There are still a few folks in the Baltimore area who pronounce the long “o” sound in a distinctive way - almost as if you open your mouth to say “ay” while saying the “o” - that’s the best way I can describe it. I can’t do it myself, but a few of my cousins used that pronunciation, and you’d hear it from long-time residents of Charm City.
When I was in the Navy, attending some training in Georgia, I pegged one of my instructors as from Baltimore as soon as he started talking. But these days, the unique characteristics seem to be losing out to homogeneous accents.
If I understand what you’re describing, I have heard people from North Carolina do the same thing. An example would be Vivian Howard on the PBS show A Chef’s Life.
My wife says crown for crayons and she’s from the Mid-Atlantic region. As a result, our children pronounce it that way as well, and they have grown up in the Midwest.
“Jagoff” will at least usually cause the astute listener or reader to suspect that I’m either from the Chicago area or Pittsburg (though my accent should betray my Chicago roots in and of itself.)
“Gangway” is another one. We use that term to describe the space between houses in the city. (These spaces are typically around 6 feet wide or so and allow access to the backyard and often a side door.)
My late ex-mother-in-law was from St. Louis, and had the habit of adding an “m” sound into words like “sweep” or “sleep.” So, for instance, she would ask “did you sleemp well?” I don’t know if this was just her or if it’s a Midwest thing. She also used to reminisce about when Dizzy Dean was a sportscaster and would say things like “he slud into second base.”
And, speaking of words / pronunciations that clearly place one as being from Chicago: “frunchroom.”
The word is actually “front room,” and is a synonym for living room, but use of it (and particularly the “frunchroom” pronunciation) are diagnostically Chicago.
Omg, I remember my cousin saying it exactly that way. I think all we kids did when we were little, and we must have got it from our Chicago born and raised parents, though I don’t remember any of them saying it that way. Hell, I know my mother didn’t. She would die before she’d commit such a heinous assault on elocution
Extremely local to the town where I grew up, people who were smart academically were called “Cones”, referring to the Saturday night live skits. It was utterly ubiquitous and I was taken completely by surprise when I got to college and nobody had any idea what I was talking about. Years later I had a colleague said that a friend of hers from this town told her to ask me if I was a cone. So it clearly a shibboleth for my town.
50 internet points to anyone who can identify the town.
I pretty much do that with all words beginning with “tr” in rapid speech. The “tr” becomes “chr” much in the same way “str” sounds becomes more like “shtr” sounds to me. It takes a lot of effort for me not to mash that initial sound into a fricative “sh” sound. (And, honestly, I do have a hard time really distinguishing the difference between “train” said with a “clean” “tr” and one said as “chrain.”) I don’t do it with “st” words, so it’s not like some weird German influence or anything. It’s only in “str” words. So my “street” is probably closer to “shchtreet.”
Not sure if it is specific to Singapore, but they often end a sentence with “la.” My wife still occasionally slips one in. Often in questions. “Where do you want to go to dinner la?”
I’m not sure if this counts because it may be a family idiosyncracy, but my mother and aunt add a superfluous “s” to many words. Eg, Costco becomes Costco’s, Seinfeld becomes Seinfelds (actually Steinfelds…)
If it’s a regionalism it would be a Philadelphia thing.
Grinder if you are from Boston, Hoagie if you are from South Jersey, Hero if you are from NYC, Sub if you are from anywhere else.
It’s a Frappe if you are from New England, a Milkshake everywhere else.
ETA: one that I must have picked up when I was in college in Pittsburgh - jag. As in “crying jag."
