Do Californians have accents? (Santa Cruz: moving to, food, radio)

[Fontucky]

I grew up with two parents from Inglewood and 4 grandparents within 5 miles who were from the following places:

• N. Georgia
• S. Alabama
• Atlantic City/Philly
• Brainerd, MN

Now there's a mixture of accents/dialects.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

Makes sense to me. There are still remnants of that old SoCal accent in certain places. Although those people could be more recent transplants I don't know but in parts of San Diego County there are some who sound decidedly country. There are people in Riverside County you can barely understand.

As I didn't know about that accent when I was a kid, I would've confused it with the Okie accent.

I know there are accents like that in San Diego County and Riverside County especially amongst older people, but I'm not sure if it's a survival of the Okie accent or a survival of the old SoCal accent.

[wikiwikirunner]

In my city we all talk like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGDwScgb_Y0

[daortiz]

The Californian accents are the
Valley Girl and the Surf Dude accents




.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by majoun

As I didn't know about that accent when I was a kid, I would've confused it with the Okie accent.

I know there are accents like that in San Diego County and Riverside County especially amongst older people, but I'm not sure if it's a survival of the Okie accent or a survival of the old SoCal accent.

Well I think it sounds more Texan than anything else. In Santee, Lakeside and in Riverside I've been greeted not by hello but with "howdy" more often, especially in Santee and Lakeside.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

Well I think it sounds more Texan than anything else. In Santee, Lakeside and in Riverside I've been greeted not by hello but with "howdy" more often, especially in Santee and Lakeside.

The old SoCal accent supposedly resembled the Central Texas accent of Austin or San Antonio (reflecting where many of the 19th century American settlers of SoCal came from)

I'm not that surprised about it surviving in East County, especially in self-described "cowboy town" Lakeside. Probably amongst older people mostly? Bay Area Hillbilly mentioned that it still could be heard in San Bernardino and Riverside counties into the '80s.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by majoun

The old SoCal accent supposedly resembled the Central Texas accent of Austin or San Antonio (reflecting where many of the 19th century American settlers of SoCal came from)

I'm not that surprised about it surviving in East County, especially in self-described "cowboy town" Lakeside. Probably amongst older people mostly? Bay Area Hillbilly mentioned that it still could be heard in San Bernardino and Riverside counties into the '80s.

The accent is still mostly among older folks. But the culture is very alive and well in east county among all ages for sure. Lakeside still has a rodeo and an annual chili cook-off (nothing wrong with chili lol). Ramona is a million miles away from anything we'd consider "Californian" northern or southern and it's smack in the middle of SD county. I went to a wedding reception in Lakeside, at Lindo Lake and heard more "yee-haws" than this black male would care to hear LOL.

[Fontucky]

Oh come on, a few rebel yells here and there shouldn't skeer ye. Much.

Thar's another one! Git the rope, Cletus.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

Oh come on, a few rebel yells here and there shouldn't skeer ye. Much.

Thar's another one! Git the rope, Cletus.

Only you can make that funny LOL

[zenjenn]

I lived in California my whole life until about 3 years ago, and I now live in North Alabama.

On a few occasions I have been told I have a California accent by people who are native to the south. It is not something that comes up frequently, and according to them, the California accent is very subtle but they can pick up on it after having known a few people from California. I think I know what they mean, a little? I know a few people that talk a certain way that I wouldn't call an *accent* exactly, but when I meet someone that talks the same way, I find out they are from the same situation. (Two things like this have picked up on are people from Pennsylvania - similar accents - , and two friends I have - worlds apart - who are Americans raised by Canadian parents - they don't have Canadian accents per se, but they have the same mannerisms/twist to their speaking patterns.)