do you talk funny?

[just_a_girl]

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.

And let's not forget the dreadful "l" in salmon. UGH!!!

 

[Industrialsize]

I sometimes have a "wicked pisser" of a Boston accent.........

 

[Calboner]

And let's not forget the dreadful "l" in salmon. UGH!!!

I don't think I've heard that one. In fact, the error that I have heard is in a certain respect the opposite one: people pronounce the first name of the author Salman Rushdie "Sammon," as if he were named after the fish. It's Sal-man, a form of "Solomon," you fools!

Where I grew up, in Seattle -- and now, I think, over most of the US -- most people pronounce the "l" in "calm," "palm," "balm," "alms," and "almond" (instead of "cahm," "pahm," etc.). Having since learned better, I now want to wince when I hear this.

I also grew up hearing people pronounce the "l" in the word "caulk," though not in "walk," "talk," or "balk." They do this, I presume, because otherwise the word would be homophonous with "cock" for them, as they have no distinction between the vowels.

 

[B_crackoff]

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

Neither could Sean Ryder singing the title of this Gorrillaz hit "Dare"

YouTube - YouTube Gorillaz DARE

Originally the line was "It's there", however the Mancunian druggie could no longer pronouce the "th" sound, thus the song was retitled "dare"!

Purists - a z is fine in "realize" etc, that's how we used to spell things before the Mayflower set sail! I of ten throw one in to annoy people.

As for the BBC & regional accents - talk about dumbing down. The major problem isn't the accent, it's the clarity of diction, added to a complete absence of grammar & pronounciation for many presenters.

I blame the Labour party. 40+ years ago, before I'd stuck my head out of a womb, they'd abolished teaching grammar; the rules, verb conjugations etc, because they believed that it was class based, & therefore discriminated against the working classes.

40 years on, & few working class people rise the executive ladder, go to Oxbridge, & suddenly the Labour party moans that the Brits can't speak foreign languages.

Perhaps if we'd learned grammar, which is so essential for every other language in the world!

My one big USA bug bear is idiots who cannot conjugate the basic verb "to go", & say "he should have went" instead of " he should have gone".

Then we have the US "aksed", & Uk "arxed" instead of "asked".

As we all become used to the lowest level of sentience's speech becoming the most accepted form of vocabulary, illiteracy, & a wholesale reversal in humankind's endeavours are just a dipthong away.

 

[D_Navengil Nutroll]

gonna rag on my europe people reading this. attention.

don't say "i am going on holiday". you are going on vacation.

and it is not arse, it is ass to describe the bubbly back end of the body.

the end.

 

[Calboner]

gonna rag on my europe people reading this. attention.

don't say "i am going on holiday". you are going on vacation.

and it is not arse, it is ass to describe the bubbly back end of the body.

the end.

The use of "ass" for the buttocks is a peculiarly American conflation of two unrelated words. "Arse" has been the word for the buttocks for centuries -- it's even in Chaucer (cf. modern German "Arsch"). "Ass" is ultimately from Latin "asinus," and has always meant "donkey."

 

[Sergeant_Torpedo]

Calboner, I think you are being more than pedantic over pronunciation. It has nothing to do with education or the study of academic English; it is defined by social context. I lived for many years in the cradle of the English language (Northumbria); modern received English pronunciation is based on so called Oxford English - a rather unattractibe Midlands accent. The French Academy when it regulated on the teaching of English in the schools and universities of France did extensive resaerch and concluded that the clearest English was found in the lowlands of Scotland. Where incidentally they pronounce the "t" in often. I work on a pragmatic level: if I understand it then it is acceptable.

 

[BiItalianBro]

I have a jacked up hybrid of Newawlins', Atlanta, DC and Kentucky from my youth. As an adult, I have ping ponged between the east coast (DC,Boston) and upper midwest (Chicago, Minneapolis) and picked up some phonetic habits along the way....so yea, i talk funny.

The phonological alteration that drives me up the f-ing wall is the 'r' after 'a' and before 'sh' that is so popular in the US mid-south and lower mid-Atlantic states.

"I was warshing my clothes and watching those Tea Party people rally in Warshington on FOX news" It is like nails on a chalkboard to me.

 

[EllieP]

I have the weirdest of accents because my Mum is Brit and I was born and raised in Austin, Texas. If I said "y'all" I was immediately chastised by Ms. English there. Poor Dad has a drawl that sounds somebody slowed down the record player. I'm somewhere in between with some blonde thrown in. My husband says I'm definitely from Texas but there's some weird "shit" in there, LOL!

 

[Calboner]

Calboner, I think you are being more than pedantic over pronunciation. It has nothing to do with education or the study of academic English; it is defined by social context. I lived for many years in the cradle of the English language (Northumbria); modern received English pronunciation is based on so called Oxford English - a rather unattractibe Midlands accent. The French Academy when it regulated on the teaching of English in the schools and universities of France did extensive resaerch and concluded that the clearest English was found in the lowlands of Scotland. Where incidentally they pronounce the "t" in often. I work on a pragmatic level: if I understand it then it is acceptable.

I can't see how this has any relevance to my last post. Were you replying to someone else?

 

[TomCat84]

My dad was a small town Midwestern boy and my Mom is from Georgia (the state), and I was born and raised in Southern California, so if anything, I have a flat Midwestern accent. I put emphasis on "r"s and am frequently made fun of by my Northeastern friends. I do, however, say "dude" and "sweet" a lot. I also have been known to use "y'all". But please don't confuse us with those from NorCal. I don't say "hella", it makes my skin crawl.