22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently From One Another

Lawrence · Mar 16, 2015

Everyone knows Americans don't agree on pronunciations.
That's great, because regional accents are a major part of what makes American English so interesting.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/22-maps-that-show-the-deepest-linguistic-conflicts-in-america-2013-6

Ragman · Mar 16, 2015

Re: 22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently From One Anothe

Lawrence said:
Everyone knows Americans don't agree on pronunciations.
That's great, because regional accents are a major part of what makes American English so interesting.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/22-maps-that-show-the-deepest-linguistic-conflicts-in-america-2013-6

Why is there no map showing who says "y-all"?

RoadTime · Mar 16, 2015

Re: 22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently From One Anothe

Ragman said:
Why is there no map showing who says "y-all"?

They did. Check out the one with-Florida pronounces things in the northern U.S. style.

Ragman · Mar 16, 2015

Re: 22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently From One Anothe

RoadTime said:
They did. Check out the one with-Florida pronounces things in the northern U.S. style.

Why is there no map showing who says "Duh"?

Turtle · Mar 16, 2015

Re: 22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently From One Anothe

A drive-thru liquor store. I thought those were called a pony keg.

asjssl · Mar 16, 2015

Re: 22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently From One Anothe

Ragman said:
Why is there no map showing who says "y-all"?

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cheri1122 · Mar 17, 2015

Re: 22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently From One Anothe

asjssl said:
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As several people noted in the comments, the plural for 'you' in Western Pa is 'yinz' [sometimes pronounced 'yunz']. Pittsburghers also have a neat way of adding a 'w' to words like Mom, so it sounds like 'Mowm'.
When I was 5 or 6, I spent a summer in Pittsburgh with an aunt, and got teased without mercy for the 'accent' when I returned to Ohio. I couldn't hear it then, but since my daughter married a West Pa native, it's really obvious, lol.
The different accents are one of the best things about going all over the US, IMO.

aristotle · Mar 17, 2015

Re: 22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently From One Anothe

Appalachian English can be, to the uninitiated, just as confounding as Cajun. Distinct dialects evolve often wherever isolated subcultures are found.

South Carolinians can be hard to follow. I can spot a native of Central Virginia when they pronounce the word "about" as "a-boot." Pat Robertson does this.

North and South Dakotans sound like Canadians. East Texans sound a lot like folks in Tennessee and Kentucky. Somewhere in Ross Perot's lineage lies a rural twang familiar to Appalachian ears.

RLENT · Mar 17, 2015

Re: 22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently From One Anothe

In Northeast Ohio one is likely to "wash" pronounced "war...ssh" ...

xmudman · Mar 17, 2015

Re: 22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently From One Anothe

In my wife's family: my wife does wash in a washer, my one sister in law does warsh in a warsher, and my other sis in law does warsh in a washer

All three ladies are from Pennsylvania; the last one is my wife's sister. They are from the Erie area, while the middle one is from Chambersburg.

cheri1122 · Mar 18, 2015

Re: 22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently From One Anothe

I was gobsmacked the first time I heard a native of New Orleans [grandpa age] speak - he sounded straight off the Brooklyn boat, lol. I swear he said "They oughter berl em all in erl!" [La politicians, I think he meant.]
But I've never heard an accent quite so unique as my Aunt Ingfrid's: born & raised in Norway, transplanted to WV. I adored her, even though I rarely understood a word she said.