# Do nebraskan Farmers speak perfect \[newscaster\] American? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296 "2012-05-08T17:18:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/21 "2012-05-10T17:47:22Z")
I found this article: [http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/midwest/](http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/midwest/) Good stuff! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/22 "2012-05-10T18:27:12Z")
The newscaster for, I think, BBC World that airs on NPR at 2:30PM in CA sounds just like Mrs. Doubtfire. I can’t listen to that program without cracking up. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/23 "2012-05-10T18:31:32Z")
I worked in a calling center in Lincoln that was specifically located there because of the accent thing. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/24 "2012-05-10T19:22:48Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > I worked in a calling center in Lincoln that was specifically located there because of the accent thing. Years back I answered the phone and there was some sort of telemarketer on the line. I handed the phone to my wife who might have been interested in what he was selling. His voice had that distinctive quality and while passing her the phone said “Ask him if he’s from Omaha”. He heard that, told her he wasn’t, and he considered it a compliment. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/25 "2012-05-10T19:38:03Z")
I’m from Kansas City, and have that accent. Every time the subject of speech recognition software comes up, there is always someone who has had terrible results, in contrast to my astonishing success and accuracy. I think having the ISO Standard American Accent may have something to do with that. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/26 "2012-05-10T22:36:13Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Nah, I’ve heard that newbie newscasters who want to go national are sent to California, since Californians have no accent. > ~VOW Dude, that’s like totally lame. Fer sure. Gag me with a spoon. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/27 "2012-05-10T22:44:51Z")
> [@medicated](#): > > We don’t have that much variation compared to the US. There’s a lot going on in the Maritime provinces, but that’s only about 7% of the population. West of Québec there aren’t a whole lot of differences in accent. No no no, there’s a lot going on in the Maritime provinces, _eh_. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/28 "2012-05-12T22:45:16Z")
I’ve been in southern California for 30 years, and I would say that, barring surfer and other slang, “regular English” here sounds like it did for me as a kid in St. Louis, and very similar to my college buddy who was raised on a Kansas farm. We do get people who think that English is spoken with a Mexican accent, because that’s what they hear, and even a few who have retained just enough of a rhythm difference to show they’ve been raised around those other people. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/29 "2012-05-12T23:49:54Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Does Britain not have a “Received Pronunciation”? Received Pronunciation, sometimes known as Oxford English used to be a must if you wished to be a newsreader or presenter, but now we’re all “Differently talented” , its considered cute to have a regional accent as long as it isn’t too thick. Indeed its almost a requirment, as off of the top of my head, I can’t think of any R.P. people on national radio or tv.in the UK at present. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/30 "2012-05-14T01:41:51Z")
hijack: Newscasters must have Midwestern accents? Since when? What about David Brinkley (North Carolina) and Dan Rather (Texas)? Both had somewhat mitigated but still identifiable Southern accents. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/31 "2012-05-14T03:00:09Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > hijack: > > Newscasters must have Midwestern accents? Since when? > > What about David Brinkley (North Carolina) and Dan Rather (Texas)? Both had somewhat mitigated but still identifiable Southern accents. “Newscaster [Language]” does not mean that “you MUST have that accent to be a newscaster”, it means that it’s “the accent people who want to work as newscasters try to get closer to if and when they mitigate their own”. You know, as in your own two examples… ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/32 "2012-05-14T03:11:16Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I’m not sure if this is the correct location though. I grew up on a farm in northwest Ohio. It was my contention that the English of rural northwest Ohio is the closest one can find to Standard American English. I do business from time to time in northwest Ohio and the accent there strikes me as being as thick as molasses. “TV American” to me sounds more like California than anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/33 "2012-05-14T03:13:52Z")
I’m from Iowa. I don’t have an accent. You people are insane. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/34 "2012-05-14T04:43:41Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > I’ve been in southern California for 30 years, and I would say that, barring surfer and other slang, “regular English” here sounds like it did for me as a kid in St. Louis, and very similar to my college buddy who was raised on a Kansas farm. I dunno. I’ve met more than one person who I’ve immediately (correctly) identified as Californian despite not hearing them use any distinctive slang. I’m not sure what it is though… cadence, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/35 "2012-05-14T05:11:14Z")
RickJay, where in northwest Ohio do you do business? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/36 "2012-05-14T07:55:30Z")
> [@Clark\_Cello](#): > > Not as a direct answer to this, but regional newscasts (in the US) often feature accents. Many places in the south, for example, will have anchors/reporters with southern accents, though they are generally not severe. What is a “regional newscast”? I wasn’t aware such a thing existed in the USA. I thought there were only two types of television news here: national, and local. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/37 "2012-05-14T09:04:31Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Received Pronunciation, sometimes known as Oxford English used to be a must if you wished to be a newsreader or presenter, but now we’re all “Differently talented” , its considered cute to have a regional accent as long as it isn’t too thick. > > Indeed its almost a requirment, as off of the top of my head, I can’t think of any R.P. people on national radio or tv.in the UK at present. BBC World still keeps up the old ways. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296/38 "2012-05-14T11:30:48Z")
Thank god that theres one last bastion of civilisation left in the BBC establishment ! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nebraskan-farmers-speak-perfect-newscaster-american/621296.md?page=1)