Accents in Colorado (Pueblo: real estate, houses, living in)

[bostontopueblo]

I don't know if there is a thread for this or not but here's a new one if there is.

I've noticed some very interesting things while here in southern Colorado (Pueblo)

People do not say mirror, they say mir.
People say interested, they say inersted.
People say ruff instead of roof.

Ok those are the only ones that come to mind right now, what have you found?

[sterlinggirl]

We don't have an accent here...it's all these furriners who talk funny.

[LLWheeler]

Not so much an accent, but you can tell the "long-timers" from the newcomers - they pronounce the city's name as Pee-Eb-Low.

[Bideshi]

Slightly off topic, but what regional accent is considered "standard" american? Where can you be from and not be considered to have an accent? I'm from Texas but have lived overseas for 45 years and have lost most of my drawl. People from Texas always think I'm from somewhere else and people elsewhere always know I'm from Texas. So, what is the "standard"? Dan Rather? (Oklahoman) Peter Jennings? (Canadian) ??

[Bideshi]

Originally Posted by sterlinggirl

We don't have an accent here...it's all these furriners who talk funny.

Yupper, it's them furriners...

[jim9251]

Well moving to Colorado from Arkansas I'm still tryin to get used to the accent they have here in Colorado.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Heh ... so I guess the SW accent reaches that far to the North East.

Hurr'rr uh foo uthrs ... LOL!

Adver-TEYES-ment
Chil-ih
APE-ricot
ENH-velope

Plus ...

Never pop, always soda
Never sack, always bag (at least for the one at the grocery store)

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by sterlinggirl

We don't have an accent here...it's all these furriners who talk funny.

Some other regional terms used by Rocky Mountain region residents that are frequently not complimentary:

-"City-slicker"
-"Pilgrim"
-"Flatlander"
-"Easterner"
-"Tejano"
-"Californian"
-"Turisto"
-"Trust-funder"

Most of these often preceded or followed with some nature of cuss word, either in English or Spanish.

[bostontopueblo]

Can you explain Trust funder? I don't get it...

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by bostontopueblo

Can you explain Trust funder? I don't get it...

A "trust-funder" (also referred to often as a "trustifarian") is generally a non-working--often unemployable--individual endowed with wealthy parents or relatives who set him or her up with a trust fund to support him or her in the lifestyle to which he or she is accustomed. Colorado's resort towns are full of them--usually they hail from some metro area outside of Colorado, frequently from either the East or West Coast. Since they don't have to work, they busy themselves in making life miserable for people actually trying to make a living in those communities by dabbling in radical politics, outbidding working locals for real estate and other general nonsense. The more ambitious among them may start some perpetual money-losing business, often competing with people who are actually trying to make a living at their business.

Unfortunately, this scourge is nothing new in the Rockies. A century or more ago, rich aristocrats from England would send their worthless offspring to places like Colorado or Wyoming, endow them with a large trust fund, and hope they never came home. At that time most of them were male, and were referred to here as "remittance men," because they got a periodic "remittance" (bank deposit) from back home. They weren't particularly well-received or respected, either, except for their money injections into the local economy--frequently into the coffers of the saloons, gambling houses, and brothels. Nowadays, it's mostly into the trophy house builders', real estate developers', ski areas', and drug dealers' pockets. Come to think of it, not much has changed. Same money going pretty much to the same kind of people.