# Is there a name for that “hippie stoner accent?” **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 21, 2023, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-that-hippie-stoner-accent/993478 "2023-11-21T13:51:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-that-hippie-stoner-accent/993478/1 "2023-11-21T13:51:19Z")
You know the one I mean, but it’s hard to describe. Think Tommy Chong, Otto the Bus Driver, or - going way back - that guy from the TV commercial for the _Freedom Rock_ album (“Hey, man is that Freedom Rock? Well, TURN IT UP!”) When you mimic that hippie stoner voice, what exactly are you doing? What is it called? Is it an accent? Is it a regional thing? Is it based on a character, or did real hippie stoners actually speak like that? ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-that-hippie-stoner-accent/993478/2 "2023-11-21T13:56:38Z")
Don’t forget Sean Penn’s famous portrayal of Jeff Spicoli in _Fast Times at Ridgemont High_ Seems like its origins lie in coastal California. More than that I cannot say. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-that-hippie-stoner-accent/993478/3 "2023-11-21T14:04:25Z")
And of course Wikipedia has an article on it. > **[California English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_English)** > > California English (or Californian English) collectively refers to varieties of American English native to California. As California became one of the most ethnically diverse U.S. states, English speakers from a wide variety of backgrounds began to pick up different linguistic elements from one another and also develop new ones; the result is both divergence and convergence within Californian English. However, linguists who studied English before and immediately after World War II tended to fi A ... The article goes into details about the origins of the Valley Girl and Surfer Dude accents, as well as the Chicano English influences, and has a lengthy section on the California Vowel Shift. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-that-hippie-stoner-accent/993478/4 "2023-11-21T14:33:27Z")
Forget that old saw « A language is a dialect with an army. » Nowadays, you’re only a dialect until there’s a wiki language article. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-that-hippie-stoner-accent/993478/5 "2023-11-21T14:34:21Z")
Lampooned on SNL. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/dCer2e0t8r8/maxresdefault.jpg "Every Californians Ever (Part 1 of 2)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCer2e0t8r8) ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-that-hippie-stoner-accent/993478/6 "2023-11-21T14:39:31Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > You know the one I mean, but it’s hard to describe. Think Tommy Chong, Otto the Bus Driver, or - going way back - that guy from the TV commercial for the _Freedom Rock_ album (“Hey, man is that Freedom Rock? Well, TURN IT UP!”) My, God. When I read the title of the thread the Freedom Rock “Well turn it up, man!” popped into my head immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-that-hippie-stoner-accent/993478/7 "2023-11-21T14:41:27Z")
And the ghost of Dr Pavlov makes a tick mark on his chart. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-that-hippie-stoner-accent/993478/8 "2023-11-21T17:58:12Z")
> **[Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for May 16, 1979 | GoComics.com](https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/1979/05/16)** > > Duane: See, Rick, in its way, mellow-speak is a remarkably economical dialect. What Dr. Asher has done is reduce language to only its most essential components. Here, I'll show you. Give me a line to translate. Rick: How about this... "the moon like... ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2023, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-that-hippie-stoner-accent/993478/9 "2023-11-22T15:04:28Z")
“mellow-speak” I like it. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-that-hippie-stoner-accent/993478/10 "2023-11-23T14:54:52Z")
Dave’s not here, man. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2023, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-that-hippie-stoner-accent/993478/11 "2023-11-24T00:57:48Z")
Munchese. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2023, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-that-hippie-stoner-accent/993478/12 "2023-11-24T03:38:02Z")
I have frequently found reason to say, “Oh, wow, look at the moon” since I read that strip in 1979. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-that-hippie-stoner-accent/993478/13 "2023-11-25T03:48:21Z")
I’m not sure it’s an accent so much as just the slurring and slow cadence typical of a heavily stoned speaker. Possibly with some added degree of long-term brain damage from drug overuse. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-that-hippie-stoner-accent/993478/14 "2023-11-25T08:34:55Z")
Just FYI , I have lived in CA all my life, and have never heard anything at all like that SNL skit. Now some terms do slip in, I have always liked “dude”, but The Big Lebowski seems to have influenced that. Yes, some of the slang 'whatever" and such, is around. Now, I do live only 30 minutes (with traffic) from The Valley, but still. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-that-hippie-stoner-accent/993478/15 "2023-11-25T20:12:18Z")
The funny thing is, I’m from Toronto, and I actually had a classmate in high school who seemed to speak with the “surfer dude” accent. He reminded me a lot of Michelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. I wonder if it wasn’t just some kind of affectation.