This one fascinates me. I’ve been saying it for years, without really realizing it was unusual-- or that I was even saying it-- it just came out of my mouth. Then one day, a co-worker responded to my “Come here once” with a “Only once? How 'bout twice? Or three times?”
It was then that I realized that what I was saying was a bit odd. I asked around, but everyone else thought I was nuts for tacking a “once” on the end of certain imperative sentences. So I just thought it was a quirk exclusive to me.
Then last year, I was visiting my dad, and we were working on a project in his yard, and he told me to “hold this once.” So I asked him why he tacked a “once” onto the end of the sentence, and we got to discussing this quirk. He said that, yes, he too has been mocked by co-workers, and that he thinks his dad passed it on to him.
FTR, my dad and his dad were from South Dakota, and I live in Michigan. I wonder where this quirk of dialect comes from? It seems to be present in only a few people, of midwest origin, but not universally midwestern.
My grandpa used to say this all the time, but I think he is the only one I ever heard say it. He was born and raised in Wisconsin by German immigrants and I was raised and had lived in Wisconsin most of my life.
Now that’s a colloquialism that I haven’t heard 'round these here pots for a long time, nigh unto a coon’s age. But I used to think that it was “ain’t so”, used like the french “n’est-ce pas?”
Bert Vaux at UW-Milwaukee is the guy who spearheaded the whole pop v. soda debate with an online survey a while ago. Lots of great links in the sidebar.
A lot of the things listed by Quadgop I’d consider Northernisms, and not something the rest of the state says, like “ain-a-hey” (which I’d probably transcribe as “en-a-hey”) and “ya-hey.” My aunt says things like that, and she’s from Bagley. Conversely, my sister’s fiance is from near Eagle River, and doesn’t say anything like that at all. I’ve never heard anyone say “en-so.”
I will admit that there’s a definite German flair to the way I say “yeah,” though, especially as a question. “Oh, yeah?” might as well be “ja?”.
Wisconsin-ese has really nasal vowels when placed in front of “g”. You can hear it when we say things like “egg” and “beg” and “keg” (of course), and “bag” and “lag” and “tag.” I should make a voice-post on my Livejournal so you can hear the difference, because it’s impossible to understand until you actually hear someone say it. It’s really subtle – it’s not like we run around all the time using the long a.
Of course, down here in the way southwest corner, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone told me I spoke like an Iowan (god forbid). And, just so we’re clear, it’s pop, and bubblers don’t exist down here.
What part? Spring Green? Or farther south?
We use “you wanna come with?” too. Did/do you ever not pronounce the t’s in “mitten” and rhyming words?
Green County, up in those hills where the glaicers never touched, and there’s all kinds of hidden hollows where people stay put for generations.
And as I read your post I said “mitten” aloud: it came out “mih-nh”
Then, trying to say “mitten” correctly (which made me feel terribly pretentious) the very tip of my tongue touches the rim of my hard pallet to make the “t” plosive, then flattened and moved slightly forward to form the “n.”
bu as I pronounce “mitten” in my natural regional accent, I don’t make a plosive of the “t;” instead I make a catch in the back of my throat to make a silent “t”, and then an “uhn” grunt, with the tounge always being in position to make an “n” all the while. Almost like Dick Van Dyke-Cockney speech.
Even other Wisconsinites thought we talked funny, in our “knidded mih-unhs”
Slithy, I think we have the same accent. I live on the border of Iowa/Grant/Lafayette counties, and my family’s been kicking it here for 150+ years. I’m working on recording something for this thread, so tell me how we compare once I get it posted, huh?
I posted my recording in my journal. It’s a pretty small mp3 file, and was easily listenable on my crappy dial-up connection.
There are two selections for Sunspace’s thread, and then there are two for this thread. They are as follows:
Nasalized vowels/why “bag” rhymes with “vague”
Vaguely she said, “The jagged branch had snagged the bag, so there was a hole for the eggs to fall through.”
Flapping and double t’s
The adorable kitten rolled with its knitted mittens, but, alas, was bitten by the adder.
(Please don’t take me less seriously because I sound like a little girl. It’s bad enough my dad has trouble hearing me sometimes because he’s going deaf and I have the highest voice in the family.)
Thank you for that! I was thinking of posting my own audio recording, but it would have been kind of a hassle. A good reading for the purposes of this thread might have been:
“John unplugged the battered lamp on the table. He had a vague recollection of leaving his bag in the front room. Bubbler.”
Funny thing is, we’ve got three Highway 100s, but Highway Hundred really only refers to one of them (The stretch with Mayfair Rd/108th St), the other two are Ryan Road and Brown Deer Road.
I always took en-so to mean “ain’t it so.” I am in the middle of a whole bunch of old German and Swedish farmers. Get me in a room with a bunch of them, and my accent gets really thick.
Over 'dere
'Dem bastards.
Gunna take ma booat up nort’ ta sout’ dakouta an’ catch me some big ole’ norderns. God’ta new lur, its gonna be a slaughder, ya wanna come widt? Bedder dan here, in Minnesooata.
I grew up in Appleton and now live in central WI, so I’m a bit surprised to see some things I’ve heard and said all my life attributed to just the Milwaukee area:
bubbler (I’ll NEVER call it a water fountain)
come here once
I’m going to the store, wanna come with?
and so? (this is how I heard when my grandma said it)
pop (I used this term when I was a kid, but somehow I switched to “soda”)
Interesting about “mitten”; I do the “mih-nh” thing too, and I guess I’d consider actually pronouncing the t’s to be an overpronunciation.
Also about “bubbler” not being used in Madison: really? I’ll confess that I rarely look for one when I’m in Madison, as there are much more interesting things to drink there besides water from a bubbler.
Kohler actually made a drinking fountain with the trademarked name Bubbler back in the late 1800’s.
I’ve lived in Wisconsin my entire life, 47+ years, and the general Milwaukee area for 20+ (lived in West Bend the rest of the time, but don’t consider that a suburb of Milwaukee). I’ve heard it pronounced Mwaukee, MaWaukee, Wasconsin, 'Sconsin, and West Bend as Wess Benn.
Don’t forget:
*Getting an ass full. (means getting drunk as hell. My friend Wayne told me that when he first moved here he was told not to go drinking with this one guy from work because he tends to get an ass full. Wayne thought that meant he got so drunk he’d shit his pants at the bar! )
*Look out for the FIBS on the highway (Fucking Illinois Bastards)
*Whorebucks (old, old men on the prowl. Usually wearing white shoes, a white belt, or both!)
*Stop-N-Go lights (traffic lights).
*Filling station (gas station).
*Beer Depot (liquor store).
*And if you ask me for a **POP **you are going to get popped in the head! It’s SODA goddamn it!! The only exception is:
*Barley Pop (beer). Used here, but not that often.
“Come with” is also used around here (Chicago), as well as “go by” and “borrow” for “lend.” Oh, and “pop.” I had though that “soda” was more popular in the Milwaukee area, and “pop” elsewhere in Wisconsin. This site suggests that “soda” is far more popular than “pop” in Milwaukee.
Officially there is no city of Cudahy. It’s charter actually lists it as the city of Cuda.
But so many of it’s residents would tell people “I live in Cuda, hey” that outsiders started thinking that it’s name was actually Cudahy.
L:dubious::dubious:k it up!
