Milwaukee Accents? (Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha: neighborhood, high school, live)

[Milwaukee City]

Now we all know Wisconsin has it's own "accent" and the farther you go "up nort" you hear people that sound like they just moved here from Fargo, especially by Green Bay. When it comes to the "M'waukee" area does Milwaukee have it's own accent or is it just a Wisconsin accent and there is no difference? or is there a Milwaukee accent on just certain sides of town?

Some say the "da sout side" of M'waukee has a more of a nasally /Chicago accent especially in Cudahy/South Milwaukee it seems. I have noticed in Washington County is more of a true Wisconsin accent and Waukesha county and most parts of Milwaukee seem to have the normal accent with the exception of the south side. So with me being from the south side(S.20th Beecher) I always here people telling me that I have "that south side" accent.

So my conclusion is that most of Milwaukee talks normal and Outlying areas such as Washington County have the Wisconsin traditional accent. With the only exception being the south side of Milwaukee and Racine and Kenosha Counties. I never hear someone in Milwaukee say "hey Der" or "dontcha Know" and I think this is more a stereotype rather than the truth.

So do different parts of the Milwaukee area talk different?

OnMilwaukee.com Milwaukee Buzz: The truth behind the Mwaukee accent

[karfar]

I've heard a definite "oh yah, hey dere" accent up in Rhinelander. Not totally bad but if you listen, you can hear it. I also hear a difference in the way people speak from the east side & then the south side. Maybe it's me, but it's there for sure. Well, maybe it's not so much an accent as the way they talk.

[Chelito23]

I think in general the Wisconsin accent gets thicker the farther north you go in the state. Madison and Milwaukee sound about the same, as do points south. North to Green Bay, Wausau and Eau Claire are similar, just as is Superior, Hurley and Rhinelander.

[43north87west]

Good question. I think there are distinct differences in certain areas. In the referenced article, I thought that this was very relevant, and not just to Milwaukee.

"You get a different kind of variation that persists, a kind of social variation. It's upper class, educated speech versus middle class, middle manager, high school education speech, versus very uneducated kind of speech or speech associated with Hispanic Americans or African Americans. I don't think you'll ever erase these differences. (Some of these dialects) transcend regional geography."

[KC3700]

Most people around my neighborhood talk in a sort of working class Milwaukee accent that most people from out of town or the burbs say is "talking ghetto".

[KC3700]

One thing the article brushed on but didn't go into into much: local slang and word usage. Like how people end sentences with unnecessary prepositions "Where's all the pizza at?" or how people say "bubbler" and stuff like that.

[Fishtacos]

One of my favorites is probably the letter "A."

In other places, the word bag would sound like mag...azine, or cat. In Milwaukee I frequently have heard bag to sound like "cage," or long "A."

This can be said for other words too.

Of course the distinctive long "O" is prevelant in some parts and places of Milwaukee too.

[Rogee]

You're right. In Wisconsin, the words bag, rag, tag, lag, and nag all rhyme with the word vague.

I even hear people use the long A sound in words like agriculture or magazine.

I've been trying to change my way of pronouncing these words, but my wife looks at me funny when I do.

It's weird that this is so specific to Wisconsin. I never hear this in Chicago.

[Iburytheliving]

Originally Posted by Rogee

You're right. In Wisconsin, the words bag, rag, tag, lag, and nag all rhyme with the word vague.

Hmmm, I'm 27 and have lived here about 17 years and I've never heard that. Lived from Watertown to Milwaukee...

[Jesse276]

Originally Posted by Rogee

You're right. In Wisconsin, the words bag, rag, tag, lag, and nag all rhyme with the word vague.

I even hear people use the long A sound in words like agriculture or magazine.

I've been trying to change my way of pronouncing these words, but my wife looks at me funny when I do.

It's weird that this is so specific to Wisconsin. I never hear this in Chicago.

Hmm, What should those words rhyme with?

WikiAnswers - What rhymes with nag