Odin2005
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Thu Oct-01-09 10:37 PM
Original message |
Regional grammatical peculiarities. |
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I noticed today that most people around here (Fargo area), myself included, say "I've boughten", "I've caughten", etc. in analogy to "gotten" and other irregular verbs with -en endings in the past participle.
On the other hand, I have a tendency to regularize the verbs "fly" and "throw".
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nytemare
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Thu Oct-01-09 10:41 PM
Response to Original message |
1. I used to say "warsh" instead of "wash". |
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I've noticed a lot of people from the mid-atlantic regions do the same. Maryland, DC, Delaware, NoVA. I still hear my mother say it occasionally.
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soleiri
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Thu Oct-01-09 11:38 PM
Response to Reply #1 |
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She grew up in the southwest and her father was from Texas.
I'm from California, so every um other um word is um... um.
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Bertha Venation
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Fri Oct-02-09 03:02 PM
Response to Reply #8 |
26. I work in Warshington DC |
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It is disconcerting to hear that from a highly intelligent woman whom I admire, and it makes me wonder where she's from.
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Odin2005
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Fri Oct-02-09 03:35 PM
Response to Reply #26 |
28. I could have swore I remember hearing Dan Rather or somebody saying "Warshington" when I was a kid. |
SoxFan
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Fri Oct-02-09 05:46 PM
Response to Reply #26 |
36. That's the local Maryland accent |
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Bawlumur and Warshington.
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Bertha Venation
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Sat Oct-03-09 12:47 PM
Response to Reply #36 |
48. But I live in So. Maryland and I've never heard anyone else use it. |
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Been to Bawlmer many times, never heard it . . .
Then again, I don't get out much. :)
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madmom
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Sat Oct-03-09 02:44 PM
Response to Reply #8 |
52. My mom does do, raised in western Maryland. |
Shell Beau
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Sat Oct-03-09 07:25 PM
Response to Reply #1 |
64. That one bugs me for some reason. People do it down here in the south too. |
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People also say Chicargo, winder (window), and people totally butcher the word "ruin". Many people say ruint, or rurned. Drives me bananas.
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Lydia Leftcoast
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Thu Oct-01-09 11:02 PM
Response to Original message |
2. Although the usage is now found in Minnesota as well (grrr) |
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when I first went to the Pacific Northwest, I was astonished at how many people said "I have went," "I have ate," "I have drank," "I have came," "I have ran." "I have The topper was a man who was arrested for murder and was quoted in the newspaper as saying, "I ain't did nothing."
The most embarrassing was when one of the English professors at the college where I was teaching was scheduled to give a poetry reading on campus. Unfortunately, they assigned the publicity poster to one of their less grammatical students. The caption to a photograph of the professor said, "______ has taught English at ______ College since 1985. Many of the poems she has wrote have been published in national magazines."
On the other hand, when I was growing up in Minnesota, people tended to use the past participle instead of the past tense (the opposite of the Pacific Northwest pattern): "I done it already." "He come here several times already." "He seen it with his own eyes." "Who drunk all the lemonade?" One of my cousins married a man from northern Minnesota who still says, "Them is" instead of "They are."
I've also heard "boughten," but never "caughten."
My father came from the northwestern corner of Minnesota, and he and his sister used two phrases I have never heard anywhere else: "breakfast food" for "cereal" and "glamour puss" for a celebrity-type woman.
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Odin2005
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Thu Oct-01-09 11:07 PM
Response to Reply #2 |
3. LOL, I ALWAYS say "I have ate" |
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And was shocked that people elsewhere don't say "spendy" and "hotdish"! :rofl:
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Arugula Latte
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Fri Oct-02-09 12:11 PM
Response to Reply #3 |
21. "Spendy" made it to the Pacific Northwest with the folks who emigrated from the upper Midwest |
Odin2005
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Fri Oct-02-09 03:33 PM
Response to Reply #21 |
trof
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Fri Oct-02-09 05:50 PM
Response to Reply #2 |
37. My Alabama grandmother called cereal 'breakfast food'. |
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After a huge, traditional 'Sunday dinner', she say "Let's just have breakfast food for supper."
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madmom
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Sat Oct-03-09 02:49 PM
Response to Reply #37 |
53. My in laws say sandwich meat instead of luncheon meat or lunch meat. |
Orrex
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Thu Oct-01-09 11:11 PM
Response to Original message |
4. Yinzers drop the infinitive "to be" in certain contexts |
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"The dishes need washed."
or
"The dog needs let out."
or, in the case of Hamlet:
"Or not."
Well, I'm kidding about that last one...
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Odin2005
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Thu Oct-01-09 11:14 PM
Response to Reply #4 |
5. That's interesting! Serial Verb constructions for teh WIN!!! |
I Have A Dream
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Fri Oct-02-09 10:20 PM
Response to Reply #4 |
43. This is done in Central Pennsylvania as well. |
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Goodness, it's an awfully tough habit to break. :(
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Sisaruus
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Sat Oct-03-09 01:13 PM
Response to Reply #4 |
49. An ex-husband used to talk like that. |
ScreamingMeemie
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Thu Oct-01-09 11:24 PM
Response to Original message |
6. The curious need for people from Michigan to pluralize stores, Kmart is Kmart's |
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Kroger is Kroger's, Target's, and on and on...
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jobycom
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Thu Oct-01-09 11:33 PM
Response to Reply #6 |
7. I thought Krogers was Krogers. |
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:shrug:
Could it be a French influence? I've heard that in Louisiana. In French you'd say "chez Target," which would roughly mean "Target's place," so people with a French heritage instinctively convert Target to "Target's place," shortened to "Target's."
Another trait in New Orleans and south Louisiana is to add "me" at the end of a sentence. "I'm going to Target's, me." That's also a French construct.
A lot of regional dialects are the result of the original language of the original immigrants. That was the whole point of studying Ebonics, but of course the pop-news media portrayed it as something else and made a serious study into a racist punchline.
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Odin2005
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Thu Oct-01-09 11:46 PM
Response to Reply #7 |
11. There is a strong amount of Scandanvian and German substratum here. |
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One way of saying "go to X" and "stop at" around gere is "go by X" and "stop by X", this usage is derived from the usage of the German preposition "bei"
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Lydia Leftcoast
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Fri Oct-02-09 01:36 PM
Response to Reply #11 |
24. Yes, and the use of "by" for at somebody's house |
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"So, do you have cable by you?"
It's not real common anymore, but it is due to influence from German immigrants.
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raccoon
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Fri Oct-02-09 07:39 AM
Response to Reply #6 |
15. Southernerners do that a lot too. nt |
no name no slogan
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Fri Oct-02-09 04:56 PM
Response to Reply #6 |
34. People in N. Illinois do that too |
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Jewel is Jewel's, Osco is Osco's
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nemo137
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Fri Oct-02-09 06:00 PM
Response to Reply #34 |
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I've heard the Jewel and the Osco more than pluralizing them.
On the other hand, I'm pretty sure Highlanders and Vallis are both technically singular, so maybe you're on to something.
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david13
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Sat Oct-03-09 03:12 PM
Response to Reply #6 |
54. You got that one right, but you know where that started? Ford. Or |
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as they say Fords. He works at Fords. He retired from Fords. Etc. ??? dc
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Enrique
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Thu Oct-01-09 11:39 PM
Response to Original message |
9. a black co-worker completely reverses word order |
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he'll say things like, "what kind of car that is?"
Some other black co-workers tease him about it, how "country" he sounds.
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suninvited
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Fri Oct-02-09 10:21 PM
Response to Reply #9 |
44. I used to hear that a lot when I lived in Cajun country |
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Grand Isle, LA.
the cajuns used literal translation of french to english.
I would have my daughter out and people would ask me "How old she is"?
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NNadir
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Thu Oct-01-09 11:40 PM
Response to Original message |
10. "I gotta cutchya" is New York for stating, "I deeply regret that I have to murder you." |
Tuesday Afternoon
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Fri Oct-02-09 09:36 AM
Response to Reply #10 |
Manifestor_of_Light
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Thu Oct-01-09 11:46 PM
Response to Original message |
12. East Texas doesn't know about helper verbs. |
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I constantly hear "I seen" and "I done".
:banghead:
They put -ed on the end of a verb instead of changing it. The TV talking heads do this too.
The other day I heard a story about the boy in CA who was in a tunnel at Grandma's house, and the TV people said "he was hidden in hiding".
:banghead:
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EndersDame
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Fri Oct-02-09 09:51 PM
Response to Reply #12 |
42. I hate it when people add "t" |
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for example: He killt the deer when he ran over it
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I Have A Dream
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Sat Oct-03-09 12:04 PM
Response to Reply #42 |
47. Of course, some verbs have forms of that type... |
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and some verbs have multiple correct forms such as dream which can have dreamed or dreamt, or light which can have either lighted or lit. (I have actually had people tell me that I was wrong when I used the latter of the two choices.)
However, I know what you mean -- people just randomly adding 't' to the end of any verb to make it past tense.
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david13
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Sat Oct-03-09 03:13 PM
Response to Reply #42 |
55. Using t instead of ed. |
vixengrl
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Thu Oct-01-09 11:59 PM
Response to Original message |
13. Youse--in Philadelphia and environs, there is a plural of the "addressee" |
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so to speak--"youse." And it makes better sense than the pronuoun "you", to indicate a plural group, non? It would be vous vs. tu in French, a language that seriously influenced early English. Sometimes the "youse" is pronounced "yiz". As in, "I picked up an extra six-pack of Yeunglings, if yiz want any."
Also, we manage to elide syllables in a way that, for example, shortens contractions. "Shouldn't" becomes "shoont." "Wouldn't" becomes "woont." "Isn't" actually becomes "idn't" or "ain't". And "Did you eat yet?" becomes "Dju eatchet?"
("Naw, eye dineat."
"I got haffuhoagie in the fridge--youin?"
"American?"
"Italian with mayo."
"Aight, I'll eat the hoagie. Any soda?"
"Diet Coke and Franks Cherry Wishniak."
"No shit--a cherry soda--wait, naw, I'll have a Bud Light."
"Fuck, that's my sister's beer, you're having a Yeungling."
"Aight.")
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Odin2005
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Fri Oct-02-09 07:49 AM
Response to Reply #13 |
16. That elision is actually very common in English generally |
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Not a peculiarity of Philly! :)
Around here "you guys" has evolved into the pronoun "y'uys" and has had the effect on making the word "guys" more gender-neutral.
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woo me with science
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Fri Oct-02-09 05:18 AM
Response to Original message |
14. Many Midwesterners say, "if she would have done it," |
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Edited on Fri Oct-02-09 05:21 AM by woo me with science
instead of "if she had done it." Even the newscasters do this. It drives me crazy.
e.g. "If she would have called him, he would have answered,"
instead of, "If she had called him, he would have answered."
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MorningGlow
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Fri Oct-02-09 08:34 AM
Response to Original message |
17. The worst? "So don't I" |
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instead of "Me too". I have NO idea where it came from. Also "truck" is an entity lacking an article if you drive one: "I drive truck" (as a career) but "I drive a car" or "I ride a motorbike" (for recreation/standard mode of transportation). Go figure.
Worst pronunciation: "sangwidch". :scared:
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KamaAina
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Fri Oct-02-09 11:42 AM
Response to Original message |
19. New Orleans-American dictionary |
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make groceries = go food shopping neutral ground = median strip for = by ("Okay, I'll be there for four o'clock") by = at, near ("Okay, I'll meet you by Tropical Isle for four o'clock")
many, many more.
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Forkboy
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Fri Oct-02-09 12:08 PM
Response to Original message |
20. When I went to a store in Ohio the checkout lady asked, "Didjins all need a bag for that?" |
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I had no idea what the fuck she had just said to me. :rofl:
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Arugula Latte
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Fri Oct-02-09 12:12 PM
Response to Original message |
22. I have Ohio roots and some of my relatives say "youse" as a plural of "you." |
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Like, "Can youse come over to our house for a family dinner?"
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LynneSin
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Fri Oct-02-09 12:14 PM
Response to Original message |
23. Pennsylvania Dutch has both weird pronounciations but oddities in grammer too |
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So instead of washing my clothes in the creek on Washington's birthday -
I would be worshing my clothes in the crick on Worshington's birfday.
And we also say strange things like "Throw me down the stairs my coat"
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libodem
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Fri Oct-02-09 02:57 PM
Response to Original message |
25. A couple of my friends |
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can't conjugate verbs. Just last night one said, "I've went". *Shiver* We all have a tendency to drop the 'g' in the ing endings, around here. I hear my self use ya instead of you. Sometimes I type my replies the way I talk. For example: 'Whatcha doin'?
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Odin2005
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Fri Oct-02-09 03:50 PM
Response to Reply #25 |
30. "G-dropping" is actually perfectly normal, nothing wrong with it. |
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The "-ing" ending is derived from 2 endings in Old English, the verbal noun ending "-unge" and the Present Participle ending "-ende"
In Old English there was 2 ways to form the Progressive:
I am hunting" could be:
Ic eom huntende
or
Ic eom on huntunge
By middle English the two constructions fused because of Welsh influence (Welsh uses the same ending for both verbal noun and present participle). then endings -en and -ing sounded similar and went into what linguists call "free variation", ether could be used for both verbal noun and present participle.
I am a-hunten
or
I am a-hunting
And thus modern English:
I'm huntin'
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rbnyc
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Fri Oct-02-09 03:41 PM
Response to Original message |
29. No one here can write or speak. |
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As for speaking, the saddest part is how it rubs off. Regardless of how much one reads or writes or what one knows, it is difficult to resist speaking like those around you. I have heard the phrase "most neediest" so many times that I begin to doubt whether it's incorrect.
Writing is easier to control.
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Glorfindel
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Fri Oct-02-09 03:53 PM
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31. Actually pronouncing "wh" as in which, what, where, when |
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I have noticed that non-southerners almost invariably say "wich, wot, were, wen," and so forth. Of course, the "wh" in these cases is actually pronounced "hw," but that's another story.
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Odin2005
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Fri Oct-02-09 04:24 PM
Response to Reply #31 |
32. I still have a voiceless "Wh" sound and I'm from rural MN. |
Silver Swan
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Sat Oct-03-09 02:24 PM
Response to Reply #31 |
50. I remember arguing with a teacher fifty years ago |
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About "wh" being pronounced as "hw."
I even showed her that the dictionary indicated that sound as "hw."
She thought I was sassing her. (She pronounced it correctly. She just didn't agree with me.)
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Blue State Blues
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Fri Oct-02-09 04:49 PM
Response to Original message |
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As in "I might could do that." instead of "I could do that," or "I might do that."
Also, the more rare, but always entertaining past tense of "might could", "should oughta," as in "I should oughta done that."
Both heard in Southern Appalachia region, though I don't know the full range.
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TrogL
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Fri Oct-02-09 05:04 PM
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35. "eh" is a Canadian regionalism. What's wierd is here it's "hey" |
nemo137
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Fri Oct-02-09 06:04 PM
Response to Reply #35 |
39. In the Midwest it's "huh?" |
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Used much the same way as your "eh."
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Odin2005
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Fri Oct-02-09 09:15 PM
Response to Reply #35 |
40. Many of us Minnesotans say "eh", too. |
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I also have the so-called "Canadian Raising", the rising of /ai/ and /au/ to /əi/ and /əu/ before voiceless consonants.
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david13
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Sat Oct-03-09 03:24 PM
Response to Reply #40 |
56. Eh is supposed to be the official way of identifying a canadian. |
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Sort of like the secret handshake. But it found it's way across the border I guess. dc
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mysuzuki2
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Fri Oct-02-09 10:32 PM
Response to Reply #35 |
45. You must be from Wisconsin |
madamesilverspurs
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Fri Oct-02-09 09:46 PM
Response to Original message |
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First encountered that one in Texas, along with "v" becoming "b" (as in shopping at the seb'n-leb'n). There also seemed to be an inconsistent dropping of the "r" - as in "thow a rope on it".
In Virginia I noticed "co-cola" and "a dollar fifty cent".
Across the country there seem to be some words that are routinely mispronounced:
realtor (mispronounced re-lah-tor);
jewelry (mispronounced ju-ler-ee);
nuclear (let's not go there).
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eleny
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Fri Oct-02-09 10:53 PM
Response to Original message |
46. heighth instead of plain old height |
stray cat
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Sat Oct-03-09 02:30 PM
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elehhhhna
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Sat Oct-03-09 04:36 PM
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57. "I usedta didn't." East Texas. |
Cant trust em
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Sat Oct-03-09 04:37 PM
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58. I love these little local differences. |
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These are the things that really make this country fun.
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Odin2005
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Sat Oct-03-09 07:01 PM
Response to Reply #58 |
62. Ours our small compared to the dialects of England and Scotland. |
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The traditional English of SE Scotland is often considered a separate language, called Scots. Some northern English dialects still have "thou" for the singular 2nd Person pronoun and conjugate verbs differently. A few dialects in rural south-central England maintained grammatical gender until as recently as 150 years ago.
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Cant trust em
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Sat Oct-03-09 08:12 PM
Response to Reply #62 |
65. That's definitely one of the reasons I love the UK |
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I was in London a few years ago talking politics with this Scottish guy. With his accent, it sounded more like George Beesh.
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BlooInBloo
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Sat Oct-03-09 04:59 PM
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59. Pfft. That's nuthin. You should hear Pittsburgh-ese. Pittsburghers are called "yinzers" for a reason |
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Edited on Sat Oct-03-09 05:00 PM by BlooInBloo
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WinkyDink
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Sat Oct-03-09 05:00 PM
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60. "Grammar" isn't "pronunciation", is it? |
Inchworm
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Sat Oct-03-09 05:08 PM
Response to Reply #60 |
61. I kept thinking the same each time I read thread |
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Naturally, I was looking for a unique way to say that using a local twist.
I cannot seem to get "vernacular" to fit in a local vernacular expression correctly.
:silly:
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Ivan Sputnik
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Sat Oct-03-09 07:19 PM
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63. There's this little greenish guy I know |
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who mixes up subject, object and verb order. He'll say things like "Size matters not, ... Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?" I feel like asking him, "What planet are you from, anyway?"
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Sat Jun 15th 2024, 04:32 PM
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