dumber to me than the southern drawl ever did.

And yeah, don't knock the New England accent, it's wicked awesome.

Surfer dude accents - but they are sort of adopted accents, and I hate many adopted accents. Elongated vowels and ending every sentence on an questioning tone? drives me crazy?

ha, I love that stuff. I slip into doing that sort of when I'm drunk, sometimes

michigan

what does michigan sound like?

haha, northern cities accents gonna win this going away

sad -> sey-ad
bad -> bey-ad
etc

on second thought it's one of the cuter american accents

That's really common in Western NY state (and, from what I gather, in much of the Midwest and Great Lakes region). I've grown to love it.

oh, well that sounds like what is done to the vowels in some of the jersey accents. every other word ends up sounding kind of whiney...

truth be told, though, i have lately been going from cringing to warming up to it. the disease is apparently seeping into me!

circles otm, too!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_short_A#.C3.A6-tensing

Chicago

Hm, these all sound fairly neutral actually.

That's really common in Western NY state

This is an example.

Aha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_cities_vowel_shift

Regional accents should be appreciated, savored, not dismissed with extreme prejudice.

It's all just old grape juice, rite?

white college girl

libcrypt OTM.

can't believe there could be anything more annoying than a lawn-guylind accent

upper class texas LADY

Them all.

Any accent that calls maple syrup "maple seeerup"

Some of the northern states tend toward a longer OOO sound - like "OOOh, I betcha we'll get that back when ya need to find it!" Also, folksy wisdom.

SoCal Surfer accent for me. Very much a grass-is-greener reason.

jergins do u hate ann richards?

(not sure if richards has the upper class accent tho)

This website makes this game much more fun to play:
http://web.ku.edu/idea/northamerica/northamerica.htm

Alabaman, apparently

LOL at Long Island and MA. I'm from the former but live in the later and have neither accent. I blame that on having a mom from Pittsburgh and a dad from Germany. I've been told my accent is really neutral.

I have to admit that when I go home and hang out with some old friends I'm amazed at how thick some of thier accents sound but I find it endearing.

I don't know that I've ever heard a regional accent that I truly hate.

is there any difference btw a long island accent and a new york accent, or is this just what people say b/c people who live in manhattan actually all grew up in connecticut or wherever

western NY ftw

ooh boy.

Western NY, around Oswego, is where I always heard people use this expression that sounds like "menkya". I'm just an Iowa boy, so maybe it's an ethnic or regional thing I simply haven't encountered elsewhere, but what's up with "menkya"?

Haha, I googled the term, and the first thing I came up with was the website of a band from Syracuse. I'm sure I'm not spelling it right.

If it was fifty years ago I would think you were hearing yiddish.

Possibly, but I've heard lots of not-remotely-jewish people say it. It's a fairly emphatic oath, where one might ordinarily use "fuck me" or something: "Menkya, that meta-bitching thread is some tough slogging!"

Sorry, according to urban dic, it's "Minkya":

1. minkya
a noun meaning dick aslo can b used as a word of diss belief such as ohh shit or ohh minkya
"ohhh minkya that guy is a frickin minkya"

Apologies for the sidetrack, my least favorite is also Wisconsin. The guy that hosts that syndicated Tentshow Radio program on NPR is nails-on-chalkboard. I don't care if they've got Mary Chapin Carpenter, Gaelic Storm AND the Capitol Steps, that clown gets no play!

Minchia. Not Yiddish. I use this all the time having grown up hearing it nonstop in my North Jersey So. Italian-Colombian-Puerto Rican-Irish neighborhood.

It's well known that I love the Hastings crew, and adore them as individuals, but, seriously, when objectively considering the accent, Minnesotans as a group sound the worst to my ear.

Let's take this with a grain of salt, though, as I've got the most annoying affected non-regional diction as a result of spending a few of my most formative years in Tennessee, where I rebelled so strongly against the local accent that I tend to sound like a national news anchor who took an extra class in Linguistics 101.

i don't think i sound wisconsin. :/

whatever that sounds, like anyway. i guess you guys mean the up north, nasally thing?

i find the wisconsin accent kinda charming in a dorky wholesome way.

Agreed on Wisconsin/western NY - I'm from western NY, as is my father, but my mother hates the accent so I always cringe when I hear myself saying "a-gyaaan" or some awfully nasal vowel. (I wonder if the accent you grow up with is the easiest to hate - my mother's from Philadelphia and wilfully changed her accent when she moved out, and it drives her crazy to hear some of her family members talk.)

sorry texans

Maria, my gran was born in Elmira but sounded nothing like that; I put this down to her family's social position in 1910. Yonkers 'townie' accent still sends the wrong kind of chills down my spine from college experiences.

MN 'outstate' accent is awful (and people who say Fargo exaggerates it LIE). People who grow up in MSP area only have trace elements (saying 'you bet' etc) unless their parents are from some kind of Minnewegian farmer family. All I'm saying is you get more opportunity to notice the accent when someone's talking about the probability of decent walleye fishing than you would if someone was talking about Tolstoy versus Dostoyevsky. BTW the MSP media market is the US' fourth largest and American broadcasters look to it when recruiting because the unaccented English spoken here is US 'received pronunciation.'

It may have been different at that time period, too, or more pronounced in the rural areas. The accent's worst among people in my parents' and grandparents' generation, and I was born very close to Elmira. What was the social position you're referring too?

It's weird, the MN accent I'm talking about isn't the Fargo kind, it's much milder. Last summer I was in a group full of people from MN and Winnipeg, and they talked exactly the same way.

M, at one point her family owned most everything from Elmira to Chenango due to Rev War land grant given for two brothers' service to first Prez. Her accent definitely hit on the Buckley/Hepburn spectrum although she did say 'warsh'.

There was a guy in my residence halls a few years back from Florida that sounded like he was a plantation owner. Made me instantly hate him.

He did also have the tendency to wear a white suit and hat, and smoke a corncob pipe.

is there any difference btw a long island accent and a new york accent, or is this just what people say b/c people who live in manhattan actually all grew up in connecticut or wherever

i don't know what you conceive of as a LI accent or a NY accent, but i think there is an accent found among Longislanders that is qualitatively (if subtly, in many cases) different from the accents of many native NY'ers, especially those outside the boroughs on LI. these are generalizations, though - to the extent that there is an identifiable accent for any particular place in the nyc region, the fact that you grew up in that place does not mean that you have the accent, or to any pronounced degree. i grew up in manhattan and think that my 'accent' is probably identifiably eastern/mid-atlantic, and maybe identifiable as NYC-particular to someone who has had contact with new yorkers, but I think it's fairly neutral in character. i think accents may break down somewhat to the extent that the speakers are exposed to or mix with different accents, so the more the place you live is a 'melting pot' or the more you have contact outside your immediate area/region/ethnic group, the less differentiable/pronounced your accent, and in general accents may be breaking down as communications and media become a greater part of peoples' lives.

i love accents! those what make people sound like total retards are perhaps the most lovable

New York 13 ("male, actor, Jewish,born 1975, Manhattan") at Mordy's link sounds pretty close to me, I think, though there seemed at first to be a strange, vague hint of Southern influence there too, and I also hear a few NJ-like or Bostonian sounds that I don't think I have. His narrative after the reading was kinda amusing too.

Does this sound like a NY accent to people?

i love accents! those what make people sound like total retards are perhaps the most lovable

-- jhøshea, Monday, May 26, 2008 2:14 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

ha beautiful

jhoshea otm, though for a time I was pretty put off by MN sorority girls' inability to pronounce the word cute with any less than two syllables. Once heard it with three, it nearly didn't sound Minnesotan. Like Fran Drescher + Mark E Smith vocal tic, unbelievable.

I've always loved how my grandparents say warsh.

No wait...I'm still put off by that.

http://web.ku.edu/idea/northamerica/usa/newyork/newyork.htm

heavy LI accent - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsb2Qmg3U4k&feature=related

MN 'outstate' accent is awful (and people who say Fargo exaggerates it LIE)

?
People with this accent certainly exist, but it seems the minority. I hear it more prevalently around, like, South Dakota, but usually from folks a solid two generations back... Where are you hearing it? I mean, EVERONE in that movie spoke that way, which is just not the case in my experience.

whoops, I didn't mean to include that first link - of the LI'ers there, only 12 really has any LI accent, to my ears, and it's very mild, while 14 has an identifiably NY area accent, but says some interesting stuff about how he lost his accent by moving elsewhere

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

New York English 01

NY 13 does sound clearly but mildly NYC/NJ to me, esp pronunciations of "porridge" and "Harrison". I'm certainly familiar with much stronger NYC/NJ accents but I just can't imagine that guy being from anywhere else.

This is actually milder than a lot of LIers I know but is probably clear enough.

Maria, is this the MN accent you're talking about? Because he does sound somewhat Canadian but ... I was talking about this w/ a friend in MN and he says that's a pretty atypical MN accent, prob influenced by living in the UK.
And this sounds way more Midwest and much less 'Cdn' (aside from being kind of deadpan and staccato) to me.

Wait, I'm not sure if the MN discussion was supposed to be on the other thread.

NY13 sounds like a standard accent in North Jersey/some NYC. The only people I know with the really strong accent are older people from like, Bayonne, or people from Staten Island who try way too hard to be like "yo, I'm a New Yawka!". and it's like, "No, you're from Perth Amboy"

omg the entire table next to me at dinner on friday had the most insane ny accents

Those strong "Ehhh New Yawka!" accents are so friggin weird. My landlord and his son were both working class Italian Brooklyn born and raised, and they sounded like NY13 but with a slight Italian inflection rather than nasally Jewish. The only person I've met with the really strong accent is some dude from SI who's all, "yo, new yawka born and raised!" "where were you born and raised?" "about 5 miles from Perth Amboy".

ever talk to a cop in nyc? sometimes i think insane accent = NYPD requirement

NY 13 does sound clearly but mildly NYC/NJ to me, esp pronunciations of "porridge" and "Harrison

yeah, that's definitely how i pronounce porridge, but that's a matter of 'dialect' more than 'accent'

that's also definitely how i pronounce harrison

I just can't imagine that guy being from anywhere else

do you know a lot of new yorkers?

Yeah.

lol, as if the word "porridge" comes up in everyday conversation. i mean, if your consorting with the three bears, then i can understand; but...

you're

but never mind the three bears. let's just muse upon goldilocks.

(SUNY Buffalo is teeming with people from NYC/LI, including many of my friends, neighbours [next-door neighbour is from Westchester], and co-workers.)

None of the New Yorkers I've met have had that stereotypical NYC accent. They all sound ... regular. One guy was born and raised in Bensonhurst in the 40s. You'd like he sounded like Archie Bunker or some shit, but he sounded pretty much like NY13 but said weird things like, "hey bubbie". The only kid I ever met with a stereotypical Brooklyn accent was a Polish kid from New Jersey.

Maybe you're just really accustomed to it? I never really noticed Canadian accents until I left.

I mean, what do you mean by a stereotypical NYC accent? I don't know anyone who talks like Archie Bunker but I know people who talk like George Costanza or Woody Allen or that LI clp.

George Costanza has a New Jersey accent. I wish I could meet people who talked like Woody Allen

OK Jesus - that youtube clip was awful. I'd love to know what part of LI that is because I've never heard anyone talk like that. Maybe she just has a really annoying voice.

There's a New England accent that I used to think was Rhode Island, but Paul Tsongas had it too. Everytime I hear it, I think, "Is that person deaf?"

ever talk to a cop in nyc? sometimes i think insane accent = NYPD requirement

My first trip to NY was my honeymoon, and the wife and I ended up talking to a really jaded, kind of surly cop in the Diamond District. He was totally confused and kind of angry that we came to NY, of all places, for our honeymoon. His accent was crazy thick.

I can't stand really thick Chicago and Boston accents, and the really syrupy fake-friendly upper middle class southern woman ones. But the worst is that really husky, rough, bimbo-y sorority party girl type accent. Just fucking die.

I think there is a generic cop accent they all chase to one degree or another.

(When i said I know ppl who talk like the LI clip I meant the one from the Speech Accent Archive, not the Youtube clip.)

No love for Bawlmer?

I love all accents.

me 2

No love for Bawlmer?

the accent that combines the worst aspects of the philly accent and the virginia accent?!?

nope, can't do it.

though the baltimore accent is FAR from my least favorite accent.

I can't tell the difference between the Balt and Philly accents. I can tell a huge difference between NJ and NYC though.

I can't tell the difference between the Balt and Philly accents. I can tell a huge difference between NJ and NYC though.

There are lotsa of simlarities, but the Bawlmer accent has lotsa South innit. Philly's just pissed off that it don't got more respeck than bascly bein' Jersey's yunger brother.

And, of course, the ever-present "hon." I love me some Baltimore. Damn it, but I do.

i like all accents but i can't stand people who have some overcultivated npr voice, nor do i like girls who over-exaggerate their husky voices so they can sound "sexy". they just come off as douchey.

Oh yeah, those overcultivated NPR voice is absolutely endemic in NYC. I loved it--some girl in my class spoke with one, and then her nasally Jewish Long Island accent slipped out for a second and she looked so embarrassed! It was awesome.

those=that

I have what, I guess, could be called an NPR accent, that focuses on the Mid-Atlantic region.

Anyone who doesn't think I sound like where they're from says I'm from the direction Baltimore/Washington is from them - Folks from North Jersey and New York, they think I'm from the South. Folks from the South think I'm from the North. Folks from LA - well, most of them sound like me anyway.

When I went to school at Rutgers (Exit 9A, baby!), a whole buncha folks thought I was all pretentious and snobby because of my lack of Jersey/Long Island accent. Crazyness. I mean, I speak the way I was taught in the finest public schools Maryland had to offer. Ain't like I was going to St. Paul's or Gilman or some such snobbery.

The only people I know with that accent naturally are upper middle class types who've been upper middle class for at least 5 generations. My extended family has that weird breathy neutral accent; my grandparents tried to teach it to me to prevent any Jerseyfication, but I had to adopt the Jersey thing so I wouldn't get my ass beaten in school.

the Rhode Island accent is pretty much similar to both Boston and Brooklyn accents, but much worse than either.

I've always been fascinated by the similarities between the eastern Long Island and Boston accents, and those between upstate the upstate New York and Chicago ones. People from Buffalo talk a lot like people from Chicago.

overcultivated npr voice

i always laugh at how npr announcers self-consciously struggle to pronounce any foreign language name w/o a trace of american accent 'today in nicarwagwa'

I have relatives who are Shoshone-Bannock Indians - they live in Oregon - and the older people in the tribal part of the family (obviously not my side), have this entirely unique way of speaking and, subsequently, an accent. It's like Minnesota AND Arizona and very slow. Some of it is from elders who are now dead still using as much language as they could on the reservations.

Also, there's a general blandness in accents in the Pacific NW, a really sort of flat tone.

are the accents in the boroughs of new york pereceptibly different?