[Stiner]

Since I've moved away, accents jump out at me from people I never realized had an accent- friends I love, and even my family! I was so used to it when I lived there, but now it almost seems exaggerated in the first few minutes of a conversation with someone after a while. I even feel certain words changing as I say them "barn", "milk", "Vermont" with the swallowed "t". I have always been fascinated by this, and have morphed as I move from place to place- whenever I'm tired or homesick, however, the accent comes out. I lived near Morrisville, and have always been amazed by the fact that it has it's own distinct accent- one that is different from Johnson, Hyde Park, Stowe, etc... Anyone else ever notice this?

[vtmetsfan]

The only distinctive accents I hear in Vermont, that kind of tickle my senses are words like:

Costco --> Cahs-co
Dawn --> Don

I've noticed that for most Vermonters, they prefer to pronounce 'aw' sounds as 'ah'.

When I first moved here, I got some comments from Vermonters that they felt a bit intimidated by my thick NY accent. I was just talking normally, but they had the impression that I was about to get into a fight with them. Since then, I've made some efforts to speak in a standard dialect (if there is such a thing).

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by arel

I'm from Brooklyn, NY. When I lived in Vermont (White River Junction) I heard someone say to someone else that I had a "distinctive accent". No escape from the accent for me.

I did not know you lived in Vermont. How was your experience?

I find that the people near Swanton sound a lot like rural Wisconsonites. Maybe that's the mentioned farmers accent.

[GypsySoul22]

I have not noticed much of an accent. I did notice a lot of mumbling when I first came.
We were out somewhere and this is what happened: 2 Vermont guys having a conversation.
Guy One: Yes, mumble, mumble. Mumble?
Guy Two: Oh, no..no. Mumble cars are so mumble mumble.
They both understood each other while we were like "What?"
Speaking of accents...
We have a lot of out of staters come through here since the place we rent is for sale. Today this couple came from another state.
They were waiting for the real estate agent and my husband and I were outside (to avoid the whole process as it has nothing to do with us).
We exchanged pleasantries. The woman asks me if I like it in VT? Where am I from?
I said NY.
The guys says, "Oh yeah? Where?"
I pause...then I say, Long Island.
The guys says Yeah?
The woman says "I could tell." (No you can't I don't have a Long Island accent.) I am not Fran Dreisher...(lol).

My husband introduced himself and they had no idea what he said (he's English but has a NY accent mixed in!).

Accents are fun!
We swear the real estate agents are 'scared of us' because we are from NY...straight out of Suffolk County, yo..What a joke..

[flu189]

I also have not noticed a very distinct accent here in Vt. When I visit NH in the Concord/Manchester area I notice their accent, but more and more of eastern Mass accent is present than when I lived in the region 25 to 30 years ago. I guess I still have part of my NY accent as a few folks I have met have remarked on that and I have been gone from there 31 years.

[vtmetsfan]

Originally Posted by flu189

I guess I still have part of my NY accent as a few folks I have met have remarked on that and I have been gone from there 31 years.

I hear you flu189. I thought I finally got rid of my accent and was happy about it, as I don't want someone to think I'm going to mug them or something. We probably do not notice, but I'm sure there are words or phrases we utter which scream NY.

[arel]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

I did not know you lived in Vermont. How was your experience?

Well, for about 6 weeks one summer, I lived in White River Junction. I was checking out the area for a possible move. I stayed at someone's townhouse at Birchwood Heights.

Visually, I loved the area. I loved driving around and being moved by the mountains. I loved going into New Hampshire (Hanover and Lebanon). I remember loving the mountains that were outside the supermarket. I visited the VA Hospital in WRJ for an interview. I left at dusk and was struck by the beauty of the mountains there. I loved driving into Norwich. I remember visiting a craft fair there and thinking that I never wanted to leave the area. I remember the roads. I loved the scenery. The beauty was soul-nourishing.

I had visited WRJ as a child and remembered how ugly it was. I had been thinking of the downtown area. When I saw it as an adult, it was not beautiful, but it was not as ugly as I had remembered it to be.

Unfortunately, mountainous areas come with inclines. I had an oil leak in my car. In flat Rhode Island, where I had been living, I could simply police it and replenish the oil when necessary. In Vermont, the inclines caused the oil to flood my clutch plate. I had to get rid of the car. (It was a cheap car, less than $700.) I bought a new car at a Subaru dealership and I was appalled at how manipulative the people were. This was Vermont! Vermonters weren't supposed to behave like that!

I also remember a very steep hill near the row of townhouses where I was staying. I thought with dread what it must be like to skid on that hill in the winter.

I remember the road down to the main road. Another incline; if you skidded off you would fly into the trees. But at least the trees would break your fall down a steep hill. I also remember being in someone's back yard. I really admired the house. Very well appointed. But in the backyard, there was a very steep drop off. Not a cliff, but too steep to stand on. Scary.

I remember some very eccentric and/or difficult people I met. Some were frankly personality-disordered. I felt pretty lonely and alienated, but I loved exploring by myself.

I remember July 4 fireworks in WRJ. The show was in a schoolyard. Men stood by their pickup trucks, saying "Ayup". Yes, they really do that there. The firecrackers went up one at a time. I said to myself "Never again!" After that it was New York fireworks without fail. (Uh oh - did I give myself away as a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker?) Actually, when I lived in Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan I went to the East River for several years to watch the fireworks. Then one time I had to deal with some very hostile, nasty people. They blocked my way and refused to let me pass, after which they became a little menacing. After that, I decided to watch the firewords on TV.

Now, although I still watch the NYC fireworks on TV, I am annoyed by their commercial quality and by the commercial quality of the music that accompanies them.

Once, I went to the July 4 fireworks in Rhode Island. It was paid for by the local Indians, I think. Not bad.

I remember a nearby lake that I went to in Vermont. I remember the lake beach and the parking lot across the road.

Another thing I remember from WRJ is a spectacular light show put on by fireflies. It looked like a real light show. In Brooklyn, we have individual fireflies turning their lights on and off rather leisurely. In WRJ it was a huge group in the birch trees. Hundreds, maybe thousands of fireflies, strobing rapidly. I've never seen anything like it before or since. Probably a different species of firefly than the ones in Brooklyn.

Or else the urban fireflies were doing their own thing in the anonymity of the city.

[arel]

Oops, I think I went off-topic on the previous post. But I did mention the "Ayup" thing. That fits into the accents theme.

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by GypsySoul22

I have not noticed much of an accent. I did notice a lot of mumbling when I first came.
We were out somewhere and this is what happened: 2 Vermont guys having a conversation.
Guy One: Yes, mumble, mumble. Mumble?
Guy Two: Oh, no..no. Mumble cars are so mumble mumble.
They both understood each other while we were like "What?"
Speaking of accents...
We have a lot of out of staters come through here since the place we rent is for sale. Today this couple came from another state.
They were waiting for the real estate agent and my husband and I were outside (to avoid the whole process as it has nothing to do with us).
We exchanged pleasantries. The woman asks me if I like it in VT? Where am I from?
I said NY.
The guys says, "Oh yeah? Where?"
I pause...then I say, Long Island.
The guys says Yeah?
The woman says "I could tell." (No you can't I don't have a Long Island accent.) I am not Fran Dreisher...(lol).

My husband introduced himself and they had no idea what he said (he's English but has a NY accent mixed in!).

Accents are fun!
We swear the real estate agents are 'scared of us' because we are from NY...straight out of Suffolk County, yo..What a joke..

Fran Drescher has a Queens accent, not LI. (Despite the fact that geographically Queens is on LI) LI has more than one accent -- I grew up on the south shore and my ss friends and I speak differently than my north shore husband and his ns friends. My children are born and raised NS, and they laugh at the way I pronounce some words!

I'm in VT now, and we stopped for breakfast the other morning. My husband asked the waitress for coffee -- she heard 'CAWfee' and started repeating the way he said it LOL I decided to ask for tea!

I've learned that W Lebanon NH is pronounced LebaNIN and that Don is pronounced Dahn, while Dawn is Don. AAACK!

[GypsySoul22]

Yes, we walk around saying the Lebanon the right way all the time...and we joke about it in our house (DH & I).

Yeah, I know, Fran is from Queens...I was just making the point that not everyone TAWKS like this from lower NY. And even if we do have an accent, so what? It doesn't mean we are going to go Joe Pesci on them.

I don't walk around assuming everyone is a-goin' huntin', shootin' and fishin' or hanging around all granola...(peace man!) because they live in Vermont.

You guys should not be ashamed of coming from NY or speaking 'differently.'

Let's not have an inferiority complex. There's nothing wrong with not being a native of a state. Even the locals came from MA, Maine, or NY or somewhere else once upon a time.(or their families did). If you meet up with small minded people who judge you exclusively based on your accent then why would you want to deal with them?