What does a Montana accent sound like? (Billings, Great Falls: theatre, high school)

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Originally Posted by Threerun

Why would people waiting for you to finish speaking and then reply in a courteous manner bother you?

Unfortunately the people I work with in Helena don't do that. They will cut you off and overrun your words in a heartbeat. It's very disrespectful and I do not care for folks who do that. It tells me they have no manners or any respect for others.

It doesn't bother me as in upsetting me, it bothers me because I'm in a faster "corporate" city mode at the moment and they are in a slower Montana mode.

It's not the politeness and thoughtfullness that get to me, I just want to hurry up and get to the point, get business done and move on to the next thing.
Politely and thoughtfully, of course!
Just a little faster.

And,,,,I've learned that if people are cutting you off and interrupting you all the time, it's probably because you talk to much.....

(I don't mean you personally BTW, so don't get upset.)

[sspikaroo]

LOL. I understand about the impatience that you mentioned, pdxMIKEpdx. I was born and raised on a farm in eastern MT, then moved into the 8 to 5 workaday world (still in Montana). Some of the difference in the speaking style you mentioned is not so much between Montana and elsewhere, but between the rural (ie farmers and ranchers) vs 8 to 5, working for an employer, style. Many of the older farmers you talk to aren't in any hurry to get anywhere or make their point, heh heh. I suppose I'm still somewhat that way, but not as much. As for saying "warsh" I started doing it when I wanted to sound "folksy", then it became something of a habit.

[jasper12]

Creek, or crick? I grew up in Southern Utah, it is a "crick".

[sspikaroo]

Definitely "crick".

[ElkHunter]

We have "Cricks" around here that we fish in. On TV, they have "Creeks".

Yes, we warsh the car, but we hang out the wash on the clothesline.

[Montguy]

Originally Posted by callmemaybe

That's what their accent is like a mix of Southern and Canadian then.

I could definitely agree that a Southern dialect has had some influence on ours in the Northern Rockies, but what is this nonsense about a Canadian accent component? Montanans might sound very similar to Albertans and British Columbians (we do border both provinces after all), but I'm not getting why anyone would consider our accents "Canadian" (how often, for example, do western Americans get mistaken for Canadians when abroad?)

Montanans have a pretty generic, fairly neutral accent that is commonly considered a "Western accent." I personally notice very few distinctions in the dialects of people I've met from largely every other western state/region--the "Western accent" characterization makes much, much more sense to me.

[kristinelopez]

Originally Posted by Ark90

In western movies, it's always portrayed as sounding pretty Southern/country, which always confused me as a kid. But everyone I've actually met from the West (Montana, Wyoming) sounded nothing like that. I couldn't tell the difference between a Montana accent or a Midwestern accent.

Yes I heard that too, movies are sometime realistic and sometime unrealistic in very funny way like cartoons. Some people has tendencies to believe in what ever they saw in movies, such thinking can really drive them to wrong way.

[HipstersGiveMeaHeadache]

I always have people tell me I have a very Northern accent (I'm assuming that means semi-Canadian). I don't say "warsh" and have not heard anyone say that since I was a kid (I think most of those people passed away). I do say root and roof with some of the sound you might hear in the word "rough." I don't hear much of a Southern accent anywhere, although I do hear a goofy country "cowboy" accent by some rural people, in some rural communities, but I think they've made a conscious decision to talk like that. We can say creek or crick and coyote or coyotee interchangeably.

[Reziac]

So do y'all say KI-ote or ki-YOH-tee?

I grew up in MT saying it the first way, but acquired the second in CA. (The second is actually more correct, being closer to the original word, coyotl.)

[mtboy]

I grew up here as well, and I say Ki-ote......... you don't say REE MOH TEE for remote do you?

Ha ha.... i believe you are correct though that the prononciation is ki yoh tee. It just seems off to me