Denver Accents? (Vail, Aguilar: best, accent, drive)

[Count David]

Originally Posted by Artemus

I would have swung towards "Denverite," myself, but I'm a Castle Rockian, and you city folk can talk any way you want!

All in good fun.

I like "Castle Rocker" better.

The native Coloradans I know sound like standard Americans, with a little hint of bored.

[cowboyxjon]

I don't think Denver has an accent, but one thing I noticed when I moved here is that a lot of people refer to shopping bags as "sacks." i.e., when buying only one or two items at King Soopers: "Do you want this in a sack?"

[Count David]

Originally Posted by cowboyxjon

I don't think Denver has an accent, but one thing I noticed when I moved here is that a lot of people refer to shopping bags as "sacks." i.e., when buying only one or two items at King Soopers: "Do you want this in a sack?"

lol I've never heard that here.

[ShayaMary]

If you pay attention to the way we say some words, you will here a faint accent, like we don't pronounce our T's in the middle of most words. (i.e. Mountains are mou'uns, Winter is win'ner, kittens are ki'ens, important is impor'ant, etc.)

[Hipchik]

Originally Posted by ShayaMary

If you pay attention to the way we say some words, you will here a faint accent, like we don't pronounce our T's in the middle of most words. (i.e. Mountains are mou'uns, Winter is win'ner, kittens are ki'ens, important is impor'ant, etc.)

Huh?
Where exactly do you live?
I've lived here for 25 years and have never heard anyone pronounce words that way except for one reporter on 9News who says "mowans" -- and he's not from here.

[BarryK123]

Originally Posted by ShayaMary

If you pay attention to the way we say some words, you will here a faint accent, like we don't pronounce our T's in the middle of most words. (i.e. Mountains are mou'uns, Winter is win'ner, kittens are ki'ens, important is impor'ant, etc.)

That's more of a Phila or S. Jersey accent.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by BarryK123

That's more of a Phila or S. Jersey accent.

Yes, also Pittsburgh. Out here, it seems just the opposite; some people really enunciate Ts and Ds in the middle of words.

[DenverBrian]

Having grown up in Kansas, I've heard of "Kansas flat mouth" - the tendency to make short A's very short, instead of the "Kahnsas" sound you hear more often in the east. "Ant" vs. "awnt" (for the word aunt) is another example.

Kansas flat mouth is very prevalent in Denver, though I'm unsure it's native or just because so many of us from the plains have settled here.

I also hear more and more people in Denver compressing the "ai" sound in words. "Vail" becomes "Vell," "jail" becomes "jell," and so on. Seems more prevalent among women/girls than among men/boys.

Some of the more interesting word pronunciations in Colorado:

--Especially in the city of Pueblo itself, it's "Pee-EBB-low"
--Buena Vista, Colorado is pronounced "BYOO-nah Vista"
--Raton Pass is pronounced "Rat-tone"
--Louisville, Colorado, is "Lewis-ville"

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by DenverBrian

Having grown up in Kansas, I've heard of "Kansas flat mouth" - the tendency to make short A's very short, instead of the "Kahnsas" sound you hear more often in the east. "Ant" vs. "awnt" (for the word aunt) is another example.

Kansas flat mouth is very prevalent in Denver, though I'm unsure it's native or just because so many of us from the plains have settled here.

I also hear more and more people in Denver compressing the "ai" sound in words. "Vail" becomes "Vell," "jail" becomes "jell," and so on. Seems more prevalent among women/girls than among men/boys.

Some of the more interesting word pronunciations in Colorado:

--Especially in the city of Pueblo itself, it's "Pee-EBB-low"
--Buena Vista, Colorado is pronounced "BYOO-nah Vista"
--Raton Pass is pronounced "Rat-tone"
--Louisville, Colorado, is "Lewis-ville"

I've never heard "Vell" for Vail or "jell" for jail, in ether sex.

Rat-tone is probably the appropriate Spanish pronunciation of the word.
Louisville, CO was named for Louis Nawatny, not King Louis of France.

[Hipchik]

Originally Posted by Katiana

I've never heard "Vell" for Vail or "jell" for jail, in ether sex.

Neither have I...

@ DenverBrian - here's a long thread regarding the pronunciation of places in Colorado: //www.city-data.com/forum/color...do-places.html