# "Warsh yer hands after you use the terlet" - what accent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247 "2010-03-21T16:57:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/1 "2010-03-21T16:57:14Z")
The title is the question: what accent is this? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/2 "2010-03-21T17:07:47Z")
Non-specific Appalachian or Southern or Southwestern or rural American. Rural USA to be precise! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/3 "2010-03-21T17:14:22Z")
Didn’t Archie Bunker always say “terlet”? That character is from New York. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/4 "2010-03-21T17:37:34Z")
I’ve heard terlet, torlet and tarlet from people in southern Illinois, rural Utah, Idaho, Washington and Georgia. It’s basically rural USA. Warsh and worsh I’ve heard from all of the above as well as Philadelphia, Pittsburg and ‘yinzer’ parts of Pennsylvania. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/5 "2010-03-21T17:49:42Z")
Is that where they grow per-taters? ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/6 "2010-03-21T18:56:24Z")
“Warsh” is a characteristic of St. Louis area accents. You can hear Mike Shannon say it a lot on Cardinal broadcasts (actually, it’s “Warshington” usually). “Terlet” is an older Brooklyn-ism. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/7 "2010-03-21T19:16:22Z")
I’m terrible with accents. One of the British accents? Surrey possibly? ---
**Author:** ![rucciface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ba9def/32.png) [@rucciface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rucciface)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/8 "2010-03-21T19:27:34Z")
I’ve heard “warsh” from several people born and raised in southern Illinois, but none of them would say “terlet”. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/9 "2010-03-21T19:49:58Z")
I don’t say “warsh” but I do say “terlet”. I’m from central South Carolina. My boyfriend grew up in the Lowcountry and in coastal Virginia and he laughs at me constantly about being out of terlet paper. Don’t even talk about bath tiles. When I told him we needed new ones he was thinking I meant a massive demolition project. ETA - I’ve heard “warsh” from Philadelphia relatives, not from Pittsburgh. And we have some doozy Pittsburgh accents on my mom’s side of the family. Redd up your desk, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/10 "2010-03-21T20:07:37Z")
“Warsh” seems to be pretty common in a lot of rural areas. My grandmother always said it–she spent early childhood in Nebraska but most of her life in California. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/11 "2010-03-21T20:30:06Z")
My mother was highly uneducated, born and bred in southern Indiana, and she said ‘tarlet’ and ‘warsh’. She also said ‘barled’ instead of boiled. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/12 "2010-03-21T20:30:29Z")
I grew up in SoCal saying “warsh”, but my parents were from SE Illinois. I pronounce “toilet” correctly, but my husband, who also grew up in SoCal says “torlet”. He also calls a saucepan a “kettle”. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/13 "2010-03-21T20:38:59Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Didn’t Archie Bunker always say “terlet”? That character is from New York. I also remember a minor character saying it in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, so I also thought of New York. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/14 "2010-03-21T20:43:43Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I also remember a minor character saying it in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, so I also thought of New York. Yes, “terlet” is Brooklynese. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/15 "2010-03-21T21:51:40Z")
Everytime I heard “terlet” it’s been a Brooklyn person. But Archie lives and was brought up in Queens, so it must stretch through a few of the NYC boroughs ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/16 "2010-03-21T22:23:44Z")
I hear “warsh” a lot here in Tennessee, but never once heard “terlet”. The only time I’ve heard that was Ben Garant’s character on Reno 911. Shit I just checked and he grew up in TN roughly 10 miles from here. There goes that theory down the terlet. He did live in NYC too, though. ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/17 "2010-03-21T22:45:47Z")
I am known to say worsh by my Son, who grew up mainly in California. He chides me about that a lot. Incidentally, I was born and raised in South Dakota. ---
**Author:** ![BigNik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/73ab20/32.png) [@BigNik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigNik)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/18 "2010-03-21T22:54:03Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I’m terrible with accents. One of the British accents? Surrey possibly? It looked English from the West Country, to me. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/19 "2010-03-21T22:56:09Z")
Ed Norton used to use that pronunciation on The Honeymooners. I know there was at least one episode where he needed to toss a “kern”. Interestingly, Art Carney was born in Mount Vernon, NY, which is just outside the line from The Bronx, in Westchester County. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247/20 "2010-03-22T15:50:07Z")
In my experience, “warsh” is said by older people in the Midwest. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warsh-yer-hands-after-you-use-the-terlet-what-accent/533247.md?page=2)