[stock66]

My friends in CA say they can pick up my accent on certain words but have never been able to tell me which words.
A friend from MI was visiting and our waitress figured out her home state for the way she pronounced omelet. I guess ahmlet instead of ohmelet.
My kids have Ants, their friends have Aunts. Since they have pretty much grown here they switch back and forth between the two pronunciations easily. They would never refer to their MI aunts as anything but ants. They would never call their friends aunts, ants. I am pretty sure I have never said aunt

[lilbear]

I've never heard youse in MI but I do in SC. With the constant use of 'soda' here I started saying 'soda pop' because I don't want to sound southern but at the same time I pick up accents so easily. lol

I never noticed my accent (as I think I mentioned I'm from SE MI) but not everyone that I know from up there sounds the same. But I also lived in a very diverse area so there were ALL kinda of accents or variations of accents.

Some of those accented words from those two links posted by DDevil are pretty extreme, probably more northern MI. But UP has their own Yooper accent I'd say. I can't even replicate it. lol But there were a few I can relate to. Like taking off the 'T'. I only do it with certain words, not all words, how funny. lol

[Nearborn]

Do most Michiganders think they have a strong accent, or are his friends pretty representative of how you all feel?

When I watch the national news, the people speaking more often than not sound like the way people in MI sound. Does that mean they're all from MI or that MI is generally "accentless" (except for the Yoopers for example).


I do note a "Detroit accent" from those raised in the area of Michigan/Livernois in the 1960's. It's probably more of an accent coming from those with first or second-generation Eastern European parents who still spoke another language in the home. It's hard to describe. It's not just the pronunciation of words, but the inflection as well and it's not something I generally hear from those raised on the far east side of the city. Maybe it's an ethnic thing that is common among those with the same ethnic background that I'm used to hearing.

My grandfather came from a home where his parents spoke little english and he was raised in southeastern KY. He worked hard on getting rid of the accent, but I could still hear the coal miner from Harlan Co. in him.

"Youse" is huge in Buffalo. I've never really heard it in S/E MI, but all my relatives in Buffalo use it regularly.

I think the SoCal accent is the most annoying to me. I like to hear a New England accent, and a Brooklyn accent and most Southern and Southeast accents, but SoCal is like nails on a blackboard to me.

[lilbear]

Interesting you mention Buffalo. My mom is from Buffalo and she always said as a kid I'd say "yous guys" although I know I don't remember ever saying that but maybe I learned it from HER. lol

[Nearborn]

Yep, I hear "yous guys" from my Buffalo relatives quite a bit.

[Southernkomfort27]

Originally Posted by GoGators1

This is just a little something funny I was curious about.

Just to give you a little accent background before I ask: My boyfriend was born and raised near Grand Radips, MI. I am a Southwest Florida native, went to school in Gainesville, FL, and now live with him in Asheville, NC.

We visit Michigan pretty often and something I have been surprised by is how many of his friends think they DON'T have an accent. If I ever comment on their accent the most common response I get seems to be confusion...as if they think of themselves as sounding mild and generally accentless. They seem to think you only have an accent if you're from the U.P. From what I can hear this is absolutlely laughable! I don't mean that in a rude way, and I don't mind the accent at all, but I've been really confused by the perception among them that their accent is mild, or even non-exisistant. To me it is just SO clear, probably one of the most pronounced of any accent I've heard (other than Boston, Jersey, NY types).

Do most Michiganders think they have a strong accent, or are his friends pretty representative of how you all feel?

Accent?,what accent? I grew up in Lansing, and currently living in Kalamazoo...I definitely do not have an accent!

[flyingwriter]

Michigan doesn't have much of an accent. We sound different from the south and southern Midwest, but certainly don't sound like Fargo or Minnesota! Maybe you have Michigan confused with Wisconsin. To me, people from the south or anywhere south of a line from Chicago, Toledo, and Cleveland have the accent. A's become O's, E's sound like I's. I have family in Georgia and Ohio and they all pronounce "pen" like "pin"! Being from Florida/North Carolina, I'm sure you have a thick southern accent. The only "heavily accented," Fargo-like areas in MI are the UP and far northern LP.

I know someone else mentioned a "Western Michigan" accent. I live in West MI and I don't think we sound different from the east side of the state.

[Nearborn]

Being from Florida/North Carolina, I'm sure you have a thick southern accent.

I've noticed very little accent in people from mid to southern Florida. Certainly no kind of accent that gets progressively more pronounced the farther south you go. Maybe all the transplants from up north have wiped out the southern accent in FL!!

[RJ17015]

Originally Posted by lilbear

I've never heard youse in MI but I do in SC. With the constant use of 'soda' here I started saying 'soda pop' because I don't want to sound southern but at the same time I pick up accents so easily. lol

I never noticed my accent (as I think I mentioned I'm from SE MI) but not everyone that I know from up there sounds the same. But I also lived in a very diverse area so there were ALL kinda of accents or variations of accents.

Some of those accented words from those two links posted by DDevil are pretty extreme, probably more northern MI. But UP has their own Yooper accent I'd say. I can't even replicate it. lol But there were a few I can relate to. Like taking off the 'T'. I only do it with certain words, not all words, how funny. lol

When we moved to CA, I learned quickly to not call soda pop - pop, because most people would say "what?" I started to call it soda, and have continued to call it soda to this day.

Where in SC are you located? We just moved here from MI, and are in the Charleston area.

I laughed - I do hear the t's sounding like d's, especially when I say "little" it comes out "liddle" when I force the t sound, my son - said that doesn't sound right, stop saying lit (tuh)le... too funny!

[RJ17015]

Originally Posted by kazoopilot

Michigan doesn't have much of an accent. We sound different from the south and southern Midwest, but certainly don't sound like Fargo or Minnesota! Maybe you have Michigan confused with Wisconsin. To me, people from the south or anywhere south of a line from Chicago, Toledo, and Cleveland have the accent. A's become O's, E's sound like I's. I have family in Georgia and Ohio and they all pronounce "pen" like "pin"! Being from Florida/North Carolina, I'm sure you have a thick southern accent. The only "heavily accented," Fargo-like areas in MI are the UP and far northern LP.

I know someone else mentioned a "Western Michigan" accent. I live in West MI and I don't think we sound different from the east side of the state.

I think we just don't hear our accent. When we moved to CA, I was SHOCKED that people not only knew we were from the Midwest, but exactly MI (at times), and I couldn't hear a difference -- we were in southern CA. That was when I became aware that we must have a distinct sound.

I lived in the Detroit suburbs from the time I was 3 years old, so not a upper, or western side of the state. My parents' also born and raised in Michigan, and their parents were not immigrants, I think they also grew up in MI.

But I probably do not pay attention, because I could not tell you the difference from a SC accent to NC accent to a FL accent. I hear different southern accents, but don't know from which area they are from. But this is such a melting pot here, we have people from all over the US.