People in Hawaii have their own sound. I barely know how to describe it, but whenever I call businesses back home, I know when I’m talking to a local.
Transplanted Hawaiians usually can turn the accent off, so it’s harder to pick them out. But once they unleash it, it’s unmistakable. 
[QUOTE=tdn]
USAans, have you ever had the problem of not being able to understand a fellow USAan? I don’t mean an immigrant with a really thick, say, Spanish accent. I mean a native speaker. Ever happen to you?
[/QUOTE]
Usually no, but there was this one girl who transfered from Texas to our high school…she caught us all unaware when the teacher stepped out of the room one day.
“Can I borrow a pin?” She asked someone very politely.
Looking puzzled, my classmate replied “Sorry, I don’t have a pin.”
She looked a bit puzzled herself, and asked another classmate or two, and got the same reply. Then she got mad at us. “You’re saying none of ya’ll have a pin I can borrow?”
“Maybe if you ask the home ec teacher.” Someone suggested doubtfully. “What do you want a pin for anyway?”
“A pin! A pin to write with!”
“Oh!” we all said. “You mean a pen. Why didn’t you say so?”
“I did!” She huffed. We all stared at her.
“Pin and pen are two different words, you know.”
She then looked at us like we were the ones mispronouncing a three letter word and were dumb for having no idea what she wanted. :dubious:
[QUOTE=Sampiro]
I used to live near the city of Cordele, Georgia, “Watermelon Capital of the World”.
[/QUOTE]
Those assholes took me for about $300 last time I drove through, after clocking me at about 15 miles an hour faster than I was travelling in a “construction zone” with no construction going on. I hate that effing place. Best part was when I asked the constable how much it was going to cost and he didn’t know. I’d have to call and find out. What a racket.
[QUOTE=Sampiro]
And many New Orleansians sound far more like many New Yorkers than they do people from northern Louisiana due to the similar ethnic mix (Irish/Italian/WASP/Black/Latino; most Southern regions only had large WASP and Black populations until the past few decades).
[/QUOTE]
Also, the Cajuns sound a lot like the Franco-Americans in mill towns of New England. The same group of immigrants, just some of them kept going after getting to the new world.
[QUOTE=ShibbOleth]
Best part was when I asked the constable how much it was going to cost and he didn’t know.
[/QUOTE]
The few times I’ve received some kind of ticket, the officer has always told me I have to call to find out the cost. I get the impression that they’re prohibited from saying.
[QUOTE=elfkin477]
“Can I borrow a pin?”
[/QUOTE]
That sounds a lot like when I asked a stranger if she had the time. She rummaged around in her purse, and finally gave me ten cents.