<p>Speaking of people readjusting their speech, my husband does that. He grew up in N KY and has a Midland accent. His parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. are from Alabama. I noted early in our marriage that his accent would change when he was speaking to any of his southern relatives. Our daughters noted the same thing when they were quite young. We can tell who he’s speaking to on the phone simply by listening to his accent. The funny thing is that he was completely unaware that his speech pattern was changing until I pointed it out to him. In fact, it took a lot of persuasion on my part to convince him that he really did sound different when he spoke to someone with a southern accent. He seems to absorb the accent like a sponge.</p>
<p>Small world. Did you grow up in Cincinnati? I moved to the area as a young adult. I was surprised to learn about the eastside/westside differences in Cincy and the fact that when natives ask where you went to school, they’re not talking about college, but where you went to H.S. I’ve wondered if that is something unique to the region or if there are other places where it really matters what H.S. one attended :)!</p>
<p>I’ve lived in Cincinnati my whole life (except for 6 years when I lived in Chicago)…And yep, people do ask where you went to high school. I really think it is unique to this region (because Cincinnati is sooo small-town like).</p>
<p>I am “lowest common denominator of American speech.” Unless I live in SoCal, no one thinks I have an accent…</p>
<p>Which is essentially accurate, since I’m from Canada, and would consider myself to have no particular accent (Canadian, American or otherwise) in particular.</p>
<p>I got Midland, and that was accurate since I grew up in St. Louis. Have lived on the east coast for almost 30 years and people have always said that I don’t sound as though I’m from the midwest. I guess they think I should have a rural Missouri twang or something! Never have had that!!</p>
<p>Oregonian - I think we understand each other. :)</p>
<p>Dancersmom - I pronounce awe and ahh the same. I wonder how you say it differently. Does awe come close to sounding like the o in or? (I’m hearing my Brooklyn relatives as I type that.)</p>
<p>Since this thread appeared I’ve been looking for this - in addition to pronunciation differences, it expands on the soda/pop divide for other differences in regional vocabulary.</p>
<p>Mow the lawn/cut the grass - hoagie/grinder/sub - milkshake/frappe etc.</p>
<p>This is not inconsistent. According to a show I saw on PBS years ago, of all the accents and varieties present up and down the US east coast, the one that spread throughout the west to become the standard American accent was the Pennsylvania accent. </p>
<p>And <em>everyone</em> thinks that they themselves have no accent. It’s always everyone else who talks funny.</p>
<p>BTW, I got “The West” also, which is not surprising since I’ve spent most of my life in various parts of the west. (Although I can detect some regional variation within the west itself).</p>
<p>When I lived in CA people there were always surprised that I had “no accent”. I don’t think I have one, but I do have a somewhat regional vocabulary influenced mostly by my mother Boston/New Englandisms plus going to college there, and now 18 years in the New York area. It’s a tag sale to me now! To me the midwest accent can be quite nasal - it seems to come out more when they are trying to learn foreign languages. (Gross generalization.)</p>
<p>expanded: 100% Dixie. Is General Lee your Grandfather? </p>
<p>Hehe… no but my H and S’s (all Civil war buffs) would love it if he was. One of my neighbors is a great granddaughter of Stonewall Jackson though.</p>
<p>Someone (mathmom?) said they notice regional differences more in parts of speech than in pronunciation. Me too. I have learned to use infinitives since moving away from my hometown, but was initially surprised back in college when the omission was pointed out to me: My car needs washed. My hair needs combed. Some of my Erieite friends and family have also expressed surprise that there is supposed to be a “to be” (or an -ing) in the sentence. </p>
<p>The test referenced above was a little hard for me, because now that I’ve lived in the south for 22 years, I am comfortable hearing a lot of the expressions, and have to really think what would be my automatic usage. I’m sure I’ve said every variation of cut the grass/mow the lawn – probably even “The lawn needs mowed.” :)</p>
<p>I spent some time in Scotland after college and was told I “sound like American TV.” Which made sense, and just meant that they could understand me better than I could understand them.</p>
<p>I was born and raised in So Cal and if anything, I speak Valley Girl. When that song came out early 80’s, we all had to take a long hard look at ourselves, because that’s exactly what we sounded like, even though we went to a fairly decent college. Not so much Valley Girl these days since I live in the Northern part of the state, but when I go down to SoCal, I find myself slipping back a little bit, but only with other Native SoCal-ers.</p>
<p>One thing the quiz forgot? Was to ask if you end all of your sentences as if they were questions?</p>