Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: 41magsnub on February 08, 2012, 11:49:17 AM
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We are a Montana company. Our phone trainer is a Virginia girl. We just deployed a new phone system for a customer and they asked her to do the various voice recording work. One of the options in an auto attendant is "if you have a draft problem dial X". However, her accent makes it sound just like "if you have a trash problem". The customer is freaking out right now.
She is heading back over to rerecord and is practicing pronunciation. =D
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What part of Virginia?
Northern VA is very different than Central VA is very different than SW VA.
I've lived in all three (currently live in NoVA, married a girl from SWVA, much of her family is in Central VA).
Chris
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I actually don't know.
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My wife works at a company here in AL where a lot of the guys and the customers have very thick accents. Often she can't understand them, and has to have her supervisor translate.
One customer came in and said, "I have some all in my truck." My wife asked him to repeat what he'd just said, but still couldn't understand. She called her supervisor, and even she couldn't understand. Finally they figured out that he was saying he had "oil" in his truck.
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he was saying he had "oil" in his truck.
Not to be confused with "earl". ;)
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What part of Virginia?
Northern VA is very different than Central VA is very different than SW VA.
I've lived in all three (currently live in NoVA, married a girl from SWVA, much of her family is in Central VA).
Chris
No Va is almost nothing.
My momma and her family is from richmond, and have what I like to call the richmond redneck.
:lol:
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No Va is almost nothing.
No, it's isn't nothing, just different than the rest of VA. The problem is finding a native NoVA resident in order to hear the accent.
My momma and her family is from richmond, and have what I like to call the richmond redneck.
:lol:
Do they say "warsh" and doah (that's door)? My wife's family does.
Even better, when she's been on the phone with them, she picks up some of the words. I can always tell when she's been talking to her aunt. :D
Chris
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First Mrs. was from Massachusetts, when I moved her to Colorado, couple of guys in my unit made fun of her accent, until she drank them under the table. :laugh:
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My wife is often asked what country she's from.
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No, it's isn't nothing, just different than the rest of VA. The problem is finding a native NoVA resident in order to hear the accent.
Do they say "warsh" and doah (that's door)? My wife's family does.
Even better, when she's been on the phone with them, she picks up some of the words. I can always tell when she's been talking to her aunt. :D
Chris
My dad is from NoVa.
My family doesn't do "warsh" or "doah". Ours is closer to "proper, southern". We have the correct enication and don't add or remove letters, just a slight slur and slower.
The scary thing about me, is my paternal family is Swedish from CT and my grandmother was from Bosten. Every so often, I slip into that combo of midwest, yankee, boston. My mom spent half a day making fun of me cause I couldn't say "dog" right.
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My wife works at a company here in AL where a lot of the guys and the customers have very thick accents. Often she can't understand them, and has to have her supervisor translate.
One customer came in and said, "I have some all in my truck." My wife asked him to repeat what he'd just said, but still couldn't understand. She called her supervisor, and even she couldn't understand. Finally they figured out that he was saying he had "oil" in his truck.
I was born here and I still sometimes have trouble with accents, usually out-of-state Southern accents.
I have had/used different accents. I was born in N. GA and early VHS tapes from when I was 4 or 5 have me with a very broad Georgia accent. When my parents were at the school here in SC I was surrounded by Yankees and my accent moderated out. Then in SA I would change my accent and inflection but mostly only when I would go out so I did not stick out like a sore thumb when I opened my mouth. (My two younger sisters never really learned Afrikaans but they would speak rough English with a heavy Afrikaans accent when they were with their friends. )
Now that I am back here and mostly re-naturalized I've been told I have either a mild rhotic Carolina Accent or none.
I love reading about the different accents and dialects in the US. This is a quick primer on rhotic vs non-rhotic accents in the US, which is explains some of the differences even in Southern English, even in the same state.
Always helps when you include the link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents
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My parents were born and raised in NE Arkansas. They moved to Seattle at the outset of the Korean War for family reasons. My Dad started working at Boeing in 1950, and he still remembers that back then, people in Seattle thought you were stupid if you had a Southern accent. Both of my parents lost the accent pretty quickly.
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My parents were born and raised in NE Arkansas. They moved to Seattle at the outset of the Korean War for family reasons. My Dad started working at Boeing in 1950, and he still remembers that back then, people in Seattle thought you were stupid if you had a Southern accent. Both of my parents lost the accent pretty quickly.
A southern accent (or Texas accent, they are similar but different) makes it easy for people to underestimate you. That can be useful.
I was raised just north of Houston, and I don't *think* had had much of accent until I went to Texas A&M and was around all those folks from Central and West Texas for a few years, and I picked it up from them on top of whatever East Texas accent I had already. And it stuck.
I've been living in Minnesota for 20 years and I still talk like a character from King of the Hill.
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My dad is from NoVa.
My family doesn't do "warsh" or "doah". Ours is closer to "proper, southern" prop-uhrr, suth-arn FIFY. We have the correct enication and don't add or remove letters, just a slight slur and slower.
The scary thing about me, is my paternal family is Swedish from CT and my grandmother was from Bosten. Every so often, I slip into that combo of midwest, yankee, boston. My mom spent half a day making fun of me cause I couldn't say "dog" dough-agg again, FIFY right.
Please complete the following recitation of part of the alphabet: ell, ___, enn, oh, pee, cue, ___ . If it comes out as emm-eh and arr-ah you are very Richmond. Now, when you are finished with the automobile for the day, what do you do with it and where do you do that? We'll see either Bahs-tun or Connecticutt River Valley yankee. Now if it turns out the family was, as I actually suspect, from Southie then it's going to be altogether different again.
stay safe.
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Momma's family is richmond, skid.
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Best practice is to emultate effected python British English pronouncation for voicemail prompts
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In a system we used to sell we could pick different default system prompts. My favorite was the British lady who called the # key "hash". I know it is the proper name, but it means something else around here. At least she wasn't talking about cigarettes!
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Best practice is to emultate effected python British English pronouncation for voicemail prompts
The screechy "pepperpots" voice?
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My accent actually mellowed out pretty quick, to the point people don't generally pick up that I'm not from around here.
The nj accent generally only comes out when I get I talk fast, in which case most people around here don't understand me anyway. Or when I get....excited.
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TV has gone a long way toward killing regional dialects, for better or worse. To me, my wife, a local girl, doesn't have much accent; just a funky vocabulary. But not a funky has her Mom had. But she went to Texas for training on new lab equipment & spent most of her time in the break room so everybody could listen to her talk. Now one county over...
Had a gorgeous little blond where I worked: "Cud you hep me hode him still?" Could barely keep a staright face.
How 'bout Ward & Jeff Burton, Nascar racing brothers? Woud has a mouthful of marbles!
Bob
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I still talk like a character from King of the Hill.
They don't have accents ???
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My parents were born and raised in NE Arkansas. They moved to Seattle at the outset of the Korean War for family reasons. My Dad started working at Boeing in 1950, and he still remembers that back then, people in Seattle thought you were stupid if you had a Southern accent. Both of my parents lost the accent pretty quickly.
I'm not sure about Seattle, but I think plenty of people think that way.
My mother's family lives mainly in Southern Missouri. It's amazing how the Midwestern accent in the middle of the state (where I grew up) changes to a Southern accent just a couple of hundred miles further south in the same state.
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They don't have accents ???
I tell you what.
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My mother's family lives mainly in Southern Missouri. It's amazing how the Midwestern accent in the middle of the state (where I grew up) changes to a Southern accent just a couple of hundred miles further south in the same state.
You got that right. Ever been to Saaaakston? Southern Missouri/Illinois/Indiana and Western Ky....ain't no big diff-rance tween em.
"I have some all in my truck."
I didn't even have to think bout that one. Probly a quart shy though.
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When I moved from S.E. Virginia to Austin, Tx., I got the occasional "You're from the South, aren't you?" Don't hear it in ABQ.
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One customer came in and said, "I have some all in my truck." My wife asked him to repeat what he'd just said, but still couldn't understand. She called her supervisor, and even she couldn't understand. Finally they figured out that he was saying he had "oil" in his truck.
Despite the fact that I took college-level courses in linguistics, I am convinced that it is impossible to reproduce on paper (or screen) an accurate representation of how a true suthren boy enunciates the word for that slippery lubrication stuff.
It isn't quite "all," although that's close. And it isn't quite "awl," either.
I think it's more like "awihl" spoken as a single syllable. Or maybe "ohyl."
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How hard is to say KY?
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You got that right. Ever been to Saaaakston?
Sure.
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Don't forget "tars". I got big mud tars on my truck.
Also there is "wahr". I got a flat tar when I run through the bob wahr fence.
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I have a tough time even with words I can understand. The first time I went to a supermarket, the checkout clerk asked me if I wanted a buggy. It took a few back-and-forth's before I realized she meant shopping cart.
I guess folks down here take responsibility for their actions. When there's a collision, the papers call it a "wreck", not an "accident".
People around here are really chatty. I got into a half-hour talk with an older guy at Home Depot. 30 minutes later, I still hadn't understood more than three words he said.
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When I hear a Southern accent, I see white magnolia blossoms. (And their buds, which look exactly like grenades). Peel off the stem and throw it, and (as a kid) it made a perfect grenade.
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All I know is this girl from KY melts my heart every time she says, "bah" instead of "bye". And like HM said, that's NOT the best way to represent the actual inflection.
Lots of us northern boys are a sucker for a pretty girl with a southern accent.
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TV has gone a long way toward killing regional dialects, for better or worse. To me, my wife, a local girl, doesn't have much accent; just a funky vocabulary. But not a funky has her Mom had. But she went to Texas for training on new lab equipment & spent most of her time in the break room so everybody could listen to her talk. Now one county over...
Had a gorgeous little blond where I worked: "Cud you hep me hode him still?" Could barely keep a staright face.
How 'bout Ward & Jeff Burton, Nascar racing brothers? Woud has a mouthful of marbles!
Bob
TV has done a lot, but they are still there. You just have to travel around to the smaller towns and meet people who grew up in those areas and never left. Where you don't see regional dialects so much is in bigger cities with more transplants.
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I guess folks down here take responsibility for their actions. When there's a collision, the papers call it a "wreck", not an "accident".
You mean, they bang their cars together on purpose? ;/
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"Accident" implies unforeseeable and/or unpreventable.
The overwhelming majority of automobile collisions are not so much accidents as they are the result of negligence.
Getting hit by a drunk driver is not an accident. It's a result of criminal negligence.
Getting rear-ended at a stop light is not an accident, it's the result of negligence.
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"Accident" implies unforeseeable and/or unpreventable.
The overwhelming majority of automobile collisions are not so much accidents as they are the result of negligence.
Getting hit by a drunk driver is not an accident. It's a result of criminal negligence.
Getting rear-ended at a stop light is not an accident, it's the result of negligence.
Correct. In gun parlance it's the difference between an AD and an ND.
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Lots of us northern boys are a sucker for a pretty girl with a southern accent.
True. I fall in love several times a day.
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"Accident" implies unforeseeable and/or unpreventable.
Citations needed.
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TV has done a lot, but they are still there. You just have to travel around to the smaller towns and meet people who grew up in those areas and never left. Where you don't see regional dialects so much is in bigger cities with more transplants.
Word.
Travel a bit and tune in the local TV station for the news - especially, in my experience, the weather forcasts. Daytime AM talk radio is another good source - especially the swap-meet for sale programs and anything with a religious connection.
At one time folks that wanted to break out of regional broadcasting into the national outlets attended schools that taught Standard Midwestern dialect and inflection, much in the same manner that BBC readers were schooled in whatever they called that pseudo-public school speaking sttyle. What I hear on BBC on the SW seems to indicate that there no longer is a standard to be adhered to.
stay safe.
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I tell you what.
We called a guy I used to work with Boomhaur.
Mom got fired from a job because she had too much of an accent.
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One thing is for sure, you never know quite how much of an accent you have yourself until you get recorded and hear yourself talking.
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I was asked by an Aussie guide "why did I speak English with a bloody Pom accent?"
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Citations needed.
You have heard of dictionaries haven't you?
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accident (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accident)
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Yeah, the first one.
If you'd like to play dueling dictionaries, this one also works.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/accident
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Oh, you want to duel with dictionaries eh? I got a 1953 unabridged right over there (I'm pointing) that I bought for $1 at a tag sale. I'll take you ALL on with that baby. ;) >:D
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If you're going to duel with dictionaries, you're not going to be able to bludgeon each other. You'll have to walk 25 paces, turn and throw the dictionary at your opponent.
So, it boils down to the old argument as to which is better: the lighter, faster dictionary, or the slower but heavier one?
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Yes, mine would turn into a plume of fluttering paper before 25 paces. I imagine a little duct tape might help.
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What about people who pronounce "strength" as "strenth"? Is that a Southern thing?
And the people who don't pronounce the "l" in "Republican"? What is that about?
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What about people who pronounce "strength" as "strenth"? Is that a Southern thing?
Most people I know pronounce it strength.
Remember that when you say "the south" that covers a huge area. What they say in Alabama, for example, I have no idea because I have never been to Alabama.
Most people I know also say Republican, not Repubcan.
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And the people who don't pronounce the "l" in "Republican"? What is that about?
That's the most ridicuous thing I've ever heard! ;/
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I'm pretty sure most folks here in Alabama pronounce it "Republicans". If not, then they'd pronounce the state as "Aabama", and I haven't heard that.
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I don't think "Repubican" is Southern. Just throwing that in there. It actually seems to be limited to women.
I have also heard a woman on the radio, said to be a Constitutional scholar, but she couldn't pronounce "constitution." It always came out as con'titution. =|
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I heard a professor say "corpse-man" instead of "corpsman". He wasn't a constitutional scholar, though. Just a president.
I'm still trying to get accustomed to saying IN-shurance rather than in-SHUR-ance. "Y'all" pops out of my mouth every so often without me thinking about it.
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In an earlier stage of my career, I did software support over the phone with a technical customer base. Not a week went by that somebody from Canadia =D asked me if I was from Texas, or someone from the northeast corridor miss heard my first name and called me Mark instead of Mike.
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I heard a professor say "corpse-man" instead of "corpsman". He wasn't a constitutional scholar, though. Just a president.
I heard someone call a radio show about that, and the caller and host both excoriated Obama for his ignorance. But it was clear that the host thought a corpsman was a Marine. :facepalm:
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Well, the branch is called the Marine Corps (pronounced "corpse", at least by BHO).
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Actually, the Navy provides all the "corpse-men" for Uncle Sam's Misguided Children. Just sayin'.
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Back in 1961, I had just moved from a life in Texas to northern VA. One day in english class the teacher was making fun of me because of the way I talked. I replied that I was born and raised in Texas and apoligized for not speaking like a bunch of yankees. Needless to say, I found out later that the teacher was from an old VA family who's relation fought on the side of the south. I barely passed the class......chris3
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"Y'all" pops out of my mouth every so often without me thinking about it.
That type of thing happens to me from time to time, being married to a North Carolinian. It's weird when it happens.
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I'm still trying to get accustomed to saying IN-shurance rather than in-SHUR-ance.
Y'all get used to sayne it right ventually :lol:
Actually, I'm thinking that might be an Irish or Scots thing - in Gaelic the accent is always on the very first syllable =|
I still say it that way. I had it thick when we moved from TX to AZ when I was in 2nd grade, but I lost it after being teased. Give me two weeks back down with my dad's side of the family though and I bet I would sound just like them again =)
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Dick, you'll know you've completed assimilation when you use the plural form of y'all, all y'all.
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I thought it was y'all y'all. That's what my neighbor says.
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My former aunt from Georgia insisted that Y'all IS plural and those that used it in regards to one person are grammatically incorrect. :P
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Having been born & raised north of the Mason-Dixon Line, by just a few miles, I've easily assimilated in my present location. I'm south of Richmond, VA, & east of Abbington, VA. I much prefer Y'all ( but not all y'all) to y'uns! And I like southern ladies!
Bob
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I thought it was y'all y'all. That's what my neighbor says.
Better check the southron card. Sounds like Stolen Valor type of infraction.
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Y'all is only used to address more than one person unless you're just an inbred, backwoods,white trash, redneck, hick. And there are plenty of them down here. But there are also plain old Southern folk.
You come on over for dinner after church on Sunday. This addresses you only.
Y'all come on over for dinner after church on Sunday. This addresses you and your spouse or your spouse and kids.
All y'all come on over for dinner after church on Sunday. This addresses you, spouse, kids, and any inlaws, out of town guests, employees, etc., who might need to be included for whatever reason beyond who the invitation would normally include.
There are some Southern folk who might disagree with me, but they'll likely fall into that first category.
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Y'all is only used to address more than one person unless you're just an inbred, backwoods,white trash, redneck, hick. And there are plenty of them down here. But there are also plain old Southern folk.
You come on over for dinner after church on Sunday. This addresses you only.
Y'all come on over for dinner after church on Sunday. This addresses you and your spouse or your spouse and kids.
All y'all come on over for dinner after church on Sunday. This addresses you, spouse, kids, and any inlaws, out of town guests, employees, etc., who might need to be included for whatever reason beyond who the invitation would normally include.
There are some Southern folk who might disagree with me, but they'll likely fall into that first category.
Y'all is an extremely useful word. It supplies the distinct second person plural that is lacking in most other forms of english.
Also, of note, many linguists believe that the modern english dialect closest to Shakesperean English is the Southern dialect. I smile every time I think of that.
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Y'all is an extremely useful word. It supplies the distinct second person plural that is lacking in most other forms of english.
Quite so. This is why I have adopted it.
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I thought I had 'yall' figured out until I stumbled across a new dimension of yall...the 'generic yall'.
Take for example the 'generic you', as in the following sentence:
"Have you ever ridden the Cenrifuge? They put you in this big thing and spin it, and you stick to the wall because of the centrifugal force".
or
"The cross country race is tough, because when you get down into the valley there is a lot of rocks, and you have to be on your toes"
Since these things are typically done by more than one person, the generic yall subs for the generic you:
"Have you ever ridden the Cenrifuge? They put yall in this big thing and spin it, and yall stick to the wall because of the centrifugal force".
"The cross country race is tough, because when yall get down into the valley there is a lot of rocks, and yall have to be on your toes"
The "yall" here is unknown. There is actually no implied others. The addressee can be perfectly alone, with no others in his group. There is no topical group of people who are referred to here. Its just that the cross country race and the centrifuge typically are done by more than one person (even multiple people spread over time). It's just the generic yall. Gets me every time.
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Y'all need to learn to throw in a Howdy every now and then also just to confuse all the english nazis. Of course, I think that might be more Texas or Western than Southern, but who knows.
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My former aunt from Georgia insisted that Y'all IS plural and those that used it in regards to one person are grammatically incorrect. :P
Ah would agree with that though it still slips out anyway sometimes.
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Y'all need to learn to throw in a Howdy every now and then
I'm fine, how are you?
(it's my theory "howdy" is a contraction of "How do you do?")
BTW, when a real Southerner says "y'all", you barely notice it because it's subtle and it fits in the sentence. When a Yankee says y'all to affect a fake Southern accent, it sticks out like a sore thumb. But the worst is when someone like Paula Deen (from Georgia) lays it on extra thick, just hamming it up for the TV cameras.
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(it's my theory "howdy" is a contraction of "How do you do?")
You are correct.
For the proper way to express the term and sentiment Minnie Pearl is the best example.
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Howdy y'all! ;)
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Another southronism worthy of discussion involves concluding a conversation or dismissing one's self from a gathering.
Goodbye = See'ya. The accent is on the first syllable
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And don't forget "Well, bless your heart!" :lol:
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You are correct.
For the proper way to express the term and sentiment Minnie Pearl is the best example.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjX1LpSow_g&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjX1LpSow_g&feature=related)
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Another southronism worthy of discussion involves concluding a conversation or dismissing one's self from a gathering.
Goodbye = See'ya. The accent is on the first syllable
I.......don't think that's Southern.
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And don't forget "Well, bless your heart!"
Near as I can tell, that can be mildly complimentary, or a "what an idiot" put-down.
For example, one person says, "Did you hear that Minnie drove her car into a tree while putting on makeup?"
Other person says, "Well, bless her heart."
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I'm fine, how are you?
(it's my theory "howdy" is a contraction of "How do you do?")
BTW, when a real Southerner says "y'all", you barely notice it because it's subtle and it fits in the sentence. When a Yankee says y'all to affect a fake Southern accent, it sticks out like a sore thumb. But the worst is when someone like Paula Deen (from Georgia) lays it on extra thick, just hamming it up for the TV cameras.
Faked accents intended as mockery rarely compliment the speaker. IMO, that is one of the problems with some modern country music.
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Depends on the skill of the fake accenter. I'm pretty good at a lot of different accents. Best I ever did was turn around to the guy behind me in the line to the Empire State building and do an exact fake of the "Tony the keeyab drivuh" Brooklyn accented guy recording you listen to spiel off facts while you're,,,standing in the line waiting to go into The Empire State Building. Cracked him right up. =D
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Bad fakes: Olympia Dukakis and Shirley McClain in Steel Magnolias. Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump. Michael Caine in Secondhand Lions. Really REALLY grates on the nerves of a native Southerner.
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My version of "bad fakes" was more directed at people who think they are mocking someone else with an accent. Usually, the mocker has a pretty thick accent themselves.
I guess Houston has so many transplants you get exposed to a lot of them. I guess that is common in the larger cities in Texas. The only accents I typically see mocked by natives are the Indian and Middle Eastern. Easy targets I guess.
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Bad fakes: Olympia Dukakis and Shirley McClain in Steel Magnolias. Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump. Michael Caine in Secondhand Lions. Really REALLY grates on the nerves of a native Southerner.
There can't be a worse faux Southern accent than Nick Cage in Con Air.
And Tom Hanks was trying to sound like a retarded Southerner. That's redundant, of course. :P
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Redundancy would be Tom Hanks trying to sound like a retarded Tom Hanks.
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And Tom Hanks was trying to sound like a retarded Southerner. That's redundant, of course. :P
He sounded nothing like sling blade