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I Just another reason to dislike "City Lab". Pittsburgh is not the midwest. The Pittsburgh accent is nothing like the midwestern accents I'm familiar with.
City Lab has some interesting stories, but yeah, a little lazy/classic dismissive East Coasters at times when it comes to generalizing places.
Pittsburgh has a Midland dialect, but not Midwestern. Very distinct difference. I'll trust the folks who've actually researched this at length:
It shows the Pittsburgh area as having a distinct accent, which is correct. My accent is much different from my husband's lower midwest accent (Omaha, NE), which are the same on the previous map.
People are choosing wrong because they are comparing NOVA to MD/PA/DE/NJ. All places significantly changed by the Great Migration between 1900-1930 (and then 1939-1945) which brought many aspects of Southern Culture to the Northern States. So the only reason they think its Northern is because they are comparing it to a region of the North that was diluted by Southerners the two generations before the Southward Migration of the last 50 years.
Compared to New England NOVA is much more like the Deep South.
I never heard the term "Pennsyltucky" as a child, or even a teen. I was in college before that one crossed my radar screen.
Just another reason to dislike "City Lab". Pittsburgh is not the midwest. The Pittsburgh accent is nothing like the midwestern accents I'm familiar with.
First time I heard the term was out of James Carville's mouth during the 2008 election campaign. I thought perhaps he coined it, as he's a witty guy.
It shows the Pittsburgh area as having a distinct accent, which is correct. My accent is much different from my husband's lower midwest accent (Omaha, NE), which are the same on the previous map.
Interesting to compare your map with duderino's. I wonder if his was based on Labov's work. I believe it was Labov who observed the accent shared by the big cities along the Great lakes, essentially Rochester/Buffalo/Cleveland/Detroit/Chicago/Milwaukee. He mentioned the anomaly of Erie NOT sharing this accent despite being in the path of the accent among the aforementioned cities.
Also, I've seen maps that show Pittsburgh as a distinct isolated accent island among the Midland accent area. I'd agree with that, having traveled, visited and lived extensively in those areas of the country.
As others have mentioned Appalachian does not equal Southern. I can't think of a single legitimate reason anyone would consider Pittsburgh a Southern city.
People are choosing wrong because they are comparing NOVA to MD/PA/DE/NJ. All places significantly changed by the Great Migration between 1900-1930 (and then 1939-1945) which brought many aspects of Southern Culture to the Northern States. So the only reason they think its Northern is because they are comparing it to a region of the North that was diluted by Southerners the two generations before the Southward Migration of the last 50 years.
Compared to New England NOVA is much more like the Deep South.
Good luck telling someone from Fairfax that. I have a feeling that will be a very short conversation
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