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I’m from Delaware, and currently live in Baltimore. I’m not a native to either region, though. Black Baltimoreans speak with an accent like nowhere else. There is no black accent in media or real life that I’ve heard that comes anywhere close to Snoop from The Wire. Not NYC, not LA, not Atlanta and certainly not Philadelphia. Are there similarities elsewhere between the cultures? Of course. That’s a given due to the proximity. Baltimore club music used to be played heavily in Philadelphia (the Wu Tang dance), Street bikes are everywhere in both cities, and the Philly beard has basically taken over all of black America, to say nothing of Baltimore.
But the black Baltimore accent is one of the most unique things I’ve ever heard, and isn’t duplicated anywhere. Back in the days of Roc A Fella, Beanie Siegel, the Young Gunz and Freeway could play off of Jay Z and Memphis Bleek, without their accents clashing. Philly has a unique accent, but it can definitely sound NYC in many phrases. Baltimore accents never do, which is why there’s probably never been a big time rapper from here. Plenty of R & B singers, but never a big time rapper. The cadence is too unique, which makes me wonder if the industry pushed back against it.
Exactly....ask anyone in the real world (outside CD) and nobody will say that the black Baltimore and Philly accents are similar. I am a white person from Maryland, so I guess I qualify as an "outsider" and the black Baltimore and Philly accents sound nothing a like. The Baltimore accent is very unique (not in a bad way, there is just no other like it, as you point out) and it is much more southern sounding than the Philly accent.
Actually if you read the confusing article about New York City English, it says that New York and Philadelphia used to have more similarities (which makes sense historically) but began to separate in the 1800s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_English
That is just one theory, I have also read somewhere that the New York accent is heavily affected by the large Irish population that moved into the area in the 1800s (which explains some similarities with Boston).
My own theory, based on history, is that so many people moved into New York from New England that it gradually changed the New York accent. New York was "the West" to New Englanders from the 1600s to 1800s, the place you went to get away from your family and start a new life, the way that Ohio was the west to Pennsylvanians or Kentucky was the west to Virginians.
What I cannot figure out is why there are quite a few similarities between Maryland and Pennsylvania. Yes, I get that they are right next to each other and there is going to be some cross border trade going on. But I am not aware there is much cross border migration between the two historically, at least among the white population.
The white populations are very different. I have been in rural Maryland and rural Pennsylvania and they are completely different. White rural areas in Maryland are much more characteristically southern. You will hear much deeper southern accents, whereas in PA, you here more Amish-sounding accents in rural areas or even Midwest sounding when you get into rural, northern PA. Western PA is were you may get more of a hint of a southern twang, but it is nowhere near the type of southern accent you will hear in southern MD or the eastern shore (or even western MD).
They are also historically/culturally different. You will find many more "rural" Italian Americans and even Polish Americans (I am polish American), and some other immigrant groups in PA (as well as NY/NJ), which is why (prior to this past election), there were many "rural white" democratic voting blocs in PA (and NY/NJ). If you go to rural parts of Maryland, you will not find Italians, Poles, Irish, etc... it is only White Americans and the rural white areas are completely conservative/republican/red. Culturally, MD and PA are very different.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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Originally Posted by personone
The white populations are very different. I have been in rural Maryland and rural Pennsylvania and they are completely different. White rural areas in Maryland are much more characteristically southern. You will hear much deeper southern accents, whereas in PA, you here more Amish-sounding accents in rural areas or even Midwest sounding when you get into rural, northern PA. Western PA is were you may get more of a hint of a southern twang, but it is nowhere near the type of southern accent you will hear in southern MD or the eastern shore (or even western MD).
They are also historically/culturally different. You will find many more "rural" Italian Americans and even Polish Americans (I am polish American), and some other immigrant groups in PA (as well as NY/NJ), which is why (prior to this past election), there were many "rural white" democratic voting blocs in PA (and NY/NJ). If you go to rural parts of Maryland, you will not find Italians, Poles, Irish, etc... it is only White Americans and the rural white areas are completely conservative/republican/red. Culturally, MD and PA are very different.
Funny, my personal experience has been quite the opposite. I found rural Maryland to be very similar to rural PA and my own home region of NY, but extremely different from where I had lived in both rural Louisiana and rural Tennessee.
That's nothing said of the visuals either. Western Maryland could be pulled right out of the northeast, trees, mountains and all.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Originally Posted by CookieSkoon
Funny, my personal experience has been quite the opposite. I found rural Maryland to be very similar to rural PA and my own home region of NY, but extremely different from where I had lived in both rural Louisiana and rural Tennessee.
That's nothing said of the visuals either. Western Maryland could be pulled right out of the northeast, trees, mountains and all.
The way some of these posters are describing it, rural Maryland is nothing short of Alabama, and rural PA is an entirely different universe. Ridiculous assessment if you ask me.
Rural/ white MD is right about what the rest of the state is, mid-Atlantic.
The white populations are very different. I have been in rural Maryland and rural Pennsylvania and they are completely different. White rural areas in Maryland are much more characteristically southern. You will hear much deeper southern accents, whereas in PA, you here more Amish-sounding accents in rural areas or even Midwest sounding when you get into rural, northern PA. Western PA is were you may get more of a hint of a southern twang, but it is nowhere near the type of southern accent you will hear in southern MD or the eastern shore (or even western MD).
They are also historically/culturally different. You will find many more "rural" Italian Americans and even Polish Americans (I am polish American), and some other immigrant groups in PA (as well as NY/NJ), which is why (prior to this past election), there were many "rural white" democratic voting blocs in PA (and NY/NJ). If you go to rural parts of Maryland, you will not find Italians, Poles, Irish, etc... it is only White Americans and the rural white areas are completely conservative/republican/red. Culturally, MD and PA are very different.
You reminded me of a Maryland customer who moved to Queens, New York. I assumed he was from the Deep South because of his accent and I remembered being floored when he said he was from Maryland. His wife also had a southern accent but not as deep.
You reminded me of a Maryland customer who moved to Queens, New York. I assumed he was from the Deep South because of his accent and I remembered being floored when he said he was from Maryland. His wife also had a southern accent but not as deep.
Yeah, things get blurry around this part if the country. There was a guest the stayed at the hotel that I worked, and I asked him was part of the south his from, due to having a strong southern sounding accent....
You reminded me of a Maryland customer who moved to Queens, New York. I assumed he was from the Deep South because of his accent and I remembered being floored when he said he was from Maryland. His wife also had a southern accent but not as deep.
I met a Marylander from southern MD who had a southern accent when I took a amtrack ride from NY to NC.
Funny, my personal experience has been quite the opposite. I found rural Maryland to be very similar to rural PA and my own home region of NY, but extremely different from where I had lived in both rural Louisiana and rural Tennessee.
That's nothing said of the visuals either. Western Maryland could be pulled right out of the northeast, trees, mountains and all.
Yes, Maryland is a very interesting amalgamation/cross-section of cultural areas (I believe it has the nickname of "America in miniature" for that very reason). It makes complete sense that you'd link an area like rural northern Maryland, which was originally settled by Pennsylvanians, with Pennsylvania; southern rural Maryland/Eastern Shore is much more aligned demographically and historically with the South.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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Originally Posted by Duderino
southern rural Maryland/Eastern Shore is much more aligned demographically and historically with the South.
See, I don't disagree with that. Not at all.
What's been hard for me is calling the rest of the state southern. I just don't see it like the other posters evidently do, and every time I look into it, it makes even less sense to call it southern. I've got a cousin living in Baltimore now, so I've recently had even more of a connection to dive into.
What's been hard for me is calling the rest of the state southern. I just don't see it like the other posters evidently do, and every time I look into it, it makes even less sense to call it southern. I've got a cousin living in Baltimore now, so I've recently had even more of a connection to dive into.
But see, MD is such a small state, that if you take Southern MD, the eastern shore, and Western MD (which I guess you could say is more "Appalachian" than southern)...area wise that is 3/4 of the state that is definitely southern leaning (although in no way is it Alabama south/Deep South...I describe it as southern light). You are left with only the Baltimore-Washington corridor, which is best described as Mid-Atlantic because it is a hybrid. PG County and the large wealthy black county like that will not be found anywhere in the NE. It is similar to what you'd see in Atlanta. Many of the DMV suburbs are plain vanilla. They are not characteristically northern or southern. So to me, the state (my home state) is truly mid Atlantic, but much of the state is "southern light" if you have to choose between north and south.
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