The obvious answer for accents here in the US would be east coast ("use yah blinkah") and southern drawl.
However, one underrated one is the Detroit area. I can pick it up instantly, example here (https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-athletic-football-show-a-show-about-the-nfl/episode/asking-does-this-matter-for-early-preseason-storylines-with-mitchell-schwartz-cowboys-camp-visit-with-jon-machota-205394958) starting at 58:00.
With zero previous knowledge of the podcast guest, I recognized the accent and sure enough, it turns out he's a Detroit native.
The most notable features include o sounding like ah (not → naht; confidence → cahn-fi-dence) and a very drawly-sounding a, almost like ay (draft → drayft; tackle → tayck-le)
I'd say Pittsburgh. It not only sounds strange to most folk (listen to Cowboys' coach Mike McCarthy sometime, especially when talking about "Stillers" football), but it also has a bunch of strange words like yinz for the plural you.
I nominate Smith Island, MD for the most recognizable accent.
Quote from: webny99 on August 01, 2022, 04:26:23 PM
The obvious answer for accents here in the US would be east coast ("use yah blinkah")...
That's specific to the greater Boston area, not the entire east coast.
That said, I agree it is very distinctive.
Valley Girl is also very recognizable.
On the other end of the spectrum, Cascadian English can be hard to distinguish for outsiders, apparently.
Quote from: Bruce on August 01, 2022, 05:26:56 PM
Valley Girl is also very recognizable.
On the other end of the spectrum, Cascadian English can be hard to distinguish for outsiders, apparently.
Living in Seattle for a year (and I get that cities are different than rural areas), nothing ever stood out to me.
Quebec French (and Acadian French too) in comparison to other varieties of French
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 01, 2022, 05:33:47 PM
Quote from: Bruce on August 01, 2022, 05:26:56 PM
Valley Girl is also very recognizable.
On the other end of the spectrum, Cascadian English can be hard to distinguish for outsiders, apparently.
Living in Seattle for a year (and I get that cities are different than rural areas), nothing ever stood out to me.
Exactly, it's not all that different from "General American". We pronounce bag weirdly and have some other words adopted from Chinook Jargon, but other than that it's very subtle.
When (almost always) an older person has a Minnesota accent so thick that even the rest of us go "I had no idea someone that Minnesotan could exist".
It's kind of a shame that language homogenization has mostly rendered these differences to be subtleties mostly seen in exaggerated parody form.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on August 01, 2022, 05:05:45 PM
Quote from: webny99 on August 01, 2022, 04:26:23 PM
The obvious answer for accents here in the US would be east coast ("use yah blinkah")...
That's specific to the greater Boston area, not the entire east coast.
That said, I agree it is very distinctive.
The NYC area has a strong variant of this accent too - no, it's not identical, but certainly similar.
Quote from: webny99 on August 01, 2022, 10:43:58 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on August 01, 2022, 05:05:45 PM
Quote from: webny99 on August 01, 2022, 04:26:23 PM
The obvious answer for accents here in the US would be east coast ("use yah blinkah")...
That's specific to the greater Boston area, not the entire east coast.
That said, I agree it is very distinctive.
The NYC area has a strong variant of this accent too - no, it's not identical, but certainly similar.
I'd call it weaker, actually.
Worcester's the harshest of the three.
I've always liked Philly's accent. Growing up traveling down that way, it's very unique. For example, water is pronounced "wooder" sandwiches are called "hoagies" , and you go "down the shore" .
Quote from: BlueOutback7 on August 02, 2022, 07:31:38 AM
I've always liked Philly's accent. Growing up traveling down that way, it's very unique. For example, water is pronounced "wooder" sandwiches are called "hoagies" , and you go "down the shore" .
Hoagies are not unique to Philly. You can find the term all through the Northeast inconsistently.
And then you have the wacky Intermountain West slight variant with the now defunct chain Hogi Yogi.
Quote from: BlueOutback7 on August 02, 2022, 07:31:38 AM
I've always liked Philly's accent. Growing up traveling down that way, it's very unique. For example, water is pronounced "wooder" sandwiches are called "hoagies" , and you go "down the shore" .
Sandwiches; those with 2 slices of bread, are still sandwiches. Hoagies are termed subs in other parts of the country.
The Philly accent tends to make T's silent or modified, especially in the middle of the word.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on August 02, 2022, 08:53:01 AM
Quote from: BlueOutback7 on August 02, 2022, 07:31:38 AM
I've always liked Philly's accent. Growing up traveling down that way, it's very unique. For example, water is pronounced "wooder" sandwiches are called "hoagies" , and you go "down the shore" .
Sandwiches; those with 2 slices of bread, are still sandwiches. Hoagies are termed subs in other parts of the country.
The Philly accent tends to make T's silent or modified, especially in the middle of the word.
I meant sub sandwiches yes. And I've heard plenty of people there pronounce salty as "saldy" .
My accent has been described as "New England meets St. Louis." Which is funny because I'm originally from New England. I moved to St. Louis in 1996 and moved back to New England in 2012.
Quote from: CapeCodder on August 03, 2022, 08:16:55 AM
My accent has been described as "New England meets St. Louis." Which is funny because I'm originally from New England. I moved to St. Louis in 1996 and moved back to New England in 2012.
What exactly is a St. Louis accent? Is it like Chingy where you say "right thurr"? Or is it just when you talk with Imo's pizza in your mouth? :)
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 03, 2022, 09:16:46 AM
Quote from: CapeCodder on August 03, 2022, 08:16:55 AM
My accent has been described as "New England meets St. Louis." Which is funny because I'm originally from New England. I moved to St. Louis in 1996 and moved back to New England in 2012.
What exactly is a St. Louis accent? Is it like Chingy where you say "right thurr"? Or is it just when you talk with Imo's pizza in your mouth? :)
It's more like "Traffic on Hi-Way Farty-Far is backed up to Kingshigh-way." "Make sure th'terlet don't back up, and before ye leave, WARSH yer hands!" It's like a mix of Chicago, generic upper Midwest, and the south engaged in menage-trois and the STL accent is the result.
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 03, 2022, 09:16:46 AM
Quote from: CapeCodder on August 03, 2022, 08:16:55 AM
My accent has been described as "New England meets St. Louis." Which is funny because I'm originally from New England. I moved to St. Louis in 1996 and moved back to New England in 2012.
What exactly is a St. Louis accent? Is it like Chingy where you say "right thurr"? Or is it just when you talk with Imo's pizza in your mouth? :)
"Highway Farty"
I say the Chicago accent is very distinct. Different from general Mid-west and a lot different from Wisconsin.
I've always found the New York City accent, particularly Brooklyn, to be fairly distinctive. It has what I would call a "honking" sound to it. I can usually tell when someone's from New York when I hear someone talk, although I did know one guy from Philadelphia who sounded like a New Yorker (and he admitted that lots of people figured he was from New York from his voice).
I blame 20 years of watching Family Guy and my halfway decent Peter Griffin impersonation for inserting New England pronunciations of certain words into my speech sometimes.
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 03, 2022, 11:32:50 AM
I've always found the New York City accent, particularly Brooklyn, to be fairly distinctive. It has what I would call a "honking" sound to it. I can usually tell when someone's from New York when I hear someone talk, although I did know one guy from Philadelphia who sounded like a New Yorker (and he admitted that lots of people figured he was from New York from his voice).
You know, the right south Louisiana Accent sounds almost like Brooklyn.
Classic 'Yoopertalk' is pretty distinctive, even to us here in NE Wisconsin.
:nod:
Mike
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 03, 2022, 09:16:46 AM
Quote from: CapeCodder on August 03, 2022, 08:16:55 AM
My accent has been described as "New England meets St. Louis." Which is funny because I'm originally from New England. I moved to St. Louis in 1996 and moved back to New England in 2012.
What exactly is a St. Louis accent? Is it like Chingy where you say "right thurr"? Or is it just when you talk with Imo's pizza in your mouth? :)
It's when you drive home on Highway Farty, then warsh your hands in the zink cause they're greezy.
Quote from: mgk920 on August 03, 2022, 01:28:52 PM
Classic 'Yoopertalk' is pretty distinctive
Yah, you betcha.
Quote from: CapeCodder on August 03, 2022, 09:46:36 AM
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 03, 2022, 09:16:46 AM
What exactly is a St. Louis accent?
It's more like "Traffic on Hi-Way Farty-Far is backed up to Kingshigh-way." "Make sure th'terlet don't back up, and before ye leave, WARSH yer hands!" It's like a mix of Chicago, generic upper Midwest, and the south engaged in menage-trois and the STL accent is the result.
Quote from: Scott5114 on August 03, 2022, 02:35:46 PM
It's when you drive home on Highway Farty, then warsh your hands in the zink cause they're greezy.
As described in both of these quotes, that sounds way more Southern than Midwestern. A Chicago accent has way more in common with Detroit IMO.
Meanwhile, I've heard a similar accent to this in southern Ohio/Kentucky, so maybe it's more specific to the southern portions of the Rust Belt, in which I'd include St. Louis.
Quote from: webny99 on August 03, 2022, 02:58:09 PM
As described in both of these quotes, that sounds way more Southern than Midwestern. A Chicago accent has way more in common with Detroit IMO.
It's not. There's not a southern drawl to it, there's just...odd pronunciations of certain words. Another one is "fire" sounding like "far".
If I were to transcribe a southern Oklahoma/Texas accent, which does have the drawl, I'd get "wawsh", not "warsh". ("Warsh" makes it as far west as Kansas City with some speakers, but it drops off as you go south.)
There used to be a Colorado accent of sorts before the mass influx of folks from other states. One word I remember being pronounced particularly weird was "smooth" which was pronounced "smyooth". Now it just sounds Midwestern to me.
Quote from: BlueOutback7 on August 02, 2022, 09:16:57 AM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on August 02, 2022, 08:53:01 AM
Quote from: BlueOutback7 on August 02, 2022, 07:31:38 AM
I've always liked Philly's accent. Growing up traveling down that way, it's very unique. For example, water is pronounced "wooder" sandwiches are called "hoagies" , and you go "down the shore" .
Sandwiches; those with 2 slices of bread, are still sandwiches. Hoagies are termed subs in other parts of the country.
The Philly accent tends to make T's silent or modified, especially in the middle of the word.
I meant sub sandwiches yes. And I've heard plenty of people there pronounce salty as "saldy" .
But call a sub sandwich a "grinder" or "grindah" anywhere but New England and you'll be looked at like you have 3 heads.
Most of CT doesn't have much of an accent, except for the elimination of the glottal stop. Think "hard hit-in New Bri-tain" where the "t" is hardly pronounced. This same accent carries up into Western MA (pretty much west of Sturbridge). But get out east of the Connecticut River closer to RI and you have the "Swamp Yankee" accent, where the RI influence (which itself, is almost a modified Brooklyn accent) starts to come into play.
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on August 03, 2022, 05:18:51 PM
Quote from: BlueOutback7 on August 02, 2022, 09:16:57 AM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on August 02, 2022, 08:53:01 AM
Quote from: BlueOutback7 on August 02, 2022, 07:31:38 AM
I've always liked Philly's accent. Growing up traveling down that way, it's very unique. For example, water is pronounced "wooder" sandwiches are called "hoagies" , and you go "down the shore" .
Sandwiches; those with 2 slices of bread, are still sandwiches. Hoagies are termed subs in other parts of the country.
The Philly accent tends to make T's silent or modified, especially in the middle of the word.
I meant sub sandwiches yes. And I've heard plenty of people there pronounce salty as "saldy" .
But call a sub sandwich a "grinder" or "grindah" anywhere but New England and you'll be looked at like you have 3 heads.
Most of CT doesn't have much of an accent, except for the elimination of the glottal stop. Think "hard hit-in New Bri-tain" where the "t" is hardly pronounced. This same accent carries up into Western MA (pretty much west of Sturbridge). But get out east of the Connecticut River closer to RI and you have the "Swamp Yankee" accent, where the RI influence (which itself, is almost a modified Brooklyn accent) starts to come into play.
Heh. We had grinders at school when I was growing up.
The southside Virginia accent sticks out among the various southern accents. The pronunciation of the "or" sound especially. Watch any interview with Elliott Sadler to hear it.
I've been around Detroit all my life and haven't ever heard of a Detroit accent. Typically it seems like people from Michigan usually talk like the rest of the Midwest. I've been told I have more of a Chicago accent than anything. One time I was sitting at a bar in Chicago (the bar is now closed) and a guy from Milwaukee was sitting next to me and another guy from Detroit was sitting next to him I think they were together but anyway they started talking about Chicago accents and I said what's a Chicago accent I've never heard of one before and the guy from Milwaukee says, you have one. I pronounce the word sausage just like a straight Southsider.
Quote from: Flint1979 on August 04, 2022, 09:15:16 AM
I've been around Detroit all my life and haven't ever heard of a Detroit accent. Typically it seems like people from Michigan usually talk like the rest of the Midwest. I've been told I have more of a Chicago accent than anything. One time I was sitting at a bar in Chicago (the bar is now closed) and a guy from Milwaukee was sitting next to me and another guy from Detroit was sitting next to him I think they were together but anyway they started talking about Chicago accents and I said what's a Chicago accent I've never heard of one before and the guy from Milwaukee says, you have one. I pronounce the word sausage just like a straight Southsider.
It's not specific to Detroit - I think the technical term would be
Inland Northern (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Northern_American_English). You sometimes hear it here too, but it's usually pretty mild. It's much stronger west of Cleveland, and especially in the Detroit and Chicago areas.
Since nobody's said it yet: Tilde. More recognizable than the acute, grave, circumflex, macron, and many others.
Quote from: Flint1979 on August 04, 2022, 09:15:16 AM
I pronounce the word sausage just like a straight Southsider.
I like syahsidges.
Quote from: 1 on August 04, 2022, 09:45:09 AM
Since nobody's said it yet: Tilde. More recognizable than the acute, grave, circumflex, macron, and many others.
But umlaut is way more punk rock.
Quote from: GaryV on August 03, 2022, 02:39:41 PM
Quote from: mgk920 on August 03, 2022, 01:28:52 PM
Classic 'Yoopertalk' is pretty distinctive
Yah, you betcha.
Much of that accent extended down to Green Bay when I was a kid. I remember hearing my dad say things like "put da dishes in da zinc" when I was growing up. My friends often ended sentences with "you know, eh". People in Green Bay back in the 60s sounded much like Ontario hockey players (or Sarah Palin) today. My nieces who grew up on Green Bay don't talk that way. It's a fairly recent thing that it's now limited to the UP.
Quote from: 1 on August 04, 2022, 09:45:09 AM
Since nobody's said it yet: Tilde. More recognizable than the acute, grave, circumflex, macron, and many others.
I think the Norwegian/Swedish/Danish ring is more recognizåble.
Quote from: skluth on August 04, 2022, 01:57:21 PM
Quote from: GaryV on August 03, 2022, 02:39:41 PM
Quote from: mgk920 on August 03, 2022, 01:28:52 PM
Classic 'Yoopertalk' is pretty distinctive
Yah, you betcha.
Much of that accent extended down to Green Bay when I was a kid. I remember hearing my dad say things like "put da dishes in da zinc" when I was growing up. My friends often ended sentences with "you know, eh". People in Green Bay back in the 60s sounded much like Ontario hockey players (or Sarah Palin) today. My nieces who grew up on Green Bay don't talk that way. It's a fairly recent thing that it's now limited to the UP.
Plenty of it in northern Minnesota too.
Quote from: webny99 on August 04, 2022, 09:44:00 AM
Quote from: Flint1979 on August 04, 2022, 09:15:16 AM
I've been around Detroit all my life and haven't ever heard of a Detroit accent. Typically it seems like people from Michigan usually talk like the rest of the Midwest. I've been told I have more of a Chicago accent than anything. One time I was sitting at a bar in Chicago (the bar is now closed) and a guy from Milwaukee was sitting next to me and another guy from Detroit was sitting next to him I think they were together but anyway they started talking about Chicago accents and I said what's a Chicago accent I've never heard of one before and the guy from Milwaukee says, you have one. I pronounce the word sausage just like a straight Southsider.
It's not specific to Detroit - I think the technical term would be Inland Northern (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Northern_American_English). You sometimes hear it here too, but it's usually pretty mild. It's much stronger west of Cleveland, and especially in the Detroit and Chicago areas.
Wow I clicked that wikipedia link and they have a map with red dots and Saginaw is one of those red dots and so is Rochester so we both have the red dots in our cities. The red dots are cities identified within the Inland North dialect region. I can tell a New York, Boston or Southern accent pretty easily though.
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on August 03, 2022, 05:18:51 PM
Quote from: BlueOutback7 on August 02, 2022, 09:16:57 AM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on August 02, 2022, 08:53:01 AM
Quote from: BlueOutback7 on August 02, 2022, 07:31:38 AM
I've always liked Philly's accent. Growing up traveling down that way, it's very unique. For example, water is pronounced "wooder" sandwiches are called "hoagies" , and you go "down the shore" .
Sandwiches; those with 2 slices of bread, are still sandwiches. Hoagies are termed subs in other parts of the country.
The Philly accent tends to make T's silent or modified, especially in the middle of the word.
I meant sub sandwiches yes. And I've heard plenty of people there pronounce salty as "saldy" .
But call a sub sandwich a "grinder" or "grindah" anywhere but New England and you'll be looked at like you have 3 heads.
Most of CT doesn't have much of an accent, except for the elimination of the glottal stop. Think "hard hit-in New Bri-tain" where the "t" is hardly pronounced. This same accent carries up into Western MA (pretty much west of Sturbridge). But get out east of the Connecticut River closer to RI and you have the "Swamp Yankee" accent, where the RI influence (which itself, is almost a modified Brooklyn accent) starts to come into play.
I've heard of the term grinder here in Michigan. There is a place called Mancino's it's a chain with probably 45 or so locations in Michigan. They also have locations in the other states in the region, I've seen them in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin before. https://www.mancinospizzaandgrinders.com/
Whenever I say the word, "the" I say it like "da" instead of the. This has been said to be a Chicago thing as well.
As in, "Da Bears".
Quote from: GaryV on August 04, 2022, 02:42:06 PM
As in, "Da Bears".
Yeah that's probably one of the most popular ones.
Quote from: Flint1979 on August 04, 2022, 02:41:23 PM
Whenever I say the word, "the" I say it like "da" instead of the. This has been said to be a Chicago thing as well.
Interestingly, that's not all that off from how it's said around here, although here it's more "thuh" than "da". You pretty much never hear "the" with a long E sound.
Quote from: Scott5114 on August 04, 2022, 03:40:53 PM
You pretty much never hear "the" with a long E sound.
Around here, the long E is only present if followed by a vowel sound, or sometimes if there's a long pause after it. It's universal enough here that my choir director decided one way or the other (forget which way) how to pronounce the word "the" in a specific situation where the next sound was another long E, as if we were already aware of the consonant/vowel rule in general.
Quote from: 1 on August 04, 2022, 03:44:24 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on August 04, 2022, 03:40:53 PM
You pretty much never hear "the" with a long E sound.
Around here, the long E is only present if followed by a vowel sound, or sometimes if there's a long pause after it. It's universal enough here that my choir director decided one way or the other (forget which way) how to pronounce the word "the" in a specific situation where the next sound was another long E, as if we were already aware of the consonant/vowel rule in general.
Yeah, here, there's not even that. If I bought some fruit for a trip to the beach, I could eat thuh apple next to thuh ocean, then maybe hit up thuh ice cream truck before returning home on thuh Interstate.
Quote from: Scott5114 on August 04, 2022, 05:03:47 PM
Quote from: 1 on August 04, 2022, 03:44:24 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on August 04, 2022, 03:40:53 PM
You pretty much never hear "the" with a long E sound.
Around here, the long E is only present if followed by a vowel sound, or sometimes if there's a long pause after it. It's universal enough here that my choir director decided one way or the other (forget which way) how to pronounce the word "the" in a specific situation where the next sound was another long E, as if we were already aware of the consonant/vowel rule in general.
Yeah, here, there's not even that. If I bought some fruit for a trip to the beach, I could eat thuh apple next to thuh ocean, then maybe hit up thuh ice cream truck before returning home on thuh Interstate.
I think that's far more common in the U.S. than ever saying thee unless you're using it for emphasis.
I don't know, I feel like I use "thee" when the following word starts with a vowel quite a bit. Now I'll have to make sure to notice, but "thuh" sounds really odd in some cases, especially if the following word starts with u.
Quote from: webny99 on August 04, 2022, 08:39:33 PM
I don't know, I feel like I use "thee" when the following word starts with a vowel quite a bit. Now I'll have to make sure to notice, but "thuh" sounds really odd in some cases, especially if the following word starts with u.
Definitely a Northeast thing. Thuh underground is 100% acceptable in the Midwest. The vowel in the just gets a little shorter.
When I quit my job, thuh ultimate task was to return thuh uniform.
Doesn't sound weird to my ears.
Quote from: Scott5114 on August 04, 2022, 09:48:12 PM
When I quit my job, thuh ultimate task was to return thuh uniform.
Doesn't sound weird to my ears.
I'm actually fine with the second thuh. It's the first one that begins a phrase that needs the hard e
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on August 04, 2022, 11:35:58 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on August 04, 2022, 09:48:12 PM
When I quit my job, thuh ultimate task was to return thuh uniform.
Doesn't sound weird to my ears.
I'm actually fine with the second thuh.
That makes sense since "uniform" begins with a consonant sound.
Though I'm with Scott in that I use
thuh even before vowels. The only time I use
thee is if I'm emphasizing the word "the". For example: "this is
THEE place to be."
How about the Appalachian mountain twang that blends hard consonants at the end of the first word with the Y-sounds beginning in the next word. For instance, if I ask "Can I get you a glass of water", it comes out "geh-choo". But if I ask it in the plural "Can I get you'all something to drink", it goes to "geh-jew-ahll".
The Texas twang is unique and noticeable even among Southerners.
Quote from: Scott5114 on August 04, 2022, 09:48:12 PM
thuh ultimate task was to return thuh uniform.
Now I'm laughing at how mopey I sound when I read that aloud :-D
I think part of it is that I find "thee" much more distinct-sounding when blended with the following word. If I tried to use "thuh [insert word starting with vowel]", it would quickly become "th'[insert word starting with vowel]" (as in "th'ultimate" or "th'apple"), otherwise it just feels like you're repeating the same or similar sound twice and that requires slowing down quite a bit (at least for me).
Quote from: webny99 on August 05, 2022, 08:26:11 AM
Quote from: Scott5114 on August 04, 2022, 09:48:12 PM
thuh ultimate task was to return thuh uniform.
Now I'm laughing at how mopey I sound when I read that aloud :-D
I think part of it is that I find "thee" much more distinct-sounding when blended with the following word. If I tried to use "thuh [insert word starting with vowel]", it would quickly become "th'[insert word starting with vowel]" (as in "th'ultimate" or "th'apple"), otherwise it just feels like you're repeating the same or similar sound twice and that requires slowing down quite a bit (at least for me).
Pretty sure 95% of the people on this board sound mopey then. You're the weird one. :)
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 05, 2022, 09:23:47 AM
Quote from: webny99 on August 05, 2022, 08:26:11 AM
Quote from: Scott5114 on August 04, 2022, 09:48:12 PM
thuh ultimate task was to return thuh uniform.
Now I'm laughing at how mopey I sound when I read that aloud
...
Pretty sure 95% of the people on this board sound mopey then. You're the weird one. :)
Well, the #1 reason I'm weird is
because I'm on this board.. so I guess I'm OK with using "thee" being the #2 reason. :-P
Quote from: webny99 on August 05, 2022, 08:26:11 AM
Quote from: Scott5114 on August 04, 2022, 09:48:12 PM
thuh ultimate task was to return thuh uniform.
Now I'm laughing at how mopey I sound when I read that aloud :-D
I think part of it is that I find "thee" much more distinct-sounding when blended with the following word. If I tried to use "thuh [insert word starting with vowel]", it would quickly become "th'[insert word starting with vowel]" (as in "th'ultimate" or "th'apple"), otherwise it just feels like you're repeating the same or similar sound twice and that requires slowing down quite a bit (at least for me).
What about before a long e? For example: The Eagles. Would that be
thuh or
thee?
For "th'apple", the important part for me is that the "a" becomes longer, and therefore sounds distinct from "thapple".
A related Canadian example for me is saying "go outside". I tend to change the
out to
oat, so "go" and "out" blend into one long "o" sound.
Quote from: 7/8 on August 05, 2022, 09:29:33 AM
Quote from: webny99 on August 05, 2022, 08:26:11 AM
I think part of it is that I find "thee" much more distinct-sounding when blended with the following word. If I tried to use "thuh [insert word starting with vowel]", it would quickly become "th'[insert word starting with vowel]" (as in "th'ultimate" or "th'apple"), otherwise it just feels like you're repeating the same or similar sound twice and that requires slowing down quite a bit (at least for me).
What about before a long e? For example: The Eagles. Would that be thuh or thee?
In casual conversation I wouldn't usually be speaking slow enough to distinguish (since there's going to be a long
e sound in there regardless). I guess it would be kind of like "th'Eagles" with a single, perhaps slightly extended long
e sound.
Quote from: 7/8 on August 05, 2022, 09:29:33 AM
For "th'apple", the important part for me is that the "a" becomes longer, and therefore sounds distinct from "thapple".
For sure - I definitely don't say it like "thapple" :-D
I guess I read the apostrophe in "th'apple" as making kind of an
e sound, so I associate that sound with the
the, not the
apple. But I can see it both ways.
Quote from: Scott5114 on August 04, 2022, 03:40:53 PM
Quote from: Flint1979 on August 04, 2022, 02:41:23 PM
Whenever I say the word, "the" I say it like "da" instead of the. This has been said to be a Chicago thing as well.
Interestingly, that's not all that off from how it's said around here, although here it's more "thuh" than "da". You pretty much never hear "the" with a long E sound.
It is pretty strange how it sounds vs. how it's spelled.
Quote from: Dirt Roads on August 04, 2022, 11:49:49 PM
How about the Appalachian mountain twang that blends hard consonants at the end of the first word with the Y-sounds beginning in the next word. For instance, if I ask "Can I get you a glass of water", it comes out "geh-choo". But if I ask it in the plural "Can I get you'all something to drink", it goes to "geh-jew-ahll".
Arnold Jackson says that's a Harlem accent: "Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?!!!"
Apologies if this is out of line, but I have a related story to share: Many years ago at my previous job I first dealt with a particular Chicago-area supplier. From her voice, I pictured her as an older woman, maybe even a grandmother, with a cigar in one hand and a fancy cocktail in the other. We got into some small talk and I mentioned that I was in Detroit. She got all excited at that. "Oh, you've got that TV show there, Hardcore Porn. My husband and I love that show; we watch it all the time. We want to come to Detroit and see it for ourselves." And on and on. I was mortified; I just wanted to get my product information and get off the call. Turns out I misheard her because of her accent. She was talking about Hardcore Pawn, the reality-TV show about a Detroit pawn shop.