22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently From Each Other

business insider ^

[SMGFan]

Everyone knows that Americans don't exactly agree on pronunciations. Regional accents are a major part of what makes American English so interesting as a dialect. Joshua Katz, a Ph. D student in statistics at North Carolina State University, just published a group of awesome visualizations of Professor Bert Voux's linguistic survey that looked at how Americans pronounce words. (via) detsl on /r/Linguistics His results were first published on Abstract, the N.C. State research blog.

[riverss]

Hosepipe.

Bushhog.

Just saying..

[Aliska]

I forgot “quirks”. Like chimley for chimney, liberry for library, must be many others variants people don’t pronounce correctly.

[combat_boots]

San Antonio: yalls.

Midwest: hunker down

Also: Loosiana or Louiseianna.

Then there’s Nerk. Who knows Nerk?

[driftless2]

Piers Morgan speaks with what is called by most Brits the “posh” accent. It is not a local dialect like what is spoken in Cornwall or other parts of England. (And I was disappointed when visiting Cornwall last year to hear the Cornish accent rarely spoken by most of the locals I met there.) The “posh” accent, like how Tony Blair or BBC announcers speak, is not that common in Britain.

[pax_et_bonum]

“Tennie shoes”!!!!! I can hear my Granny now, God rest her beautiful soul. :-)
_____

I feel the same way about my grandmother!

She was a gorgeous - inside and out - and strong country lady.

:-)

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

well, actually tennie shoes

Where I'm from, it's one word: tennashoes.

And then there's this controversy:

[bgill]

It took this Texan a couple seconds but I got it - fire/afar.

The word that chaps my hide is pecan. It’s puh-con, not pee-can. A pee can is an empty coffee can that you take with you on a long car ride.

[Leaning Right]

In the list of second person plurals they forgot Pittsburgh: Yinz

Inexcusable! Perhaps you're familiar also with the term "yinzer", which is sort of the Pittsburgh equivalent to a Southerner's "good old boy."

As in: Yesterday I talked to a couple of yinzers who were fishin the Mon.

[katana]

Hmmm! Interesting to note is that it was originally contemplated that the western borders of the original 13 colonies would be extended westward and the thin strip that was to be Greater Connecticut runs through NE Ohio (the Western Reserve) and the area was originally settled after the Revolution by New Englanders.

[Born to Conserve]

Goinout?

[MarkL]

Depending on the side of the state you’re from, in MO you drink “soda” or “pop.” The pronounciation of the state’s name is, again, depending on what side of the state you’re from, either “Missouri” or “Missourah.”

And then there’s Versailles, MO. It’spronounced “Ver-Sails” by everybody.

Mark

[pax_et_bonum]

A lot of Texans now have brought their own accents in, especially to the cities, but in the country the traditional one is still going strong.

I was teased about my accent when I worked in downtown Houston!! Rofl!!

It’s really fun, because almost everywhere I go people recognize that I’m from Texas. They don’t even ask - just come up and say something like, “You’re from Texas, aren’t you?” :-)

It’s nice.

[Aliska]

Oh, thanks. I was in England in the 70's, too long ago to remember. I do remember my northern England friend, Kathy (from Harrogate). She insisted she was SCOTTISH. Well, she spoke very differently, and I used to like to tease her or imitate her but can't remember a specific example now, not at all like the royals or other British accents I've heard.

There must be an upper crust British accent thenj, as well as regional. I've not heard one for some time except on the telly I mean video or radio (don't watch tv any more).

[KC Burke]

On the Missouri side of the state line in the Kansas City area in the twentieth century, a trip to the downtown urban core of multi story buildings was refered to as “going down-town”. Those on the Kansas side of the state line in the same metropolitan area used the term “going over-town” for the same meaning. You could tell where someone grew up by the usage of this expression.

The distinction, not understood to those of us growing up in the last half of that century had to do with an incline section of rail hooked to the streetcar line that connected the streetcars in Kansas City, Kansas to the streetcars in Kansas City, Missouri. As it crossed the mouth of the Kansas (Kaw) River where it joined the Missouri River it also climbed a steep bluff.

The incline disappeared in 1940 but the expression endured amongst adults untill the 1980s.

My point being, there are often temporary historical origins to these expressions, terms, or usages that get lost or lightly recorded and baffle us later. There were plenty of people like my great-grandfather called “the Dutchman” even though they were of german ancestry, because we waged two wars with Germany — I thought I had Dutch ancestry until I was 25.

[arderkrag]

Well, if all of ya’ll no-account carpetbaggin’ Yankees would learn howta speak, maybe we wouldn’t have half the problems we do!

[andyk]

I’m going to have to look up how you can pronounce Mary/merry/marry differently.

[American in Israel]

Let me guess, some parts of America say Taxes and the other parts says fair share?

Can we sort them by who is working to raise a family and who is working to not raise a family?

[pax_et_bonum]

San Antonio = San Antone

Like the Charley Pride song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTkFlGRo9M4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

;-)

[KC Burke]

From one side of Missouri, it changes from strongly “soda” to strongly “pop”. Many of us in the area around Kansas City in mid century therefore grew up universaly using “Soda-Pop”.

[Fiji Hill]

I cannot see how "Mary, merry and marry" can be pronounced the same. I'm from Jersey.

I'm from California, and I pronounce "Mary, merry and marry" exactly the same. I also pronounce "Minnie, mini and many" exactly the same, and they rhyme with "Ginnie, Kenny, Lynnie and any."