local accents and understanding the English language

peanut

XS650 enthusiast & inveterate tinkerer
Top Contributor
Messages
4,054
Reaction score
2,828
Points
263
Location
England
I thought that this was rather amusing. We have a lot of local accents in the UK some of which even I have great difficulty in understanding especially on the telephone. Heaven knows how other English speaking people around the World understand them.

How many local accents are there in the USA ? has anyone tried to create a spoken guide like this one ?
 
Hi Peanut,
well ah, mate! Theese gotta be bilingual to talk to them ignorant buggers from Hanham. (pronounced "annum" BTW)
Let me recommend Dirk Robson's modest booklet "Krek waiter's peak Bristle"
The Bristol accent is a South Gloucester/North Somerset hybrid that puts a final letter L on any vowel-ended word.
Educated Bristolians fight this and have to force themselves to say "Orchestral Concert" even though they know it's correct.
 
A long time ago, I listened to a recording of a report on the various US American dialects. Pretty wild, numerous variations. The intended purpose of the recording was used in marketing training. It purported to show that the most neutral and intelligible dialect existed in Utah, of all places.

Yeah, a wild mix,
Texan drawl (it's hot, too tired to talk),
Cajun (French/English mix, tongue slurred by their hot spices),
Appalachian grits,
Tex-mex (Ey, Vato!)
Chicago gangster,
Wisconsin (they will never admit that they have a dialect)
Bostonian (You can paahk ah caahr at Haahvaahrd for a quataah)
Californian Valley (Awsome dude!)
(Both Bostonian and Valley are nasal, probably from the ocean humidity),
Missouri hillbilly,
Hawaiian (Hey, howlie!),
Broken English/German.

I'm sure there's more...
 
Last edited:
Wow, Fred!
"Krek waiter's peak Bristle"
My aunt and uncle had this at their Somerset home, I'm amazed and delighted to hear of someone else who knows it. They also had a load of cartoons from Thelwell, Giles and suchlike. Lots of happy childhood memories of Chewton Mendip are in my head now :D
 
My first wife was from Portland Maine. When we were dating, sometimes my Oklahoma ears/brain didn't understand her sometimes and I'd have her repeat herself. Being Stationed in the UK was an eye opening experience too. All then accents/dialects. I still use that experience when watching the British TV shows.
 
Last edited:
Before I endeavour to contribute to this fascinating topic, I thought that it would be a good idea to clear up a couple of key points of confusion for folks from outside of North America: Canadian versus American English.
Here is a brief expose on the matter by two NAM cuties....
The other key issue of contention is the Canadian pronunciation of the popular word “out”. Our American friends, for reasons known only to themselves, insist that we in the True North Strong and Free say: “out“ in a manner that rhymes with “boot” - the widely used item of footwear.

This is simply not correct.

However, in the Canadian spirit of non-confrontationalism (except on hockey rinks where we are decidedly confrontational - and invariably successful, particularly when we play our American friends), I present this brief treatise on the issue.
...and so, I will, for now, leave you with this excellent expose of how Canadians speak English from across our 8,000 km (around 5200 mile) wide country. As you will clearly note, we do NOT f@cking say “oot and aboot” - in any way, shape or form.
..more to come once I have calmed down.
 
Last edited:
...and more thing - no discussion of Canadian English would be complete without The Rants:
OK, that oughta do it.

Pete
 
Some personal experience.
By the time I was in the 5th grade, I had been in ten different schools across the U.S....Dad worked on the Titan missle projects that were then being installed across the country.
I learned to mimic the local dialects and learned quickly. From the high desert of California to the high plains of Wyoming, from the flatlands of Kansas to Plattsburgh, New York with their Canadian influence (eh?) and then finally back to the South Jersey homeland. First day of school, which had already been in session a few weeks by the time I arrived, hearing the class singing "My Country T'is of Thee" with a nasally mumble and I thought "My God, where have they brought me now?" It took a short while to transition but transition I did. From WA-ter to Wood-er, Ray-dee-ate-er to Rad-ee-ate-er and all with the mumble.

I'll say that on the Homefront there was a mix to behold. On my moms side, her mum was first generation with older siblings and parents born in Northern Ireland so she had the lilt. Moms father was colonial Scott and 2nd generation German....he could translate the German dialogue of the old Combat tv series. Dads side was a bit more established in-country with colonial English roots, though they were a mix of upper class Philadelphia and South Jersey "Crick" Piney, throwing in some native expressions ala....."Hey, a little bird told me...."
With the advent of national tv, the accents kinda diminish- or maybe it gives people another form to speak.....the national American English.

The old homeland is now a suburb of South Philly, thanks to the Walt Whitman bridge and the interstate, and with that city style of speech...."Yo Mi-key!! Wadda ya doin'? Le's go down da shore." Pop said South Jersey went down hill when they built that damn bridge......
 
Wow - ten schools in 5-6 years, that’s quite an adventure and a lot to absorb for a little tyke!
 
This is also an illuminating view of the spoken word in Yorkshire England.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top