# Speak to me using Mercan

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [October 22, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530 "2012-10-22T15:50:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/21 "2012-10-23T21:32:02Z")

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> [@Jragon](#):
>
> Then there’s the people who find a way to pronounce “green” as “gre-un”.

I think in the south they can get some impressive negative numbers.

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**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/22 "2012-10-23T23:41:43Z")

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Commonly overheard between students after passing back an exam that had been scored:

Wujoogit? (+1 point, but it’s my fave)

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**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 24, 2012, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/23 "2012-10-24T02:30:20Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Huh, “warsh” is a Kansas thing, too? I’ve always associated that with the Appalachians. Along with “wooder” for “water”.

Not only does it pop up in places you wouldn’t expect, it isn’t even mispronounced the same way everywhere.

Here in St. Louis, we’d pronounce “warsh” to rhyme with far.

People a little further south pronounce it to rhyme with or.

I’ve even heard it pronounced like “whoosh” but with an R somehow inserted. I can’t even mimic it properly.

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**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/24 "2012-10-24T03:16:44Z")

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And the georne gebide gece and miltse fore alra his haligra gewyrhtum and ge-earningum and boenum be [hiwe]num, tha the _domino deo_ gelicedon from fruman middan-geardes; thonne gehereth he thec thorh hiora thingunge. Do thonne fiorthan sithe thin hleor thriga to iorthan, fore alle Godes cirican, and sing thas fers: _domini est salus, saluum fac populum tuum, domine, praetende misericordiam tuam_. Sing thonne _pater noster_. Gebide thonne fore alle geleaffulle menn _in mundo_. Thonne bistu thone deg dael-niomende thorh Dryhtnes gefe alra theara goda the {ae}nig monn for his noman gedoeth, and thec alle soth-festae fore thingiath _in caelo et in terra_. _Amen_.

I must say, it’s a rare pleasure to meet a fellow Mercian speaker.

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**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/25 "2012-10-24T03:17:56Z")

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> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> Yeah, people in Minnesota add syllables to words. And make the vowels longer, so they take two or three times as long to say.

We do? I must be so used to this I don’t notice it. Can you give some examples?

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