do you talk funny?

[conntom]

I grew up in Boston.

It is a Q pon.

I drink tonic.

I often loose my kahkeeze

I have pahked my cah in hahvud yahd - nevah while I waz ackshully attending theeya.

I don;t drive a cah becuz I have two trucks.

Cahpentah is tha hahdest word foah me to say.

Now do me a fayvah and stop complainin' about the best accent in tha world!

 

[Mem]

Mem would you say, he goes to the university or he goes to university.

I would never say "he goes to university" is sounds odd. I would say "he goes to a university". It it's specific I would say "he goes to the University of Tennessee". If it's a name I would say "he goes to Rutger's".

 

[ghb69]

In western PA we say "yunz and ain't". So are yunz listening or ain't yah?

 

[YourAvgGuy]

How could I describe my accent?... hmmm.... A strong southern draw with cultural influct from my tribal community. We travel abroad a lot and it is very rare that people know what nationality or ethnicity we are. Wes bes differant jus a bit, so to speak.

 

[nudeyorker]

In western PA we say "yunz and ain't". So are yunz listening or ain't yah?

My father-in-law says that it used to make my skin crawl. I've learned to get used to it.

 

[tripod]

I grew up with a "Great Lakes" accent, I say that because Chicagoans sound like any other person living around the Great Lakes. We all have a nasal short a sound like in sandwich. We all swear like sailors too.

But I have also developed a sort of fake Southern accent that is basically like an excellent Hollywood actor's take on the "Carolina accent" which is quite complex and almost impossible to emulate. It's a lot like Zach Galifianakis' crazy gun wielding militia type character on Reno 911's accent, a bit over the top but spot on to a non-Southerner. Southerners can tell right away that I am not from here.

I can go from the Great Lakes to the Piedmont in the same sentence.

I also have a Fred Sanford style staccato type of grunting speak that I employ frequently since one of my main personalities is a grumpy old curmudgeon.

Fred Sanford was one of my role models as a child... as was George Jefferson, Gary Coleman and Bill Cosby, so I can gin it up if I'm feelin' it.

My voice also has a bizarre quality due to my nasal situation, it sounds like I am speaking through just a bit of an electronic effect. I have some comb filtering going on and the result is that my voice sounds rather metallic, not so much like I have a bucket over my head, than sounding a bit like a robot. Maybe the polyp in my skull is the actual microchip that runs my brain?

 

[helgaleena]

Yah hey, I talk like a Yooper.

 

[Sergeant_Torpedo]

Mem so the indefinite and definite article doesn't matter? According to Cock, what is perfectly understood is acceptable.

 

[D_Navengil Nutroll]

I grew up with a "Great Lakes" accent, I say that because Chicagoans sound like any other person living around the Great Lakes. We all have a nasal short a sound like in sandwich. We all swear like sailors too.

But I have also developed a sort of fake Southern accent that is basically like an excellent Hollywood actor's take on the "Carolina accent" which is quite complex and almost impossible to emulate. It's a lot like Zach Galifianakis' crazy gun wielding militia type character on Reno 911's accent, a bit over the top but spot on to a non-Southerner. Southerners can tell right away that I am not from here.

I can go from the Great Lakes to the Piedmont in the same sentence.

I also have a Fred Sanford style staccato type of grunting speak that I employ frequently since one of my main personalities is a grumpy old curmudgeon.

Fred Sanford was one of my role models as a child... as was George Jefferson, Gary Coleman and Bill Cosby, so I can gin it up if I'm feelin' it.

My voice also has a bizarre quality due to my nasal situation, it sounds like I am speaking through just a bit of an electronic effect. I have some comb filtering going on and the result is that my voice sounds rather metallic, not so much like I have a bucket over my head, than sounding a bit like a robot. Maybe the polyp in my skull is the actual microchip that runs my brain?

hey esther. why don't you go put yo face in some dough, and make us some gorilla cookies. (i loved the reruns of that show)

 

[Mem]

Mem so the indefinite and definite article doesn't matter? According to Cock, what is perfectly understood is acceptable.

I'm not saying it's wrong. It just sounds odd to me because Americans do not say it the same way the Brits do.

 

[lopo2000]

Sometimes I confuse between "dare" and "there".

 

[Calboner]

I speak fluent funny.

Why is "Bahstun" in the tags for this thread? Nobody with a Boston accent pronounces "Boston" that way. If a Bostonian ever said "Bahstun," he would have to be talking about a town called Barston, if there were such a place. Americans outside of eastern New England have no distinction between (1) the vowel of "calm," "father," "bra," etc., on the one hand, and (2) the vowel of "bomb," "bother," "lot," etc.; and many use the same vowel in (3) "boss," "off," "cloth," etc., as well as (4) "thought," "awe," "walk," etc. So when they hear Bostonians use a certain sort of vowel in words of the first set, they assume that they use the same vowel in words of the other sets. But that is not the case. A Boston accent will have one vowel for words in the first set and a different vowel for the words in the other sets. In Boston speech, the name "Barb" may be pronounced without the R, but it is not homophonous with "Bob."

 

[nudeyorker]

Sometimes I confuse between "dare" and "there".

At certain points in your life you have to be willing to suspend judgement to find the answers to what keeps you sleepless at night. I dare you to go there; to find the original question that will help you find the answer.

 

[just_a_girl]

my mom also says "die rear" to describe that time when all is not well with the bowels. haha. even the family laughs at her over that.

Love it! My sister and I will start using this pronto. LMAO!!!

Southerners can tell right away that I am not from here.

Yep, we can spot y"all "fakers" real quick. :tongue:

I swing from Southern drawl to non-descript based on my mood and/or whatever works to my advantage.

 

[invisibleman]

Some comedians talk funny.

 

[lopo2000]

At certain points in your life you have to be willing to suspend judgement to find the answers to what keeps you sleepless at night. I dare you to go there; to find the original question that will help you find the answer.

Err, are you still talking about English?

 

[Northland]

people from the northeast usa murder the english language. i guess i am part of the problem. a few days ago, i pronounced the word coupon. i have always called it "q pon". that's the way my mom said it and i guess it never left me. but people i was talking to looked at me like i was from mars.

I speaks payfecklee goid inglish an aint got no axent needa.


...and for the record, it's a coo-pond.

 

[Calboner]

One feature of Northeastern US speech that annoys me is the common practice of pronouncing the "t" in the word "often." I know that people commonly do this because it's how they are used to hearing the word pronounced, but it originates in ignorant pseudo-pedantry. The "t" in "often" is not supposed to be pronounced any more than is the "t" in "soften" or "listen" or "hasten" or "fasten" or any other word in which "-en" or "-n" is added to a word ending in "-ft" or "-st." The "t" in every case reflects derivation only, not pronunciation: "often" from "oft," "soften" from "soft," "listen" from "list," "hasten" from "haste," etc.

Edited to add: I also hate "cue-pon," but I have not noticed that it is more common in the Northeastern US than elsewhere.

 

[Catchoftheday]

I

...and for the record, it's a coo-pond.

Coo-pond are no good, chickens can't swim

 

[SpeedoMike]

I speak Californian, the melting pot of all the USA. then how do we explain Ahnald and how he says Cai-la-four-knee-ah?