22 Maps that show how Americans speak English totally different from each other.

femme Fatale

femme Fatale

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No wonder people in Florida compliment my light southern accent. I found the author to be spot on in my case, see how you compare to the rest of the country.

For those of you who have never heard before, this article may give you an informative insight on how deep some oral pronunciations are. Sorry, didn't find a version for ASL variations.

22 Maps that show how Americans speak English totally different from each other.
 
ah, hearing culture, lets study hearing people...lets re-categorise them now
 
I find languages, whether oral or signed are very fascinating.

I actually live in the blue but pronounce like in the red. =P
 
Interesting, I'm actually a pretty good mix. My mom is from Alabama, and my dad is from Tennessee, so a lot of my words are "southern". He joined the airforce, I lived the first 6 years of my life in Mississippi then moved around all over until my dad got out of the AF when I was 16 and we moved to New Hampshire. I had never heard tennis shoes called sneakers until I moved there, now I tend to use both terms. But for the most part I'm fairly split, north/south/east/west I've lived on both coasts and North and South...but I can see why I use the term rotary, I learned to to drive in NH, so that's where I learned the word.

I see they don't have the variations of slang words for "very". In Cali it's hella right? In New England it's wicked, where do they use uber? everywhere?
 
After I moved up north I'd get a kick out of the way they say pecan....the way they say it sounds more southern than in the south where the trees actually grow, the way the people in the south say it actually seems a more New Englandish use of vowels.

And why didn't we talk about r's?? In NE there are no r's, they are like completely disregarded. There is a town in Mass, Worcester.....they pronounce Woostah

When I was like 18ish I had personalized license plates......AMBAH, my name is Amber, but that's how they say it up there. I really liked how the Mexicans I worked with for awhile down in here in SC said my name. hey made it sound sooo much cooler!!!!
 
I remember the first time I saw a sign for Worcester I was wondering where the heck they where talking about. :lol:
 
I grew up saying sneakers, you guys, and soda. :)

I have one dispute about the word for a long sandwich. In Connecticut and parts of Rhode Island that is called a grinder unless you buy it specifically at a sub shop. Grinders and pizzas (non-chain stores) are usually sold at the same place, a mom-and-pop shop, run by Italian or Greek families.

One thing not including on the maps was the meaning of barbecue/BBQ. Outside of the South, it usually means generically cooking outside on a grill. In the South, it's a very specific form of slowing cooking ribs or pulled pork with custom dry rubs, marinades, and sauces. It's very regional. In SC, you can tell if your BBQ pork Lowcountry, Midlands or Piedmont style.

I don't recall anyone in CT saying "wicked" for "very." That's more of a Massachusetts term. We were more likely to customize our "very" term to fit the situation. Such as, a very hot day would be "blistering hot" or "sweltering." A very cold day would be "freezing cold" or "bone-chilling." :giggle:

Here's another one:

Do you say couch, sofa, or davenport?

I grew up saying couch, but since living in the South I say sofa. I've never said davenport.

Even though this link is for hearies, it makes the linguistic point that also applies to sign language--there are regional differences that don't make a language any less legitimate but add color and texture to our communication.
 
jonnyghost said:
I remember the first time I saw a sign for Worcester I was wondering where the heck they where talking about. :lol:
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Since I lived many years in New England area, I'm used to that. Many of the New England towns are named for old England places and they copied the pronunciations. One exception is the Thames River of CT. We pronounce it "thames" (th-sound, long-A); in England it's pronounced "tems" (hard-T, short-E).

So, what do you call Worscestershire* sauce? :giggle:



*woostah-sheer
 
ambrosia said:
...And why didn't we talk about r's?? In NE there are no r's, they are like completely disregarded….
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Or, they add r's where they don't belong.

Toilet = terlet

Cuba = Cuber

:lol:
 
That whole idea of mixing it together is about to get worse! LOL I grew up in North Carolina with dialects I keep forgetting people have a hard time comprehending in Florida! (a'ight - all right, woodja edgem- would you get them, banes chaze bare - beans cheese beer, etc) Florida is like a Northern dialect, tends to get funny when I mix in my own Southern words.
 
Never heard of "davenport" til recently - grew up with "couch" or "sofa"

hey, where's the "bubbler"? :giggle:

another one familiar in certain parts of where I am " that was a great movie, hey?"
 
I say...

1. caramel as in "carra-mel"
2. been as in "see" or maybe "set" depending on sentence
3. bowie knife as in "bo"
4. crayon as in "cray-awn"
5. lawyer as in "loyer"
6. coleslaw as in "slaw"
7. verbally - "you guys"... literary - "ya'all" and I'm the only one who spells it that way
8. mayonnaise as in "may-o-nis" but I say it as "mayo"
9. pajamas as in "jam"
10. pecan as in "pek-in" but didn't know it's pronounced as "pee-kahn" till later
11. either soda or coke
12. crawfish
13. either traffic circle or roundabout
14. syrup as in "sir"
15. subway :lol:
16. water fountain
17. shoes
18. highway
19. ----
20. city as in general city
21. never heard of it
22. all same
 
Reba said:
Since I lived many years in New England area, I'm used to that. Many of the New England towns are named for old England places and they copied the pronunciations. One exception is the Thames River of CT. We pronounce it "thames" (th-sound, long-A); in England it's pronounced "tems" (hard-T, short-E).

So, what do you call Worscestershire* sauce? :giggle:

*woostah-sheer
Click to expand...

hmm... I pronounced Worcester as in "wor-kest-er"

I'm pretty sure it's wrong... is it? :lol:
 
i was lip reading my two yr old granson and asking my prudish daughteringlaw why he kept saying arsehole,she was horrified told me he saying castle,hmmm
 
caz12 said:
i was lip reading my two yr old granson and asking my prudish daughteringlaw why he kept saying arsehole,she was horrified told me he saying castle,hmmm
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I would have just laughed! (Actually, I did.) =P:giggle:
 
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