# Eastern U.S. accents **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2001, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685 "2001-11-16T05:52:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/41 "2001-11-17T15:44:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Palve \* > \*\* > That was just a part of a big personal speech revolution which included learning the correct pronunciation of ‘February’ (FEB-roo-air-ee), ‘clitoris’ (CLIT-er-iss), ‘zoology’ (ZOH-ahl-uh-jee), ‘nuclear’ (NOO-klee-er), and ‘mischievous’ (MISS-chiv-iss) among others. > \*\* Yeah, but can you use them all in a sentence? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2001, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/42 "2001-11-18T19:15:12Z")
It was at a Zoology conference in February that I first got to know her mischevious nuclear clitoris. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2001, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/43 "2001-11-18T23:34:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Captain Amazing \* > \*\*It was at a Zoology conference in February that I first got to know her mischevious nuclear clitoris. \*\* :eek: ---
**Author:** ![greenlady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@greenlady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greenlady)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/44 "2001-11-19T00:06:51Z")
Well, in NJ **fawg** and **dawg** rhyme. I actually never notice my “accent” until I visit my sister in “Bawston,” Massachusetts. Up there, they think I tawk funny. :rolleyes: **Dire Wolf** , you moved from New York to Alabama? Brave soul… ---
**Author:** ![robo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@robo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/45 "2001-11-19T01:04:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Don’t forget “shee-yit!” Hah, that reminds me. The subtitles in the Japanese movie The Seven Samurai used “sheeyit!” throughout the movie.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TheRob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@TheRob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheRob)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/46 "2001-11-19T05:27:00Z")
On Long Island it’s : dawg , fog , hog. Oh , and fuckin, (no “G”). ---
**Author:** ![Grelby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@Grelby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grelby)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/47 "2001-11-19T06:27:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Green Bean \* > \*\*You know what drove me nuts about Western Pennsylvanians? That they don’t differentiate the pronunciation of the names Don and Dawn. > > It was so infuriating. > > Yinzer: “I’m gahn dahntahn with Dahn.” > Me: “Don Smith?” > Yinzer: “Not Dahn! Dahn!” > Me: “Do you mean Don or Dawn.” > Yinzer: “Your head needs examined.” > > I moved away. \*\* You mean Don and Dawn are pronounced differently? What the hell kind of sense does that make? Bear in mind, this is coming from what the map would define as an Eastern New Englander. That’s what the vocalization part says too. So… am I weird then? ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/48 "2001-11-19T16:10:39Z")
I suffer from a serious case of Mine Eyes Glaze Over when I see the phonetic alphabet, so let’s see if I can just describe the difference between “Dawn” and “Don.” With “Don,” my lower jaw goes straight down, no rounding of the lips. With “Dawn,” the jaw goes down and slightly forward, and I do round my lips. Don-Dawn Differentiators, does this sound right to you? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/49 "2001-11-19T17:45:54Z")
My wife’ s name is Dawn, and in the near-decade we’ve been together, I’ve heard only a single person say it “Don”. It was annoying. On the other hand, we’re from the Philly area, and we speak rightly, so that person was just as weird as Grelby. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/50 "2001-11-19T18:33:46Z")
Born and raised: Philly, PA. Fog and Hog,…and dawg stands alone. Now, what about “water”. Where I’m from its’ wooder. The northeast part of the country does not have a particular dialect or accent, it has many. You have the Philly area/SW PA/South Jersey. You have the trashier inner New Yawk accent, the similar and milder Nort’ Joisy accent, the god-awful Bastin accent, and the Baltimore accent that penetrates the spine, among others. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/51 "2001-11-19T18:38:57Z")
Hey **Gorgy**! How’s the wife and the baby and the back? For those of you not from the little corner of the US that pronounces everthing correctly: Don does not rhyme with Dawn. Pen and pin are not pronounced the same. Mary, merry and marry are not pronounced the same. Get a grip, people! ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/52 "2001-11-19T19:14:06Z")
Yo. Wife is fine, baby is en route, back is killing me after the surgery. There is a marked difference in speach (speaking for myself strictly) whether I’m speaking with friends in a drunken orgy or at work, etc. I usually enunciate very well to begin with, but when you’re just trying to get the words out, things happen. Water is not wooder! Or actually wuder (with umlauts over the yoo). It often comes out wadder when spocken fastly. ``` FOG-DOG-HOG-LOG-POG-NOG-WOG-JOG-COG-BOG ``` Behold!! The Wall of Og!!! There is no variance!!! Alls Og that ends Og!!! There can be only Og!!! Sticks and stones may break my bones but Og will never hurt me!!! I’ve got Og under my skin!!! Todays episode was brought to you by the letter Og!!! Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! \>:O 😮 :O\> 😉 😛 OG :IAMOGTHEONLYOGTHELASTBESTHOPEFORPEACEINTHEUNIVERSEBETWEENPEOPLEWHOTALKFUNNY. I shall retire to now to my estate under blue light special. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/53 "2001-11-19T19:17:42Z")
And how does that wideness thing happen?!?!?!?!?!?!?! ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/54 "2001-11-19T20:40:06Z")
Iffen you don’t maken no space, ya don’t getten no space. The wall of OG was too long. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/55 "2001-11-19T21:21:59Z")
Drats!!! Thanks, but I really needed to let that out. Or _oot_ if you’re a cannuck. But hey, while we’re on the subject (that’s what the thread is about, see?) how about some other words … What aboot _creek_ and _roof_ and _route_? Each of them have two pronounciations, and one invariably bothers people who say it the other way. I can’t say I know of actual regional reasons behind this, either. So what’s the secret behind crick, ruff and rowt? ---
**Author:** ![Shyabrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b487fb/32.png) [@Shyabrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shyabrick)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/56 "2001-11-19T21:26:40Z")
I walked away from 9th grade English retaining only one thing I can recall. “Correctness can rest upon usage only for the simple reason there is nothing else for it to rest upon and all usage is relative” Leonard Bloomfield - 1933 ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/57 "2001-11-19T22:32:37Z")
Does there remain a General Question here? ---
**Author:** ![Grelby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@Grelby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grelby)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/58 "2001-11-19T23:31:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gorgon Heap \* > \*\*My wife’ > s name is Dawn, and in the near-decade we’ve been together, I’ve heard only a single person say it “Don”. It was annoying. On the other hand, we’re from the Philly area, and we speak rightly, so that person was just as weird as Grelby. 🙂 \*\* Ouch! What I’m trying to figure out now is, is the way I pronounce Dawn/Don the way you pronounce Dawn, or the way you pronounce Don? 😉 That work for a question? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/59 "2001-11-20T18:57:46Z")
This is a funny site about how they talk in [Maryland](http://www.robinsweb.com/maryland/merlin.html). ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685/60 "2001-11-20T21:00:00Z")
> [@](#): > > . > My brother went to school in way upstate NY, near the Canadian border. Locals used to laugh at the downstaters for having three (3) different pronunciations for the words “merry”, “marry”, and the women’s name “Mary”. The locals used the exact same pronunciation for all three, to my ear closest to how I would say “merry”. \*\* Oh, Plattsburg State? I lived in that area for several years and they talk kind of funny there. The oddest thing they say is “element - erry school”. Downstate, Upstate (Albany and North Country area) New York, Maine and Rhode Island residents all rhyme fog with hog, but not dog, as far as I’ve noticed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eastern-u-s-accents/93685.md?page=4)