<p>I hear the Northern Cities Great Vowel Shift here in Chicago a lot. “Milk” has morphed into “melk.” Very subtly, people aren’t aware.</p>
<p>Maybe Florida ‘Flo’ with ‘gar’ sound instead of ‘oar’ sound evolved because of people seeing old Fla. abbreviation for decades.</p>
<p>Well the fountain pins were usually rapidographs, with ink cartridges, but that was always our response to him.</p>
<p>Bostonians say tonic for soda or pop. Sprinkles on an ice cream cone are called jimmies. Liquor stores are called package stores as in “I’m going down to the packy, anyone want somethin?” </p>
<p>I still don’t pronounce my “r’s” and I haven’t lived there for over 30 years…“I suah could go fah some lobstah today.”</p>
<p>I spent my young childhood in northern Ohio and we called cola products “sody pop.”</p>
<p>These maps just confirmed how crazy the rest of you are, particularly on the pronunciation of “syrup,” and “Mary/merry/marry” (I knew others pronounced those incorrectly, but I didn’t realize we were basically the only ones in the whole country who get it right!) and the choice of “sneakers”/“tennis shoes” (seriously, tennis shoes are a type of sneakers!) and “sunshowers”/“the devil beating his wife” (I’m not even going to ask how that one came into existence).</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know why Milwaukee and St. Louis are such strong bastions of “soda” rather than the relatively milder surrounding pronunciations? Their affinity for “soda” is even darker than Atlanta’s affinity for “Coke,” and I can’t think of why Milwaukee and St. Louis would say “soda” since it’s not like there’s a major company called “Soda” there like Coca-Cola in Atlanta.</p>
<p>My part of North Carolina says Sun-dy instead of Sun-day. And yester-dy. My Midwest family say Sun-day. Is -dy common for day names in other parts of South?</p>
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<p>I, too, found that curious. I wonder if has something to do with the fact that Milwaukee and St. Louis were historically two of the nation’s biggest beer-brewing centers, and the brewers shifted to manufacturing soft drinks during Prohibition–not coincidentally, about the same time bottled soft drinks for home consumption really took off in popularity. If the manufacturers used the term “soda” that term would have stuck with their employees, and the friends and families of their employees, and in the local lingo more generally; but that wouldn’t necessarily carry over to surrounding states or even the most distant parts of their own states.</p>
<p>I’ve read accounts that say the term “pop” is derived from “soda pop.” The earliest bottled sodas were in glass or metal containers sealed with cork stoppers that made a popping sound when opened, like champagne. You went to the soda fountain for a soda, but if you took a bottle home, that was a “soda pop.” Parts of the country just called it all “soda” to emphasize it was all the same product. Parts of the country abbreviated “soda pop” to “pop.” It wouldn’t be surprising that the major manufacturers would call the product “soda” whether they were shipping it in bulk to soda fountains or bottling it in glass containers for the home market. But that’s really just speculation on my part.</p>
<p>Suburban (not LI) Noo Yawker here (though I do pronounce it Noo Yorker, actually):
Doesn’t everyone say soda? And traffic circle? And Mary and marry are the same (mare-ry) and merry is totally different (meh-rry)! And sneakers, for heaven’s sake! TENNIS SHOES?!?!</p>
<p>In my hometown of South Boston, “ums/ahh/uhh” were frequently switched out with . . . slightly less polite words. “where’s the, umm, monkey wrench” became "where’s the [uncouth language] monkey wrench? This wasn’t done to add emphasis, it was meant as a pause to find the next word.</p>
<p>easy way to remember…M- air -y</p>
<p>marry…is just a normal short “a” sound, rhymes with Harry(unless you say it like H-air-ee…lol)
merry is normal short “e” sound</p>
<p>The only people in NC who say “soda” or “sneakers” are those who moved here from another (non-southern) state.<br>
Also “barbecue” is a noun not a verb here.</p>
<p>^ Ain’t that the truth! I get so annoyed when people say “barbeque” when they mean grilling hamburgers. Barbeque is smoked meat!</p>
<p>Geeps, they’re all the same. Consonant, air-y. Harry, Mary, fairy, dairy, contrary…</p>
<p>^ so Harry is hairy is the same?..totally different for me, “a” in Harry is a normal short “a” as in cat.</p>
<p>Packmom - You can tell native Virginian’s from transplants if they say they are going to barbecue hamburger or chicken, or if they correctly say they are going to grill hamburgers or chicken. Drives me nuts, but I smile and nod.</p>
<p>My neighbor’s 4 year old is named Harry (actually Harrison, but they call him Harry), and yes, it sounds the same as Hairy.</p>
<p>But I know HOW to say it differently, because I’ve seen the end of “It’s a Wonderful Life” a million times… “Harry…Harry…” (with a short “a” sound) :)</p>
<p>^ you mean you know how to say it correctly…lol…sorry, couldn’t resist</p>
<p>Geeps, the a as in cat doesn’t really work because their short a’s are different, too. In other words, their “cat” isn’t necessarily similar to your “cat.” There’s a bit more of a “c-yat” to it. The technical linguistic term is phonemic </p>
<p>Some phrases and pronunciation that I haven’t heard out of my native Arkansas:</p>
<p>Can you “carry” me to the store? (meaning “take” or “drive”)
Watch out! Don’t “tump” over your coffee. (meaning “dump” or “spill”)
We live on the Buffalo “bye-oh”. (“bayou”)</p>
<p>I’m sure there are more, but those are the ones my husband calls me on.</p>
<p>And for the record, in Arkansas, all three words are pronounced “mare”.</p>