Accents!I th

Chatterbox: Down to Earth

Accents!I th

Accents!

I think we all can concede that if someone from a different, English-speaking country listened to us talk, they'd think we had an accent. But what if somebody from a different state did? Do you have any little speaking quirks that you picked up because of the region you're in?

For example, I was inspired to make this because Rogue said she often drops the t in Latin. When I tried it, I realized I pronounce "Latin" more like "Ladin." I also pronounce my "as" with a sort of exaggerated "ayyy" sometimes (not as in the word with the finger guns). My brother has a thicker accent than I do, though - if you get him to say "sauce" when he's not thinking about it, he'll say it "sawce."

submitted by St.Owl, Between the Lines
(January 27, 2019 - 5:01 pm)

Actually many people (including me) say twenty like twenny. 

submitted by Aquamarine , age XI, In the Clouds
(January 27, 2019 - 5:27 pm)

I say it that way too, Aquamarine!

Top! 

submitted by St.Owl, Between the Lines
(January 27, 2019 - 9:32 pm)

HAHA YES ST! 

I also drop the ‘t’ in Latin so it’s like la’n. I don’t even say the I. Just la’n. I also say butter as budder but I think that’s pretty common. Oh, I say common as comm’n if that counts. I also don’t really say a’s, like OH LOOK THERES A SHARK it’s more like OH LOOK THERES UH SHARK. I sorta have a mix between like western-mountain and south-west cause THERES SO MANY TEXANS THEYRE STARTING TO TAKE OVER. Like you go to Denver they don’t have that big of an accent but I guess up in the mountain we do. Or should I say moun’n. Oh I also say should as shuhd. 

submitted by Claaws, Class 2020
(January 27, 2019 - 9:58 pm)

All of those things are also me. TOP

submitted by Aquamarine, age XI, In the Clouds
(January 29, 2019 - 1:52 pm)

I also drop my Ts in the middle of words. Like I always notice that I say important "impor'n" with a little thing after I say the N that isn't quite a T sound, but close. I don't like it because it's more exaggerated when I'm angry and I just want to put the stress on everything but I'm leaving sounds out and it's very frustrating. 

submitted by Applejaguar, Wisteria
(January 27, 2019 - 10:04 pm)

I have come to the conclusion that I speak a pretty neutral American accent, and even though I'm Texan, I don't have any regional tendencies. Does anyone else ever wish that they had a more exotic accent?

Also something I find kind of funny: I don't ever say "y'all" in my regular speech, but I use it all the time when texting.  As a matter of fact, my typing patterns don't resemble my speech patterns pretty much at all.

submitted by Marigold, The State of Mind
(January 28, 2019 - 1:13 am)

*Gasps* I'm not alone in the T thing!!

Ummm well let's see... I can do killer Scottish and British accents, am teaching myself to do Royal British, umm, OOH I can also do a perfect Trump! As in Donald Trump, current President of the United States. ANYWAY I'm pretty good at imitating most voices that are as low or lower than my voice, but I can't do higher. XD I've never actually met anyone with a heavy German accent, but I can do a pretty good steryotypical German, along with a Liberian (oh mah bad I like your accent, where you from?) to the best of my knowledge of what a Liverian accent sounds like. :3

... In case you haven't noticed, I have nothing better to do in my spare time. 

submitted by Rogue Wildling
(January 28, 2019 - 2:02 am)

I think I have a pretty neutral/nonexistant accent, coming from the north. But something I have noticed is like I say "probably" without the second syllable, so like "prob'ly". And also for "something", "anything", things that end with "ing", I tend to say like "somethin'" and "anythin'". 

submitted by Vyolette
(January 28, 2019 - 12:04 pm)

I alternate between accents. Sometimes my Ks, Ts, Gs, and Ds are sharp. Other times I drop them. I sometimes speak with a slight British accent, sometimes with a South Eastern one.  

submitted by Secret
(January 28, 2019 - 7:30 pm)

I don't think I have any particular accent, but I do tend to pronouce words more distinctly. Like saying the T very clearly in Latin. I don't drop letters and pretty much say things how they are usually. I don't know if it's a state thing (I live in NY, but not the city), or maybe its just my family maybe.

submitted by Dandelion
(January 28, 2019 - 7:25 pm)

I live in the Midwest, so... not really an accent at all. But I just pick stuff up from places-- I smash "couple of" together and say <and type> "couple'a", I smash "don't know" together into "dunno", and about half the time I speak in a British accent. I don't even mean to; I just watch a lot of old British shows and it kinda slides into my daily life. (And there we go again. Kind of = kinda. Most of the speaking quirks I have, I also type. I'm a author so I'm used to writing dialogue like I speak, which also means that I type up posts-- like this one-- like I'm actually speaking. Commas in pauses and such.)

~Starseeker 

submitted by Starseeker, age 168 moons, Enterprise
(January 28, 2019 - 10:47 pm)

Since I live in the Midwest, I tend to have a pretty neutral and watered-down accent. Something I like to think of as "mildly diet Southern". (Interestingly enough, I learned the other day that my accent is the closest you can get to a "nothing" accent. And regions on the coast not only form stronger and more distinctive accents because of their extreme geography aka isolation, but especially in America because of the immigrants coming from Europe and adding their language and dialects to the mix.) 

So I guess I don't do anything much other than not pronounce my vowels sometimes ("pr-nounce") and accidentally add "-er" to word ends occasionally (Uno - "Uner"). And I've unironically said "y'all" once or twice. 

But of course since I'm from the Midwest: "ope"! :)

submitted by Clouded Leopard, Y'all'd've
(January 28, 2019 - 10:59 pm)

I live in the south, but I was born in and lived in the Midwest for most of my life, so I honestly don’t know if I have an accent or not. My friends will ask me sometimes if I think I’m getting a southern accent, but I really don’t know. I don’t think I have one, but I notice that when I’m around people who do have the accent, I pick it up a little bit subconsciously, and then drop it later. I actually do this all the time with really everyone I know—for instance, if I’m with my friends, I’ll start talking like them involuntarily, and then eventually return to my normal voice after a day or so of not seeing them again. I know a lot of people do this, though. My mom and my brother do it, and some of my friends. 

Also, my mom is originally from the south, and when she lived in the Midwest, people thought she had a southern accent, but now that she lives in the south again, people think she has a midwestern accent.

I can do a good southern accent, as well as British, and I think my Irish and Scottish are pretty good too. I really adore Irish and Scottish accents. If I could have any accent I wanted, I’d probably have one of those two.

As for speech mannerisms, let’s see. I usually say my e’s more like i’s when they’re in the middle of a word, like ‘ben’ sounds more like ‘bin’, ‘pen’ sounds like ‘pin’, etc. I often say words ending in ‘ing’ like ‘in’, too. Walkin’, readin’, typin’, etc. But I don’t always do it—I say ‘ing’s too. A lot of times I say probably as ‘prolly’, and then sometimes as ‘prob’ly’ and other times I’ll say the full out ‘probably’, but that one’s rarer. I squash words together all the time, like sorta, kinda, and dunno. I also do that thing where a lot of ‘t’ sounds aren’t fully pronounced, just said in the back of the throat, or something. It’s hard to explain, but I think it's the same thing applejaguar talked about. 

My writing/texting/typing style used to be very different from my normal speech style, and it still is, but I don’t think the difference is quite as dramatic. One thing I’ve noticed is that if I start saying a word or expression a lot either in typing or in everyday speech, it usually carries over into the other.

submitted by Leeli
(January 29, 2019 - 1:32 pm)

I pronounce clothes as cloes

submitted by Aquamarine, age XI, In the Clouds
(January 29, 2019 - 1:54 pm)

I do that sometimes too, and then other times I say clothes with the ‘th’. 

submitted by Leeli
(January 29, 2019 - 6:30 pm)