"The devil is beating his wife": Dialect maps document U.S.'s many linguistic divides

[Show Me]

Love the "I swan." Heard that around the house; my mom grew up in part in the Ozarks. I hadn't thought of that for years till now.

In Kansas we pronounce the town Arkansas City, "Ar-KAN-sas City," btw.

Then there's Missouri - 'ee' or 'uh'?

It's Missouree to me. Most people in my area use 'ee'. Especially in the summer time when it's over 100 degrees with high humidity and then it's really Misery.

 

[Justiceforever]

I'm from WI. I'll never forget when I went to visit my Grandma in MI. and asked someone where the bubbler was. She had NO CLUE what I was talking about until I said,"You know the thing the water bubbles out of so you can drink it?" she said, "Oh, you mean the water fountain!"

My Grandma informed me when I asked for a soda that it was pop. Soda (in MI) was baking soda NOT a drink.

My SO who is fron TN. thinks it sounds funny when I say that it's nice out. He thinks I should say it's nice outside.

Oh and crayons are crans.

 

[Show Me]

Tuh-may-tuh
Puh-tay-tuh
Auntee

(I have my back door open, and I'm saying these things out loud to make sure I relate them correctly. I'm sure my next-door neighbor thinks I've lost my "evah-luvin mind!" lol)

I think southern accents are cute. You can always tell a good actor in a movie or show when they can actually do a 'real' sounding southern accent and not the fakey kind.

 

[Gardenlady]

Here's one that my husband had to learn, moving to Mass:

What are those little chocolate or multi-colored candy things they out on ice cream?

Here they are "jimmies". I guess elsewhere they are "sprinkles".

Oh, and the room where you have a couch (or maybe a sofa? Or "divan", as my Irish granny used to call it) and a TV? Living room? family room? We generally call it a parlor (say: "pah-lah")!

 

[Show Me]

I'm from WI. I'll never forget when I went to visit my Grandma in MI. and asked someone where the bubbler was. She had NO CLUE what I was talking about until I said,"You know the thing the water bubbles out of so you can drink it?" she said, "Oh, you mean the water fountain!"

My Grandma informed me when I asked for a soda that it was pop. Soda (in MI) was baking soda NOT a drink.

My SO who is fron TN. thinks it sounds funny when I say that it's nice out. He thinks I should say it's nice outside.

Oh and crayons are crans.

Do you say 'about' or 'aboot', 'house' or 'hoose'?

I've never heard of a water fountain called a bubbler. I use 'soda' once in a while it's mostly 'pop'.

And it's nice out here also, or it can be nice outside too.

Our crayons are cray-yawns.

 

[my_tee_mouse]

Muh-zur-ee

And someone once told me the Ar-kan-saw River is really the Ar-KAN-ses River, because it is named for both the State of Ar-kan-saw and Kan-ses.

And I get really weird looks when I talk about "Cawlin' tha Hawgs" instead of "Cahling tha Haghs." Guess it's all those years of rootin' for the Mississippi Bulldawgs that cause me problems.

 

[Show Me]

Here's one that my husband had to learn, moving to Mass:

What are those little chocolate or multi-colored candy things they out on ice cream?

Here they are "jimmies". I guess elsewhere they are "sprinkles".

Oh, and the room where you have a couch (or maybe a sofa? Or "divan", as my Irish granny used to call it) and a TV? Living room? family room? We generally call it a parlor (say: "pah-lah")!

Never heard of 'jimmies' but I'm guessing they are as tasty as our 'sprinkles'.

Good point on the room with the tv where people gather.

We have a couch in our living room.

Do you have a living room, parlor, family room, great room, gathering room.

 

[Dewey2Me1MoThyme]

One that I notice more and more, and it especially irks me when a talking head on tv uses it is "r" for "our"

"Stay tuned because r weatherman will give you the latest storm details after the break."

 

[my_tee_mouse]

I have a livin' room. We sit there after eatin' breakfuss/dinnah/or suppah.

Breakfast/dinner/supper.....or breakfast/lunch/dinner?


When I first moved up here to go to school and I would be doing a presentation in front of the class, folks would giggle. I finally asked a friend why, and she said it was my accent. I thought, "I don't have an ak-ce-ent....y'all have an ak-ce-ent." I assumed that since I had lived all over the place, I was pretty much ak-ce-ent-free. Then we had to do some videos for one of my counseling classes and review them in class. Upon hearing myself speak, I exclaimed, "Oh my Gawd, I do have an ak-ce-ent!" The class collectively roared.


ETA: In the interest of honesty, we eat "brekfuss."

(My son calls NWA...Northwest Ar-kan-saw..."the fake south." He says everyone "up he-ah" speaks with a "Yank-eee" ak-ce-ent.)

 

[Dewey2Me1MoThyme]

I've been trying to find a youtube video of someone from the Cockawit Pass speaking. Now there is an accent you can't mistake for any other. But alas, I am having no luck at all!

 

[wfgodot]

I think there's a natural tendency, at least in the central and southern U.S., to swallow one's vowels (r/our in Dewey's example above). I spent weeks during my summers with my grandmother in Fayetteville AR - beautiful word, Fayetteville - then lived there for a year. Before long the way I heard it said and the way I subsequently said it, was, essentially, "Fett-vul."

 

[Show Me]

I have a livin' room. We sit there after eatin' breakfuss/dinnah/or suppah.

Breakfast/dinner/supper.....or breakfast/lunch/dinner?


When I first moved up here to go to school and I would be doing a presentation in front of the class, folks would giggle. I finally asked a friend why, and she said it was my accent. I thought, "I don't have an ak-ce-ent....y'all have an ak-ce-ent." I assumed that since I had lived all over the place, I was pretty much ak-ce-ent-free. Then we had to do some videos for one of my counseling classes and review them in class. Upon hearing myself speak, I exclaimed, "Oh my Gawd, I do have an ak-ce-ent!" The class collectively roared.


ETA: In the interest of honesty, we eat "brekfuss."

(My son calls NWA...Northwest Ar-kan-saw..."the fake south." He says everyone "up he-ah" speaks with a "Yank-eee" ak-ce-ent.")

Everyone has an accent! And yeah when we are video recorded we sound more 'southern' than we thought. And when I'm very very tired I tend to drop the 'g' from 'ing' ending words. So I'll be sleepin or eatin or talkin.

So your son thinks people from Arkansas have a 'yankified' southern accent.

We have breakfast, lunch and either dinner or supper. Use both terms for last meal of the day. However lunch and dinner can be used for both terms also, though dinner is more formal like eating at a nice restaurant for lunch.

Dewey2me...I'm going to be listening to the weather people and when I hear
'r' for 'our' it's going to bug me from now on.

wishuwerehere....I'll have a beer with my crawdad. In Alabama they call them 'mudbugs' or something like that. Are crayfish, crawdads, crawfish the same thing?

 

[Show Me]

I think there's a natural tendency, at least in the central and southern U.S., to swallow one's vowels (r/our in Dewey's example above). I spent weeks during my summers with my grandmother in Fayetteville AR - beautiful word, Fayetteville - then lived there for a year. Before long the way I heard it said and the way I subsequently said it, was, essentially, "Fett-vul."

Arkansas is a gorgeous state. Love the rocky streams, not muddy like some of ours are. Had a blast hunting for diamonds in Crater of Diamonds state park. Found some fragile amethyst and nothing valuable, but had fun. If my back/shoulder ever feels good again I'd like to go back again, then hit the gulf area.

I have noticed tv shows like 'Iceberg Hunters' (people in the far far north) and show with people from the deep deep south have captions when the people talk.

 

[tlcya]

"It looks like it's trying to rain" or "It looks like it's fixin' to rain?" Neither? The first for me. That's solid Kansan-speak.

fixin

yeah, I'm fixin to run over to the store, you need anything?

 

[Show Me]

fixin

yeah, I'm fixin to run over to the store, you need anything?

When we lived in Louisiana when I was young the neighbor asked my mom if she'd 'carry her to the store'. Mom said she drive her to the store and was not going to carry her.

tlcya if you're fixin' to run to the store, are you going to use a 'buggy' or a 'cart' to put your items in?

 

[Dewey2Me1MoThyme]

I have several friends who "put Christmas in the attic", I however put the decorations away.

 

[my_tee_mouse]

Arkansas is a gorgeous state. Love the rocky streams, not muddy like some of ours are. Had a blast hunting for diamonds in Crater of Diamonds state park. Found some fragile amethyst and nothing valuable, but had fun. If my back/shoulder ever feels good again I'd like to go back again, then hit the gulf area.

I have noticed tv shows like 'Iceberg Hunters' (people in the far far north) and show with people from the deep deep south have captions when the people talk.

I've seen those captions too, lol.

My Memfus-born and Miss-sip-ee-influenced son and his Ohio-born wife have been living south of Dallus for five years; they are in the process of moving to NWA. I've noticed we our heads and say, "wuh?" and "wah?" to each other a lot!!!

And...thank yew! Having lived in "Lul-vul" KY at one time, it should be "Faytvul" or something similar. When I hear someone pronounce it Fay-et-veele or some such, I always wanna say, "Yew ain't from around he-ah, r yew?" (And yes, I guess I say "r" instead of "are" a lot).

My personal pet peeve: People who say "close" instead of "clothes." You close a dang door; you put on clothes, for goodness sakes! (Try it and see where your tongue "lands" in your mouth when you say each one....there is a decided difference! urgh!)

I have a friend who is sweet, meek, and mild until she hears someone say "fixin", as in "I'm fixin to go to the stoh." She then gets red glowing eyes, and steam comes out of her ears. "Fixin'! What the heck are you fixin'? Are you fixin' your truck?! Are you fixin' dinner!?" Drives her frickin bonkers.

 

[wfgodot]

Not sure if it's purely a Texas-ism or is in more general usage but after seven years in San Antone I now don't say "you're welcome" (for example after being thanked for holding a door open for someone); I say, "you bet."

 

[my_tee_mouse]

Not sure if it's purely a Texas-ism or is in more general usage but after seven years in San Antone I now don't say "you're welcome" (for example for holding a door open for someone); I say, "you bet."

Speaking of thanking someone, "we" say "thankya" to someone who holds the door for us, say, and "thank yew!" to someone who reallyreallyreally deserves our thanks for something big (like agreeing with us! lol).

 

[Dewey2Me1MoThyme]

Speaking of thanking someone, "we" say "thankya" to someone who holds the door for us, say, and "thank yew!" to someone who reallyreallyreally deserves our thanks for something big (like agreeing with us! lol).

When I hold the door for someone I usually say "After you, I come first"