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Yeah, I agree with KodeBlue with this. The "yew" and "tew" sound in Baltimore doesn't sound like anywhere in the South that I've ever been. I've been most exposed to the Georgia/South Carolina accents, and North Carolina to a lesser degree. Haven't spent much time in Virginia other than Virginia Beach and Kings Dominion. Been around many other southerners from all over in the military. None of them had that pronunciation that Baltimore has. I haven't heard that Baltimore pronunciation anywhere else, North or South. It sounds like something from Britain.
I've been to St. Louis twice, for short work-related trips. Both times I ate at that soul food spot that's featured on Oprah. I was mainly around other Black Americans, so I can't speak on the White accent out there. To my ears, the St. Louis accent sounded far more southern than the Baltimore accent. It's not the exact same as the southeastern Black accent since they pronounce those "r" words differently in St. Louis (here, there, etc.), but it still sounded southern to me. They got a lot of nice looking ladies out there though.
Yeah, I agree with KodeBlue with this. The "yew" and "tew" sound in Baltimore doesn't sound like anywhere in the South that I've ever been. I've been most exposed to the Georgia/South Carolina accents, and North Carolina to a lesser degree. Haven't spent much time in Virginia other than Virginia Beach and Kings Dominion. Been around many other southerners from all over in the military. None of them had that pronunciation that Baltimore has. I haven't heard that Baltimore pronunciation anywhere else, North or South. It sounds like something from Britain.
I've been to St. Louis twice, for short work-related trips. Both times I ate at that soul food spot that's featured on Oprah. I was mainly around other Black Americans, so I can't speak on the White accent out there. To my ears, the St. Louis accent sounded far more southern than the Baltimore accent. It's not the exact same as the southeastern Black accent since they pronounce those "r" words differently in St. Louis (here, there, etc.), but it still sounded southern to me. They got a lot of nice looking ladies out there though.
All you people need to wake up and realize Kansas City and Cincinnati blacks and Chicago blacks sound alike. As far as the white accent goes, this city isn't Southern.
Yeah, I agree with KodeBlue with this. The "yew" and "tew" sound in Baltimore doesn't sound like anywhere in the South that I've ever been. I've been most exposed to the Georgia/South Carolina accents, and North Carolina to a lesser degree. Haven't spent much time in Virginia other than Virginia Beach and Kings Dominion. Been around many other southerners from all over in the military. None of them had that pronunciation that Baltimore has. I haven't heard that Baltimore pronunciation anywhere else, North or South. It sounds like something from Britain.
I've been to St. Louis twice, for short work-related trips. Both times I ate at that soul food spot that's featured on Oprah. I was mainly around other Black Americans, so I can't speak on the White accent out there. To my ears, the St. Louis accent sounded far more southern than the Baltimore accent. It's not the exact same as the southeastern Black accent since they pronounce those "r" words differently in St. Louis (here, there, etc.), but it still sounded southern to me. They got a lot of nice looking ladies out there though.
Fronting of the u is absolutely a southern characteristic. However, Baltimore is the one that takes it the furthest. It actually goes beyond U fronting and inserts a Yod consonant before the u sound. You're right it sounds British but specifically Baltimore English comes from the West Country just like Southern dialects. Northern US dialects with their backed pronunciations of O and U originate from the Eastern region of England where those vowels are pronounced that way.
Even without u fronting, the Baltimore black accent takes on a Southern Sound and I listed the examples of how. Especially when compared to the white Baltimore accent. People chose to ignore them however. That is not my problem.
Wouldn't Baltimore's location on the I-95 corridor make it decisively less Southern? It is only 3 hours away from what many C-D posters would consider to be the definition of "northern."
This is kind of getting tired. People from St. Louis are getting overly defensive about the Southern tag and Northerners trying to peg any city with a different flavor as "country" or "Southern" or claiming every Black person in St. Louis has a Southern accent, not true at ALL. It is getting kind of ridiculous. The St. Louis "Southerness" debate is essentially beating on a dead horse, we already know what's going to happen and who is going to say what.
What I will say is that I feel that Nelly's "Country Grammar" has really made people overly focus on the weird local quirks of the St. Louis African-American accent. People dont even notice I have an accent and completely understand what I'm saying until I tell them I'm from St. Louis, then they start telling me how "country" I am and oh man " you talk like Nelly or Chingy" its so freaking annoying. Black people from St. Louis are not any more country or out of the loop as black folks in most major metropolitan areas. You can tell when Nelly does interviews, he talks like a regular person, but then he starts putting on this over the type accent, it so freaking stupid.
I also agree with what somebody else said about "Southern" cities. In 2016, is it really something to be ashamed of to be from the South? If somebody was from Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, or Miami, or better yet Washington D.C. I would not assume they were country or out of the loop, even if they did have an accent. These cities have made huge strides and have really changed what it means to be from the South. I think a better judge of sophistication in 2016 is really educational attainment, traveled experience, professional experience, and other intangibles that really cant be measured strictly from where somebody is from. There are people who were born and bred in the Mississippi Delta that speak better English, have more education, been more places, and could be considered less "country" than somebody that was born and bred in NYC, but has never left their borough, which there is a lot of that.
I'm originally from DC don't put us in with the other cities you named DC is a totally difference place and yes, ATL, Dallas, and Houston are pretty damn country. Miami isn't out of the loop but it's a totally different place than DC.
Yes in fact I'd argue that St. Louis has more more NORTHERN influence than Baltimore has Southern.
Chicago and the Great Lakes don't need to be attached to New England to be Northern. We have the ethnic groups, weather, and accents to do that for us.
Heck, Chicago's accent has no Midland influence. NYC even has some to a tiny extent. Chicago can look to our proximity to Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota to say we are part of the North. We can look at our large Polish population and our heavily European, non-Anglo influence. We have more influence on St. Louis than New York has on Baltimore.
Disagree. New York and Baltimore are very connected....
Regardless of where the term came from, Chicago is still every bit as Northern as New York. This is a circular argument that goes nowhere. And regardless, New York didn't influence Baltimore, so I see little reason as to why we're having the argument over it as to why Baltimore is more Northern than St. Louis. In terms of its white population, Chicago is more Northern than Philadelphia, where Baltimore draws the majority of its Northeast influence.
Wrong. Most black people from Chicago sound southern. I've never met a native black New Yorker that's sounds southern, AT ALL. That alone make NYC and Boston more "northern" than Chicago.
And St. Louis is like I don't know...NEXT TO a non-Southern state? Baltimore is 40 minutes, St. Louis is 1?
St. Louis is in a non-Southern state. So is Baltimore. But yes, St. Louis is more connected to Illinois than Baltimore is to Pennsylvania.
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