Virnomine 79,386 11
04/28/2005 11:37 PM

Of course, they live in Iowa and Nebraska.

Miracles 22,430 0
04/28/2005 11:37 PM

People from the Little Rascals say "OK" like "OOO-Tay".

iam Straw - Ch-ch-ch-changing! 97,995 37
04/28/2005 11:37 PM

Wasn't there some character in a movie that pronounced it like LungGuy? I'm flashing on some guy explaining something to someone, and always saying LungGuy to make sure his listener is following along.



Now that's gonna bug me.

Dweezil S Meniketti [Purple Guitar] 77,546 17
04/28/2005 11:40 PM

Ah beyat yu goht reel purdy tayth.

Miracles 22,430 0
04/28/2005 11:41 PM

Mexicans in Phoenix say "OK, Man" as "Oh-gay, Mang".

millie 116,988 28
04/28/2005 11:46 PM

<action>does not have a Maine accent, is "from away"</action>

In Maine, they say "ayuh". (Which is not supposed to be O.K., but rather a form of "yeah".)



I spelled it that way because that's how it's commonly spelled, but it's pronounced aYUH--short a, stress on the last syllable. The first syllable is barely pronounced.



If you try to fake it, it doesn't sound right. The only time I've heard people genuinely use it in conversation was when I lived Downeast.



I've heard a lot of people try to do it, and they sound fake and stupid.



And I have never EVER heard any actor do a Maine accent correctly. I wanted to smash something through the T.V. many times when I caught some of Tom Bosley or William Windham on "Murder, She Wrote".



Or when any Stephen King movie has been on T.V., especially that piece of Shakespeare "Storm of the Century".



And don't get me started on Marisa Tomei in "In the Bedroom". Ugh!

Spicey McHaggis 117,755 37
04/28/2005 11:48 PM

<action>gets started on Marisa Tomei in the bedroom.</action>

Chi(Chi) + Felipe = Awesome 161,353 14
04/28/2005 11:51 PM

Growing up in Albany we called hamburgers "steamed hams."

Chi(Chi) + Felipe = Awesome 161,353 14
04/28/2005 11:53 PM

For some reason, when people in TV or movies try to do a Maine accent it sounds like a Brit who grew up in Alabama. TV has taught me that people in small towns all talk like southerners. It also taught me that small-towners are dumb and don't understand big city folks. Also, blacks.

Spicey McHaggis 117,755 37
04/29/2005 12:00 AM

Growing up in south central PA, I always had to "red up" my room. I never thought it was odd until I was watching an episode of Quantum Leap and the maid or somebody talked about redding up the room and Sam didn't know what she was talking about and someone explained to him that it was a Pennsylvania Dutch colloquialism. It's like "clean up" or straighten up".



I thought it was cool that something I took for granted was mentioned as an oddity on Quantum Leap.

Dogs Akimbo 211,574 32
04/29/2005 01:43 AM

Do you have pop in a can?

Big Irish Guy 203,956 21
04/29/2005 01:44 AM

I can't contribute to this thread because people from Jersey don't have an accent.

Suicide Ranger 27,937 12
04/29/2005 01:49 AM

I don't have an accent, unless I am saying HOW and PALE-FACE, then I sound like some guy trying to sound like how people think a Native American is suppose to sound like.

Tabula Rasa, teacher fetishist extraordinaire 14,056 9
04/29/2005 01:53 AM

Ah beyat yu goht reel purdy tayth.

That reminds me of the time a homeschooled guy who went to my church, after staring at me for a full five minutes, said "You have really pretty gums."

Homeschooled kids freak me out.

iam Straw - Ch-ch-ch-changing! 97,995 37
04/29/2005 01:57 AM

It isn't strange to me to see an American actor put on a fake accent, like a British or Australian accent. But it always seems strange to me to hear British or Australian actors put on a fake American accent.

AussieSarah 8,390 9
04/29/2005 02:24 AM

All you Murricans sound the same to me.

Suicide Ranger 27,937 12
04/29/2005 02:25 AM

goodonya!

iam Straw - Ch-ch-ch-changing! 97,995 37
04/29/2005 02:36 AM

<action>posts randomly, but attempts to make it seem relevant</action>



Speaking of Australians, such as the gorgeous Nicole Kidman...or rather her ex-husband who is nice to look at but is really stupid....



Tom Cruise is now dating Katie Holmes. I'm going to go puke rivers of puke now.

Zenmaster 236 8
04/29/2005 03:34 AM

"Eh, bruddah, you got beef? I give you one time slap!"



Hawaiian for "Hey, guy, Do you have a probem with me? I'll kick your ass!"

Pope Chickens the Fruitful 286,527 61
04/29/2005 07:13 AM

"Whut youns do fer fun?"



When we moved to the mountains of NC and took in our first foster kid, he delivered this sentence to me several times before I had any idea what language he was speaking.



The word Youns was what really threw me. I had never heard it. I was used to the more proper Yall, which all gentility is quite comfortable with. Turns out it's and old Scottish coloquialism, not southern at all. You-uns meaning you people.



They were just so remote they had never lost old country dialect over the generations.

Pope Chickens the Fruitful 286,527 61
04/29/2005 07:15 AM

The inbreeding didn't help at all either.

Phuc 237,919 21
04/29/2005 07:30 AM

I have a client in South Dakota. The people I'm dealing with from there use the word "deal" like Smurfs use "smurf."



"Yah, I was driving on the deal..." WTF?



Boston is without a doubt the most retahded accent evuh. And like Maine's, no actors do it right.



It's not just eliminating the ending R, it's adding them where they don't belong and the random weirdness like a short A getting all mangled.



"Dood, um gahwna gidda soder."



Except a soder up here is a "tahwnic."



I've heard judges with that accent. It should be an automatic retrial.

JepRep - Limericking upon request 58,758 13
04/29/2005 08:21 AM

I'm with you on the North Carolina thing Chickens. While visiting a buddy of mine around Asheville, he got called to a fire (volunteer fireman). We went with him and while he helped out with the blaze, I and another buddy of mine from Jersey talked to the guy whose barn was burning. After five minutes though we both gave up, realizing the guy did not speak English. After the fire, we asked my buddy where the guy was from and he said NC. He also said that the gibberish the old man was speaking was actually English.



Could have fooled me.

Pope Chickens the Fruitful 286,527 61
04/29/2005 08:33 AM

there is an island off the coast of NC where the people still talked with a english accent until like 30 years ago when they finally ran electric wires to the island and they got tv.

AussieSarah 8,390 9
04/29/2005 08:49 AM

I've noticed different meanings of words in different countries.

Last time I was in the US I went into Kmart to get some coloring in books and pencils etc as a gift for a friend kids , I asked where the rubbers were [meaning eraser] and the guy gave me this sleazy look and took me to a rack of condoms

I was 16 at the time and at first very embarrassed [made it worse by his "I know what your getting up to tonight" look].

I did manage the situation quite well though - I grabbed a pack and then asked where I could find the whipped cream.

Senior Destructor: Retired Supervillan 60,724 12
04/29/2005 08:58 AM

That reminds me of when I moved back to the U.S. from England when I was a kid.



I spent my formulative years (5-10 years old) in the U.K. because of my Dad's job. Because of this, I used English terms for everything. "Tea" for "dinner", "dinner" for "lunch" (one backwards country they got there) and, of course, "rubber" for "eraser".



To top it all off, I had the rough accent of a Yorkshire boy who'd grown up on a farm.



Within the first week of school in the U.S., I asked my 5th grade teacher if she had a rubber on hand, because I needed one for what I was working on, and mine had just broken.



I got detention, no recess, and a call to my parents before they figured it all out.

Erotic Kake 55,555 14
04/29/2005 09:15 AM

I call soda "soda", not tonic. But the thing I hate most is when people call it "pop". Are you the Frost-ing Beav? Are you and wally gonna go down to the drugstore for that "pop"?

Spicey McHaggis 117,755 37
04/29/2005 09:18 AM

This seems like a good time to bust out the Pop vs. Soda page.

Senior Destructor: Retired Supervillan 60,724 12
04/29/2005 09:19 AM

From that site:

CONCLUSION

People who say "Pop" are much, much cooler.





I always knew it, somehow.



I'm gonna go celebrate with a nice cold pop, bitches.

Dogs Akimbo 211,574 32
04/29/2005 09:38 AM

So, your father's dead, then?

iam Straw - Ch-ch-ch-changing! 97,995 37
04/29/2005 09:44 AM

I love hearing accents. When I visited England as a teenager, I giggled like the schoolgirl I was the second we got into Dover and the Customs dude spoke to us.



I was in Boston two years ago for a wedding. I was sorely disappointed that I wasn't hearing the accent. Then we were in a Sears and over the PA I heard someone ask a salesperson to come over to the Lahn and Gahden section. My cup runneth over.

DemoMonkey. Period. 166,252 10
04/29/2005 09:50 AM

Spicey



You know the where the strangest things can be found.



I honour that.



Demo

I lost my Trae of thought 156,790 17
04/29/2005 09:55 AM

When I was in Boston one time I walked into the rental cah place and about 5 people walked in with me, I guess up until then it was a slow night.



The girl behind the countah said "Wheahs the potty??" I looked around and thought to myself, "She works here, she should know where the bathroom is."



Turns out she meant PARTY.





Then again, I was born in the midwest, but lived in the South most of my life. I have a messed up midwestern nasal dialect mixed with soft Southern undertones. I'm a mutt.

SheCabbage 5,200 13
04/29/2005 09:59 AM

They so do NOT say "ayuh" in Maine. I have never heard anyone here say that ever.



The closest thing I can think of is "Oh, YAH!" but that's two words and best pronounced by someone with three teeth and a cigarette hanging out of the corner of their mouth.



Same thing with "Nor'easter." Only the weathermen say that, and I think it's because they believe it's expected of them. Crusty old folks Down East say "Nohtheasta."



Just FYI.



And I don't have a Maine accent, either. My folks were from out of state. Thank god.

Aimless 54,807 10
04/29/2005 10:05 AM

Which leads me to believe that people from Iowa and Nebraska are even bigger losers than people from North and South DakOHta, don'tchaknow.



Quite a few Gabbers have met me or talked to me on the phone and they would be the ones to tell you if I have any sort of weird accent.



I'd also like to point out that in most end of the world movies Iowa stays safe. SO SUCK MY CORN MUTHA FrostAS.

dropkick brody 43,090 12
04/29/2005 01:48 PM

I think people here talk too fast for damn foreigns to hear what we're saying, so the way we pronounce things shouldn't matter that much.



But I pronounce things like rain, mane, name etc to rhyme with 'reign'. Wheras most people that I know would pronounce them 'ray-n, may-n, nay-m'.



Posh Bastards.

Fratberry 282,940 53
04/29/2005 02:33 PM

Ah ain't got naw dang akceent. Feck y'all.

Chi(Chi) + Felipe = Awesome 161,353 14
04/30/2005 12:52 PM

They totally say "ayuh" in Maine, but it doesn't sound like "ayuh." It sounds like "Frost off you snobs and leave us to our ruggedness."

Fluorescent Sombrero 91,274 10
04/30/2005 01:05 PM

.... Eh?

Ironmistress 64 8
04/30/2005 01:41 PM

I never noticed an accent when I speak, but when I went to New York for Spring Break a couple years ago with my family, I needed to ask a woman for directions to the subway, and the instant I finished talking, she said, " AWWWW!! Where are yah from?"...I replied Kansas, and she launched into this wild spiel about Dorothy and Oz and other crack dreams she had about Kansas...I still don't know where the subway is.

Lasacasa 141 9
04/30/2005 03:59 PM

Apparently a gabber took the survey...check out the next to last "other" response.

Hammerhead is in mourning. 59,399 14
04/30/2005 04:31 PM

I was born and raised in the South, and transplanted into the midwest. I have an uncanny knack for picking up accents. When I get really tired, my southern creeps back into my speech, but when I went to New York my senior year of high school, I picked up a Brooklyn accent. Had it for a week after returning home, and drove my girlfriend nuts.



Due to the impromptu family reunion this past week, I was around my aunt and her kids, who all have a Chicago/Minnesota/Iowa nasally whine to their voices. I picked that one up too, and had to force myself to enunciate properly after speaking like them for thirty seconds. It's a pain in the ass to be around my mom and her sisters. If it weren't for the eldest one's whiney voice, I'd never tell them apart if they were all speaking in another room, or over the phone.

Suicide Ranger 27,937 12
04/30/2005 04:40 PM

...I asked my 5th grade teacher if she had a rubber on hand, because I needed one for what I was working on...



I wanted to ask my 5th grade teacher that, but then again I thought she was hot... Yes, I have been told that 5th graders aren't supposed to think about that kind of thing well screw you I wanted to screw my teacher!

millie 116,988 28
04/30/2005 08:36 PM

I beg to differ with Shecabbage. I have, indeed, heard people used "ayuh" as part of their speech, and not as an affectation.



As I said, people from Downeast do use this "word". It is more like an "schwa-ya" sound. Like, my friend's grandmother, when she was on the phone to someone, would be nodding and saying, "Ayuh...ayuh...ayuh."



Also, speaking about accents; I waited on a kind of hot South African guy yesterday. He was white. Am I a racist to think his accent was sexy?

Dogs Akimbo 211,574 32
04/30/2005 08:38 PM

Am I a racist to think his accent was sexy?



Only if you fantasize about him kicking Nelson Mandela in the nuts first.

TEDphat (of the Monkeyphat tribe) 6,408 9
05/28/2005 09:54 AM

Being a born and raised Mainer, I can say that 'ayuh' is fictional. I have never heard it. I also have no accent. Only rarely have I even heard someone with a Maine accent.

Coco 1,756 8
05/28/2005 12:13 PM

I used to hate having a different dialect, when I first moved from UK to Jersey. I found that they would 'have themselves' something (E.g. the dads would say 'I'm gonna have myself a beer'), but I was more self-conscious about my overly-rigid tone of voice, and how it seemed like the British have a rod up their ass when you compare their speech to Americans.



Now excuse me, I'm off to have a spot of tea, old chaps.

Coco 1,756 8
05/28/2005 12:15 PM

I also found that in New York and Jersey, if somebody said 'How are you' or 'How're you doing?', they'd be shocked if you actually replied - similar to the British 'How do you do' or 'Awwite' amongst the chavs.

Big Irish Guy 203,956 21
05/28/2005 06:39 PM

Coco lives in Jersey?



So.confused.

dropkick brody 43,090 12
05/28/2005 06:42 PM

A 6 foot black Irish guy lives in ... some state in America.



So. Confused.

Coco 1,756 8
05/28/2005 06:48 PM

BIG, I used to live in Jersey. I was born in Britain, and now live in Britain. Does that clear things up a bit?

Big Irish Guy 203,956 21
05/28/2005 06:50 PM

Where in Jersey?



Yes, it does.

I am Jack's Kidney 6,902 12
05/28/2005 07:02 PM

At least you guys didn't have a movie made that basically revolves around making fun of the way you talk. (I suppose Good Will Hunting could be construed as this.)I was born and raised in Fargo, North Dakota.

Coco 1,756 8
05/28/2005 07:03 PM

Summit. I used to think it was a lovely town, but I revisited it a few years back and it seems to be an absolute hole nowadays.

Big Irish Guy 203,956 21
05/28/2005 07:08 PM

No kidding. I live in Morristown.

Coco 1,756 8
05/28/2005 07:09 PM

<action> suddenly has 'It's a small world' stuck in her head </action>

Big Irish Guy 203,956 21
05/28/2005 07:11 PM

Coco was a Hilltopper....bwahahaha.

<action>knows no one will understand</action>

The Solitary Snork 45,655 12
05/28/2005 08:18 PM

Hello, you simple northern folk! I'm a Coleridgeney! Yes, East End born and bred. I love my old mum!

MiLLie 116,988 28
05/28/2005 09:05 PM

Where in Maine were you born and raised, TEDPhat? Because you are full of Shakespeare.



I may be "from away" but I came here when I was 8. That was 32 years ago.



Obviously, there would not be a stereotype of people saying "ayuh" if no one ever said it. Like all stereotypes, it is at least partially true or it would not be relevant and it wouldn't have any staying power.



First of all, to say there is no Maine accent doesn't make sense, because every place in the world has a regional accent or dialect.



And in different areas of the state, the accents are different. But the Downeast accent is the one that people associate with Maine and people do say "ayuh". I have heard it come out of the mouths of people who were not trying to put anyone on.



If you have never been East and North of Bangor or never had a conversation with someone born and raised Downeast, then maybe you haven't heard it.



Oh, and if you were just being facetious about never hearing a Maine accent, ignore this post.

Kakey McKakenstien 55,555 14
05/28/2005 09:07 PM

Overheard at Gab10:



BIG: Millie, will you go steady with me?



Millie: Ayuh.

MiLLie 116,988 28
05/28/2005 09:28 PM

Kake, I said I was 'from away'.



I don't talk like a Frost-ing Mainer.



But I have heard the way Frost-ing (and celibate) Mainers talk.



TEDphat is probably one of those Frenchies from Lewiston or Sanford, anyway (who don't have any discernible accents).



I will not dignify the rest of your post with a response.

MiLLie 116,988 28
05/28/2005 09:29 PM

P.S. Sorry to all Frenchies--I didn't mean it.



You do have wicked thick accents.



Otherwise, you are nice people.

gwallaia 3,510 12
05/28/2005 10:00 PM

I'm from Texas. Everything we say is cool. Everyone else is a Frost-ing retard.

High Priestess 58,884 29
05/28/2005 10:09 PM

I have lived in the south all my life and have never spoken with a southern accent. The strange thing is, I was born in New Orleans and we move to South Carolina right after I turned 1. I wasn't talking then, but if I get around my relatives that are from N.O. I pick up the accent.

Dopefish 1,393 8
05/28/2005 10:13 PM

According to my aunt from Nebreska, I live in "Warshington".

She also says "twirlit" instead of toilet, and "ray-dy" instead of ready.



I wish I could talk like that.

Big Irish Guy 203,956 21
05/28/2005 10:14 PM

Only the Wizards in Hufflepuff talk that way.

Whistler P. McManus 186,041 44
05/28/2005 10:47 PM

Gonzo, where in upstate New York did you come from?



We have a home in Ticonderoga, and the hill people around there use the possessive form for store names. Like Wal*Mart's. The funniest is when they go to Ames, which they refer to as Ames'es.



They also say "over ta" instead of "at". As in, "Where'd you get that shotgun?" "Got 'er over ta Ames'es."

Spicey McHaggis 117,755 37
05/28/2005 10:49 PM

Ames still exists? I thought Wally world killed them all.

Whistler P. McManus 186,041 44
05/28/2005 10:52 PM

Nope. We still gots Ames'es. She's right across the road from Wal*Mart's and McDonalds'es.

I am Jack's Kidney 6,902 12
05/28/2005 11:46 PM

I'm from Texas. Everything we say is cool. Everyone else is a flapping retard.



That's a pretty good impression of dubya.

Gonzo 20,522 17
05/30/2005 04:19 PM

From the bustling metropolis of Watertown, birthplace of all the Little Tree Car Fresheners on the planet. In fact, my house was just a few blocks from the factory. Kinda explains alot, don't it? ...but half of my ancestors are from the Star Lake and Cranberry Lake region.



Yes, "Ames'es" is a classic. I always pictured Mammy or Aunt Jemima saying it.



"Yess'm! We'z jus gots to get ova to Ames'es and git us sum fat-back colla'd-green chickasaw black-eyed peas, yes we does!"



The store that came into town briefly and pushed the limit so far that even my mom couldn't do it was "Zayer". Apparently "Zayers's" was too much of a stretch for even her.

Clint McSahara HotPants 19,555 11
05/30/2005 04:38 PM

From the bustling metropolis of Watertown



"I spent a week there one afternoon.."

TEDphat (of the Monkeyphat tribe) 6,408 9
05/30/2005 05:09 PM

TEDphat is probably one of those Frenchies from Lewiston or Sanford, anyway (who don't have any discernible accents).



hahah, that is hilarious Millie. No, I'm from South Portland though. And alright, hardcore downeasterners do have a Maine accent, but it's not as widespread as everyone thinks. Granted, I'm from southern Maine, my grandparents and parents are from the Bangor area though, and none of them have accents. I'm just saying...it's made out to be a lot bigger than it is.

TEDphat (of the Monkeyphat tribe) 6,408 9
05/30/2005 05:12 PM

And there's almost a better chance of someone living in Lewiston being Somalian now rather than French. Regardless, there's a 100% chance that someone from Lewiston is trashy.





*sorry to anyone from Lewiston



**But not really.