Our accent... (Louisville, Paducah, Princeton: movies, college, living)

[kimmieyky]

Originally Posted by fraggle

we always tell them london, england. after 6 years it still makes us chuckle. with all the american programmes on the tv we dont have any problems with the accent its normal to us, but it doesnt seem to work the other way.

even funnier is some people ask us "how are Harry and William" ??

That is even funnier. I suppose since you are from London they assume you see William amd Harry on the street and at the McDonalds.

It can be a small world - but usually not THAT small!

Oh, tell them I said hello, will ya! lol!

Kimmiey

[zorst]

I've got a bit of the wordage myself. I don't know wearun's it's from as I was raised up in Dayton, Ohio. I find myself using words like reckon and kin, phrases like "taking a shine to" or "cotton to". My kin hale from the hollas of Harlan County so I'm reckon'n it's from there.

Further, I just love it when a waitress in some part of Southern Ky asks after supper, "Are ready for a piece a pie?". The way South KY women say "pie" is something else. "Pie" is like a three syllabul word.

[kimmieyky]

Ahhh, zorst - I know the 'dip' in the word of which you speak!!!

I just said it while I was reading this - and , sho'nuf - it does come out that way!

[pejuta]

my parents,their parents were all born in se ky, owsley co, towns gray hawk, mckee,banford. still lots of cousins there ive never met. know some in sadieville. back in 1800's and on families intermarried. i was raised in winston-salem,nc. i have strong accent and dialect. would like to consider ky to move.

[elfyum]

I too love accents, and can't help but ask where people are from!
And I ALWAYS know a NYer - don't know if it's cause I AM one, or if it's just that distinct. I guess people from outside the area could confuse Boston with NY?

Kimmie - CONGRATS ON THE JOB!!!!!!!!!!! And an early WELCOME TO FLORIDA!!!!!!!!!!
I didn't know you were one of "us"! (Those that don't like it under 80! ) Are you moving to Sebring?

And to all of you with accents - ANY variety - DON'T BE ASHAMED! I don't think you should tone it down! I hate that about news anchors! (on the radio -TV is completely plastic in every way!) If you're black, southern, Nyer, whatever - BE PROUD!
I hate the homogenization of our country! All the same houses, all the same stores and all the youngins who sound like they're from SOCal! - I wanna be able to KNOW I'm not in KS anymore!
So ya'll keep talkin like where you from, & I'll keep tawkin like where I'm from!

[US_UK]

My husband is from Bristol (England), and lived in Australia for a few years in his early teens. We've lost count of the times people have said, "You ain't from around here, are ya?"

When we're traveling within the state, he's uses the perfect reply: "No. I'm from Paintsville."

Some "git" it, some don't. )

[kimmieyky]

Originally Posted by elfyum

I too love accents, and can't help but ask where people are from!
And I ALWAYS know a NYer - don't know if it's cause I AM one, or if it's just that distinct. I guess people from outside the area could confuse Boston with NY?

Kimmie - CONGRATS ON THE JOB!!!!!!!!!!! And an early WELCOME TO FLORIDA!!!!!!!!!!
I didn't know you were one of "us"! (Those that don't like it under 80! ) Are you moving to Sebring?

And to all of you with accents - ANY variety - DON'T BE ASHAMED! I don't think you should tone it down! I hate that about news anchors! (on the radio -TV is completely plastic in every way!) If you're black, southern, Nyer, whatever - BE PROUD!
I hate the homogenization of our country! All the same houses, all the same stores and all the youngins who sound like they're from SOCal! - I wanna be able to KNOW I'm not in KS anymore!
So ya'll keep talkin like where you from, & I'll keep tawkin like where I'm from!

Welllll...the job didn't quite pan out - but that's okay, because I have a new hobby - helping people relocate! And yes - born and bred here but I would head to Florida in a second to be in the 80's all the time. It could get into the 70's - but no lower than 65 for me.
My old bones just can't take it!!

And - I have come to love my accent. The thicker the better some days - I like to pour it on when I know I am in the presence of out of towners! Might as well give'em the whole Kentucky experience!!

[pejuta]

it isnt just accent,it is also dialect. when i lived in yakima(im a southerner), washington, i was telling a woman,i wanted to volunteer at the humane society and had to go locate it. she started giving me directions,so i said,i know where it is,i just have to go locate it. again she started giving directions. hmmmmm? must be word "locate". so i said,well ,im going there. thanks. end of direction giving.

[kimmieyky]

That's too funny. No wonder half the time nobody understands each other!

I wonder how many fights ahve started this way?? Geez...

[ktelschow]

I know! I switch back and forth between accents and I don't even realize that I'm doing it! I'm from Southeastern Ky but I went to college in Indiana, and one day during my Senior year when my friends and I were sitting around talking, one of them whips out that they always notice my accent is ten times worse in the summer or after I've come back from a school break. Then everyone else jumps in and starts yelling, "Hey, you're right!" and it was open season on all the words I said "incorrectly" after that, haha. I think the favorites were "puddin' " and how I drew out the word lawyer (law-yer instead of loyer).

I live and work in downtown Chicago now, and I'm definitely more conscious about how I sound. I've noticed that people up here tend to look more negatively on the "mountain" accent than they do a "Southern" accent because it sounds more untelligent to them. (I love that line from Sweet Home Alabama when he says "Just because I talk slow doesn't mean I'm stupid!) My job requires me to be on the phone a lot and I've managed to mask my accent pretty well (although I could never completely give it up!), but every now and then I'll get calls from people that tell me "I sound just like their neighbor from North Carolina" and have a nice "down-home sound"...whatever that's supposed to mean! If they think my tame phone voice is "down-home", they don't even know the half of it! They'd probably think I was speaking in another language if I really busted out!

P.S. My favorite "mountainism" though has to be "sko bo's" (aka "Let's go boys")...it's so hilarious because it probably sounds like some kind of disease to the Northern ear, haha. They're probably picturing people running around with scabies or something equally disgusting, haha!