[Logs and Dogs]

OK.

Frankly most of the guys I run into in the NEK have basically a Maine accent, they like to think it is different, but it isn’t. The guys in Millinocket and Jackman areas in Maine sound like Canadians or from MN etc. The folks in Bar Harbor/Ellsworth area sound like the guys in the NEK………

That being said I could care less how people talk, say what you want how you want.

One of the funniest “accent” incidents I’ve been part of was in college, my friend Wayne was from the south shore of MA and at one of our first parties on campus a girl came up to him and was like? “You’re from Boston?.........can you say “Pahk the cah in Hahvard Yahd for me?” and Wayne just looked at her and goes “What ahh you friggin’ retahaded?” ……….years later I heard a comedian with a similar mock story and it cracked me up………

Most places with some French Canadian influence have some backwards sayings due to mixed languages………..for example “throw the baby down the stairs some toys”…….”next time you go through my yard you go around”……..”park the cars side by each”……….etc.

[Vermonr]

The Vermont accent is really hard to pinpoint. It's sort of a guttural thing, almost a little bit British in some ways as some people have mentioned here. I grew up in Brandon and people would put a heavy emphasis on the first syllable- HUN'in for hunting (not pronounced "hunning"- the "t" sort of disappears and becomes the syllable break). Vermonters also speak very slowly. I hated listening to people in Rochester- that terrible "aaayyypple" "plaaiyza" nasal accent and the fast manner of speech they all had was just murdering!

There are little differences too- my friend from southern NY would always tell us to get "on line" instead of "in line." I would be made fun of for saying "wicked," and I pronounce tomorrow as "to-more-oh" rather than "ta-mar-oh".

[kaw1972]

I grew up in southern, VT and have a very neutral voice. It is obvious when I'm in areas with very distinct regional accents--say Long Island, NY-- that I'm not a native, however almost no one can peg me as being from VT originally.

There are a few distinctly "Vermont" accents and expressions though. But I think many people share my somewhat neutral inflection.

[iamguiseppi]

One thing I remember, growing up in Hartford Village was the dropping of the g on the end of words so that we would (I still do) say goin' out to do the milkin' or hayin'. We said ayyup and used ah for ar in words such as stahted the caa which was pahked in the doahyahd!

[Targo]

I know I can sound a lot differently when I'm ordering dinner at A Single Pebble or when I'm a guest having 4:00 tea in a 2 million dollar vacation home then I do when I'm talking about milk prices or what the hell is up with the PTO on our tractor with some of my neighbors.

Easier to roll in VT if you can bat for both teams……...

[in_newengland]

I only stop by the VT forum once in a while. My late mother's parents left the NEK a long long time ago but sometimes Vermont feels like a home away from home. One of those reasons is the way they talk. It sounds normal.

Those of us who are the descendants of the ones who left are probably sissies for living here in MA where it never even gets cold. ??? But I would listen to the stories of the old folk and I knew I never wanted to be there in winter.

My family last lived in the Richford area and I will go back and visit in summer. Two summers ago I was in Hartford -- (I do genealogy and some ancestors were among the first settlers there) and it felt so good to hear everybody talking right! )

We, from the CT Valley of MA, do not speak like Bostonians or eastern MA people, we speak more like Vermonters. Different pronunciations that I notice are, my mother said "serrup" instead of syrup, she said "puff" instead of comforter, she said "melk" instead of milk. We don't talk at a fast clip like the Bawston people, so fast you can't relax. That's all I can think of right now, but BOY did my mother know how to deal with winter!!!!!!! (and we always had sugar on snow.)

[DauntlessDan]

Have lived in southwestern VT, Windsor area and NEK. Southwestern VT where wife and I are from has its own distinct twang. Some of the old timers there pronounce words differently. "Fire" is pronounced "Foyer", "Myers" (as in Ft Myers) is pronounced "Moyers". "Buy" is pronounced "Boy". People drag out their "O"s somewhat too. "Robin" is spoken "Rooobin". I've noticed the Mass/NH accent more on the other side of the VT spine in areas like Windsor and NEK. Although not as heavy. A lot of "Ayups" when I was little with the older generation but I don't hear it nearly as much when I visit these days. I think the thing with Burlington and the surrounding areas is that it is the melting pot of VT and there are so many people there from all over, mostly educated (college) younger people and transplants that are probably taught NOT to speak the old VT dialects/vernaculars.

[tkx7]

massachusetts is really the only new england state with the "boston" accent- Maine has their own version of a new england accent but only in downeast or backwoods kind of areas. Rhode island is like a proper version of the boston accent. Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire have no real accents unless you are from somewhere else

[professeurpablo]

I beg to differ with the previous post! The Rhode Island accent is quite distinctive and has some elements of New York area accents in addition to some of the same tendencies Bostonians have. I lived in Connecticut during college, and there is definitely an accent there. It can be tough to pinpoint, but I can usually pick out people from the Nutmeg State when they say a few particular words, such as the name of their state capital or a few other cities and towns. Interesting thread!

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by tkx7

massachusetts is really the only new england state with the "boston" accent- Maine has their own version of a new england accent but only in downeast or backwoods kind of areas. Rhode island is like a proper version of the boston accent. Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire have no real accents unless you are from somewhere else

Only the eastern part of MA has that Boston accent. The rest of us speak just about the same as Vermonters.

Southern NH certainly has an accent. I don't know about the rest of NH but in the southern part they do not pronounce the letter "r". Like a Boston accent.

CT has somewhat a New Yorker accent toward the SW and when you get east of the river, you get more of a Boston or RI type of accent.