Twin Cities accent? (to live, to eat, county)

[west336]

Of course not....but then again, you have no reason to suspect it is elsewhere either.....especially if everywhere else you go people correct you if you say that.

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by west336

Of course not....but then again, you have no reason to suspect it is elsewhere either.....especially if everywhere else you go people correct you if you say that.

I think you're right that it's more common here than elsewhere (although I've yet to notice it myself -- thank goodness), but as far as correcting others, it could also just be that people in MN aren't as likely to point out grammatical errors. My mother-in-law says "I'm doing good" all the time, but I've never said anything. I just grin and bear it. (I wouldn't let my son say it, though, and if he ever comes home offering to "borrow me" something I'll correct that, too!)

[west336]

You have a son now?

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by west336

You have a son now?

I have for almost four years now. He'll probably grow up with a weird mix of words and accents from a variety of places, given that our relatives are from all over, we've lived different places (and are most likely heading to Chicago soon, and still hope for an international stint in there somewhere). He'll be the kid who says "soda" AND plays "duck, duck, gray duck." Then again, I think most kids are like that; we all have different family profiles and living histories, and all of that gets combined into how we speak. (or write -- I STILL sometimes accidentally spell things the British way, thanks to reading everything by the British author Enid Blyton during my early years as a reader. You never know what will stick with you for life, like it or not.)

[srsmn]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

Having only heard it hear doesn't mean that it is only here.

So....what are the other "pockets"?

No regionalism is ever heard in any one place. That's ridiculus. But where do you hear it most often, from everybody, consistently? Always?

I'd be surprised if there was anywhere where the "borrow/lend" thing is consistent with locals that's anywhere larger than Minnesota....

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

Using borrow instead of lend is not a Minnesotanism, it's common all over the country. There will be some pockets where they don't confuse borrow and lend and some where they do.

I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!!!

Okay, I don't hate it, but it is one of my grammatical pet peeves.

[Ben Around]

Originally Posted by srsmn

So....what are the other "pockets"?

No regionalism is ever heard in any one place. That's ridiculus. But where do you hear it most often, from everybody, consistently? Always?

I'd be surprised if there was anywhere where the "borrow/lend" thing is consistent with locals that's anywhere larger than Minnesota....

I used to live in Milwaukee and heard it there more than I hear it here.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Ben Around

I used to live in Milwaukee and heard it there more than I hear it here.

Isn't Milwaukee the land of "bubblers"...?

[MisterCobalt]

Originally Posted by kazoopilot

It seems like TC-area natives like Michelle Bachmann and Tom Emmer (I've noticed it in other MSP residents, too) have more of a "Wisconsin" or "Chicago" twang to their voices that you don't hear in outstate residents, especially those from Southwest MN.
....
Does anyone else hear this, or am I just crazy?

You're not crazy at all. Quite the opposite actually. I've studied a bit of linguistics, so I know that TC/Wisconsin/Chicago and some other places are all going through a vowel change known as the "Northern Cities Shift".

Northern cities vowel shift - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[west336]

^That article is confusing! But interesting nontheless....