# 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:** 2
**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:** [October 17, 2002, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/21 "2002-10-17T06:14:24Z")
Note that the source from which the word “aunt” derives, which is the word “tante” in French, is spelled with just an “a” in modern French, not “au.” I think that trying to compare it with “haunt” or “daunt” might not be the correct approach. Compare the word “pants” (or the word “pantaloon,” from which “pants” derives and which is also borrowed from French). Everybody pronounces that word with a vowel like in the word “ant.” So we have a number of words like “aunt,” “haunt,” “daunt,” and “pantaloon” which were borrowed into Middle English from French not long after the Norman Conquest. I suspect that right from the beginning of their use in Middle English, all these words had a couple of variant pronunciations, one rhyming with the pronunciation of “ant” and the other rhyming with the New England pronunciation of “aunt.” Some dialects pronounced them one way and some pronounced them another way. These variant pronunciations continued to exist right up to the present in the case of “aunt,” so it’s pronounced one way in most American dialects (including that of Ohio) and another way in most British dialects and in New England. In the case of “haunt” and “daunt,” the pronunciation that rhymed with “ant” disappeared, so all English speakers now pronounce it to rhyme with the New England pronunciation of “aunt.” In the case of “pants,” the pronunciation that rhymed with the New England pronunciation of “aunt” dropped out, so now all English speakers now pronounce it to rhyme with the pronunciation of “ant.” The regularization of spelling in English didn’t happen till a couple of centuries after these words were borrowed from French, so it was mostly a matter of luck which of the two variant pronunciations happened to be the one that was chosen when the spelling was regularized. Incidentally, I grew up in rural northwest Ohio, and I still shudder every time I hear someone use the New England pronunciation of “aunt.” ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/22 "2002-10-17T06:47:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zweisamkeit \* > **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 grew up in the Cleveland area, but I learned to say “aunt” to rhyme with “font”. I still use that pronunciation when addressing Aunt Pat or Aunt Sharon, but I’ve generally said the word for an uncle’s wife or parent’s sister “ant” in conversations with non-family members since I learned most people I met preferred that pronunciation. When I was in college in Virginia, one of my friends rhymed “aunt” with “haunt”. He didn’t have what most people would call a Southern accent, by the way, even though he was a “local”. > [@](#): > > **I alternate (pretty evenly) between “roooooof” and “ruff”, as well as “rooot” and “rowt” for route.** “Get your kicks on ROOOT 66”, but “a paper ROWT”. And “roof” indeed rhymes with “hoof”. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/23 "2002-10-17T07:12:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > \*\* > > 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. \*\* Yes and only a New Yorker like Cole Porter would rhyme “idea” and “here” and “near” - as in _The mere idea of you…The longing here for you…You’ll never know how slow the moments go 'til I’m near to you … etc. etc._ ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/24 "2002-10-17T10:00:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sternvogel \* > \*\* > > I grew up in the Cleveland area, but I learned to say “aunt” to rhyme with "font \*\* Odd. I grew up and am still in the Cleveland area, and I have NEVER, to my memory, heard a local pronounce it as anything other than ‘ant’. Also, roof rhyming with hoof is almost exclusively used, and “route” can go either way, although I personally say “rowt”. ---
**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, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/25 "2002-10-17T10:29:06Z")
Good stuff! Thanks guys and gals! ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/26 "2002-10-17T10:34:03Z")
I was born in Indianapolis, as was my Mom…my father, though born in Fort Smith, AR, grew up in Indianapolis; we came out here in 1952, and I grew up imitating my parents’ Indiana acent. (My father did not speak with a Southern accent, let alone one like Bill Clinton’s.) Anyway, when I was a high-school senior I commented in journalism class that I did not speak English with a regional accent. I was immediately contradicted by the teacher, who grew up in Southern California (and may have been born here, too). She was an English major–at UCLA–and said I do in fact have a “midwestern twang.” So what? I pronounce _wash_ as “wohsh,” _aunt_ to rhyme with “cant.” What is strange is that my Mom’s older sisters, who have lived in Indianapolis just about all their lives, sound to me as if they speak with a Southern accent! In high school I also knew a girl (who was in the journalism class as well) born in Gary, IN; she lived for a while in the Phoenix area…her accent sounded more similar to a New York-New Jersey accent (in the government class there were two girls from New Jersey; one, who had been in Southern California on and off, did not speak with any perceptible accent; the other, transferred to Southern California at the very start of her senior year, spoke with as strong a New York area accent as Judge Judy Sheindlin or Fran Drescher.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/27 "2002-10-20T01:13:48Z")
I’ll agree with **Senorbeef** , here in Wisconsin anyway. How about _exit_? I had a gf from New jersey and she laughed everytime I said it. Sort of like eggs-zit. She claimed it was eks-it. hmmphh. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/28 "2002-10-20T02:11:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SenorBeef \* > \*\* > > Odd. I grew up and am still in the Cleveland area, and I have NEVER, to my memory, heard a local pronounce it as anything other than ‘ant’. > \*\* Mrs. Kunilou was born and raised in Cleveland and she and her entire family have always pronounced it to rhyme with “font.” However, the family came to Cleveland from California, so that might have something to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Houlihan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Houlihan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Houlihan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/29 "2002-10-20T02:22:35Z")
l43452, what are you talking about? WE don’t have an accent, everyone else does. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![l43452](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@l43452](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l43452)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/30 "2002-10-20T02:25:41Z")
Where are you from Houlihan? ---
**Author:** ![cleops](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@cleops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cleops)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/31 "2002-10-20T02:34:39Z")
Mainer here. Never heard anyone say aunt like font unless they were parodying some snooty accent. In my area, it was always like the French tante, like ahnt sort of, not ant or font. Font? ---
**Author:** ![l43452](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@l43452](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l43452)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/32 "2002-10-20T02:40:23Z")
You know, having had people listen to the way I say ‘aunt’ lately, you’re right, cleops. I don’t say it like it rhymes with ‘gaunt’ and the like, more like the French word ‘tante’ and ‘debutante’. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/33 "2002-10-20T05:32:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Big Cheese \* > \*\*I’ll agree with **Senorbeef** , here in Wisconsin anyway. > > How about _exit_? I had a gf from New jersey and she laughed everytime I said it. Sort of like eggs-zit. She claimed it was eks-it. hmmphh. \*\* Egs-it… the G sound is very subtle and flows, not really defined like in ‘egg’. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/34 "2002-10-20T05:34:28Z")
My question is what’s the deal with people who pronounce theatre as Thee-ater. What accent is that? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/35 "2002-10-20T05:53:38Z")
Quote: Originally posted by David Simmons "Yes and only a New Yorker like Cole Porter would rhyme “idea” and “here” and “near…” Gottcha! Cole Porter was from Indiana. When I was a child and heard someone say “Cuber,” I thought they were ignorant too. It took JFK’s saying it to change my mind. Do you pronounce the word “greasy” with an “s” (gree-see) or a “z” (gree-zee)? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/36 "2002-10-20T05:55:33Z")
you’re all wrong of course. I agree Exit should be eks-it. Do you pronounce “x”, “eggs”? It is “eks” right? Hence “eksit” for exit. I’ve always pronounced “aunt” as “arnt”. But then you were asking about American accents so it is all irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/37 "2002-10-20T06:17:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoe \* > \*\*Quote: > > Originally posted by David Simmons > > "Yes and only a New Yorker like Cole Porter would rhyme “idea” and “here” and “near…” > > Gottcha! Cole Porter was from Indiana. > > \*\* Yes, Porter was born in Peru, IN but I don’t think he was “from” there. I was born in Webster, WI but I’m not from there because I grew up in Iowa and have lived the greater part of my life in California. Porter spent most of his life in high class schools in the East, in Europe and in New York. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/38 "2002-10-20T07:23:04Z")
[Originally posted by Zoe\* > [@](#): > > Do you pronounce the word “greasy” with an “s” (gree-see) or a “z” (gree-zee)? The only time I ever heard “greasy” pronounced with the “z” sound was when Peter Lorre guested on the old _Jack Benny Show_ in the early 60s. Lorre used the line from a commercial, “Are you still using that _gree-zee_ kid stuff in your hair?” ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/39 "2002-10-20T13:34:11Z")
I’ve lived in central Indiana most of my life. I only heard people say awnt occasionally on TV and radio. I remember elementary school teachers telling us it was _ant, not awnt._ I believe the oddities of midwestern speech come from the fact that the area was settled by a hodgepodge of traders, trappers, miners, and farmers from all over Europe. Settled, that is, after the earlier inhabitants were rudely forced out. ☹ Some of us say _bush_ with sound as in _cool_ , just as it would be spoken is Spanish. Some of us say _wash_ as _warsh,_ not rhyming with _harsh_ , but more like the middle bit in _gorse or course._ I believe this comes from the French influence, where _lavarse_ is about washing. (I speak no French; I got that from a trilingual hand soap carton.) Some of us even have the loose-jawed vowels of the mountain folks. Generally (very generally) speaking, their speech flowed from Celtic miners, who followed the hills and coal veins from the Carolinas to the hills of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Some examples: _Aunt, haunt, and can’t_ come out as _aint (remember Aint Bee?) haint, and cain’t._ This is getting long, so I’ll leave the northern midwest to somebody else. –Nott ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553/40 "2002-10-20T14:11:06Z")
As we become more of a “homogenized” society, I think you’ll find this issue to be less and less prevalent. As a northern Hoosier, we don’t have an “accent”. Even the national newscasters (a la Peter Jennings) learn to speak like us. “Aunt” and “ant” are simple colloquialisms or family preferences, neither right nor wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midwestern-accent/132553.md?page=3)