Is the WV pandhandle any more southern than Ohio? (Parkersburg: restaurants, vs.)

[GottaHerdOn]

Originally Posted by CTMountaineer

I'm originally from Wheeling and worked in the NYC area for more than 15 years. They thought I had somewhat of a southern accent too. But, you have to understand, to a New Yorker or a Bostonian, someone from Philadelphia has a southern accent. It's all relative. In general, they think Pittsburgers are southern "hicks". Actually if you listen to one and take the accent out of the equation, they actually do use a more pure form of Appalachian speech in Pittsburgh. The yinzers are definitely Appalachian, but they are too dumb to realize it.

ha ha My boy friends family is from Butler County, PA just above Pittsburgh, his grandma moved to Parkersburg in the 90's though. She says yins all the time. I think its really interesting. It's like their version of the southern yall

[snorpus]

I've lived amongst the yinzers for over 40 years now. You're right, it's basically the Trans-Allegheny Appalachian accent, with a little less "Southern" and a bit more "Pennsylvania Dutch". Not surprising, really, considering the whole region was settled (mostly) by Scots-Irish fleeing the east coast.

I grew up less than 20 miles from the PA border, but never heard of a "gum band" till I moved to Pittsburgh.

[Silkdashocker]

Living here in the Charleston area. I see all kinds of different accents from people all over the Mountain State. In my company alone, we have employees in the 5 border states along with WV, so i get to hear a different version of the Central Appalachian accent every time i talk to somebody from one of our remote locations. It's very interesting how our employees in Cumberland, MD or Johnstown, PA have such a different accent from our employees down in Ashland, KY and Beckley, WV. Sometimes, i just want to put them on the phone with one another to see if they can even understand each other, haha.

As for myself. I really don't have a strong regional accent anymore, .....so i'm told.

[Two-Rivers]

I live around Parkersburg and can detect a more southern accent in folks from Charleston, only 70 miles south. So what is it about latitudes that changes the twang?

[vec101]

Originally Posted by Two-Rivers

I live around Parkersburg and can detect a more southern accent in folks from Charleston, only 70 miles south. So what is it about latitudes that changes the twang?

Interesting thought.
There is a MAJOR difference in the twang between Charleston/Kanawha and Boone or Logan counties.

Must stem from the days long before the major highways and areas of people developed their own accents.

[CTMountaineer]

Originally Posted by Silkdashocker

Living here in the Charleston area. I see all kinds of different accents from people all over the Mountain State. In my company alone, we have employees in the 5 border states along with WV, so i get to hear a different version of the Central Appalachian accent every time i talk to somebody from one of our remote locations. It's very interesting how our employees in Cumberland, MD or Johnstown, PA have such a different accent from our employees down in Ashland, KY and Beckley, WV. Sometimes, i just want to put them on the phone with one another to see if they can even understand each other, haha.

As for myself. I really don't have a strong regional accent anymore, .....so i'm told.

Silk, ... my ex is from Cedar Grove, and she fought for years to lose her southern Appalachian accent. For some reason she was embarassed by it. Personally, I don't think it matters one way or the other. We are a very mobile society in America. What I have found is that when one moves, he eventually takes on the accent of the place where he/she moved. When I go back to Wheeling they say I sound like a New Yorker (that pisses me off, but what can I say). In CT they now say I "don't have an accent", so I guess that means I talk like them now.

The Pittsburgh yinz is actually much more Appalachian than southern. It is more flexible than y'all. They have a singular, a plural, and a possessive version. It is yinz, yinzes, yinz', and yinzes'.

[GottaHerdOn]

Originally Posted by CTMountaineer

Silk, ... my ex is from Cedar Grove, and she fought for years to lose her southern Appalachian accent. For some reason she was embarassed by it. Personally, I don't think it matters one way or the other. We are a very mobile society in America. What I have found is that when one moves, he eventually takes on the accent of the place where he/she moved. When I go back to Wheeling they say I sound like a New Yorker (that pisses me off, but what can I say). In CT they now say I "don't have an accent", so I guess that means I talk like them now.

The Pittsburgh yinz is actually much more Appalachian than southern. It is more flexible than y'all. They have a singular, a plural, and a possessive version. It is yinz, yinzes, yinz', and yinzes'.

So I was talking to my friend the other day, and he made the comment that I'm picking up a Polish accent... ha ha I've also been told I've lost some of my native accent by moving to Huntington for college. ha ha I guess I'm just very impressionable with accents.

[tallydude]

The northern panhandle isn't more "southern" than Ohio. That area is basically the same. Even bordering Pennsylvania is in the same region.

As a Clarksburg native, I never really considered Clarksburg a southern city despite being located 45 miles from the Mason Dixon line. But Charleston and Huntington "feel" more southern to me.

[CTMountaineer]

Originally Posted by tallydude

The northern panhandle isn't more "southern" than Ohio. That area is basically the same. Even bordering Pennsylvania is in the same region.

As a Clarksburg native, I never really considered Clarksburg a southern city despite being located 45 miles from the Mason Dixon line. But Charleston and Huntington "feel" more southern to me.

The NP is definitely not southern. It is Appalachian, but not southern. It is basically Midwest Appalachian as is Eastern Ohio. As you move south in Ohio it becomes more Southern Appalachian just as does West Virginia.

Personally, I would also consider Pittsburgh to be basically Midwestern Appalachian but there is a slight PA Dutch influence as someone mentioned before, and of course Squirrel Hill Yidish, which is vastly different from everything else.

[GottaHerdOn]

My friend told me about her ex bf who used to get made fun of by people in Pittsburgh for being from WV. I found that quite humorous, considering how integrated north central WV and the entire northern panhandle are with Pittsburgh.