# What Accent of English Do You Have? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 14, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394 "2011-06-14T03:44:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Inthewater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Inthewater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inthewater)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/101 "2011-06-15T15:20:25Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > To me they’re some pretty darn thick accents. Very American. I agree, but you see my comment that it really, REALLY changes around here as you get further and further away from an urban area. I know everyone has an accent, but if someone asks you to do an “Iowa” accent, what do you say or sound like? Now, if someone asks me to do Minne-soohh-tah, or Wiscansin, or East Coast, or “Southern”, or what-not, most people can pull that out. What is an “Iowan” accent? Or a “Nebraska” accent? How about Kansas City? Again, I agree that it can be very “rural” sounding, and I can slip into it quite easily (life-long Iowan), but on a normal day, it isn’t like that. Interesting discussion, I’ll have to listen to the sound samples linked and see what they all sound like. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/102 "2011-06-16T02:38:42Z")
In one of those accent threads, I’ve been told that I sounded like **Sunspace**. So I suppose that my accent in English is mostly Canadian, specifically central-eastern. Of course, I was reading a pre-prepared text, not actually having a conversation. I have a Canadian French accent that varies from almost inaudible to very strong, the latter especially when I’m nervous. Last month in Prague, some guy guessed that I was Argentinian. I don’t know if that was just a random pick or if I actually do sound a bit like one. ---
**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/103 "2011-06-16T03:43:20Z")
I wish I knew. I grew up in Washington, D. C. in the 1950’s, then family moved to the Maryland suburbs. I’ve had people from New England tell me I have a southern accent, but have had others who think I’m from Canada. I pronounce out: oot; about: aboot; bread: bra-id (two syllables); I’ve heard that native Washingtonians pronounce “Washington” Warshington, and my sister and I pronounce it that way. A co-worker with whom I discussed regional accents asked me “how do you pronounce earth’s natural satellite?” I said "moon (moo-n) He said there you go; I said, wtf, how can you pronounce "moon’ any way besides “moon”? Apparently he heard it differently than I did. It’s all still a mystery to me. ---
**Author:** ![Blackhawk441](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/76d3ee/32.png) [@Blackhawk441](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackhawk441)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/104 "2011-06-16T04:59:25Z")
You cahn’t pahk yer cah in Hahvad Yahd because Hahvad Yahd is a friggin’ pahk. If someone says that, they’ah eithah a foreignah oah friggin’ retahded. But yes, the Boston Accent does exist. It’s sadly dying out quite a bit in the younger generation, though. In general, the older one is, the stronger the accent is. Some older people still actually say long A’s (like bahhth), and most of the middle aged demographic completely drops the R’s. For what it’s worth, my 40something year old mother was mistaken as British in Texas a couple years ago… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Imago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@Imago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imago)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/105 "2011-06-16T05:30:38Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > You misunderstood. It has nothing to do with the British royal family. He meant he speaks like Elvis Presley. Ah balls. That would be a symptom of me being a youngish adult, then. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![bahimes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bahimes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bahimes)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/106 "2011-06-16T10:45:03Z")
Hard to say. Like **Onomatopoeia** I have lived abroad, all over the world… Originally from the Ohio River valley, then Florida (before it was paved). Then gone. I tend to speak (English) slowly, distinctly and softly. could be a slight Southern US influence in that. Wife is English she says I am “Middle Atlantic” would that be Azores? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/107 "2011-06-16T12:18:24Z")
[Inland Northern](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Northern_American_English) (originally from Cleveland, Ohio). _Mary, marry, merry_ all sound exactly the same; _cot_ and _caught_ completely different. I’ve been reading about the “Northern Cities Vowel Shift” but I swear I have no idea what they’re talking about. It’s such a recent phenomenon, I was born long enough ago to have missed it. I haven’t been back to visit Cleveland in years. I left Ohio for Virginia 20 years ago. It’s like the Cleveland Vowel Club called a meeting in 1991 and said, OK, she’s finally moved out, whew! thought we’d never get rid of her, we can go ahead and shift now. Or “naeouw,” I’m not sure. Interesting how the map shows a dialect boundary exactly matching the topography in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania: the Allegheny Plateau extends to only a few miles from the Lake Erie shore just east of Cleveland. I grew up on the east side, near Cedar Hill, the escarpment where the edge of the plateau rises above the lacustrine plain. While we in Cleveland spoke a dialect that originated in western New England and spread west around the Great Lakes, we were aware that not far south and east of us our fellow Ohioans spoke a full-on Appalachian dialect. I remember it as a fairly sharp and distinct boundary. My Mom was born in Cleveland too, but her maternal roots from western Pennsylvania added a tinge to her accent that is noticeably different from Cleveland dialect. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/108 "2011-06-16T12:35:08Z")
from around Smoky Mtns. so speak hillbilly…wish Hollywood could figure out that we NEVER say “anythin’” but we ALWAYS say “nothin’”…(oh, we say “anyTHANG” gotta have that “g”) ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/109 "2011-06-16T12:41:29Z")
oh, and we never pronounce the “i” in Appalachian. you’re either from Appalacha or “you ain’t from around here, are ya?” ---
**Author:** ![Inthewater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Inthewater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inthewater)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/110 "2011-06-16T15:20:33Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > [Inland Northern](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Northern_American_English) (originally from Cleveland, Ohio). _Mary, marry, merry_ all sound exactly the same; _cot_ and _caught_ completely different. The same is true where I am from, except that “cot” and “caught” sound nearly the same, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/111 "2011-06-16T16:35:47Z")
**Becky2844** , ever since I first heard the Appalachian pronunciation of Appalachian, I haven’t been able to say it any other way. Blood calls to blood, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/112 "2011-06-16T17:36:35Z")
Another “yinzer” here. I’ve lived in Pittsburgh my entire life, an’at. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/113 "2011-06-17T01:50:11Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > A mixture of the generic Midwest accent and the Arkansan hillbilly accent. Some people say I sound more like I’m from Southern Missouri. > > Here’s a [sound file](http://www.box.net/files#/files/0/f/41717338/1/f_426927484) from a while back when I was trying to restart one of those recording threads. So no one bothered to click on my link, or were y’all all just being too polite? Here’s the [corrected link](http://www.box.net/shared/c2mcx9npbl). And [here’s one](http://www.box.net/shared/258lyyxxr5) with one of those unique phrases. There’s a little bit of hissing, but you can still see if you agree with my assertion about my accent. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/114 "2011-06-17T01:56:18Z")
I listened, **T** , and I heard no regionality at all, but a very nice broadcast-quality voice. Quasi ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/115 "2011-06-17T03:22:36Z")
Inland North. Born and raised in Madison, currently live in Chicagoland. There are subtle differences I notice between Madisonian Wisconsinites and Chicagolandiers. But at least in my area there’s not too many of the “Da Super Fans” speakers. There are a few, but not many. Most sound a lot like me. Now my co-worker from rural Indiana, hooo-boy, there’s a different sounding accent ;D ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/116 "2011-06-17T03:35:49Z")
I speak a neutral American Californian English. I grew up in Hawaii, but my mom was very sure that I didn’t pick up the local accent so I could, you know, someday get a job around white people. That was her reason, I’m not saying I agree with it. Although, if I wen have one local, dakine, accent, the haoles at da HR department wud be all, “Nah, no need call back.” ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/117 "2011-06-17T04:51:28Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > And [here’s one](http://www.box.net/shared/258lyyxxr5) with one of those unique phrases. There’s a little bit of hissing, but you can still see if you agree with my assertion about my accent. 😕 Is this the right link? I can’t even tell if that is English, it sounds like German? ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/118 "2011-06-17T04:54:32Z")
Malaysian-English or Manglish. We tend to add in Malay words especially the “_lah_” which is sort of an exclamation (example, “_C’mon, lah!_”). It’s a type of pidgin English where we literally translate the sentence straight from Malay without using the proper English words. For example, “_Let me spend you_” instead of “Let me treat you” or “_Where can?_” instead of “That’s not possible”. I do it deliberately just for shits and giggles but I suspect some of my fellow M’sians speak that way because they think that is the correct way. Similar to Singlish or Singapore-English. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/119 "2011-06-17T06:23:47Z")
> [@DataZak](#): > > I do it deliberately just for shits and giggles but I suspect some of my fellow M’sians speak that way because they think that is the correct way. It is the correct way if people know what they’re talking about. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lshaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e36b37/32.png) [@lshaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lshaw)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394/120 "2011-06-17T06:58:51Z")
California accent, really? I doubt anyone who listens to me will think, “This chick is definitely from California.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-of-english-do-you-have/585394.md?page=7)