Odd and Silly
I was at a birthday party with Son#3 yesterday. In attendance was a family from Wisconsin. Super sweet people. While speaking with them I started thinking, "I bet Harvey, Grau, and the Frizzensparks commenters sound like this." I know they all live up in that neck of the woods and accents don't translate into verbage... at least not usually. A Wisconsin accent, definitely not unless there are some Wisconsin colloquialisms of which I am not aware. (A distinct possibility.) I just think it's funny how we read the blogs and e-mail and we don't have any clue, nor will we ever, how we sound. For instance, I reckon y'all wouldn't have a daggum clue what I sound like unless I used particular words. (Grin) Struck me as funny.
posted by Bou | 12:57 PM
9 Comments:
I moved to Oklahoma for a few years, and I was amazed to discover that I allegedly have an accent.
A "Chicago accent" I think they called it.
While I, being from the northern IL area, I didn't hear an accent at all. We don't say things like "Y'all" or "Fixen' Ta", or "As a crow flies," and we don't roll any of the speech on our tongues. We just talk. Regular American English. No "drawl," no emphasis on parts of words that really shouldn't be emphasised, or any of that stuff.
Apparantly that's so unusual in places like Oklahoma that the complete lack of accent is considered an accent in it's own right.
I found that rather odd.
-S
When I lived in the US I too was accused of having an accent. Odd that. Being English and being told you have an accent... Still it never did me any harm for all the times I have been there :-p
Alex
S., Wisconsin has a distinct accent though. It is the way they pronounce their soft 'o'. It is almost nasally. There is no other way to describe it. And a hard Wisconsin accent you can hear it in the 'ar' combinations. It's tough to describe, but when I meet people from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and other parts of the great white north, I can pick it out.
As for you Alex, all you have to do is say one word and everyone around you 1) knows you're from Great Britain and 2) wants you to keep talking!
Oh, I think you'll hear bloggers eventually.
As the 'net gets thicker, I can see blogging including a 'voice post', then eventually 'video posts'.
The only thing that prevents that now is bandwidth.
_Jon
Wisconsin folk DO tend to be nasally, but the easiest way to spot them is that they invariably refer to the Wisconsin Dells as "the Dells".
The other thing we do is call a drinking fountain a "bubbler" which, as far as I know, is STRICTLY a Wisconsin colloquialism.
Which reminds me that one of the local libraries actually has a sign with an arrow pointing toward the drinking fountain area which says "bubbler" on it.
Oh, and there's "ya" for "yes".
If you want more of it, just watch Fargo.
Harv-What in the heck is a dell? I thought it was a computer!
_Jon- well the other thing that will prevent video blogging is the fact some of us don't want to be seen. :) The anonymity of blogging is somewhat of a comfort.
Heh - the Dells is basically a really tacky tourist trap.
Sort of like Branson, but without the shows.
Dell. n. A small, secluded valley. (Which, BTW, isn't accurate as far as WI Dells goes).
Your defination of "I only thought Dell was a computer" makes the song "Farmer in the dell" kinda interesting though...
The accent you guys are talking about tends to be more Minnesota/Western Wisconsin. (Most of my relatives are from that area) Typically in broadcast we here in Illinois have a "Midwest" accent. Which is considered no accent. We have the easiest to understand speech pattern in the English Dialect. (So I have been told)
And The Dells rocks! I love taking the family there just for the touristy trap things. It's kind of like a throw back to the old Route 66 road side attractions era, only this one went haywire and the town is nothing but them.
Oh yes, the Midwest Accent is the broadcasters accent. I've heard that before. I can do that if I am not: 1) tired, 2) drunk or 3) hanging out with anyone with the slightest Southern drawl. Hanging out with southerners brings it out even stronger.
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