Great story Nancy. I've run into a few times where I've really had to listen intently on what a person was saying because of their accent. I've been told I have a Chicago accent, but I've never thought so....and I don't say Da Bears or use a lot of flat a's.....go figure. Thanks...

Funny, funny, funny!!!

Nancy, you made me smile! My parents had a friend who came from West Cork and even after living in Dublin for 40 years it was impossible to understand his accent. Isn't it funny how we never notice our own accents, yet fail to recognise our own recorded voice.

As you know, Nancy, I have had my share of trying to understand different accents having moved from the West to the East Coast with a stopover in Pennsylvania.

Two of the colloquialisms that come to mind are the Pennsylvanian women saying they had to go "red up the house". Soft drinks are called 'tonic' in Massachusetts and the drinking fountain is the 'bubbla'.

In my own Colorado many called the creek a crik.
Our speech teacher had to correct most of the class on how to pronounce the state name. It was locally called
'ColorAAAdo' (A as in apple) She informed us that is should be 'ColorAHdo'. So we discovered that we had an accent, too.

The first time my parents and I drove to the South, we stopped at an ice cream stand for 10-cent ice cream cones. The server asked "Damn?" and my father thought she was swearing at him!He finally figured out she was asking if he wanted the dime-size cone, and we laughed all the way to Florida!

Great piece, life long New Yorker from Hell's Kitchen too, my first job after high school was at the Taft Hotel.
It was a busy place in midtown & I can remember being amazed at the number of accents, all American, by the way that I heard in a day, esp. during tour bus seasons, Spring and Fall..never gave a thought to what they heard in Noo Yawk...I believe it is why we are a great country after all is said & done..nice to see the Ireland addition above too, apparently the whole world has the "accent" thing...kinda makes yer dink....couldn't resist...

Ahh yes. As a southerner living in NY I am constantly dealing with the "accent situation". When I'm in NY everybody talks about my southern accent, when I go to SC everybody talks about the fact that I've lost my accent. I tell my NY friends that I go south at least once a year to renew my accent. I enjoy the conversation both ways.

Hi Joy,

I do think Chicagoans have a bit of an accent.

My daughter,Carol, has lived there for years and all of her friends call her "Keeral"

And, as Mary Follett said, those accents from all over are what make America the great country that it is..

Thanks for reading my story,Joy.

Hi Millie,

Nice to see you here and I'm delighted that you thought my story was funny.

Grannymar,

I sometimes have a bit of a problem with my Irish friends and the way they pronounce certain words but they are such charming and interesting people it is worth the effort
to figure out what they are saying.

Darlene,

It is so true.My MIL always had to "red up her house" (straighten up). I think that is a Pennsylvania Dutch saying, She always called leftovers "Remnants" and she always called the car the "machine".

Hello Lyn,

That is so funny about the ice cream server. Imagine remembering that all these years. Must have made a funny impression on your family.

Mary,

Were you working at the Taft in 1957? My husband and I had a weekend in New York and stayed at the Taft.

We were young "hicks" and thought we were so sophisticated to be in the Big City,staying at a major hotel and going to the Roxy at 1 A.M. to see Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jonmes in "A Farewell To Arms." Ah, sweet memories..

Hello Mary B.

Yes, I sort of had that same experience with my Northern and Southern friends. Some thought I had one accent and some thought I had another. I never thought I had any accent at all until I heard the first tape I ever made of my voice and I could not believe that it was really me.

I was born near Boston but came to California as a toddler right after the war. My parents "pahked the cah" all their lives, and somehow I've retained just a few faint remnants of the accent, like saying "AW-rindge" instead of "oarnge" like they do out here. When my two cousins came out to So Cal for the first time, in their twenties, I did have to laugh, though, at their enthusastic appreciation for the "TAY-kos" and "ta-MAILS" they ate in Mexican restaurants!

Accents are so diverse in the US, let alone everywhere else. Fun to listen to.

Nancy my friend, this was a hoot. Can you translate "L I B M R Ducks" :)

Margie,

I'm sure everybody laughed at your description of the pronunciation TAY-kos and
ta-MAILS. I'm still snickering.

Reminds me of the guy who was lost in California and he asked someone if they would give him directions. They asked."Where are you going?"
The guy said,"San JOE SAY"
"Oh, you mean San Hose. See, in California, if something starts with a J you pronounce it with an H. How long have you been here,anyway."

The guy thought a minute and said,"Oh,since Hune or Huly."

Hi Annie,

Glad you liked the story. I haven't the slightest idea what L I B M R Ducks means and I'm not moving until you tell us. HURRY!

Nancy, I am late getting here (as I said I might), but it was worth waiting for!! I had never heard "fixin' to" until we moved to Raleigh, and a woman from western NC said that all the time. She was the mom of a friend of my daughter, and my daughter picked up that expression, as well as "I swannee". I have tried for 25 years to get her out of those habits!!

Hi Judy,

We had a neighbor in Hampton who started almost every sentence with "Well, I swan."
As I noted in the story another neighbor said,"I declare."

So, after reading your comment I went to Wiki for the answer to what "I Swan" means and darn if if doesn't mean "I declare"

Wikipedia:
Both *swan* and *swanny* mean 'to swear' or 'to declare', and are used only in exclamations in the first person singular. Both are Americanisms;

Isn't this a wonderful country? We are all so different and yet we are pretty much the same.

Thanks for your comment.

To Claire Jean,

Are you still reading our stories?

We hope you are all right and will be in touch soon.

Nancy

Nancy, something that's sad to me is that, because of television, I think we are losing our regional accents. One day, we will all talk like some newscaster on the Today show.

I think you are right,Marcia. I saw a program on TV recently and the subject was speech therapy.

It seems that on Long Island,especially in the Hamptons,where there is a lot of money, the ladies are all going to elecutionists to lose their Noo Yawk accent.

They had a speech therapist on who said,"Yeah,I'm a Noo
Yawk speech expert. I teach people how to tawk betta."

Nancy, I didn't work there until July 3, l958, I graduated June 25, l958 and took to the streets to find a job, seems like the very next day..then I don't ever recall hearing the word Resume..you simply went to the company, etc..I took a typing test, thank god it wasn't a penmanship test, and they asked me to put the states in alphabetical order, and asked if i thought I could take orders over the telephone, etc..I said yes to everything..They told me to come back the next day to see the Personel Manager and I did...Funny thing, I was sort of an adventurous type and always wanted to work at the Roxy Theatre, right next door to the Taft..I wanted to be the elevator operator that took the moviegoers up to the various floors in that luxurious place, that I recall was an old vaudeville house...My Mother was appalled..I was first hs graduate and she felt I should be aspiring to be a secretary/stenographer..I remember boldly saying in front of company, I was not going to be a Secretary, I was going to have a Secretary...they all laughed and later my Mother said I was just too bold...amazingly my nearly 30 year career in non profit never included a secretary...My Mother would have gotten a chuckle out of that for sure...

Hi Mary,

I remember that old elevator in the Roxy.The big brass wheel and the grate that the operator closed over to keep everyone safely inside as they rode up to the Mezzanine or First Balcony.

That's where we sat at "A Farewell To Arms" ; The First Balcony.What luxury!

Such aspirations we had in the 50's. You wanted to be an elevator operator and I would have given anything to be a window decorator at a candy store.

At least we have wonderful memories and good computer friends to share them with.

What a great story and great comments! Language is so much fun! I live up near the Canadian border and pirate Canadian TV on my rabbit ears which still goes out over the old fashioned air waves. I sometimes catch myself doing Canadian accents, eh(!!). But I doubt I'll ever resort to calling a drama, a drAAma!

Yo,Cile... A drAAma by any other name would smell as sweet,eh!

Thanks for reading the story and taking time to comment.....

My mother, from a Pennsylvania Dutch household, reds up the house, sits on a davenport, and calls the evening meal supper. My friend, a Florida native, teases me about my Ohio accent. And after studying dialects and linguistics, I have gotten pretty good at nailing regional US dialects. My favorite is Pittsburgh. The dead giveaways are asking someone to pronounce two words: umbrella and insurance. Pretty much gets them every time.

In Philadelphia they would say "UMBARELLA" and
"INsurance".

They also say that the smoke comes out of the CHIMLEY and they are PROLLY right!

Did your Mother have plastic covers on the Davenport?

Thanks for stopping by....