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Old 07-07-2010, 02:00 AM
 
Location: Kentucky
307 posts, read 797,985 times
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I've seen several threads on regional vocabularies, but what about pronunciations or words that are so changed by dialect that they become different words? Hopefully this isn't too close to the other threads (or hopefully I didn't miss a thread that's the same), just thought it was a different twist. I figure local phrases and sayings aren't the same as specific pronunciation. I'm looking for stuff like "New Joisey/New Yawk" (although I realize those are mostly just exaggerated).

Some examples I've heard, both at home in Southeast Missouri, and at my new hometown of New Orleans:

Actual Word - How Your Region Says It

Lack - Like; When I was still working for Dad on the farm, he'd call me over the radio and ask "How much you like being done?" meaning "How much do you have left." I'm assuming that's just a huge stretch of a word due to the dialect in our area. Very much a southern twang.

Oil/Boil - Erl/Berl; started hearing this one in New Orleans. Cracks me up. We recently had a crawfish berl at work.

Oil (again) - I hear several folks in SEMO pronounce it kind of in between "all" and "ull". Kind of odd.

Ask - Axe; Let me axe you a question. From NOLA.

A side note:

AD-dress, or uh-DRESS?
How do you say "Roof"?
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Old 07-07-2010, 02:07 AM
 
Location: New Orleans, United States
4,230 posts, read 10,434,345 times
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//www.city-data.com/forum/new-o...l#post14928898

I say Ad-dress and ruhf
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Old 07-07-2010, 09:29 AM
 
Location: Jersey City
7,048 posts, read 19,200,955 times
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ah-DRESS
roof like the first syllable of the name Rufus.
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Old 07-07-2010, 10:18 AM
 
3,643 posts, read 10,688,315 times
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A lot of older people and some young people from really small towns say "warsh" for "wash" It's pretty common here in TN, my dad is from OK and he also says this. It seems to be common throughout this part of the South & some of the Midwest.

One thing I noticed that I pronounce differently from everyone around here (which is crazy because I've lived here my whole life) is Halloween. Almost everyone here says it with the long "a" sound. I've always said it like "Holloween"

I tend to pronounce things both ways. I say ad-dress and ah-dress. I think I tend to switch up my accent randomly. I say "rOOf" though.
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Old 07-07-2010, 11:06 AM
 
Location: Southern Minnesota
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It's "ruhf."

ad-DRESS if you are addressing something, AD-dress if you are telling where you live.
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Old 07-07-2010, 12:32 PM
 
Location: Atlanta
492 posts, read 1,021,103 times
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Oil - Oy-yoh or Aw-yuh or Awl or Aw

Milk - Merk (moreso the older folks/my grandmother)

Eyes - Ass or Ahzz (I use to get in trouble for this a lot as a kid; I would be like "my eyes (ass) hurt", and they would always be like "what you say?")

I say Ah-dress

Last edited by VA7cities; 07-07-2010 at 12:46 PM..
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Old 07-07-2010, 02:45 PM
 
Location: Arizona
1,034 posts, read 4,380,238 times
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In the farming communities in Northern California

Almond = Aamond

The reason...to harvest the almonds, you shake the "L" out of the trees. It took me a while to get used to, but I still catch myself saying aamond once in awhile.

I also hear pecan pronounced differently depending on where you are:

Pee-can or Pee-con
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Old 07-07-2010, 03:14 PM
 
Location: St Paul, MN - NJ's Gold Coast
5,251 posts, read 13,750,102 times
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My North Eastern New Jersey accent:


Uh-Dress
Roof (like tooth)

Log and dog doesn't rhyme. (I use an "aw" sound)
hotter and water doesn't rhyme. (hotter doesn't rhyme with daughter either)
Pong and long doesn't rhyme. (Pong doesn't rhyme with song, wrong, strong, etc)
Law, jaw, saw, etc doesn't rhyme with "Nah" (meaning no)-- Same concept for "chocolate" Choc doesn't rhyme with lock

I usually pronounce my R's at the end of the word except with Dolla(r)

I say Pee-Can (not Pee-con)
I say Car-mel (not Care-a-mel)
I say Salsa like the name Sal.



Almost everyone outside of the NYC area pronounce my sisters name Tara like Tear-A (Don't "tear" the paper, not "tear" meaning cry tears)--I pronounce it Ta-ra (like in Tap) same goes for "Sara" (like is Sap).

When I say Yeah, it's "Yeea" when most say Ya.
~
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Old 07-07-2010, 06:00 PM
 
Location: Up on the moon laughing down on you
18,495 posts, read 32,760,188 times
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In New Orleans I also heard:

Doe for door

and Po for poor
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Old 07-07-2010, 06:11 PM
 
Location: New Orleans, United States
4,230 posts, read 10,434,345 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HtownLove View Post
In New Orleans I also heard:

Doe for door

and Po for poor
They say those in Houston too, just without the accent.

It's more like Doh and Poh, and Houston you'll hear Doe and Poe every now and then.
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