Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I like most regional accents, but the Southern California accent (yes, there is one!) is awful and some of the local newscasters do use it. "My friend likes milk and fresh bread" becomes "my frand likes melk and frash brad". Sounds slack-jawed and ditzy.
It must be, since so many people can't say it right, but then again, I learned to pronounce it from childhood so it wasn't ever hard for ME.
I don't really understand why it's "easier", but I do know that some sounds ARE considered harder to say (like the "r" that people in New York and New England leave out).
I think that non-rhoticity is easier. It's easier for me to say "I nevah knew" then "I neverrrrrr knew".
I like most regional accents, but the Southern California accent (yes, there is one!) is awful and some of the local newscasters do use it. "My friend likes milk and fresh bread" becomes "my frand likes melk and frash brad". Sounds slack-jawed and ditzy.
I think they do that in Toronto, too. So weird! But I pronounce "bread" like "brid," so I can't judge.
I think they do that in Toronto, too. So weird! But I pronounce "bread" like "brid," so I can't judge.
Really? I thought Canada's vowels went the opposite way: bread and penny would be "brad and panny" in LA. Wouldn't Canada say "brid and pinny"? Or does Toronto go the other way?
I think that non-rhoticity is easier. It's easier for me to say "I nevah knew" then "I neverrrrrr knew".
Well it's not really as simple as dropping the r at the end of every vowel. For one people mimicking it tend to emphasize the vowel inappropriately. For example they use the same "ah" in farm and at the end of the word ever. Except at the end of ever is more like "uh" of "uh huh", short and quick.
Another thing people get wrong is dropping every r. If the next word in the sentence starts with a vowel the r isn't dropper. So the famous saying actually sound more like "pahk the car in hahvahd yahd", the r in car survives because in starts with a vowel.
I like most regional accents, but the Southern California accent (yes, there is one!) is awful and some of the local newscasters do use it. "My friend likes milk and fresh bread" becomes "my frand likes melk and frash brad". Sounds slack-jawed and ditzy.
most people here don't speak like that. only a minority.
I like when the local news anchors are clearly from NYC/NJ. It just feels nicer knowing the people giving you your news, weather, and alerts are actually from your area, and may care more about it/have a history here. Someone who is a news anchor in my area could be from the area and just not have the accent, or has been trained to lose it, but I think a place has more character when even the local news people have the local accents. I don't know, there's just something about it. Feels authentic and comforting, especially in such a high transplant and transient metro/city as New York.
It's easier to say "Tin" than "Tehn". Everyone around here says "TIN" and "PIN" for ten and pen.
I disagree. Maybe it is for you because that's how you learned it and that's how people speak in your area, but I have to go out of my way to say "tin" instead of "tehn" and that to me is harder. "Tehn" comes natural, and I don't find it hard to say at all. Saying it like "tin" is very unnatural.
Similarly, for me, it is harder to say "cah-fee" for coffee, rather than the typical NJ "caw-fee." I have to go out of my way to say it like most others say it. Putting the "aw" in there is easier and comes natural to me. Same with "dawg" for dog. "Dahg" is hard for me. It's just how I say it. I have tried to correct myself because sometimes people from out of state make fun of me (I went to college in NYC at a school with a lot of out of stater students, many from CA and the South) and I became conscious of my pronunciation of certain words for a while there, and I could never correct myself. It was just hard to pronounce those words "right." I just add the "aw" naturally.
"Local" TV news stations hire from around the nation. As a result, TV news anchors and reporters are expected to "smooth out" their accents if they want a better shot at moving into higher-paying markets.
If you are from a particular area, and you graduate from college in a particular year, there may be few or zero open positions with local TV stations. You might have to start out moving between stations in an entirely different region of the country where your local accent would seem confusing.
This is basically the long and short of it. Unless you're lucky enough to be raised in a media capital like NY, you can almost expect to have to move around a lot to find jobs as a reporter, whether broadcast or print.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
