the California accent (San Francisco, Sacramento, Oakland: middle-class, transfer, neighborhoods)

[dweej]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

I don't think that's a CA thing as I've heard it on the East Coast as well. Not meant as a sexist statement but it's almost always women who do it. Someone told me once it was due to insecurity. The person is not really confident and is subconsciously looking for affirmation.

Perhaps I've just met more insecure women here than I ever knew in Texas or Michigan, then

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by rah

I'm a native San Franciscan, who's lived in SF nearly all my life...i've been told that i have a "east coast" accent by a few people, as have some of my SF native friends, (I was raised by a SF native father, and an east coast native mother..Maryland to be exact), i've also been told i have a "NYC accent"...i'm guessing those who accused me of this have never been to NYC, but i can see how the pronunciation of some words by some SF and Bay Area natives might confuse other people...particularly on pronunciation of such words as "dark," "park," "start" etc...basically short words with an "A" followed by a consonant get pronounced as if there's also an "o" next to the "a" ...as in "park" can sound a bit more like "poark" sometimes. From research i've done, this is likely influence left over from the midwestern and mid-atlantic transplants that heavily populated the Bay Area in the 1800's through the mid 1900's.

At the same time, i sometimes catch my self pronouncing things with a bit of a "drawl" that's reminiscent of southern accents, i guess that's the midwest twang/drawl BayAreaHillbilly is talking about, where vowels sometimes get drawn out. Basically as far as the urban centers of the Bay Area (and possibly Nor Cal as a whole) it's a pidgin "accent" that mostly sounds like standard American English, of the type that newscasters speak, but upon closer listening has hints of southern, Midwestern and eastern speech patterns/inflections/pronunciations, etc. in there too (i could swear that SF natives tend to speak fast/mumble/string words together a bit more than normal too). To make things even more confusing, some of my best friends growing up were 2nd generation Salvadorans and Mexicans, and therefore some of my speech patterns and pronunciation will occasionally sound like "cholo speak" for lack of a better term.

With the bolded part, I agree. I still get accused of this all the time. People in SD tell me that I ramble and need to breathe more when I speak but for me it's natural. Run-on sentences are usually only noticeable when one writes. Only in the Bay Area can you hear it when one is speaking lol.

I've been having these discussions with my girlfriend recently. She's from LA and comments on my "slight accent" all the time. It started when we were talking about Mountain Dew for some reason. She made a remark on how I say it as "MOUNtain dew" not "mountain DEW" as she says it. She also noticed that I do not pronounce caught and cot the same way. She also remarks on how she can hear the short 'o' sound when I say everybody. I don't say everybuddy like most people around here do. She also is amused at the way I say gull. With her that vowels sounds more like the vowel in pull.

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

I don't think that's a CA thing as I've heard it on the East Coast as well.

Canadians do that as well.

[CAVA1990]

Canadians do that as well?

[Fontucky]

There must be an echo in here?

[DewDropInn]

Originally Posted by LateNight

I don't think the California accent is an accent so much as an affectation. That could be interchangeable, but I think the Cali sound is often a bi-product of a particular attitude, rather than a more natural development, such as a Brooklynese or Southern accent.

Affectation?

My Orange County, Okie, Beach Cities, San Berdu, sounds like Kevin Costner, Hobie surf board, clay-wheel skateboard, E-Ticket accent is an "affectation"?


Wow! Makes me kind of proud!

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by DewDropInn

Affectation?

My Orange County, Okie, Beach Cities, San Berdu, sounds like Kevin Costner, Hobie surf board, clay-wheel skateboard, E-Ticket accent is an "affectation"

You sound my age. Anyone much younger is "going" (another CA affectation) huh?

[mattsterish]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

Here is an intersting wikipedia article on the subject:

California English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

wiki to the rescue!

[Snort]

Some Northern Californians refer to Sacramento, the state capital, as "Sac", "Sacto", "Sactown", "Sacra" (by the Chicano community), and various other nicknames.

And here I was calling it "Excremento" all this time.

[Shamrock47]

Originally Posted by Twinkle Toes

LOL! I've honestly never heard anybody use "hella", except for Gwen Steffani in her song called "Hella Good".

"Hella" is quite common in NorCal and peaks somewhere in the Sonoma Valley! lol! It's not uncommon for someone to say "YO BRA, THAT WAS HELLA NICE DUDE" when refering to something that they really like.