# Do you say "Shtreet" instead of "Street"? Is this a regional variation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389 "2010-01-18T03:29:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/1 "2010-01-18T03:29:16Z")
How do you pronounce “str”, as in “street” or “destroyed”? Do you pronounce it “ **shtr** ” instead of “str”? If so, where are you from? This came up in a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12006332&posted=1#post12006332) about Michelle Obama’s accent in an [appeal for help for Haiti](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRqstdw7F5w&feature=channel). I had always thought the “shtr” was a speech impediment, but based on several post replies, it seems that it’s a regional variation (which would explain why so many people seem to have this particular “impediment”). ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/2 "2010-01-18T03:31:18Z")
Depends on how much I’ve had to drink. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/3 "2010-01-18T03:38:57Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > Depends on how much I’ve had to drink. I should have seen that coming! Cheers! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/4 "2010-01-18T03:53:59Z")
As I mentioned in that thread, I’m from Chicago and I do. Looking online, it seems to be common on the East coast (Philly, New York, and looks like Boston, too), and I guess it must be common in Chicago, too. [This short article](http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/05/shtreet-smarts.html) seems to say it’s not dialectal: > [@](#): > > Professor Michael Shapiro of Brown University, in an article in the journal American Speech in the spring of 1995, said the phenomenon “seems to be neither dialectal nor regional,” since he’s noticed it in people from all parts of the country. I found the cited article [here](http://www.languagelore.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/assimilation-at-a-distance.pdf) (warning: PDF). > [@](#): > > The recent history of American English includes a sound change that seems to have gone unattested in the scholarly literature.’ This is the change of /s/ to /fl before /tr/ (i.e., a PHONEMICCHANGE), which involves a palatalization of the initial sound in the cluster /str/, typically in initial position but not exclusively. > > […] > > This phonemic change seems to be neither dialectal nor regional.2 Over many months of listening to radio and television broadcasts and observing the pronunciation of speakers in the New Yorkarea, I have noted it as a regular trait in the speech of the following persons during their television appearances: Richard Nixon (miscellaneous sound bites); Howard P. (“Pete”) Colhoun (panelist on the PBS program WallStreetWeek,9 July 1993); Tracy Austin, Mary Carillo, John McEnroe (USA and CBS broad-casts of the US Open Tennis Championships, Aug.-Sept. 1993); Rick Barry, Hubie Brown (TNT broadcasts of NBA games, 1990-93 seasons); Dick Vitale (ESPN broadcasts of NCAA basketball games); and Cokie Roberts (regular panelist on ABCprogram This WeekwithDavid Brinkley).3Based on their overall speech and what can be ascertained about their origins, these speakers are from California (Nixon and Austin), Flushing, Queens, New York (Carillo and McEnroe), New Jersey (Barry, Brown, Calhoun, and Vitale), and Washington, DC, by way of Louisiana (Roberts)-which sug- gests no obvious geographical pattern. Admittedly, this is a highly limited sample, but I have deliberately singled out public figures whose pronuncia- tion is continuously open to observation by others who might wish to confirm for themselves the existence of this trait. ---
**Author:** ![PokerAKQJT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b5ac83/32.png) [@PokerAKQJT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PokerAKQJT)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/5 "2010-01-18T06:08:51Z")
Sean Connery says Shtreet ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/6 "2010-01-18T07:02:10Z")
So does Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I mean Sarah Michelle Gellar. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/7 "2010-01-18T08:35:59Z")
Here in Germany it’s not uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/8 "2010-01-18T08:49:57Z")
Huh. I do it too. Never noticed that. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/9 "2010-01-18T08:50:53Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Here in Germany it’s not uncommon. I was wondering if you would respond, considering your username. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/10 "2010-01-18T09:03:26Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Here in Germany it’s not uncommon. I often wondered if it was related to the way Germans pronounce st at the beginning of words. In my German diction class in college, I was actually taught to pronounce it that way (e.g. stein would be pronounced as if it were spelled shtine in English). Anyways, not only do I say shtreet, but I also say chree for tree and ackchual for actual. And, like I said in the other thread, I never noticed other Americans did it differently, even on TV. I thought not using it was the speech impediment, as everyone I’ve heard use it has a bit of a lisp. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/11 "2010-01-18T14:44:49Z")
The fact that it’s neither dialectical nor regional does not mean that it involves a speech impediment. It’s more of a "You say _po-ta-toes_ and I say _po-tah-toes_ sort of thing. There is no “wrong” way to the best of my knowledge. A lisp is an impediment in which an _s_ sound becomes a _th_ sound. (That’s oversimplification.) Michelle Obama does not have a lisp. Did any of you eat “arsh” potatoes when you were growing up? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/12 "2010-01-18T14:55:16Z")
In my case it’s more like “schreet.” The “ch” replaces the “t,” not the “s.” ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/13 "2010-01-18T15:30:40Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I was wondering if you would respond, considering your username. I totally missed that. Good call. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/14 "2010-01-18T16:19:22Z")
I always thought it was a “ghetto” thing, like “axe” for “ask” or “A-ight” for “alright” I’ve noticed some people also say “sh-tupid”. Co-incidence? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/15 "2010-01-18T16:28:05Z")
Could it be related to Yiddish in a way? I’ve noticed this occasionally from older Jews thhat are the children of immigrants; “schtreet” for street, “schtick” for stick (not used in reference to a comedy act or performance, but rather something like “schtick of butter”), and so on. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/16 "2010-01-18T16:28:51Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > I always thought it was a “ghetto” thing, like “axe” for “ask” or “A-ight” for “alright” > I’ve noticed some people also say “sh-tupid”. Co-incidence? That’s what it’s been in my experience, too. I’ve lived in many parts of the country and have never heard it come from someone who wasn’t 1) black and 2) from a ghetto of sorts. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/17 "2010-01-18T16:41:35Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Could it be related to Yiddish in a way? I’ve noticed this occasionally from older Jews thhat are the children of immigrants; “schtreet” for street, “schtick” for stick (not used in reference to a comedy act or performance, but rather something like “schtick of butter”), and so on. I wouldn’t necessarily discount it, but I don’t think so. The palatalization I hear and use only occurs in “str” clusters, not simple “st” clusters. So while I do say “shtring” and “shtreet,” I don’t say “shtop” and “shtick” or anything like that. Growing up in a very Polish area of Chicago, I don’t think there was much Yiddish influence here in the accent, but it could certainly be one of those things that persisted or spread from other neighborhoods. The interesting thing is when I talk in a foreign language, I do not palatalize “str” clusters and they come out clear. It’s only when I speak English (or German, as I was taught to do so in German.) And I’m surprised some people seem to have only heard it as a ghetto or black accent. It’s pretty damned common among whites, too (see the list I provided in a previous post.) ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/18 "2010-01-18T16:45:49Z")
Very common in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/19 "2010-01-18T19:47:30Z")
Characteristic of many Irish regional accents, especially in the west and south-west, probably influenced by a similar feature in Irish. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389/20 "2010-01-18T19:53:17Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > Depends on how much I’ve had to drink. Or if you’re Sean Connery [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-shtreet-instead-of-street-is-this-a-regional-variation/525389.md?page=2)