# Midwestern 'accent' **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 16, 2002, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553 "2002-10-16T19:12:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![l43452](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@l43452](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l43452)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/1 "2002-10-16T19:12:29Z")
Hi all! I am a newbie to the Midwest, having spent most of my life in New England, then having the opportunity to see the West (CO, ND), and the south (TX) via the Air Force. I find the accent here in Ohio peculiar, and was wondering if any of you could enlighten me the origin of a few words. The first is ‘Aunt’ pronounced ‘Ant’. I can’t think of any other words that have the ‘au’ pronounced as a flat ‘a’. Some examples are ‘flaunt’, ‘gaunt’, ‘haunt’, ‘taunt’. They also say ‘Ruuf’ with a flat ‘o’ around here instead of ‘Roof’ with the long ‘o’. I can see how this came about, since we have words that use the flat ‘o’, like ‘foot’, ‘soot’, ‘took’ etc. Then we have other double ‘o’ words that have the long ‘o’ like ‘spook’. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/2 "2002-10-16T20:28:15Z")
Ideas about what? What’s your question? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/3 "2002-10-16T20:32:46Z")
Where in Ohio are you? There are several different accent regions there. And what was your question? ---
**Author:** ![l43452](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@l43452](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l43452)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/4 "2002-10-16T20:56:42Z")
I was wondering how these permutations of the queen’s english came about. I can’t imagine for the life of me how ‘Aunt’ became ‘Ant’ ---
**Author:** ![andymurph64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@andymurph64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andymurph64)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/5 "2002-10-16T21:02:54Z")
Say ‘drawer’ and ‘wash’ ---
**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:** [October 16, 2002, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/6 "2002-10-16T21:12:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by l43452 \* > \*\*I was wondering how these permutations of the queen’s english came about. I can’t imagine for the life of me how ‘Aunt’ became ‘Ant’ \*\* Which is odd, because I can’t really picture “Aunt” being pronounced any other way than “Ant”. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/7 "2002-10-16T22:59:59Z")
Actually, aunt pronounced as ant is sufficiently common to get first listing in most (U.S.) dictionaries. On the other hand, I have never heard anyone rhyme aunt with haunt; most non-“ant” speakers say it (to my ear) to nearly rhyme with font, only with an almost more open vowel, similar to the O in hot. Where did it come from? Someplace back in either England or Ireland where it is spoken that way and got dragged over to North America with more of those blasted immigrants (but the really old immigrants). ---
**Author:** ![l43452](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@l43452](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l43452)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/8 "2002-10-16T23:01:08Z")
I’d be amazed it you could come up with another ‘au’ word that gets rid of the ‘u’ in pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![japatlgt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@japatlgt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/japatlgt)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/9 "2002-10-16T23:05:24Z")
Being a native Southerner I’ve always found the New Englander accent to be peculiar. Welcome South, brother! ---
**Author:** ![l43452](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@l43452](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l43452)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/10 "2002-10-16T23:14:31Z")
I can get where the New England accent comes from, though. It’s just a small permutation of the queen’s english. It’s these ‘warter’ for ‘water’ and such that get me. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/11 "2002-10-16T23:14:32Z")
> [@](#): > > I’d be amazed it you could come up with another ‘au’ word that gets rid of the ‘u’ in pronunciation. That is very likely irrelevant. The pronunciation appears to be sufficiently well established that it probably arose at a time when the majority of the populace wis illiterate and the pronunciation of one region or another might not bear any correlation to the spelling. I certainly have never found an R at the end of Cuba, yet I hear it spoken with a final R among many New Englanders. Lots of people say “nuculer” for nuclear, yet most people (at least since 1945) should have some notion of the word nuclear. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/12 "2002-10-17T00:06:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by l43452 \* > \*\*I’d be amazed it you could come up with another ‘au’ word that gets rid of the ‘u’ in pronunciation. \*\* draught. ---
**Author:** ![l43452](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@l43452](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l43452)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/13 "2002-10-17T00:51:11Z")
Good one, yabob. Was that draught as in beer or draught as in ‘lack of water’? This topic got off-subject, as usual for these kinds of discussions. I don’t care what’s right or wrong, I’m just wondering where these alternate pronunciations came from. Nucular and Cuber strike me as ignorant, not just an accent change. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/14 "2002-10-17T01:39:34Z")
“Cuber” is not “ignorant.” There is an “intrusive R” there that is evidence in several non-rhotic northeastern American and English accents (viz., “lawren oada” for “law and order”). “Lack of water” is **drought**. As for where “alternative” pronunciations come from, it’s really hard to say, especially with a pronunciation like [&nt] for “aunt,” which is an old, old, old pronunciation and is more common in the United States than [Ant], [A.nt], or [ant]. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/15 "2002-10-17T01:46:25Z")
I meant beer, horses or open windows. Lack of water is a “drought”. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/16 "2002-10-17T01:48:48Z")
“Cuber” is not “ignorant.” There is an “intrusive R” there that is evidence in several non-rhotic northeastern American and English accents (viz., “lawren oada” for “law and order”). “Lack of water” is **drought**. As for where “alternative” pronunciations come from, it’s really hard to say, especially with a pronunciation like [&nt] for “aunt,” which is an old, old, old pronunciation and is more common in the United States than [Ant], [A.nt], or [ant]. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/17 "2002-10-17T03:21:29Z")
Pronunciations of English are also affected by large groups of people for whom English is/was not their native language. If an area has a large population of Dutch or German or Swedish or (insert other group), their pronunciations of English words will filter into the general accent of everyone in the area (over time). ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/18 "2002-10-17T03:29:15Z")
Oh, and I wanted to chime in as a Michiganian (I refuse to write “Michigander”): I used to say “Aunt” with an ‘au’ like “haunt”, but my family told me that it wasn’t right. 😕 So for about a decade I did the “ant” pronunciation. Now, though, I use the “haunt”-Aunt because that’s what sounds right to me. I alternate (pretty evenly) between “roooooof” and “ruff”, as well as “rooot” and “rowt” for route. There are other things I say that make people ask if I’m Canadian (even people around here!). From what I can tell, it’s how I generally pronounce my “o”. Dollar, sorry, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/19 "2002-10-17T03:57:17Z")
In one of his pieces James Thurber, a native Buckeye, who grew up in Columbus, and was educated at Ohio State before it was _THE_ Ohio State, said that the central Ohio accent involves enunciation with minimal mouth movement–as in the word “king.” As an exiled Buckeye from the headwaters of the Mad River in Logan County, I think Thurber has it nailed. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/20 "2002-10-17T04:02:32Z")
Even though I’m California born-and-bred, I learned to speak using the pronunciation that made my mother’s sisters appear to be insects. I have since trained myself to pronounce the word to rhyme with “font”, but when I say it in baby talk (e.g., “Auntie Ruth”), it seems to be a diminutive form of the bug. Pure speculation: German-speaking immigrants to the Midwest may have first corrupted the word “Tante” to sound like “rant”, instead of “taunt”, and later dropped the T in an effort to better assimilate. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553.md?page=2)