<p>I live north of Boston and I’ve been told I have a slight Boston accent, though most of the time I use my R’s correctly. People used to make fun of my dad not using his R’s and he would say he saves them for the important words like “Potater” and “Tomater.”</p>
<p>Marry/merry/Mary are all different to me. Don/Dawn are the same.</p>
<p>We also say “carriage” for “shopping cart.” “Trash barrel” not “garbage can.” “Rotary” instead of “roundabout.” “Bubbler” (or more “Bubblah”) for a drinking fountain. Black sprinkles on ice cream are called “Jimmies,” which I’m fairly sure is an unwitting reference to “Jim Crow.”</p>
<p>My favorite is the distinction of “Frappe” (rhymes with “trap”) and “Milkshake.” Our milkshakes are just frothed milk with flavor. If it has ice cream, it’s a frappe.</p>
<p>My husband says “warsh” for wash as in “do we need to do a warsh load”. Ugh. But now after 30 years I have said it in jest so many times that it is second nature.</p>
<p>As a kid my mom would say “put your clothes in the draw” (Brooklyn accent) and when I went to college and heard kids say “drawer” I thought they were adding in that extra r sound. I had to look the word up in the dictionary to check on the actual spelling/pronunciation. I still hear “drawer” as odd.</p>
<p>Spent the weekend with New Jersey cousins and revelled in being able to say “dawg” fully and completely without having to curb myself (lol) to “dog” (dahhhhg with a nasal sound). Same goes for Water (rhymes w/ daughter as dawter in N.J.) vs. what sounds odd to me but is the norm around here (New England) that is water ryhming with otter (sounds to me like ahhhhhhhter - ugh).</p>
<p>Went to school in Michigan and the pronunciation of my name changed. Ugh. </p>
<p>Have friends in Syracuse and that vowel shift is a definite for sure. I like one of the links in the thread that points out it’s a Norwegian accent from the northern farm settlers. I’ve heard it for decades in them but it is funny to hear the kids develop it a bit.</p>
<p>In northern VT you can still hear a bit of Irish accent in locals - what “toime” is it? It’s very sweet to me ear.</p>
<p>Lordy, y’all would love my accent. From New Orleans, which is sort of a Brooklyn/Southern. Went to college at University of Miami, and had a roommate from Rhode Island, so now I’ve got the Boston accent mixed in, too. My first job out of college was teaching science to middle school to high school kids. My accent had them on the floor laughing all day long.</p>
<p>One thing I cannot get rid of: ice is pronounced AAHS. Hurts my nose to say it right.</p>
<p>I’m going to go over Hee-ya, not here.</p>
<p>Someone could also tell I was from Louisiana because I call the thing in the kitchen a zinc rather than a sink.</p>
<p>Took a statement from a witness yesterday from the bayou who “panted” his house. The attorney from Chicago had a heck of a time with him.</p>
<p>Yet, that same attorney will drive me nuts with some of his pronunciations, especially the way he pronounces “roof”. Since my job involves phonetics, my brain has to work on overdrive when I get a Yankee and a Cajun in the same room, which, unfortunately, often happens.</p>
<p>I am a NYer living north of Boston for about 17 years. I have lost some of my NY accent ( no longer call the stuff they serve at Starbucks cawfee) but I don’t have a Boston accent either.</p>
<p>I am in the “soda” camp. When I lived in Seattle I was grocery shopping and couldn’t find the soda aisle in the grocery store… that is because it was labelled “pop”. In Boston the older generation doesn’t call it soda or pop… they call it “tonic”</p>
<p>Pronunciations that drive me crazy here</p>
<p>mine = “mayan”
potato = “budayda”
half = “hoff”
and of course March “Mahch” and forty “fahty” and all the other dropped Rs </p>
<p>My kids make fun of me because I drop my the H in human … sounds more like “Youman”</p>
<p>Mary/ merry/marry… all different
pin/pen… different
Don/Dawn…different</p>
<p>My best story about living north of Boston:
When I moved up here I went to Ann Taylor to look for some khakis. I couldn’t find any so I asked the sales girl for help. She rummaged behind the counter for a bit then got the manager. I repeated my request … " I am looking for khakis". She also went behind the counter and looked around. She then pulls out some paper and a pen and asks me for my phone number “in case they turn up she can call me”. I was thoroughly confused. Then she said " can you describe what kind of ring they are on?" At this point I FINALLY caught on… and burst out laughing!!!</p>
<p>Apparently in Boston “khakis” and “car keys” sound the same !!!</p>
<p>Only an hour south of where we live, it is the south. All of a sudden, people say “ya’ll.” It still cracks me up when we leave a place there, they say “bah” every time.</p>
<p>I never can understand why some people add R’s to the end of their words. Like, I watch Mob Wives (don’t judge me ) and they always say CarlaR for Carla, RamonaR for Ramona, etc. etc. It’s kinda funny to me.</p>
<p>Dawn and Don…virtually the same in Boston-ese
But it is soda , not pop…pop goes the weasel , pop goes the tire or balloon , pop goes the music genre
Mary, Merry and marry are not the same word
There is also no such word as " vanella " </p>
<p>Garland , we should meet up one day , since we are neighbahs and all :)</p>
<p>I too love accents and dialects and also ( tongue planted firmly in cheek here ) letting people know the correct pronunciation of words</p>
<p>Writer1992: My daughter has a name that ends in A. The people that pronounce it ending with Er have tended to be South African or British.</p>
<p>I had friends in grad school named Aaron and Erin. People always asked me if I was talking about girl Erin or boy Aaron. Are they pronounced differently by anyone?</p>
<p>my name happens to be Erin. living in new York people pronounce it ehrin. but when relatives come to visit from Vermont an new hampshire, they say “Airan”. </p>
<p>how about them “lawn guyland” accents? proud owner of one!</p>
<p>Aaron and Erin are the same to me. Both air-in. Until an Aaron or Erin introduces themselves as anything other than air-in, I’m going to call them that ;).</p>
<p>Aaron and Erin don’t sound anything alike to me. But then, neither do Carrie or Kerry (the latter is my D’s name–drives me bat****e nuts when it’s pronounced Carrie.)</p>
<p>Hugcheck–my parents were from Queens–I too thought it was a “draw” not a “drawer” until gradeschool when I saw the word. I adopted the correct pronunciation immediately; pretty sure Mom still says draw.</p>
<p>lje62–absolutely! One of these days I’m going to head up to your town and wander into bikeshops mumbling about college until someone looks up and says “garland?”</p>
<p>My first name rhymes with one of those. And it is NOT said like “Air-in” at all, because it has a short a. </p>
<p>Just because an r follows the a doesn’t magically turn a short a into the “air” sound. Nor does it magically turn a short e into the “air” sound.</p>
<p>If I came up with these made-up words (emphasis on first syllable):
Mat-rin
Met-rin</p>
<p>You’d say them differently.
So now take out the t. Keep the vowel sounds exactly as they are.</p>
<p>Different accents. If I ever meet you, PG, I promise to call you whatever you ask me to call you. Just as I’ll keep calling Air-ins by their preferred pronunciation :D</p>
) and they always say CarlaR for Carla, RamonaR for Ramona, etc. etc. It’s kinda funny to me.</p>