yessir, like me and baking -- my wife handles that! -- j

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8l-eJTb1...

I loved how in the 80s there was single-station programming, and as the sun set the daytimers shut down to make way for distant stations. A different world came in, with talk shows on WSB Atlanta 750. Long-distance was equivalent to $1/min, so calling was out of the question for me.

I think you're right about western NY, and all the Great Lakes area. I think the Great Lakes area is changing though. My wife's grandparents sound more Mid-Atlantic than younger people. It seems like people older than my parents, older than 70, pronounce the short o, as in "responsible" much more like the rest of the country, which sounds like respawnsible to me. People under 70 say it closer to the way national newscasters pronounce the short a.

You can hear a difference in very old movies and recordings.

ummm, well, maybe smart and bigoted? -- j

in my experience, CG, neutral is in western New
York state. I studied this aurally when I was young
and dated a young woman from Ontario, NY, just
east of Rochester. I had studiously erased my TN
accent, using night-time AM radio for clues. in NY,
they could not tell my origins until they saw the
license plate on the car. -- j

actually, Rob, it was probably economic. ORNL, or
the Oak Ridge Natural Lavatory (seen on a drawing
in the archives at k25), lives and dies with fed grants,
so they likely estimated that more $$ would be won
with more "professional" speech. -- j

Oddly enough, in Southwestern PA, the plural of you is you'uns and in Northeastern PA, is youse.

heyna!!!

I've heard the explanation is that when radio and TV started, they based the neutral US accent here, so we don't have any accent. When I travel, though, WI people identify me and vice versa, so I don't think it's true.

So did you meet this guy? Did you overcome the language barrier?

22 years ago from Texas to Michigan. Wanna know whut they thot bout me. I just tellem' Those from Michigan only got to the letter "A" at least us in Texas got to the letter "Si".

Good point. If a drawl confused the difference between the words "STAT" and "Start" in a medical context, for instance, it could lead to problems.

Jan

Correction: you are right. My wife (linguistics major) also pointed out to me that I had it backwards. Probably should have asked her first for confirmation. :)

Talk about bringing back memories...

Had an online aquaintance from Edinburgh (Ed'n'brouog) - elequant, professional, common intrests, and having realized I could make a side trip up there called him to see if we could hook up...

He sounded just as cute as I pictured - I think - as I could not understand one word of three, and the other 2 weren't much better. Then again, I think he was having the same problems with my "Californian accent"...

'Twas a long time in the past, but still remember it fondly.

Oh yeah, I forgot.

Actually, you have it backwards. "You" is the formal/respectful form and "thou" is the informal/intimate form. The use of "thou" in the Bible, when speaking to god is part of a tradition that indicates that speech with god is an intimate personal interaction (hence not disrespectful). The remnant usage of 'thee' in archaic phrases in modern speech has introduced the illusion that it is formal rather than the English equivalent of "tu" in Spanish and "du" in German.

Jan
(Did renaissance reenactment semi-pro for a couple of summers in England.)

:)... mid-afternoon, as I recall, but on a two-lane blacktop perhaps a mile or more outside anything resembling a 'town'. I didn't get the sense he'd imbibed anything but a brogue you couldn't cut with a chain saw. :)

Only the diversity that votes for them, or can be coaxed into voting for them by appealing to their "social oppression".