# Does Michelle Obama have an accent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210 "2010-01-16T17:43:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [January 16, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/1 "2010-01-16T17:43:27Z")
Yea, yeah I know everyone has an accent. That aside… I just heard her [appeal for help for Haiti](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRqstdw7F5w&feature=channel), and to my ear (lived all my life on either the east of west coast of the US) she has an ever-so-slight accent. Maybe she’s just trying to over-enunciate for that public service spot, but something about the way she sounds, especially when she says “American” in “American Red Cross” that sounds different to me. I can usually recognize a Chicago accent when I hear it, and maybe that’s just what it is. It’s hard for me to place because it’s not very strong. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/2 "2010-01-16T18:27:23Z")
I don’t think so. She is speaking very clearly, which makes her sound a bit odd, but not too bad. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/3 "2010-01-16T18:31:12Z")
Nope, just plain old mid-western talking there; but I’m sure that she could speak in a with an accent depending upon the group she was addressing. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/4 "2010-01-16T18:50:52Z")
Does Michelle Obama have an accent? Yes – Standard American Midwestern. Which is close to the national standard. But it’s still “an accent.” ---
**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:** [January 16, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/5 "2010-01-16T18:50:54Z")
I can detect a little bit of AAVE (African-American Vernacular English, also known as Black English) in her accent. She sounds to me exactly like what she is, a black woman who grew up in a black neighborhood in Chicago and whose parents were perhaps middle class (or perhaps, to be more accurate, working class). As an adult though, she has been Ivy-League-educated and has lived and worked mostly with upper-middle-class people, both among the blacks and whites she knows. There’s no reason to think that her accent would be quite the same as Barack Obama’s, since she mostly grew up among other blacks and he mostly grew up among whites. ---
**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 16, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/6 "2010-01-16T18:56:47Z")
She tends to have a slight lisp, in words like “medicine” and “lives.” But I’m not hearing an accent. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/7 "2010-01-16T18:56:59Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I can detect a little bit of AAVE (African-American Vernacular English, also known as Black English) in her accent. She sounds to me exactly like what she is, a black woman who grew up in a black neighborhood in Chicago and whose parents were perhaps middle class (or perhaps, to be more accurate, working class). As an adult though, she has been Ivy-League-educated and has lived and worked mostly with upper-middle-class people, both among the blacks and whites she knows. Sounds about right. > [@](#): > > There’s no reason to think that her accent would be quite the same as Barack Obama’s, since she mostly grew up among other blacks and he mostly grew up among whites. Not to mention that he grew up mostly in Hawaii (and some in Indonesia), and didn’t move to IL until he was an adult. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/8 "2010-01-16T19:32:53Z")
Well, to me in the UK, yes - a very strong one! ---
**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 17, 2010, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/9 "2010-01-17T05:45:22Z")
She does that thing where people can’t pronounce “str”. In the word “destroyed”, she pronounces it “deshroyed”. Sarah Michelle Gellar does it, too. ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/10 "2010-01-17T07:24:51Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Yea, yeah I know everyone has an accent. That aside… No, really, you were done right here. Proof: [QUOTE=Candyman74] Well, to me in the UK, yes - a very strong one! [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/11 "2010-01-17T07:37:35Z")
I agree that there’s a touch of AAVE within a Standard American Midwestern accent. I hear the SAM accent in such words she uses as ‘American’, ‘heartbreaking’, and ‘hospitals’. ---
**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 17, 2010, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/12 "2010-01-17T08:03:34Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > She does that thing where people can’t pronounce “str”. In the word “destroyed”, she pronounces it “deshroyed”. Sarah Michelle Gellar does it, too. That may be a Chicago thing. I’m a Chicago native and I say “deshtroyed” (though not “deshroyed,” as you had written) and “shtreet” instead of “street,” and otherwise say “str” as “shtr.” I could never figure out whether this was a regional or personal quirk, though. ---
**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 17, 2010, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/13 "2010-01-17T08:57:21Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > That may be a Chicago thing. I’m a Chicago native and I say “deshtroyed” (though not “deshroyed,” as you had written) and “shtreet” instead of “street,” and otherwise say “str” as “shtr.” I could never figure out whether this was a regional or personal quirk, though. That’s odd, since the only person I’ve heard say destroyed without the sh sound is a guy I knew from Illinois. Well, and my Canadian roommates in college. I haven’t even noticed it on TV. Maybe I just haven’t been paying attention, but, when I do hear it, it generally sounds like a lisp. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/14 "2010-01-17T10:02:31Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > That may be a Chicago thing. I’m a Chicago native and I say “deshtroyed” (though not “deshroyed,” as you had written) and “shtreet” instead of “street,” and otherwise say “str” as “shtr.” I could never figure out whether this was a regional or personal quirk, though. I’m a transplanted Chicagoan living in Seattle now, and I didn’t realize until this post that I pronounce all of those words in that non-standard way…is that a Chicago thing? ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/15 "2010-01-17T17:12:26Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > That may be a Chicago thing. I’m a Chicago native and I say “deshtroyed” (though not “deshroyed,” as you had written) and “shtreet” instead of “street,” and otherwise say “str” as “shtr.” I could never figure out whether this was a regional or personal quirk, though. I noticed that (MO’s accent) during the campaign. It drove me nuts at first but I sshtruggled through and got used to it. ---
**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 17, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/16 "2010-01-17T17:33:32Z")
> [@julius blaze](#): > > I’m a transplanted Chicagoan living in Seattle now, and I didn’t realize until this post that I pronounce all of those words in that non-standard way…is that a Chicago thing? I don’t know. I always thought it was usual to say “str” sounds as “shtr.” Apparently, it’s called “str- palatalization,” and New Yorkers, and Philadelphians do it, too, if a Google search for “street shtreet” could be trusted. All I know is some folks would find my “shtr” pronunciations quirky and weird, and others don’t seem to notice them at all. It might be a common feature of a number of urban accents. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/17 "2010-01-17T18:22:09Z")
Perhaps I can hear a little bit of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift in her voice: > **[Inland Northern American English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_cities_vowel_shift)** > > Inland Northern (American) English, also known in American linguistics as the Inland North or Great Lakes dialect, is an American English dialect spoken primarily by White Americans in a geographic band reaching from the major urban areas of Upstate New York westward along the Erie Canal and through much of the U.S. Great Lakes region. The most distinctive Inland Northern accents are spoken in Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse. The dialect can be he The ea... ---
**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:** [January 17, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/18 "2010-01-17T18:31:34Z")
> [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](#): > > No, really, you were done right here. > > Proof: Well, I had considered phrasing the OP more like: Which regional/ethnic American accent(s) does Michele Obama exhibit? Implicit in that question is that we all exhibit at least one. ---
**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, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/19 "2010-01-18T03:11:16Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I don’t know. I always thought it was usual to say “str” sounds as “shtr.” Apparently, it’s called “str- palatalization,” and New Yorkers, and Philadelphians do it, too, if a Google search for “street shtreet” could be trusted. All I know is some folks would find my “shtr” pronunciations quirky and weird, and others don’t seem to notice them at all. It might be a common feature of a number of urban accents. I had a grade-school friend who literally couldn’t pronounce the “str”, and substituted “shr” or “shtr” for it instead, so I just assumed it was a speech impediment in everyone who pronounced it that way. I never realized it was a regional variation before. To people who don’t pronounce it wrong, it sounds very odd indeed. I was surprised to hear Michelle Obama pronounce it that way. ---
**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, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210/20 "2010-01-18T03:30:44Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I had a grade-school friend who literally couldn’t pronounce the “str”, and substituted “shr” or “shtr” for it instead, so I just assumed it was a speech impediment in everyone who pronounced it that way. I never realized it was a regional variation before. To people who don’t pronounce it wrong, it sounds very odd indeed. I was surprised to hear Michelle Obama pronounce it that way. I moved this to another [thread here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12006397#post12006397). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-michelle-obama-have-an-accent/525210.md?page=2)