Mapping Variations in American English Dialect

[J N Winkler]

I had to look up "Duck, duck, goose" in Wikipedia, just as I had to look there a few months ago to find out what a "wedgie" was.

[vtk]

A country girl from somewhere outside Columbus once insisted to a group of me and my suburban friends that "y'all" is singular while "all y'all" is plural, and anyone using "y'all" to address multiple people is doing it wrong.

Clearly there is regional variation around how, not just whether, "y'all" is used.

[english si]

The only time I have hear someone use y'all as a singular is someone trying to fake a Southern accent or making fun of Southerners on TV shows like "Family Guy".  But I won't deny your life experience.

That's odd, as I was told by Southerners that "all y'all" was the plural and y'all is singular.

Hugh Laurie on "House" sound perfect Central/Southern NJ.  I was taken aback when I heard him in an  interview with his British accent.

I never understand why you guys get surprised that he's English, given he'd done a lot of things before, even stuff that made it to the mainstream over the pond (Blackadder is perhaps a little too parochially British. Ditto Jeeves and Wooster).

In England he's gone down a lot in terms of his recognition - swanning off with the Yanks means less face time over here (his old comedy partner Stephen Fry has earned the recognition status of national treasure, and has time to do rather a lot each year not having a US TV series*, which means that instead of being the goofy one out of Fry and Laurie - and thus more well known - their recognition is in proportion to their waist size, with Fry being the much better known one), but he's still really well known, due to just how amazingly well known he was beforehand.

Actors, especially, find American accents quite easy - 'generic' is easy to do, at least. Most other English accents have the sounds and there's lots of exposure to them.

*last Christmas, the question was asked by all the TV listings: "is there a time slot where you could scan all the standard channels and not see something with him in?". OK, a lot were covered by the repeats channels, but there was a lot of new stuff as well, but the answer to the question was "not really". And it's not like Fry doesn't also have millions of twitter followers and other stuff keeping his brand alive the rest of the year.

[kphoger]

Clearly there is regional variation around how, not just whether, "y'all" is used.

Yes, indeed.  I've definitely known people who will refer to only one person–no larger entity implied–as y'all.  My old roommate from Oklahoma and Texas, whom I mentioned earlier, used all y'all for the plural, but mentioned that his family would often use you'uns instead.  He used y'all as a singular; I'm pretty sure that, when it was just he and I hanging out in the apartment, no larger entity was intended in our conversation.

However, I would not hesitate to say that y'all is most commonly used as a plural.

[Alps]

A country girl from somewhere outside Columbus once insisted to a group of me and my suburban friends that "y'all" is singular while "all y'all" is plural, and anyone using "y'all" to address multiple people is doing it wrong.

Clearly there is regional variation around how, not just whether, "y'all" is used.

This is my understanding of it as well. I've been greeted, "Y'all have a nice day now" when leaving the N'awlins trolley.

[kphoger]

I had to look up "Duck, duck, goose" in Wikipedia, just as I had to look there a few months ago to find out what a "wedgie" was.

So I was just mentioning your reply to my wife (whose family is from Minnesota, hence my knowledge of Duck Duck Grey Duck and hot dishes).

Her reply:  Well, mom never called it a wedgie.
– What??
– Yeah, she always called them snuggies.
(much laughing)

[vtk]

I'd think if a Snuggie gives you a wedgie, you're wearing it wrong.

[exit322]

New polls for you guys/y'all to answer:

Reply if you say "hot dish" instead of "casserole", and state where you're from.

Reply if you've ever played "Duck duck grey duck" rather than "Duck duck goose", and state where you're from.

Reply if you put your groceries in a buggy rather than a cart, and state where you're from.

Reply if you say "kitty corner" instead of "catty corner", and state where you're from.

North-central Ohio:

It's a casserole.
It's duck duck goose.
It's a cart unless you're working at Kroger, then it's a BasKart. 
Catty-corner (pronounced generally as caddy-corner)

Mary-merry-marry all rhyme pretty much perfectly as well.

[vtk]

Central Ohio:

Casserole. (Yuck.)
Duck duck goose.
Cart. (Or bascart; I actually kind of like that term.  Yes, I shop at Kroger.)
Kitty-corner.  (Sounds very informal; on the other hand, Catty-corner just sounds wrong.)

When I pronounce "merry", I think I send different commands to my vocal tract than when I pronounce "Mary" or "marry", but the resulting sounds are indistinguishable.  (Same with "caught" and "cot", for that matter.)  Also, "bury" is pronounced exactly like "berry" which rhymes with "merry" "marry" and "Mary".

And "mayonnaise" starts with exactly the same phonemes as "man", which is pronounced almost (but not exactly) like two syllables "mayin".  For an example, find a recording of Neil Armstrong's classic quote.  (He was from Ohio.)

Carbonated sweetened soft drinks are called "pop" generally, but sometimes the specific variety is a flavor adjective preceeding "soda".  "Soda" without an adjective is unflavored carbonated water, also called "seltzer".

[realjd]

Carbonated sweetened soft drinks are called "pop" generally, but sometimes the specific variety is a flavor adjective preceeding "soda".  "Soda" without an adjective is unflavored carbonated water, also called "seltzer".

Soda water, aka club soda, often has salt or other minerals added while seltzer water never does. The term "soda" comes from them traditionally using sodium bicarbonate.

[Coelacanth]

I'm also curious as to how other colors are involved in Duck Duck Gray Duck.  My best guess is that colors of duck other than gray are equivalent to simply "duck" and it's some kind of tactic to confuse or catch the goose / gray duck off guard.  Is that it?

The person who is "it" or whatever goes around the circle naming ducks. "Blue duck", "green duck", "mauve duck", etc. etc. Eventually they call out "grey duck" which is the equivalent of a goose in that other game where they do it wrong.

[Brandon]

I'm also curious as to how other colors are involved in Duck Duck Gray Duck.  My best guess is that colors of duck other than gray are equivalent to simply "duck" and it's some kind of tactic to confuse or catch the goose / gray duck off guard.  Is that it?

The person who is "it" or whatever goes around the circle naming ducks. "Blue duck", "green duck", "mauve duck", etc. etc. Eventually they call out "grey duck" which is the equivalent of a goose in that other game where they do it wrong.

Bizarre to those of us outside Minnesota where we make it easier by just saying "duck" until we get to the "goose".

[kphoger]

I'm also curious as to how other colors are involved in Duck Duck Gray Duck.  My best guess is that colors of duck other than gray are equivalent to simply "duck" and it's some kind of tactic to confuse or catch the goose / gray duck off guard.  Is that it?

The person who is "it" or whatever goes around the circle naming ducks. "Blue duck", "green duck", "mauve duck", etc. etc. Eventually they call out "grey duck" which is the equivalent of a goose in that other game where they do it wrong.

Bizarre to those of us outside Minnesota where we make it easier by just saying "duck" until we get to the "goose".

Not to mention that the words "duck duck grey duck" would never actually be said in succession, whereas in "our" version, the words "duck duck goose" would be said in succession.

[NE2]

This video shows it played with no colors other than gray.

[Thing 342]

New polls for you guys/y'all to answer:

Reply if you say "hot dish" instead of "casserole", and state where you're from.

Reply if you've ever played "Duck duck grey duck" rather than "Duck duck goose", and state where you're from.

Reply if you put your groceries in a buggy rather than a cart, and state where you're from.

Reply if you say "kitty corner" instead of "catty corner", and state where you're from.

Raised in SE VA, but 90% of my family is from either Georgia or South Carolina.

Casserole.
Duck, duck, goose.
Buggy.
Catty-corner.

Mary, marry, and merry all sound identical to me. I've never heard anyone ever pronounce them differently.

[Kacie Jane]

Casserole.  Duck, duck, goose.  Cart.  Kitty-corner.
Mary and marry are the same, merry is slightly different (probably moreso with regards to the stress than the vowel).

Live in Washington, and have for a decade or so, but my speech patterns may be holdovers from New Jersey.

[Eth]

New polls for you guys/y'all to answer:

Reply if you say "hot dish" instead of "casserole", and state where you're from.

Reply if you've ever played "Duck duck grey duck" rather than "Duck duck goose", and state where you're from.

Reply if you put your groceries in a buggy rather than a cart, and state where you're from.

Reply if you say "kitty corner" instead of "catty corner", and state where you're from.

I'm from Georgia (the very outermost Atlanta suburbs), though I was born into a family of very recently transplanted West Virginians.

- Casserole.

- Duck duck goose. I still have no idea what the hell y'all are talking about upthread with all that color stuff.

- I say cart, but I fully acknowledge that I'm weird. Everyone else I knew said buggy.

- I personally don't use either term, but I would say that "catty corner" is probably the more common one.

When I really think about it, I feel like there's a slight difference between Mary and marry, but I don't think it actually manifests in my normal speech pattern. Merry, however, is distinct from both.

I always use "y'all" as a plural, with the "one person may represent a larger entity" proviso as above. "All y'all" is used to specifically indicate that I'm addressing everyone within earshot.

[Scott5114]

I was told by someone born and raised in Jacksonville to pronounce it Flah-ri-duh.  Go figure.

You have one too many syllables there. We tend to slur it to Flahr-duh.

I got a kick out of one time an NPR host (I think Robert Seigel) was discussing the arnges in Flarda.

[jwolfer]

Actors, especially, find American accents quite easy - 'generic' is easy to do, at least. Most other English accents have the sounds and there's lots of exposure to them.

There are lots who can do a decent generic American accent but to get some of the regional accents is impressive.  Lots of people who are faking a NJ accent come out sounding very Brooklyn... even if the show is set in Princeton or Atlantic City.  The "Brooklyn" accent in limited to parts of Northeast NJ close to NYC.

As I mentioned in a previous post.  Lots of fake Southern accents come out like  Scarlett O'Hara.. even those characters who are supposed to be from placed like Knoxville, TN or Jacksonville, FL... I would rather have an actor not try and fake an accent than do it badly. 

In an Australian movie "Lantana" I was glad to see Barbara Hershey's character be an American rather than her saying "g'day" throughout.  I am not sure if the character was written that way or changed for the actor.  (i.e. Olivia Newton-John's character in "Grease" was changed to Australian rather than her trying to fake a Brooklyn accent... funny how the movie was filmed in California but everyone besides ONJ kept the NYC persona as in the stage play)