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My family has lived in Idaho for 3 generations. My mom has been asked numerous times in her life where in the south she's from. She always laughs and says "Southern Idaho" with as much twang as she can force into it. I've been asked the same question once myself. I personally don't hear any accent in native Idahoans' speech. I've been told that news stations like hiring newscasters from this part of the country because we have the most neutral and universally understandable accents of any part of the US.
I've lived in Idaho all of my 36 years and I've never heard anyone use this phrase. Everything else in your post, I totally agree with, but I've never heard barrow pit, borrow pit, or bar pit. Everyone I know calls the edge of the road the shoulder.
Incidentally, Sarah Palin doesn't sound anything like anyone I know in Boise or Idaho Falls. I think she totally sounds like she is from Canada, I keep expecting her to say "eh?" at the end of each sentence. I assumed it was an Alaskan accent.
Exactly!
Gov. Palin has the distinct Scandinavian influenced Canadian accent.
Comes with living your whole life on the high-line and in Alaska I suppose.
Not what I was talking about in my OP.
In my OP I was referring to certain people I've met around here who literally sound like they
have forced (consciously or not) a southern drawl into their voice to make themselves seem "country".
I don't notice a different accent here in NID as such, but do catch some terms that seem unique. "You Betcha" (made famous by Sarah Palin) is something my inlaws of Scandanavian decent say. "Ount" as opposed to Aunt (ant). Moscow with a slient W. Worshington. There are a few others I can't think of right now. We have so many recent transplants that it's all kind of a mix right now.
I can agree with the above, Toyman. I always just thought they were colloquialisms, not accents.
My family has lived in Idaho for 3 generations. My mom has been asked numerous times in her life where in the south she's from. She always laughs and says "Southern Idaho" with as much twang as she can force into it. I've been asked the same question once myself. I personally don't hear any accent in native Idahoans' speech. I've been told that news stations like hiring newscasters from this part of the country because we have the most neutral and universally understandable accents of any part of the US.
I've lived in Idaho all of my 36 years and I've never heard anyone use this phrase. Everything else in your post, I totally agree with, but I've never heard barrow pit, borrow pit, or bar pit. Everyone I know calls the edge of the road the shoulder.
Incidentally, Sarah Palin doesn't sound anything like anyone I know in Boise or Idaho Falls. I think she totally sounds like she is from Canada, I keep expecting her to say "eh?" at the end of each sentence. I assumed it was an Alaskan accent.
Lacerta,
Your mom sounds funny! .
I have to join BangoMike in I heard the words Barrow Pit discussed this week. Maybe that will be a saying for the books
"You bet" or "you betcha" are both said more often here in Idaho than in other places. Idaho speech has a lot of Scandanavian in it. Lots of Swedes moved here in the early 1900's. They farmed in the south and logged in the north.
Regional sayings and expressions tend to last forever, as do regional terms. Idahoans are also known for calling the glove compartment in a car 'the jockey box', and we still call the edge of a roadway a barrow pit.
That's a very old English term. People used to use wheel barrows to push their items along at the edges of a road because the edges were often the easiest places to push the single wheel, and in time, the wheels created a trench that made the pushing easier. "Barrow" became 'borrow' over time, and in parts of Idaho, 'borrow' became 'bar' I hear 'bar pit' all the time.
In the midwest, the accent on a city's name often differs from the original. Cairo became pronounced Kay-ro in Illinois. Hurricane, Utah, is pronounced "Herkin" by it's citizens. Many citizens of St. Anthony, Idaho pronounce their town's name S'nAnth'ny, dropping out some of the vowels, and making one word out of two.
It's a natural way of distinguishing the new place from the old. Moscow has always been pronounced "Mosco" as a way of making it a distinctive name.
The natives like to insist others use their pronunciation. Nevada is a good example. They always pronounce their state's name with a flat A- "NevAda", but most of the country still pronounces it with a soft A- "Nevoda".
The leather leggings worn by cowboys in the intermountain west are always pronounced "shaps" by the folks who wear them. "Chaps" is never pronounced with a hard 'ch'. The odd thing with this word is chaps came up from Mexico; the vaqueros invented them, and they use the hard 'ch'. They were first called chapaderos, and the term is still used down there.
I forgot Jockey Box, yes, this is the first place I've heard it. Same with canopie for the cap you put on the back of a pickup. "Barrow pit" is new to me for the edge of the road, but I've heard of gravel pits called "borrow pits".
We have a couple others...the St. Joe River is just "the Joe". A more local one-Bunco Road is usually called just "the Bunco", no road. One of the local ones I saw on a forest circus map-Fubar Peak...not that the name is all that local.
I have LDS relatives in the Preston area and they use "r" in certain words.
Example: warsh instead of wash. When I lived in Utah the "r" sound was common. I was always told it is an old mormon pioneer thing.
I've lived in Utah for my whole life (65 years) and I've never heard a Utahn say "warsh" instead of "wash." I have, however, heard Easterners say that.
I've lived in Utah for my whole life (65 years) and I've never heard a Utahn say "warsh" instead of "wash." I have, however, heard Easterners say that.
I heard it quite a bit, mainly spoken by the older crowd. Not as much with the younger people. It seemed to be more common in the Cache Valley area.
Same with canopie for the cap you put on the back of a pickup.
Where I come from we call that a "topper".
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katzpur
I've lived in Utah for my whole life (65 years) and I've never heard a Utahn say "warsh" instead of "wash." I have, however, heard Easterners say that.
I've heard that one here in Boise.
Another strange trend I've noticed around here (and maybe it's not just around
here) is people using phrases such as "This needs fixed," or "That needs gone."
In my OP I was referring to certain people I've met around here who literally sound like they
have forced (consciously or not) a southern drawl into their voice to make themselves seem "country".
I live closest to places like Blackfoot, Pocatello and Idaho Falls and can't say that I have picked up on any kind of distinct "Idaho-isms" or "accent" in the short time we've been here. It seems as though there are so many transplants all over the state, and if there IS some kind of Idaho accent I suspect that it will be watered down eventually, if it hasn't already.
I haven't experienced what you're talking about Kurt re: fake "country-fide" accents. If it DOES happen I would guess that it may be related to tourism (jacking up the "we're all just friendly folk in Idaho" schtick) or specific businesses that hope to increase sales through some kind of "Made in America - do business with a honest, western, country, small town business" etc etc. marketing strategy.
I can't think of any reason that any private individual would want to fake a country accent just for the hell of it.
Re: my accent. I've lived in Norway, England, Australia, Canada and the United States. I've also lived in Tennessee, Wyoming, Alaska, and Idaho. Try to figure THAT one out when you hear me talk.
My husband is from eastern Tennessee and speaks exactly as you would imagine a Tennessee mountain boy would speak. When we were in Alaska one of my colleagues looked at me after meeting my husband and whispered "I can't understand anything he's saying. He sounds like he's talking underwater".
To me, she sounds more like she's from Wisconsin. I've never heard an accent like hers in Colorado, but I don't stray out into rural Colorado.
I agree, she'd fit right in in the Northwoods up near the U.P. where I spent some of my mispent youth. Not total Yooper accent but northern Wisconsin for sure there hey.
I've lived in Utah for my whole life (65 years) and I've never heard a Utahn say "warsh" instead of "wash." I have, however, heard Easterners say that.
I've watched that reality show about the young people who escaped the polygamist cults down in Hildale/Colo. City and they sounded very southern-ish/odd. But I'm sure as isolated as they are, the accent has roots somewhere back East. I remember they said "crick" for creek, and I think they said "worsh".
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Funny
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