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Old 12-27-2012, 11:33 AM
 
Location: Kansas City, MO
5,765 posts, read 10,954,954 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kcmo View Post
That's very true. People in the MO suburbs call JoCo "Kansas" more often than they call it JoCo.

"We are going to Kansas to get some stuff at MicroCenter". Nobody talks about Kansas outside of JoCo or maybe Village West unless referring to the university.
I think it depends on age. My grandparents always just called it Kansas but all my friends (30 to 45) usually say JuCo or say the specific Kansas suburb. I usually say JoCo unless I know exactly what city it is then I will say Shawnee, Lenexa, etc.
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Old 12-27-2012, 11:39 AM
 
Location: Kansas City, MO
5,765 posts, read 10,954,954 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brewcrew1000 View Post
The 40 Highway, 50 Highway thing really stuck out for me when I first moved here and didn't get it.

Some other item variations I have noticed:

Sack
instead of Bag at a store
Seems like they say Wreck here more, I would say Accident, Wreck sounds so Southern/NASCAR
Draw at a bar instead of Tap when it comes to beer "Would you like Miller lite bottle or draw" I was always use to it being would you like Miller Lite Bottle or Tap"

I think accident is more formal where wreck is more casual. If I were talking to my friends at a bar I would say wreck but if I were calling my insurance company, I would call it an accident.

A tap is what the beer comes out of, a draw is the actual pulled drink from the tap.

Sack and bag are interchangeable IMO.
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Old 12-27-2012, 12:06 PM
 
1,328 posts, read 1,443,516 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bradysmommy12 View Post
South of KCMO is a town called Nevada (Like the state), but people in MO call is NeVAYduh. Drives me nuts! Also, there is a town south east of KCMO called Versailles, like the French Treaty, but the locals call it VerSALless. Drives me nuts too...lol
How do you pronounce the state of Nevada? If you're like most Americans, it's Neh-VADD-uh. That probably drives Mexicans nuts, who would naturally pronounce it Neh-Vah-Dah.

I believe the people from each place should get to decide how to pronounce the name of their home. The people of Nevada, Missouri have made their decision and I believe we should respect it. (Try going to Miami, OK or OH and insisting that the residents there pronounce it the same as they do in Florida. Good luck with that.)
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Old 12-27-2012, 01:30 PM
 
Location: Old Hyde Park, Kansas City,MO
1,145 posts, read 2,446,346 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xenokc View Post
Eastern MO and eastern WI are only two Midwest areas that say soda, the rest is mostly pop. I hear soda fairly often in KC but mostly hear pop. Coming from STL, I never heard pop until moving to KC and it sounded so contemporary, making soda sound old fashioned. I say pop now. When I want soda, it's club soda in a majito.

http://strangemaps.files.wordpress.c...pvssodamap.gif
I was raised in Milwaukee and we always use to say Soda, then I went to college in Minnesota where they say Pop. Ever since college I have always been saying Pop. I don't know why I always say Pop now (I think I say it because its easier to say 1 Syllable instead of 2), I still call a Water Fountain a Bubbler.
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Old 12-27-2012, 05:17 PM
 
13,721 posts, read 19,129,828 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by denverian View Post
None of my family in KC can pronounce the word "wash" to save their lives lol! Woosh, warsh, wush...

And then they call County Line Rd. (between KCK and JoCo) Kantalahn Road. They prounounce Kansas more as "Kenzuz" and Kansas City is "KanCity"

My family alsways said "pop" (never soda) and athletic shoes were always "tenni-shoes", never "sneakers".
What's wrong with any of that?
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Old 12-28-2012, 10:33 AM
 
Location: Denver, Colorado U.S.A.
14,164 posts, read 27,099,488 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by luzianne View Post
What's wrong with any of that?
lol! Nothing wrong with that. They're not like the people on "Honey Boo-Boo" where you need subtitles to understand them

So I'm sure I sounded like them to some extent up until I left home/KC at age 18. Now that I've been living elsewhere for over 20 years, I actually hear the every-so-slight KC accent. I'll notice it if I'm in an airport waiting to board a flight to KC as I listen to people talk around me. I've noticed, as with most accents, the more "working class" the people are, the stronger the accent.
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Old 12-28-2012, 09:53 PM
 
196 posts, read 391,126 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brewcrew1000 View Post
There is a Nevada Iowa and they say it the same way as Missouri, but shouldn't it be spelled Neveda, instead of Nevada.

People around here always misprounce Coupon, its Koo-pon, not Q-pon. I think thats a northern/southern thing
Funny, I've heard more people in KC pronounce it "Q-pon". And I might disagree with you on the "northern/southern" label, because I've heard some people in the Chicago area pronounce it "Koo-pon".
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Old 12-28-2012, 10:09 PM
 
196 posts, read 391,126 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by denverian View Post
None of my family in KC can pronounce the word "wash" to save their lives lol! Woosh, warsh, wush...

And then they call County Line Rd. (between KCK and JoCo) Kantalahn Road. They prounounce Kansas more as "Kenzuz" and Kansas City is "KanCity"

My family alsways said "pop" (never soda) and athletic shoes were always "tenni-shoes", never "sneakers".
The "pop" thing I definitely agree with you on. The whole "warsh, wush" thing I've only heard from a few people here (it's not as common as you would think). I remember my second grade teacher would always say "wersh up for lunch" and pronounced pupa "poopa". However she didn't have much of an accent or drawl of any kind (or at least none that I could identify).

My grandparents on my mom's side will say "wush" and "mizzur-UH", but they also don't speak in any identifiable dialect.
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Old 12-28-2012, 10:50 PM
 
Location: Tippecanoe County, Indiana
26,374 posts, read 46,232,890 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MidWestCityNative View Post
The "pop" thing I definitely agree with you on. The whole "warsh, wush" thing I've only heard from a few people here (it's not as common as you would think). I remember my second grade teacher would always say "wersh up for lunch" and pronounced pupa "poopa". However she didn't have much of an accent or drawl of any kind (or at least none that I could identify).

My grandparents on my mom's side will say "wush" and "mizzur-UH", but they also don't speak in any identifiable dialect.
I definitely notice a bit of a twang, particularly the outlying areas of the KC region. You notice it if you live in the northern tier for any length of time as the speech patterns are definitely different. In Wisconsin, for example, vowels are either sharper or more rounded- not elongated, more common in Midland speech patterns southward. The wash word example is a common one to use for the Lower Midwest. Another regional expression that is often used is "a ways away." That is not a common expression at all in other areas of the US. In the Upper Midwest a more direct way of asking a quick question with a reply implied would be "Is this correct er no?" Er is substitued for or and apparently speeds the question along. We all have accents, but local and regional variations add some nice flavor.
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Old 12-28-2012, 11:57 PM
 
196 posts, read 391,126 times
Reputation: 162
Quote:
Originally Posted by GraniteStater View Post
I definitely notice a bit of a twang, particularly the outlying areas of the KC region. You notice it if you live in the northern tier for any length of time as the speech patterns are definitely different. In Wisconsin, for example, vowels are either sharper or more rounded- not elongated, more common in Midland speech patterns southward. The wash word example is a common one to use for the Lower Midwest. Another regional expression that is often used is "a ways away." That is not a common expression at all in other areas of the US. In the Upper Midwest a more direct way of asking a quick question with a reply implied would be "Is this correct er no?" Er is substitued for or and apparently speeds the question along. We all have accents, but local and regional variations add some nice flavor.
Some people here have twangs, but most don't. Whether or not they possess an accent of any kind is subjective. The majority of teachers I've had between elementary school and college (most of whom where KC or Missouri natives) didn't have twangy or diphthong-y accents.

As far as the outlaying areas of KC go, it kind of varies actually. I had a friend who lived in Excelsior Springs, his father had a "twang" in his dialect, but he and his mother did not have it. I have some family members who live near Sedalia, MO and they speak in an almost upper-midwest dialect (it's very mild, but I have noticed it).

I have seen some episodes of COPS filmed in KC, and I have heard that "twangy" accent you're describing on many occasions. But I've also heard it on some St. Louis episodes as well.

Last edited by MidWestCityNative; 12-29-2012 at 12:06 AM..
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