Not happy in Portland

[SyraBrian]

Years ago, I remember reading an article that claimed there was a regional accent that stretched through a narrow band from West Virginia to Portland, Oregon.

I then worked in a Syracuse-based telemarketing firm whose manager hailed from Portland. He spoke in a westernly twang that sounded very similar to a West Virginian regular at my neighborhood bar.

However, I don't much recall the accent from the time I spent in Portland. I stayed and pretty much stuck to the Northeast quadrant. The only time I recall hearing the accent was at a SE Burnside hearing aid company, from a telemarketer I worked with. I'm pretty sure sure she lived in the neighborhood. Maybe the westernly twang is more of a SE Portland affectation?

Did a wagon train of West Virginians or Okies settle in SE Portland?

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by SyraBrian

Years ago, I remember reading an article that claimed there was a regional accent that stretched through a narrow band from West Virginia to Portland, Oregon.

I then worked in a Syracuse-based telemarketing firm whose manager hailed from Portland. He spoke in a westernly twang that sounded very similar to a West Virginian regular at my neighborhood bar.

However, I don't much recall the accent from the time I spent in Portland. I stayed and pretty much stuck to the Northeast quadrant. The only time I recall hearing the accent was at a SE Burnside hearing aid company, from a telemarketer I worked with. I'm pretty sure sure she lived in the neighborhood. Maybe the westernly twang is more of a SE Portland affectation?

Did a wagon train of West Virginians or Okies settle in SE Portland?

I think one hears that twang amongst people whose families have lived here for a long time. Generations long. One of my friends who was born and raised in North Portland has a bit of a midwestern accent that I believe she picked up from her mother who moved here in the 1940's. She sounds different from another friend who has lived here in the NE part of town just as long but her family goes back to pioneer days.

I hear varying accents all over Portland due to the many different transplants from different parts of the country.

[PNW-type-gal]

The western twang is MUCH more pronounced on this side of the Cascades - probably, at least in the ag and ranching heavy areas, because of transplants from other areas. The govt was still doing land grants in Klamath and Lake County (which are HUGE, btw) through WW2 and into the 50s.

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by Minervah

I think one hears that twang amongst people whose families have lived here for a long time. Generations long. One of my friends who was born and raised in North Portland has a bit of a midwestern accent that I believe she picked up from her mother who moved here in the 1940's. She sounds different from another friend who has lived here in the NE part of town just as long but her family goes back to pioneer days.

I hear varying accents all over Portland due to the many different transplants from different parts of the country.

Yeah and I have friends who grew up in Hillsboro that have almost Southern-sounding accents. Or people from the smaller Willamette Valley towns that have accents that remind me of the lower Midwest.

Accents are a funny thing--but in general most Portland natives I know of my generation(I'm 30) seem to have very neutral accents, not much different from what you'd hear in a California or some Midwestern suburb... However you go back a generation to their parents or grandparents, and you have sort of a twangy, somewhat mid-western accent. There's sort of a Western country twang/Midwestern mix in the Northwest--if you hear California natives from the country/rural areas(not SF or LA) have a little different, more Southwestern style that sounds different than the Pacific NW--which seems to have more Midwestern elements to my ears.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by Deezus

Yeah and I have friends who grew up in Hillsboro that have almost Southern-sounding accents. Or people from the smaller Willamette Valley towns that have accents that remind me of the lower Midwest.

Accents are a funny thing--but in general most Portland natives I know of my generation(I'm 30) seem to have very neutral accents, not much different from what you'd hear in a California or some Midwestern suburb... However you go back a generation to their parents or grandparents, and you have sort of a twangy, somewhat mid-western accent. There's sort of a Western country twang/Midwestern mix in the Northwest--if you hear California natives from the country/rural areas(not SF or LA) have a little different, more Southwestern style that sounds different than the Pacific NW--which seems to have more Midwestern elements to my ears.

My friends are in their 50's and 60's so that would fall right in with what you are saying.

[SyraBrian]

Ooops, meant East Burnside. So, the co-worker may have lived in NE or SE Portland.

This was 16 years ago. I'm guessing Skype and cell phones that charge the same rate for local and long-distance have increased cross-regional conversations, thus decreasing the influence of local accents on the younger generation.