Do you say 'to' or do you say 'tuh?'

[onehandle]

As in Jeb just saying: “I’ve accomplished some things in my life that allow me now to have that kind of discretion to be able to think about [a White House bid],”

He said 'tuh.'

I'm wondering if pronouncing it 'tuh' (sounds like a very short duh) is a regional thing.

I cite 'South' in the poll options, but it might be a rural thing, so comments are welcome.

On edit: trackfan downthread described it as a t' sound. That is pretty accurate. I do that around half the time, depending on the conversation and words I'm using.

8 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	To (I'm not from the South)
	4 (50%)
	To (I'm from the South)
	1 (13%)
	Tuh (I'm not from the South)
	1 (13%)
	Tuh (I'm from the South)
	0 (0%)
	other
	2 (25%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[aristocles]

1. Let me take you to school.

Your answer is here:

http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/NationalMap/NationalMap.html

I'm from the descriptive rather than the prescriptive school of linguistics. No locution is "correct", it is simply commonly used, and commonly intelligible.

[DoBotherMe]

2. How about "gonna wanna"

I never hear "going to want to." I've been trying to correct my pronunciation for that phrase and "fer" for "for". Midwest hick here. Dana ; )

[Hulk Smash]

4. yep. Annoying!

[Hulk Smash]

3. "tuh" is lazy English.

I also hate "He goes" instead of "He said..." It's used a lot up north here.

[yurbud]

5. Do you hate it more than "and then he's like..." to mean the same thing?

[Iggo]

18. How about "So I says to him I says..."

[liberal_at_heart]

22. well then I guess I'm lazy

[demwing]

31. I blame the toys

The cow goes MOO
The duck goes QUACK
The teenager goes "DAAAAAD!"

And we all have exchanged "goes" for "says."

[trackfan]

6. In that sentence, I say it closer to tuh. More like t' really

I'm from Los Angeles

[onehandle]

7. Yes. t' is good description.

I do that as well.

[HereSince1628]

9. So wood I, n'I learned t'speak in El-a-noy from two El-a-noy-ans

Last edited Tue Mar 5, 2013, 02:25 PM - Edit history (1)

One from north-run El-a-noy and one from suth-arn El-a-noy

[wickerwoman]

10. Yes,

this from Seattle. Must be a West Coast thing

[Tikki]

8. I am from California and I say thaaught (rhymes with thought) I am going 't'* the beach, today.

ps jeb bush is a jackass and he always looks like an unmade bed.

Tikki

*'t' sounds correct

[Igel]

11. No.

It's a question of speed and register more than geographical dialect. Perhaps you should think "social" dialect, but this easily crosses boundaries between social groups.

Long high vowels tend to shorten. "to" is a high long vowel. It readily shortens to t + a short "u".

Unstressed short "u" is often reduced to schwa.

Schwa's easily drop out of quick or informal speech.

"Sloppy" speech is just what we call informal speech that we don't engage in, or don't engage in in a given context. Our speech is always proper, even if "informal." Carter's "nucular" was quaint; Bush's "nucular" showed he was a chimp. Think of it as a group/tribal thing.

It's not an accident that "that will" is often reduced to "that'll" just as "he will" was reduced to "he'll". Same with "would". "Have" is undergoing the same change in standard English--not because it's new to English, but because we've gone more plebian in our registers.

It's not an accident that "loved" (and other verbs in -ed) that are one syllable now used to be two syllables. In older poetic styles you'd get an accent grave to indicate that the vowel wasn't to be shorted, reduced, and elided.

[Tikki]

13. Interesting...thanks, when I return to the NW where I grew up to age 16, I notice how different..

I sound then they do. I have lived in SoCal for over 40 years and I can remember kids who moved
out here, under the age of 18, from states like Arkansas and North Carolina and lost their accent, drawl, whatever, almost immediately...at least while they were in classes at school or at a social gathering with other SoCal kids.

Human speech is complex and grand what ever way it is mouthed.


Tikki

[CTyankee]

24. English is a stress-timed language. As a Literacy Volunteer I usually tutor people who speak

a syllable timed language. I try to get that concept across to my adult learners in my Intermediate classes. They find the concept a bit strange as they are used to pronouncing every syllable.

nice little (but simplistic) video explains:

[Tikki]

30. When my youngest was in 4th grade he started speech therapy because he had two volumes when..

he spoke...extra loud or super soft.

For 3 school years he received training and it helped so much
that now as an adult he has the 'radio' voice and participates in an
online show as an emcee, often.

This was a huge boost to his ego for a very shy guy...and this is why we
need these kinds of programs in schools.


Tikki

[Agnosticsherbet]

12. This is a good resource for regional dialects...

http://aschmann.net/AmEng/

I grew up in Northern Oklahoma with a West Midland dialect.

[Spider Jerusalem]

14. That depends

on whether "to" precedes a word that begins with a vowel or consonant sound. "We're going to Alaska/Oklahoma" - to, long O. "We're going to the beach", the "to" is elided, it becomes almost "t'the beach". (Also, "going to do that", etc.) Try saying those things aloud yourself and listening to the change in "to" depending on the next word.

From all over (born in Florida, lived in California, then in Georgia for over 20 years...without acquiring a Southern accent, apparently...and now for several years in the UK, and my speech has gone a bit Mid-Atlantic).

[Populist_Prole]

15. More of a T' for me as well

Growing up my older relatives seemed to regard exact enunciation of words as an affectation. Saying "Do You" instead of "D'ya" would bring ridicule.

[ananda]

16. It's an affectation of politicians thinking that it reaches middle America or something.

Obama does it to.

It annoys me a lot.

[onehandle]

23. Pretty sure I've heard him say 'tuh' as well.

As in:

'I would speak tuh Speaker Boehner about the sequester, but he's going tuh spray tanning booth right now.'

[Iggo]

17. I'm from SoCal.

The sentence "I'm going to go to the beach" can be shortened to three words:

Ahmenah godethah beach.

[trackfan]

21. That's perfect!

Ahmenah godethah store after work.

[liberal_at_heart]

19. I live in WA but still speak Texan

[CTyankee]

32. after all these years up north I still find myself using texanisms.

they bewilder folks up here.

"It's a fer piece from here"

"I'll be hornswoggled"

"it must be nigh on to dinner time"

[Populist_Prole]

20. I remember neighbors yelling at us playing on the road as they drove by

"Gatta-da road...Awlla yiz!"

[pipi_k]

25. Other...funny...

I never thought about it before, but I do tend to alternate, I guess depending on my audience.

[WinkyDink]

26. It depends on the sentence construction. "To" with a schwa sound is pretty common.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwa

[KansDem]

27. I believe it's a "folksy" kind of thing...

He needs to appeal to the neo-cons, right-wingers, and Teabaggers. Soundly folksy will help him sew up the wing-nut vote.

People will hear him and say, "I want 'tuh' have a beer with him!"

[rollin74]

28. in my experience, people almost always change the o in "to" to the schwa

to make it sound similar to tuh ( tə )

at least in the places I've lived (grew up in So. California, now live in Nevada)

[bike man]

29. It is no worse than appending "just sayin'" to written or spoken words, or tossing in

a "you know" every second or third sentence, or sometimes in mid-sentence.

"You know", when hurled at me repeatedly, makes me want to respond with "If you think I know, then why bother saying it."