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

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[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.

[SMGFan]

I never say I am from "Jersey" , I say New Jersey. In NJ we go "down the shore", not down to the shore, Not to the beach.

At some point when we go down the shore we meet the Philadelphia people who call subs a hogie.

[Albion Wilde]

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

LOL -- same in Philly.

Mary = MEHry.
Merry = MUHry.
Marry = MAHwree.

[Albion Wilde]

There was no ‘yous’ option.

I know, right? No Philly "yiz" ("Where yiz goin'?"), and no Central PA "you'ns" (yuns).

[Chickensoup]

In Fawmingten May-en, I understand a version of older English is spoken,

In the dor-yahd.

Jeezily!

[Albion Wilde]

ping to 102

[x]

Here in SoCal I use a lot of those terms back and forth such as pee-khan and pee-can. Same with soda, pop, Coke or soda-pop. Same with some of the others. I guess it is just how I feel that day.

An awful lot of people moved to California from the rest of the country after WWII. I'm guessing they brought their own regional variants with them so there'd be more leeway there than in other parts of the US.

[Albion Wilde]

That’s because you’re not from Southern Maryland, pronounced Shuthin Merlin.

Prove it! Write how to say "shrimp"!

[muir_redwoods]

These are towns in both states;

Andover, Ansonia, Avon, Bethel, Bristol, Brooklyn, Canton, Clinton, Columbia, Danbury, Fairfield, Franklin, Hamden, Hebron, Kent, Lebanon, Lisbon, Madison, Manchester, Mansfield, Middlefield, Middletown, Monroe, Montville, New Haven, New London, Norwalk, Norwich, Orange, Oxford, Redding, Salem, Thompson, Union, Washington, Windham,

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Listen to people say onion. A lot pronounce it with an imaginary G in it. I don’t think that has anything to do with what region you’re from though.

[Albion Wilde]

I have noticed that a lot of people from back east have an ‘idear’ as opposed to an idea.

That's a holdover from early English settlers. Even today, Brits who speak the Queen's English put an "r" or "hr" at the end of a word ending with "a", such as "PAStahr" (Italian noodles).

[Bigg Red]

And does the rest of the country really call sneakers “tennis shoes”?

We, where I grew up in Chicago, always called them “gym shoes”.

&&&
I have a BIL from Western PA, who used to say “gum shoes” until we teased him out of it.

My NJ-born husband still sometimes says “elastic band” for what I, a native MDer call a “rubber band”.

[Zionist Conspirator]

I assume by "British accent" you mean English accent. The Scots and Welsh are also British, but they speak with Scottish and Welsh accents (actually, what the Welsh have is a "lilt"). But for some reason the English speak with a "British" accent.

I haven't heard or read "English accent" in I don't know how long. English identity has been completely subsumed into Britishness in a way the others have not.

My apologies if I have misunderstood you.

[Mears]

“My NJ-born husband still sometimes says “elastic band” for what I, a native MDer call a “rubber band”.”

==

MA here. We just call them “elastics”.

.

[Albion Wilde]

Sounds like nickname for a laxative.

Italy has a subtle one. An "innuendo."

[Albion Wilde]

Up here round Flelfia, we call it Baldeemore.

I've actually heard a Flefian refer to Merlin as "down Delwear."

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I remember some guy on WHAT’S MY LINE who did the Henry Higgens thing for the USA back in the early 1960s.

[Zionist Conspirator]

I still maintain that the most beautiful American accent of all is the old-time, now extinct, New England Yankee accent as epitomized by Calvin Coolidge, Farmer Smurf, and Titus Moody. I’m not talking about urban Boston or Harvard brahmin here.

[petercooper]

http://www.aei-ideas.org/2011/07/which-american-accent-do-you-have/

Take a 17-question quiz here and find out.

http://www.youthink.com/quiz.cfm?action=go_detail&sub_action=take&obj_id=9827

[Oratam]

MA here. We just call them “elastics”.

And you pronounce them "ee-lah-stics."

[Steve_Seattle]

"There was no ‘yous’ option.

And I’m impressed with those who say ‘you all’ instead of ‘y’all’. I never knew anyone did."

In the aftermath of the Boston bombings, I heard a local Boston reporter - at a press conference - use "yous." I'm from the north, and I've started using "you all" in preference to "you guys," which I can't stand. I will NOT call women "guys."