the California accent (San Diego, Santa Monica: pool, car, areas)

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by coyoteskye

Here's another link re: California accents.
Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . American Varieties . Californian | PBS

Another interesting article. Liked the part where they refered to people telling others of a recent dialog.

Example: Instead of she said or he said, the use of like, or go or went. He went, "do you want to go to the beach?" and then I went "No dude the water is too cold." And then he went, "Dude, you can borrow a wet suit." And then I went on and on and on.

You can replace went with go, like, or what ever. I still use the he said she said but then I am over 40. "Like dude, you are old school." lol

[Twinkle Toes]

My son always uses a phrase "That's what she said" after somebody says something. For example, if we're in the car and I see a really tall Christmas tree on a lot, I might say "Wow! Look at the size of that thing - it's HUGE!" Then he'll say "That's what she said".

[Lifeshadower]

Originally Posted by Twinkle Toes

My son always uses a phrase "That's what she said" after somebody says something. For example, if we're in the car and I see a really tall Christmas tree on a lot, I might say "Wow! Look at the size of that thing - it's HUGE!" Then he'll say "That's what she said".

Your son is really mature Although, I don't know how old he is. I was a jerk when I was 15, 16, 17, 18...19 (errr..I mean today )

People out of state pick up my Californian accent really easily. However, I never understood why. When I was younger, I sounded like a FOB (Fresh of the Boat) because of my parents. However, as I got older, I sounded more and more like the typical Asian-American, but not quite (if you're Asian, you'll kinda understand what this sounds like).

My friends say I do have some Spanish inflections when I say some words. That's more of a product of where I grew up than anything else.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by Lifeshadower

Your son is really mature Although, I don't know how old he is. I was a jerk when I was 15, 16, 17, 18...19 (errr..I mean today )

People out of state pick up my Californian accent really easily. However, I never understood why. When I was younger, I sounded like a FOB (Fresh of the Boat) because of my parents. However, as I got older, I sounded more and more like the typical Asian-American, but not quite (if you're Asian, you'll kinda understand what this sounds like).

My friends say I do have some Spanish inflections when I say some words. That's more of a product of where I grew up than anything else.

No offense but you probably still have a bit of the Asia Pacific Pidgen I mentioned up above. Go to an after market car show and you will hear it a lot. (BTW - I used to be part of that scene, although I don't have that accent - LOL! I spent earlier years with people of Cantonese background who, oddly, had that Southwestern Cowboy Twang I mentioned - obviously not recent arrivals ... )

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by tstieber

Now I'd be curious if remote areas of NorCal, far from urban areas like the Bay Area or Sacramento (such as Humboldt County) would have a more localized accent. Any thoughts?

Yes, see my post earlier in the thread. They have a real native accent. Unaffected by newcomer accents from the East (and overseas).

[mrsltd]

Now that I'm in NorCal, people have pointed out to me that I say "the" before freeways. I suppose that's a SoCal thing to do.

Yeah. My sister, who has been living in Seattle for the past five years and has lived there a couple of other times, has called me "CALIFORNIAN!" for doing that.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by mrsltd

Yeah. My sister, who has been living in Seattle for the past five years, has called me "CALIFORNIAN!" for doing that.

So she says, "I took Santa Monica freeway to..." ?? I never thought that using "the" in front of a freeway as California-speak. (I like the "the" better, including "the 10.")

[Lifeshadower]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

No offense but you probably still have a bit of the Asia Pacific Pidgen I mentioned up above. Go to an after market car show and you will hear it a lot. (BTW - I used to be part of that scene, although I don't have that accent - LOL! I spent earlier years with people of Cantonese background who, oddly, had that Southwestern Cowboy Twang I mentioned - obviously not recent arrivals ... )

No offense taken You may be right, but it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense since I was never around other Filipino-Americans or other Asian-Americans a whole lot UNTIL I got to college. Most of my friends were by far Latino, with the odd White person every once in a while.

It's hard to really gauge what my accent is. Probably Californian, but not too sure what that sounds like out of context. Most of my circle don't think Californians don't have accents because we see it on TV and movies all the time. We've become the standard American speech.

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

So she says, "I took Santa Monica freeway to..." ?? I never thought that using "the" in front of a freeway as California-speak. (I like the "the" better, including "the 10.")

Perhaps the surfers should say (if they still do), "I'm going to hang THE ten."

Maybe musicians should "take THE five" on their breaks?



My sister would say, "I took 5 to 405 to get to Sammamish and it was a horrible drive." (there is a 405 in Seattle).

[rah]

Originally Posted by tstieber

Now I'd be curious if remote areas of NorCal, far from urban areas like the Bay Area or Sacramento (such as Humboldt County) would have a more localized accent. Any thoughts?

Boontville, in the Anderson Valley of Mendocino county has it's own dialect called Boontling. For example, cup of coffee = "horn of zeus." Seriously.

Apparently the valley was extremely isolated (hell, it still is pretty isolated) and kind of hard to get to back in the day, so there weren't many visitors.