Midwestern-ness!

[Yojimbo]

Wait-how exactly do midwesterners talk? I know the stereotypical northern and southern accents, but I never really thought about east coast vs. west coast.

Well New England people have accents. Ya know New York accents and Boston accents. "Who wants some clam chooowddaa?" But the west coast doesn't have as much of a culture as the rest of the country. Because it's such a huge glut of people, who haven't neccesarily lived there for generations, so they don't really have an accent you could call "West Coast" or anything.

[chibiphonebooth]

Well New England people have accents. Ya know New York accents and Boston accents. "Who wants some clam chooowddaa?" But the west coast doesn't have as much of a culture as the rest of the country. Because it's such a huge glut of people, who haven't neccesarily lived there for generations, so they don't really have an accent you could call "West Coast" or anything.

I DONT HAVE AN ACCENT! >.<

YOU have an accent. :p
you indiana..n.. person!

[Lady Macbeth]

I have also found that the further you get from Illinois, the fewer people who can actually pronounce it!

We just say FIB around here.

An'one who's e'er herd muh ma wolk ot on thuh porch 'n yell, "You be'er git your butt in this house before Ah come ot they-ur an' whoop it!" noes ha we speek 'round here.


It's also part of the reason that a large portion of our population spells like that.

And, like most areas of the country, the rural dialect is different from the urban dialect, even in as small of an area as 100-200 miles.

[TurkishMonky]

i was born in the south, moved to michigan, had a dad who is from the west, and have often-seen cousins who lived in the UK, with their mother from the east coast, so i can do quite a bit of switching between accents.

i usually say pop, but defer to "cabonated beverage" at resturants in other areas.

likewise, i use words such as occupation (for job), hydronation (water), my apologies (sorry), thank you (thanks) etc... just to be weird. (but milk is pronounced miiilk, not melk!!!!!!)

[Puritan]

Hmm, you must be talking about Northern Wisconsin (Up Nort') Lady Macbeth. I've lived in the Milwaukee area and now live in Madison, and I have rarely heard accents quite that strong (Except from my relatives in the deep South, but that's a different story). Most of the time it comes from U.P.ers or people from way up north. Everyplace I've been, people have a pretty generic American English accent, except that they call water fountains "bubblers." (AHHHH! I hope that didn't spark the dreaded water fountain vs. bubbler speech war!)

[Jaltus-bot]

Aren't news people taught to speak with a minnisotan accent or something?

[uc pseudonym]

I wouldn't know. However, I do know that a group of people I used to know thought the stereotypical Minnesotan accent was hilarious. Any time it came up you could basically gaurantee several people would say, "Minnesooootah."

Wait-how exactly do midwesterners talk?

Interesting story. Some people I know were in New York waiting for an event and they were bored. They bought a bunch of straw hats, found some wheat (don't ask me where) to stick in their mouths, then went up to some people and said, "Hey, y'll! We'ums from Kansas!"

The sad part is that they were taken seriously.

[Taka]

Yes, I have lived in the "north", "mid west" and "west", and there are defant diffrences in peoples pronouciation. Subtle, but diffrences. I think the most amuseing is the Minnesotaians and Wisconsiners, obviously...

[TurkishMonky]

forsooth, thou vile tounge! yet I shall do none better. 'twas better when thy vile accent of midwesterness hath not seen light of blessed day. but in saying this i digress.

Wert we all to speak as one, normalicy should confine us to boredom, therefore lest we become as one in speech and tounge continue the differences which were so unordinarie!

(sorry, a little sheaksperian fervor swept across the room like a bolt from yonder sky, causing me to participate in such a dastardly manner.)

er, um. continue...

[TallHobbit86]

lol... i agree with the accent thing and found it amusing to read it in shakespeare's tongue

[Yojimbo]

I DONT HAVE AN ACCENT! >.<

YOU have an accent. :p
you indiana..n.. person!

Yeah right you're living in denial... We Indianians have like the least accent of any Midwesterners.

[chibiphonebooth]

Yeah right you're living in denial... We Indianians have like the least accent of any Midwesterners.

um yeah but you STILL have an accent. even though it may be the LEAST accent of any midwesterners, you STILL have an accent. :p

I WIN.

[mitsuki lover]

I was born in Oregon but spent my early formative years in Minnesota.The fact is if I had waited to be born by a year I would have been born in Minnesota.And if my paternal grandfather hadn't decided to migrate north to New Jersey to look for work I would probably have been born like generations of my ancestors in Virginia.
Ah,we can never tell where Fate might lead us.

[BigZam]

luckily i never picked up much of an accent. in fact some have argued my voice is quite sexy...

[termyt]

Yeah right you're living in denial... We Indianians have like the least accent of any Midwesterners.

That's what everyone in the mid-west says.

[Mave]

I'm not from U.S. but have lived in Michigan for 5 years. I can't tell the difference in the accents at all (ironically, you would think someone from the outside would be able to distinguish the differences even better). The only accent/slang I get is African-American (ebonics?) and the Cowboy/Texas/Southern type of accent. No offense intended with the last statement. That's just how I personally define it.

[termyt]

(ironically, you would think someone from the outside would be able to distinguish the differences even better).

I don't think so. The differences in accent are usually subtle. Only someone with the experience of a native speaker is likely to be able to hear the subtle shifts in pronunciation that distinguish one accent from the other.

The southern accent is the easiest to distinguish because the words are actually spoken as though they were spelled differently. The difference between Michigan/Ohio/Indiana English and Wisconsin/Minnesota English is much more subtle.

[yukinon]

I'm told I have a non-accent. Like radio personalities, evidently.

[Mave]

I don't think so. The differences in accent are usually subtle. Only someone with the experience of a native speaker is likely to be able to hear the subtle shifts in pronunciation that distinguish one accent from the other.

The southern accent is the easiest to distinguish because the words are actually spoken as though they were spelled differently. The difference between Michigan/Ohio/Indiana English and Wisconsin/Minnesota English is much more subtle.

As an unqualified MidWesterner, I feel like agreeing with you. LOL It's not like I'm such a good listener anyway. I'll keep a lookout for differences as mentioned when I travel around this year, namely to the east and west coast before returning home. XD

[termyt]

That will be an interesting case study. On a typical day, I don't really pay that much attention, either. There are some people who seem quite adept at picking out subtle accents, but I'm really not one of those people. But it would be interesting to listen for the differences, especially while traveling.

[TurkishMonky]

actually, people in northern michigan have a different accent/way of putting things then people in central michigan, and even, on a more limited scale, people in south-western michigan. And then there's (obviously) detroit....

[Lady Macbeth]

Hmm, you must be talking about Northern Wisconsin (Up Nort') Lady Macbeth. I've lived in the Milwaukee area and now live in Madison, and I have rarely heard accents quite that strong (Except from my relatives in the deep South, but that's a different story). Most of the time it comes from U.P.ers or people from way up north. Everyplace I've been, people have a pretty generic American English accent, except that they call water fountains "bubblers." (AHHHH! I hope that didn't spark the dreaded water fountain vs. bubbler speech war!)

Indeed I am. Sven and Ole are a regular part of life around here.

UPers sound a lot like us except for certain words. Once you get north of Hwy 8 the accents get stronger.

[Puritan]

Dere's nothin' wrong with bein from up nort'! I was just curious. (And I like Sven and Ole too, nothing wrong with Norwegian jokes in good fun).

[BigZam]

Hmm, you must be talking about Northern Wisconsin (Up Nort') Lady Macbeth. I've lived in the Milwaukee area and now live in Madison, and I have rarely heard accents quite that strong (Except from my relatives in the deep South, but that's a different story). Most of the time it comes from U.P.ers or people from way up north. Everyplace I've been, people have a pretty generic American English accent, except that they call water fountains "bubblers." (AHHHH! I hope that didn't spark the dreaded water fountain vs. bubbler speech war!)

ok i don't check my own threads very often haha but i just saw this. HOORAH FOR TEH BUBBLERS!