[CLees]

Originally Posted by AnotherTouchOfWhimsy

I say drawers and "ont" and milk... but otherwise, I think most of that applies. I will say that Connecticut natives don't tend to have an accent. You do hear Joisey and New Yawk and Bahston accents sometimes, but those are from people who are from New Jersey or New York or Massachusetts. I grew up in Meriden and then moved to Naugatuck when I got married. I live in Florida now and hear all sorts of accents. While most Floridians can pick out those from the northeast, I think that Connecticut is an exception. No one knows where I'm from just from hearing me speak. (Unless I say grinder or tag sale, which I occasionally do, LOL)

I lived in Florida for ten years and while I don't think Connecticut has a strong accent I do believe we speak a bit faster and more precisely than people from other parts of the country( including the pronunciations I learned from new york proximity which I also say precisely). There's also a little bit more of a nasally thing going on haha.

I think, perhaps, rather than having an accent, its our "lingo" which is unique. Not just our few unusual words for things but also our sentence structure and delivery. We also don't tend to think "is what I'm saying nice?" .

[basehead617]

I say some of these and not others. I'm from Southbury originally, basically the corner of litchfield, Fairfield, and new haven counties. I've been told I have no noticeable accent.

I never heard anyone say 'packy' growing up but when my girlfriend was going to Connecticut College down in New London we heard it a lot down there (all the liquor stores down there are called * Packy I think) so maybe that's an eastern CT/MA/RI thing?

I say milk not melk and droors for the drawers in a cabinet. I say PEE-cahn. Etc etc.

[El Scorcho]

Originally Posted by basehead617

I say some of these and not others. I'm from Southbury originally, basically the corner of litchfield, Fairfield, and new haven counties. I've been told I have no noticeable accent.

I never heard anyone say 'packy' growing up but when my girlfriend was going to Connecticut College down in New London we heard it a lot down there (all the liquor stores down there are called * Packy I think) so maybe that's an eastern CT/MA/RI thing?

I say milk not melk and droors for the drawers in a cabinet. I say PEE-cahn. Etc etc.

I'm from Canton and have always said Packy for a liquor store. Incidentally, when I was in London, I was at a friend's place and suggested we go to the nearest packy for some bevvies and everyone looked astonished. Then my friend said Packy was derogatory for Pakistani and that I should avoid that term.

Oh well. I guess "Off license" just doesn't have the same ring as Packy.

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Grocery store.....or.....Supermarket?

[basehead617]

Originally Posted by Stratford, Ct. Resident

Grocery store.....or.....Supermarket?

Personally, I always remember saying and hearing 'grocery store'.

[in_newengland]

Grocery store. Carriage but now I say cart. Aunt because they are not insects. Grinder, cellar, packy, rotary or lately, roundabout. Ledyard is more like Lejard. Regular coffee.

My relatives in CT talk almost the same way I do and I grew up on the MA/CT border and went to college in CT BUT some of my relatives who live down around the Danbury area sound a little bit like New Yorkers. I've heard people from Naugatuck sound a little bit like New Yorkers too.

When you get east of the river you may hear more of RI or Eastern MA accent--some of the dropping of the Rs. Up around Somers and Enfield they talk like me--they're near the border.

BTW, do we still say pocketbook or are we supposed to say (cough) Purse? I find it hard to call it a purse but that seems to be the way to go.

[CLees]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Grocery store. Carriage but now I say cart. Aunt because they are not insects. Grinder, cellar, packy, rotary or lately, roundabout. Ledyard is more like Lejard. Regular coffee.

My relatives in CT talk almost the same way I do and I grew up on the MA/CT border and went to college in CT BUT some of my relatives who live down around the Danbury area sound a little bit like New Yorkers. I've heard people from Naugatuck sound a little bit like New Yorkers too.

When you get east of the river you may hear more of RI or Eastern MA accent--some of the dropping of the Rs. Up around Somers and Enfield they talk like me--they're near the border.

BTW, do we still say pocketbook or are we supposed to say (cough) Purse? I find it hard to call it a purse but that seems to be the way to go.

I'm 25 and social culture loving biases aside I am still quite familiar with pocketbook. That's what my mom says so that's what I call them. She actually says it like "pocka-book" haha.

[ZonaZoo]

Unless originally from NY or NJ, people from CT say "ont," not "ant."

[andthentherewere3]

Originally Posted by CLees

Perhaps CT has regional variations within the state due to its location between 2 areas of unique accents and word usages.

Exactly. For instance, in western Ct. I'm daily surrounded by ex-New Yorkers or their offspring, and listen to words being pronounced "draw" (drawer) , Aoisome" (awesome), "Ont" (aunt), "oif" (off). Our native Ct. family with no NY or Boston background do not say "ont", it's "aunt". Maybe "ont" is a NY or Italian term? And we don't say "voz", it's "vase". "Mootzarella" is always from Italians, I love to butcher it and say "mozzarella" the American way just to annoy some of them, because some always correct me. Never heard anyone say cellar here, always basement. Never heard "N-Haven", either, always "New Haven". I think a "wedge" must be more localized, because none of our family and friends down there say wedge as opposed to sub or grinder. I do hear mostly "purse", it seems like it's the older generations that say pocketbook. But then again, so many of the older people I know are from NY which skews it. Another mispronounced word from NY'ers that always gets to me is "leggins" instead of "leggings".

Always interesting how people interpret accents. I visited a cousin a few years ago across the country that I hadn't seen in years, and he was surprised that I didn't have an accent. He'd once spent some time in western Ct. and assumed everyone spoke like a NY'er. And I do know some people that have such a strong accent they mispronounce several words in a sentence, but don't think they have an accent.

Oh, another good one I just thought of, NY'ers are never in line, they are online. To me online is what I am right now, online on my computer.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by andthentherewere3

Oh, another good one I just thought of, NY'ers are never in line, they are online. To me online is what I am right now, online on my computer.

That always bothered me...lol. Online is on a computer. In line is in a store.

I do hear, especially when in the Valley or Bridgeport area, "Nuh-Haven" instead of New Haven.