Grant Wheeler and lionel riley have given you examples of a Cajun (Acadian) accent: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Louisiana_regions_map.svg/1200px-Louisiana_regions_map.svg.png
Barry Fletcher yeah the video I post I know him he has that Acadian southwest creole accent. I’m from the greater New Orleans area & River Parishes so our accent is different as well.
Video Idea for you: Brits react to American College Football Pre-Game/In-Game Traditions (i.e. Florida State University Chief Osceola Planting the Spear and the Warchant playing).
Hell, even without traffic, it take over 45 minutes to drive from one side of metro Atlanta to the other. When I have to drive to the northern suburbs, it can be well over an hour! lol
True. Its hearing characters that have more pronounced southern accents be perceived as stupid or hicks causes me to feel self conscious of my own accent. And not even just to portrayal of characters. Ive heard my step mother say how my brother and his ex wife should train their child to not have the southern accent he has(even though both of my nephew parents are from the south), because his accent apparently makes him sound "stupid/dumb".
Abby Smith very true! I’m from southern Ohio but moved to Columbus when I was young and everyone always pointed out my country accent 😂 now when I go back to my hometown, everyone thinks I talk different
@@tommccafferty5591 If you want to hear a slow, drawling accent, try spending some time in the Appalachian Mountains. I'm from Northeast Tennessee and I swear with some of my older relatives you could start a conversation, go get dinner, and be back before they finished their first sentence. Either that, or they'll chatter so quickly you'll have trouble picking the words out.
Southern accents, especially Appalachia, are heavily influenced by early settlers who were Scots-Irish. The accents and the grammar and sentence structure are also heavily affected by our ancestors.
Don't forget the many British ancestors who chose to settle in the South long ago. A vast number came to Alabama and Georgia in the 1880's to build the railroads.
Only Brits would explain their meaning of the word "common". It is rare in the US that we use "common" in a social economic way so it never even occurred to me.
It's funny because a southern drawl doesn't imply stupidity. Probably the result of Gone With The Wind, but my dad is from WV which his accent implies stupidity. One of the smartest men I know, and his accent is judged as stupid. I really know why the woman in the video felt a little uncomfortable speaking with her accent. But I was raised in western PA. and we embrace the differences of the words we "mispronounce" and laugh at ourselves because we're from Picksburgh. Go Picksburgh Stillers!! 😂
@@gingersnap22 TBC: I'm not agreeing with the stereotype, just saying it exists, and like a lot of self conciousness issues it probably stems (at least in part) from people who project their own insecurities about themselves onto the opinions of others
Totally agree! People seem to want to put everyone in a certain box. A box that doesn't fit anyone. We are much more complicated than that. Its unfortunate that it seems to be amped up lately. 😔
@@gingersnap22 I'm going to set aside my loathing of the Stillers for a moment. (I'm a lifelong Bangles fan). Is it that the southern accent in general is stereotyped as stupid, or is it the association people make with Appalachian states partially responsible for that? People who aren't from the south or from Appalachia probably can't tell the difference between the two. I'm sure that my father, who was brilliant and could reverse engineer anything, but who almost didn't finish high school, would be stereotyped as stupid by his accent. He kind of sounded like Foghorn Leghorn, actually.
@@MajahDancer omg! My dad can imitate Foghorn Legorn! Awesome. Lol. Yeah, I was referring to the stupidity/southern accent stereotype. Yeah. I love dialects and can pick them out usually by area. It seems though as southern drawl like in some spots in the south, are considered cultured and refined. My dad, unfortunately, would fall into the banjo picking hillbilly group. Like I said, your dad and mine could be geniuses and still get laughed at. Now my grandpa came from the southern part of Virginia and had the drawl. He also was illiterate. Stereotype destroyed. It sucks to be put in a certain "class" of people purely for your dialects. Smh
@Bubblez & HoneySuckle I'm from the south so maybe I'm a little biased, but the Texas drawl is one of my favorite American accents. Definitely nothing boring about it in my opinion. 😊
Exactly I sound very different from my cousins and they don't even live that many towns away. and actually they are 4 sisters and 2 of them have thicker accents then the other 2 idk why just thought I should say that I guess maybe they moved around abit.
I'm from Kansas and the accents range from somewhat southern to somewhat northern, depending on age and education. The example is from a young man, who seems educated. I'm much older, and educated, but my dad only went to the fourth grade, so his accent was quite different. For 'soda,' I say 'pop' or even 'coke' in the generic sense, which could mean Pepsi; my dad used to say 'sody' or 'sody pop.' My niece says 'soda.'
I think for regions in the center of the country some of the key identifying features are the way they choose to pronounce certain words. Words like aunt, pecan, caramel, pajamas, can vary region to region even when the rest of the accent sounds fairly similar. I think that’s why some of the words that he was reading were on the list.
I have a friend in the UK who so far has come to the US to visit twice, and one of the things she wanted to do was a classic American road trip like she had heard about and seen in the movies. No problem, I love road trips. The first one we did was about 400 miles each way. She enjoyed that one so much we did a bigger one the next time she visited, closer to 1,500 miles round trip. I've driven all over the US including coast to coast several times and a 12, 000 miler from the east up the Alaska Highway to Fairbanks, AK then to L.A. and back across the country to home a few years ago. 1,500 miles isn't a big trip to me, but she was amazed at the distances we think nothing of driving on "holiday", also how cheap gas is here, and the way motels, gas stations, restaurants and etc are open 24/7 and set up to accommodate long distance travelers. I've toured the UK and Europe by car a few times, and if you try to travel long distance by car there they way we do in the US and you're counting on finding motels and open restaurants and gas stations along the highways at all hours, you might very well find yourself hungry, out of gas, and sleeping in the car.
@@TS-ef2gv my husband and I did a road trip in the UK a few years ago (decades really since it was 1998). We were very thankful that there were some roadside hotels in many towns along the way that didn’t require a reservation and weren’t quite as shady or scary as some of the ones you’d find here in the states. But yes, we had to plan a bit and skip a town or two until we found some accommodations. Luckily there were lots of little towns and no long stretches of nothingness like you get here in the southwest.
I’m from Kansas City (which is actually in Missouri). The accent here is the Midwest accent found in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa. It’s commonly called the “news caster” accent because when television was getting its back in the 40’s and other American accents were still quite strong, the TV stations hired news reporters from the Midwest because our accent was the most neutral and easiest to understand across the nation. I’ve had British friends say it can almost sound a bit posh, but I guess that depends on the individual speaker. Hope that helps.
yeah im frl stl and the only time i hear an accent is in specific words and sometimes my vowels have a bit of an "ah" sound to them. wash "wersh", doll "dall", missouri "missouruh" are the ones that stick out in my mind
Kansas accent is “Midwestern “. Many TV news anchors are hired from the Midwest because there isn’t any strong accent. The Midwest is considered the most neutral accent in the US
I live in Kansas City. Decades ago one of the TV stations hired a Texas beauty queen as a news anchor. First thing they did was to send the poor girl to speech therapy. True story.
@@russbear31 that’s nuts! Why not just hire a local gal? Here in TN the news anchors have thicker accents than the general population! Also a true story
It is not, however, Northern Midwestern. We of Wisconsin, Michigan, & Minnesota have far more nasality in our accent yet we are still considered the Midwest. And even Northern Midwestern has a subset that some just call Minnesotan, but here in Michigan we call it the "Yooper" accent. UP'er or Yooper is someone from the Upper Penninsula of Michigan.
@@siddmic every New Englander, even.. I'm from Vermont, we have our own accents, but we can definitely tell the difference between a Boston and New York accent.. heck, I can tell the difference between a Lynn, South Boston, and Harvard accent even.
Even we can tell what city sometimes by what words you use for certain things. For example, feeder roads is strictly aHoustonian word for access Rds or frontage roads.
I really enjoy how my Alabama accent is taken in England. Seems everyone wants to talk with me. My British friends and I often joke about needing an interpreter.
@@ĐłłĐĐØ27 It's because the Missouri river cuts through the middle of it on the edge of the state. Kansas City, (neither side) is a good example of a Kansas accent. The western half of the stste would be a better example. My mom had a strong accent, and one example is the word "wash" is pronounced as "worsh" and "coupon" is said as coo-pon.
As a Southerner, I feel like a lot of us are self-concious about our accents because it's often associated with poverty and lack of education. There are some historical reasons for this, but Hollywood hasn't helped. Some of us have been made fun of when we travel or live in other regions.
Absolutely. I was born in San Antonio, but after moving to Northern Va, I was so relentlessly made fun of growing up I sorta forced myself to speak in a much more generic manner. Granted if I am drinking a lot or REALLY angry the accent still comes back out.
@@chickensandwich8808 my parents are from up North and I've moved around a bit, so my own Appalachian accent is a little wibbly-wobbly, but when I'm stressed or pissed or stoked - any time I'm talking faster than normal - it comes back with a vengence.
There's also a flip side to that. I grew up in South Dakota and Minnesota, but have been told that I talk "Minnesotan," but not nearly like what you hear on the Fargo TV show. Anyway, during the times I lived in Texas and Oklahoma I got a few comments about my accent. Some just identified me as a Yankee, with a bit of hostility. Another time I was asked, "Where y'all from? Ya sure don't talk lak we do." But then I was always a bit amused at being offered a cup of "cowfee." Strangely enough, though, I carried a few Southernisms back north, such as "Fixin'" to do something. In the backwoods of Kentucky, I could hardly understand a word. And in Tennessee, they couldn't identify my accent at all.
Nonsense. There were more Irish people in New York than in any other city in America. Yes, Boston is known for its Irish-American population, but there were always plenty of people in Boston whose roots were from places other than Ireland.
the north end in Boston is all Italian. southie is irish the "Boston Accent" is more an amalgamation of old school British and local Algonquin, with a smattering of Quaker and Puritan originally.
I'm so glad you guys like our southern accents! Most of the time we're embarrassed because it comes with the connotation of being either 'slow' or 'hillbilly' and is generally negative.
Or naive. A sweet southern gal to protect as she takes care of everything inside a house you didn't even know needed to be taken care of. Or someone you don't want to cross. A serious mama bear. An action based man who talks very little with words (accept to his wife) and is always ready for a fight. (not looking for a fight, but ready if warranted)
I think southerners are “embarrassed” or shy about their accents, because the United States tends to based someone’s intelligence based on their accent and southern is considered less intelligent, even though it’s not necessarily true
Hello there. I'm southern and I'd have to say I definitely agree with you. Plus, when I was military I was told I needed to 'fix' my accent so it just really makes us self-conscious.
Didn't Jeff Foxworthy say something about how, when people heard his Southern accent, he could almost watch them deduct IQ points from their assessment of him? Somehow, America has shifted to think that a Southern drawl indicates lack of education or intelligence, or that Southern accents indicate rural (read: less cosmopolitan or worldly) backgrounds. That's stupidly misinformed, of course, given that the Southern states -- like all of the rest of our states -- have a healthy mix of big cities and small towns, industry and farms, highbrow culture and history and homespun traditions... and that living in a big city is no more a guarantee of intelligence than living in a rural community means you don't value education. I'm from Oregon myself and speak in a fairly bland "common American English" way, but I personally love some of the Southern accents for their lovely cadence, softer consonants, even the twangy vowels -- so charming!
I am a native Missourian, still live in the Show Me State..and am glad that some people's knowledge of one of our major cities inadvertently causes them to associate it with a much younger and in need of recognition state of our glorious Union! Yes..Kansas exists and is a state.
Indeed, although it can be forgiven to an extent. After all, call a Cockney in the UK a Scouser and you would be welcoming a fight. Or say someone from west Midlands sounds Brummie and same deal. The cultural dynamics are interesting to learn, just hopefully no one gets a black eye from it xD Also to be fair it depends on the location. North End has more of an Italian influence on the accent heritage which followed the same morphology as NY, where as East Side has more Irish influence and some Dutch which is where the more recognizable Boston accent comes from.
I'm born and raised in MA....not Boston, but greater Boston mostly on the North Shore. Every time I've traveled, people would either ask if I'm from Boston or New York. I don't get insulted, the fued is between the Red Sox and Yankees fans, not that our accents are similar, but different. My accent only comes out when I'm tired or drinking!
As a west coast American, I visited Norway and I hung out with some kids around my age. One of the kids asked me "Do Americans always sound so serious?".
As for people being "ashamed" of their southern accents: a thick southern accent is stereotypically associated with being poor, uneducated, rural, lower-class, and sometimes "backward" and ignorant (regardless of how fair that is). For people unaware of or who don't have that association, it would be confusing why someone would be ashamed of it, as on a phonetic level it's often quite pleasant (as you noted).
Bruh southern accents are a breath of fresh air... Any accent from any state.... Except California its just bland English and Spanish accents sometimes my mother's Spanish accent comes out when she says sandwich----> sandgwish 😂😂
I like them! I'm also not from the US, though. Mostly I was trying to clear up their confusion as to why they've had people from the American south apologize for or be embarrassed by their accent, especially since it sounded nice to them.
yeah, this is exactly the reason. it's so often associated with being uneducated, low class and has so much bigotry attached to it here that many people drop or loose the accent on purpose. it's hard to find that balance of not sounding like a hick (uneducated, "backwards") and still keeping the drawl.
I would love to have a southern accent (as an Ohioan with a southern parent). My family on my moms side just sounds so pleasing and I’m over here with a really nasally voice (more general american, probably couldn’t pick out where I’m from). Southern accents are so pretty
? I think its rather funny, cuz your right.. that thick accent is a ploy so they dont have to pronounce english properly lol... like they have all those great idear's but never make sense of um
This one was Shreveport so she basically sounds Texan. Natchitoches is a bit more country and New Orleans actually has a few different accents just within the city. Baton Rouge is either country or USA anywhere and Scott and Lake Charles or Opelousas are pretty similar and mostly what people think Cajun should sound like.
Yep, Shreveport is very neutral, more twangy because we're so close to Texas. But we have an air force base here (Bossier City) so we have people from all over the U.S. living here and it really effects the "not really an accent" accent as I call it. Lol
I find though that it can help AND hurt at the same time. I’m Cajun but my mom isn’t so I was taught how to speak “normally” but when I switch to my Cajun accent suddenly. I’m so white people think I’m trying to sound black. It’s shitty but still.
Me too, I grew up in Illinois, so I've got a Midwest accent, but my mom's side of the family is from Mississippi, so when I'm with them I have a bit of a southern accent😂
Louisiana even has at least 3 different accents in it that I’m aware of: the Cajun accent, the New Orleans accent, and the general Louisianan accent. Y’all Louisianans, please feel free to jump in and add to my comments. 🙂
@@abeycee7427 Acadian French. In my ignorance, this is my impression: the Cajuns, properly called Acadians, were forced out of French Canada when the English won a war with them. The French they spoke was NOT what we know as Parisian French; it was an older form. Once again, I don’t know much about it at all. What is spoken currently in Quebec is called Quebecois French, I believe. I DO know this: a few years ago, my husband and I were in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in a restaurant, and I heard some people at a nearby table speaking a language I didn’t recognize. I asked my husband if he knew what it was, and he said they were speaking Québécois. He lived in Quebec for 6 months many years ago. It didn’t sound anything like Parisian French to my ear.
As someone who lived in Illinois and is currently living in Scotland, I can understand Cajuns and thick Scottish accents 😂 you just gotta listen a little harder or ask them to slow down slightly
Rightly or wrongly, Americans often perceive the southern accent as a sign of low intelligence. You see it on TV or movies, the deeper the accent the dumber the character is assumed.
That happens with most cultures, as an Asian I can say that happens with us too. The thicker the accent, the more 'hick' or stupid you are. It's such a shame.
I was born and raised in WV, and sometimes I get sad when I think about how I purposefully trained as much of my native accent out of myself as a kid specifically because I didn't want to be perceived as "stupid" -- and moreover, how I bought into that stereotype and internalized it so much that I actually believed that about the people around me. It's *still* something I struggle with, even though I know better.
As someone who was raised in the south by 1 parent from the south and 1 from the west coast, 1000% agree, I was taught from a very young age to speak “clearly” or I might sound uneducated. Now working in a southern restaurant I try to overplay my accent, but people still say I sound like I’m from the Midwest (I’ve never been north of Virginia in the states)
Ask a Bostonian and a New Yorker to say the word “coffee” and you will hear a pronounced difference. Also hate to tell you, but in the old days, the different boroughs of New York each had distinct accents. My grandfather, raised in Hell’s Kitchen, pronounced “girls” as “goils.”
My mother has family in New Orleans. She said that the older generation, which would’ve been born in the early 1900s, pronounced girl that way. I wonder what caused it.
And honestly what they were saying was a new york accent sounds more like a (new) Jersey one... (Still various different ones in nj, but they are usually a bit more similar than new York ones from what I know (mom grew up in NJ, and we had family and family friends that live there and they pronounce things like that))
my grandma is from new jersey but she moved to boston when she was in her 20s and lived here ever since, it’s been almost 60 years. she lived right across the river from new york, so she had a new york accent, and now the only word she still pronounces with that accent (she’s picked up a boston accent after living here for such a long time) is coffee. i say it more like cAAfee, she says cOWAHfee
My Mom was from Florida. I found out years later she had gone to a dialect coach to get rid of her drawl. As a kid I kind of wondered why her siblings had accents, but didn't. I think she was afraid people would think her less intelligent with the drawl. Silly stereotype really.
Agree! I feel as though Cajun and even New Orleans (true New Orleans) accents are SO different that you have to say specifically what area you’re from rather than just say “Louisiana”. They should get someone from Villa Platte to talk, they’d lose it laughing.
Look my granddaddy is Cajun. My grandma is creole. Her mother is half French. I have that New Orleans accent where my words run together. Like a cross between a drunk slur and singing
Depends. I think culturally it starts to sound unintelligent when you're louder and angrier, there's definitely an elegant version of it that seems very high-society southern that carries with it this almost high society swagger, just a different kind of high society.
People sometimes judge someones education/intelligence based on an accent which is honestly the MOST ridiculous thing. I love hearing everyone’s accent. 😊
There is a reason that Southern accents are considered less educated in the US. Hookworm was rampant in the US and was endemic to the southern states. It actually causes developmental issues and perceived laziness.
Hey, Boston guy here. Sadly, the accent is not commom, is found primarily in the eastern part of one of our smallest states (MA), and seems to be dwindling. Fortunately, I’m still around it every day. My grandmother’s is the thickest I’ve ever heard. For such a rare accent, its cultural/historical significance is felt by its continued use in movies, tv shows, etc. The Boston accent is older than the New York accent and is only really similar in its non-rhoticism (R drop), like in most Enlish accents. Boston > New York. FIGHT ME! ☘️
Yep, David H.. South Louisiana accent also spills over some into coastal Mississippi.. North Louisiana and Central to North Mississippi are very similar..
I love the New Orleans accent. Both the city and the accent have to be the most unique and cool things in America. I love Louisiana! I will say I was a little bummed last time I was there trying to find someone with the New Orleans accent to show my kids and couldn’t find a single person that day. I don’t know if it’s getting diluted or I was in the wrong place, but I was deliberately looking for locals and not tourists and still couldn’t find anyone.
When I started working in the oil field I couldn’t understand anything they were saying. After years around them my ears have been trained but when I introduce them to family or friends that have never met people from Louisiana they can’t understand them.
Here’s a well kept Southern secret: only English actors and actresses can do proper Southern accents. We roar at the attempts of non Southern US natives trying to do ANY southern accent. We are laughing AT them , not with them.
As a Bostonian it’s funny how people love our accent from other countries, seeing that most Americans hate it! Also how DARE you compare us to New York
I LOVE that y’all are so drawn to the southern accent! I’m from Selma, Alabama, and it’s very endearing to know that people overseas like it so much! I usually get picked on for it where I currently live in Fort Walton Beach, Florida 😂
@@haraldisdead Yeah, but it is or was a fort/military area. So people expect higher levels of communication around them. More direct talking and you're supposed to ditch any accents or clues of where you're from. I'd say around Forts and fort towns there's this air of professionalism or expedience.
Even Louisiana doesn’t have just one accent. You have “southern”, you’ve got Cajun, and then you have one of the most distinct accents in the country, the New Orleans area accent. It is so distinct that only one in a hundred film makers even tries to get it right. For those who have never heard it, it is closest to a mix of New York and Southern. Yeah, I generalized the name, for an easier understanding if the rest of the country. It exists in New Orleans, and then the greater metro area, which is roughly the surrounding 4 parishes, roughly a 75 mile ring around the outskirts of the city. Within that area are at least 15 variations that I know of. As to the NY and Boston accents, I went to college with a school population that was 1/3 Boston and 1/5 New York and heard their accents all the time. Both are very different and very distinctive from each other. Enjoyed the video!
My first time visiting New Orleans was for a bachelor party back in 2017. Y'all had some nasty flooding that weekend and I got caught up in it trying to meet up with the rest of the guys. I think twenty people told me to "pull up onto the neutral ground" before I figured out what the hell they were talking about!
@William Berry I'm not sure what you are hearing to even think of comparing NO to Boston, but I've lived in NYC and boston and they both sound similar, as most accents you'll hear on websites are older people with far more extreme accents than the norm. Cajun accent is like mixing french with generic southern US.
@@alexanderbohl6710 yep! 👍 I covered that mile-wise in my rambling second paragraph, LOL. I figured it would be easier for people to visualize that on a map than naming parishes. My second wife was from “da Parish.” 😁
Southern people aren't embarrassed when they're in the South, but I think in general when you see a southern person portrayed in the media they are always made out to be ignorant, stupid, etc.
Y'all come see us down here in South Carolina anytime now, ya hear. You will get all the y'all you can take. I know that British Accents can vary widely, but are always very rich and delightful to hear.👩😇
As someone who's lived in the South most of my life I can confirm that there's a lot of truth in the stereotype of Southerners being dumb. But, it's not their fault. Education isn't a priority for most Southern states. They'd rather put money towards oil companies and football teams than updated textbooks and well paid teachers. There's also a well defined anti-intellectual sentiment that only adds fuel to the fire of Southern ignorance. But... we're super nice, y'all.
@@michaeld519 I've lived in the South my entire life. The south does tend to be lacking on the education front, but I wouldn't say stupid. Ive traveled over half of the U.S. and in my experience most people in the South aren't stupider than people from anywhere else as far as intelligence goes.
@@ikikazz1 you're right. Southerners aren't naturally more stupid than anybody else. Just generally less educated with a tendency to be more willfully ignorant. It's frustrating because there's so much wasted potential.
I disagree, only a small portion of people in Louisiana actually have a Cajun accent. You literally have to go down the bayou to hear that particular accent, alot of people here have an accent similar to that woman.
Agree with Emily! Most people in Louisiana sound like the girl in this video. The cajun accent is often only found in very rural areas close to the bayou.
@@emily_stewart I'm from Louisiana and we have variety of accents and most are creole and Cajun for sure in the bottom half of Louisiana. New Orleans has the biggest variety of accents that is found in most parts of Louisiana. Lafayette is mostly creole speaking. Where I'm from, which is two hours away from New Orleans , we speak pig Latin.
Kansas accent is the “Midwest” accent-it’s closest to the one used by network news anchors. As a Canadian, I grew up with an “oot and aboot” dilute variation of a Scottish accent, (“Sunday” pronounced “Sundee” for example) but after a few years of watching television, I developed a Midwest accent.
People in America tend to relate the Southern accent to being unsophisticated and low bred. I often find myself feeling a bit insecure with my Texas Twang accent.
On the positive side, the rest of America finds your accent soothing and friendly, and will trust you more easily, and feel comfortable around you more quickly. Some people who work with folks in distress--like funeral directors, or crime scene cleanup crews--FAKE a Texas accent in order to have clients feel calmer and safer around them.
From one southerner to another, who has felt the same insecurities, let that beautiful southern draw out on display. Some do quite enjoy it. Stay safe & take care :)
I'm from New York and I think it sounds really nice, probably the most pleasant of all accents in the country. The accent is part of what makes that part of the country interesting. It would be sad if it went away because people feel self-conscious. Embrace it!
Instead of the “common” accent, I think you mean more like the standard. The Midwest accent is considered the standard accent. Specifically, the standard phone operator voice was selected to be the Ohio accent because it was considered the most neutral. This video was fun. Yeah Boston and New York totally sound different to an American. Haha. I am from Tennessee. I have heard several Brits say that they like the southern accent best. The farther south you go the more droll and slow it gets. The stereotypical Gone With the Wind accent is from Georgia. Sorry to ramble. You guys are cute. 🥰
Kansas kid spoke in what is considered a standard "Midwestern" accent, which is often used on American TV and in American movies that aren't based in an area known for another accent (like the South, New York, Texas, etc.). It's also what is used by newscasters, and can be called "Broadcast English." The reason why some Southern people might be self-conscious about their accent is that it makes them stick out in the larger population, and some of the assumptions made regarding a Southern accent is that you're "slow," or "dumb."
Disagree - that's a not a standard Midwestern accent he has, and the midwestern accent is not "broadcast English". The MW accent is Chicago, Minnesota, etc.
The issue is, the individual with alleged accent thinks they don't have an accent and everyone else does. That's how it usually works, unless some one relocates to a different area.
Your opinion about Kansas accent is spot on!!! I am from Northern California and I couldn’t even tell the difference of whether the guy was from Kansas or California. Good job guys!
What you’re calling “general American accent” (like the guy from Kansas has) is the midwestern accent. It’s kind of analogous to BBC “Received Pronunciation” in that it’s so widespread largely because it’s the preferred accent of anchormen (newsreaders) and other media voices. That’s because it’s readily comprehensible to pretty much everybody. It has spread very widely because of this and can now be found pretty much anywhere, not just in the Midwest.
How can it be midwestern when he calls a bubbly carbonated beverage soda?? His accent sounds neutral to be. As someone else said, places like Wisconsin, the Dakota’s, Illinois, all sound different. He sounds super neutral IMO. Sounds just like people from Northeast who don’t have the accents.
@@thecheese3595 well, there’s no such thing as a “neutral” accent or “no accent.” There are only familiar accents and unfamiliar accents. And I assure you, his accent falls right in the spectrum of what is called Midwestern. If it sounds neutral to you, that’s because it is so familiar for the reasons I listed.
No idea how true it is, but I've heard that if you want to be successful in a news media career, you have to live in the Midwest at least a few years to become accustomed to speaking that accent. (I grew up in the Midwest, specifically the Great Lakes area.) Another thing to consider is that if it's a 3-hour drive from Boston to New York, that's not a straight-line distance. That area of the country is known for meandering routes.
The Upper Midwest has several distinct accents that aren't really "general American". Its people from Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska who have the most "generic" accent.
@@BostonBobby1961 New England accents, especially more northern they are, retain more of the British pronunciation and intonation from the early settlers. Living way down east we also have local accents that have Irish and Scottish echoes. Ayuh!
I don’t think it gets stronger with age. I think younger people are more exposed to the internet and media in their formative years so they end up talking more like that than the people around them. I think most English language accents will get more neutral over time everywhere
Yall make me feel better about my accent. I was just watching amber heard and j depp trial and I said "trial"but it came out as "trall" lol But thank yall for the complements! Us with a south accent are made to feel like we are stupid just for having an accent. Thanks again. Have a good one!
Not just southern accents, rural Midwestern as well. My father grew up on a farm during the Great Depression in rural Ohio. He pronounces "creek" as "crick" for example. I had to get kind of crappy with one of his doctors for being kind of condescending about a medication question. The doctor seemed to think he wouldn't understand the answer. Before he retired 25 years ago he was a pharmaceutical research scientist, and probably knew more than the doctor about the drug in question.
Both New York and Boston have so many different accents in the same city that it's hard to compare them anyway. However, there are some Boston accents that do sound similar to New York accents. I was born and raised in another Massachusetts city, Fall River, and moved to New Hampshire. Everyone always asks me if I'm from New York, even people from New York.
Yes, they are different...but they both come with much faster pacing, a greater sense of urgency - which distinguishes them from other regional American accents, and contributes to confusion among those who haven’t lived in or near one of them. (I graduated from high school in upstate NY, less than an hour from the MA border.) @Joel & Lia, here’s my amateur description of the most obvious characteristics of these accents. (Please, no hate: I’m painting with a *very* broad brush here!!) 1. NYC area would say something like “nyoo yawk”; Boston area would say “new yahhk”; the South would say “nyew yorrk”; the rest of the US would say “noo york”...where you in the UK would say “nyew yohk” 2. “I paahked my caa in Haavaahd Yaahd” is the classic phrase used to illustrate a Boston accent. R’s are dropped in much of New England, similar to the UK; the vowels are different, though. (Joel, you have a good ear!) 3. “Tawk” (for “talk”) is a good NYC indicator. Also, “I godda go witchoo” (for “I[‘ve] gotta go with you.”) Suggestions for other interesting US accents: 1. Minnesota: listen to the o’s and the a’s; remember the movie “Fargo”? 2. Texas vs. Louisiana or Georgia vs. Virginia: get a sense of nuance across Southern accents 3. Utah/Idaho vs. Kansas/Nebraska: you might be able to hear a bit of the Western twang vs. the plain-vanilla Midwestern standard, though it’s more subtle Love your channels! 🍾
Also, it's a Spanish word. " The term puma is also used in the United States. The first use of 'puma' in English dates to 1777, introduced from Spanish, and prior from the Peruvian Quechua language in the 16th century, where it means "powerful"."
I think the reason why the Kansan accent sounds like a 'default American accent' is because in the early days of radio communication, that accent was the easiest to understand. The US military actively recruited from the Midwest because they typically annunciated their words clearly and the vast majority of people can understand. It probably steeped into radio and television entertainment, and since entertainment is one of the US's biggest exports, it all makes sense.
New York also gets more lips. Saying “sauce” in New York will equate to “suaw-ce” with decent lip movement. Boston “sauce” is more like “suh-oss” with very relaxed lips
Indeed, Boston and NY accents do not sound similar at all, but most people are not familiar with them and don't have their ears tuned to the sounds so they think that they are similar just because they are non rethoric, but the sounds are completely different
If you want to hear authentic regional American accents, you should try to find middle-aged or older working class people. People in their teens and twenties, especially if they're from well-to-do families and have a college degree, tend to have more of a generic American accent regardless of where they grew up.
Yes...President Kennedy..that would be easy for them to google and listen to a speech....then can do the same thing with Gulianni for NY..even Trump..but in NY they vary more...not as distinct as Boston. I'm from California, but I love Boston...
Michael Earendil no, he had a combination of mid-Atlantic, which was a fake “posh” accent developed in the late 19th century for theater, and a true Boston accent. I know no one in New England who actually speaks like a 20th century Kennedy.
@@michaelearendil6843 yeah his accent was what was seen as a 'posh' Boston accent that was developed in upper class communities- it was common in movies as well (Mid-Atlantic basically was half English RP and half American and taught in private schools and cotillion classes to children). Kennedy still had a Bostonian twang, which was made it a Boston Mid-Atlantic accent, but it was distinctly different from the majority of Boston accents. It has mostly disappeared though some of old great wealth in Boston supposedly still maintain parts of the Posh Boston accent.
Ny itself has multiple accents Brooklyn, Staten Island and Bronx are more distinct because their communities are often more home grown while manhattan can be more transient
I do this with many words I don’t know why. I guess because I grew up in a culturally neutral state, so I just kind of picked how I say things at random based on what I hear from other people lol.
@@bobungaurmoms4954 I usually say "root" when talking about a physical path to somewhere, and "rowt" when talking about a metaphorical path. Where do you live, btw?
Common misconception there. No body in Boston says "Bah-ston". A Connecticut accent would say "Bah-ston". Boston is "BAWST-in" in Boston. A clear differentiation is in words like "can't" and "half". In Boston it's said, "I CAHHNT get there in a HAAFF hour."
In my experience of traveling the US, I’ve noticed that accents are separated by regions. And within a regional accent you can pinpoint where it’s from except for maybe what you would call a “normal” accent. Such as: I would classify a New York and Boston accent as a New England accent as a whole. The whole northeastern region sound very similar and is the most British sounding of American accents ranging from as south as Pennsylvania and West Virginia all the way north until the Canadian border. Next is the southern accent. states that Start transitioning from northern to southern accent include Kansas straight lined east to Virginia and everything south of those states. Then you have the Canadian sounding northern accents which are prevalent in eastern North Dakota, northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Then there’s the Mexican border states such as southern Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, southern Nevada, and southern California have Mexican/Latin accents. And then I believe southern Louisiana has its own Creole accent. Everywhere else you go in the US has your typical American accent where you wouldn’t be able to tell whether someone is from Nebraska or all the way across the country in Oregon. And of course your typical American accent is sprinkled everywhere you go. I myself am from South Dakota and everyone around me has your typical American accent.
My mother has a New Jersey accent and my father has a Boston accent. Their accents get thicker when they are tired. They have been married for decades and still can't understand each other. All my life I have had to translate. New Jersey has weird vowel sounds especially "a" and they speak really fast. The parts of the country that were well settle when travel outside your local area meant days on horseback created isolated populations where distinct accents developed in what is today close proximity.
If you like Southern accents, then you’ll want to compare aTexas accent vs a Deep South accent - like South Carolina or Georgia or Virginia - vs a Cajun accent. They are really distinct. Also, try listening to a Boston accent alongside a Brooklyn accent and a New Jersey accent. All will be different. It’s funny - I’m partly blind and have to rely on audiobooks for reading. One of my pet peeves is when they get accents wrong. A recent one gave all Yorkshire people an Irish accent! Another gave someone from Savannah, Georgia a Texas accent. They need to do what you’re doing and learn the differences!
That Louisiana girl was either from Central or North Louisiana which has absolutely no bearing on a Cajun accent (western or eastern) or a New Orleans accent or a plantation Parish accent
Texas has several different accents depending on the region. We’re from Deep East Texas and when my youngest went off to school in central Texas everyone would always say how they loved the accent.
Virginia may be Old South, but it's not Deep South. The best-known accent here is Tidewater, which extends down to North Carolina, and is similar to the old aristocratic Southern accent, derived from British. If you really want to hear something crazy, Google Tangier Island accent.
A word of advice: Never tell a New Yorker he sounds like a Bostonian. Also, never tell a Bostonian he sounds like a New Yorker. In both cases you may find yourselves in nasty arguments. The primary differences between these accents are the letters "a", and "o". One thing both accents have in common is that they're nonrhotic, similar to the accents of GB. Bostonian vowels tend to be broad and flat (I pahked the cah in Hahvahd Yahd). New York vowels are more rounded (cawfee, tawk). Also New Yorkers tend to pronounce the "th" combination like a "d" or "t". The New York accent reflects the speech patterns of its largest immigrants groups over the centuries, namely; the Dutch, English, Irish, Italians and Jews. I've read, the Boston accent, however, is the modern derivative of the accent used by the English Puritans (better known as the Pilgrims) who founded Plymouth.
Good description of the differences. As for New Jersey, that is slightly different from NYC - at least NNJ. Once you go south of Monmouth County, though, it sounds closer to the Philly accent (my opinion). :)
The stereotypical New York City accent really doesn't exist anymore. I was born in NJ but raised 2 kids in NYC, neither has that accent and you really don't hear it on the street anymore. I think that accent is mostly out on Long Island now.
My sister knew a UMass linguist who determined that the Boston accents originated from Dorset, England and the original settlers in the area founded Dorchester ("Daw-chestah")
I am from Texas, born and raised and honestly didn’t realize I even had an accent until I visited Europe, starting with the UK, lol. I kept being told how fun or adorable my twang was. I would just say “what’re y’all talkin about? What accent?” 🤣 so funny now!
I am proud of my southern/southwestern accent. Easy to understand, not too fast. Love rodeos, shooting sports, Sooner and Cowboy (OSU) football and good BBQ.
"Y'all" is not just Texas. It's pretty much west of the mountains that separated the original 13 colonies. Lewis and Clark probably started it, Day 1 of their journey.
I'm from Oklahoma City, and while I do use "y'all", "howdy", and other "southernisms", I'd say I have a mostly Midwestern accent. But my mom is from south-eastern Oklahoma, and they've definitely got more of a twang down there.
The media sucks. Don't let it dictate your life. The less you watch, the better. It's 99% coastal elites that know nothing about normal Americans. I'm from New York, by the way, so I know.
There used to be lots of slight variations in the Boston accent, which have been flattened out in recent years. And, you are correct, there are many similarities between the Boston accent and the version of the New York accent you are thinking of. The biggest difference between the 2 is in the “short o,” which Bostonians pronounce very similarly to Canadians from Ontario. This is one of the underrated characteristics of the Boston accent.
Yooper accents are closer to Minnesota accents, from what I've heard. Not sure how much the accent is due to the original "melting pot" ingredients. The following thoughts are what I was told, not sure how much truth is in each "fact": Milwaukee (southern Wisconsin) is heavy in germanic heritage, while many parts of Minnesota were heavily Scandinavian heritage, and the U.P. had lots of Yorkshire miners. Kansas was a stereotypical "American" accent, and the further from that accent someone is, the more isolated from the wider world a person is perceived to be. A heavy Yooper or Appalachian accent is seen as less intelligent, because the accent is from a sparsely populated area, where formal education opportunities used to be very limited. The south used to have 2 accents: one for the ones rich enough for a private education and for those without an expensive education. The "southern twang" known today is the latter of the two. New York doesn't have the same stereotype, but there still is one. "Each huge city is so large that the average citizen never looks at/listens to/pays attention to anything outside it. In media/entertainment, a heavy New York/Chicago/any huge city accent is associated with someone who will never leave that city and doesn't want to know anything outside its area.
@@aprilvoecks5877 Yooper native, living in Appleton Wisconsin kinda near Lake Michigan, Yooper accents are a bit of it's own flavor of North mid-Western accents in many ways. I don't like it at all, I think I've taught myself to avoid particular things in the accent. The "R's" in some words are just abrasive sounding even to my ear. The THICK accent makes me cringe. I've heard that in the harsh cold Northern area of Northern American/Canadian accents may have come from a person who's talking in the harsh cold weather (-20s-30s are coldest ive felt, terrifyingly cold, and historically it was probably much colder) so, ppl talked with their mouth stay closed as much as possible to speak? and jaw motion makes words come out differently. I have no idea for sure, but its something i've heard. My family came to America from Scandinavia, and different originating peoples versions of American accents with that adapted jaw position of the jaw maybe explains the differences in very cold climates accents? not an expert, I just hear things and believe them if they sound neat. lol It's an lesser known accent, and for good reason imo lol not a fan, personally. Try saying "Sorry" as "Sore-ee" rather than the "Sah-ree" = I say "Sore-ee" Has a very different jaw & mouth motion & positioning, my jaw hardly moves and mouth barely opens. its almost like a ventriloquist's talking, instead of having a slightly open mouth "Ahh" lol
Let's see - I've known and/or worked with dozens of people from most states in my life, even a fair number of Alaskans - and how many Hawaiians? Um, one. Maybe that's why no one thinks about it. I don't think most of us have ever heard it.
@@renroxhrd you should look up videos about Hawaiian Pidgin. It’s a creole language that blends linguistic elements of all the immigrant populations Hawaii received over the last few centuries. I grew up in Hawaii. I can understand it and speak it, but it’s not really something I can just describe and you’ll get it. Just Google or UA-cam “Hawaiian pidgin”.
@@Johnnygyro I also grew up in Hawaii, moved to the mainland as a preteen and it took me a while to stop verbally punctuating sentences with, "yah," or, "no." The entire island culture, not even including Hawaiian Pidgin, is so different from anything you'll find in the mainland and is the closest thing an American can experience to visiting a foreign country without needing a passport.
I am not sure about other New Jersey accents but I sound very midwestern and so I kind of get confused when people talk about NJ accents. Like I know people who live in North NJ have the New York accent and thus will say New "Jorsey" but me and a lot of people I live with have little accent.
8:15 To answer your question, Southern accents are often associated with TV or movie characters who aren't terribly smart, so a lot of people think a Southern accent sounds uneducated.
The Japanese guy doing the Minnesota accent in Fargo cracks me up every time. Comedian Henry Cho is a Korean guy from Tennessee, he has a thick Southern accent, and it's hilarious.
The “r” is close, but the vowels are very different. Sometimes the “r” is different as well, where some (Brooklyn) people might add one to the word pizza, and say it like “peetzer” instead. New Jersey has the more refined and correct version of the accent, hahaha!
I know they are distinct to people from both cities, but to a lot of people outside of the region they sound generally alike, kind of like Southern accent sounds alike to people from the Northeast
As with NY, the Bostonian accent varies. -er, -ar sounds become that ah sound that's a little higher than the English ah. Some Bostonians (like Brooklyn folks, apparently) change standard ah sounds (think Cuba, idea) to er (Cuber, ideer), but many never do and some (like in some English accents) only do it when the next word starts with a vowel sound (Cuber is v. Cuba was, my idea for v. My ideer of). Younger people tend toward the more standard American pronunciation though--indeed, I've lived here all my life and can't even speak thick Bostonian on command anymore--and my grandparent's generation had a more British sounding Bostonian (baaahth more than bath). Some Bostonians also pronounce short o similar to NY (so close to NY's coahfee or even Boastin, like the guy in your vid) but I usually hear caahfee and Baahstin more. And none of this is to mention differences in regional vocab . . . (e.g. we say wait in line. They say wait on line, which just scratches through the record in my head whenever I hear it).
My family is from Atlanta, and we have some close family friends who moved here from Maine. One time one of their brothers came to visit and we met them. He was trying to tell my dad that he owned a car auction, but with his New England accent, my dad thought he was saying he owned a cow auction. LOL
When I worked at a store years ago, one of my co-workers moved down from Boston. I loved how he said it. It was pronounced like Boiston. I am a southern American, although my accent has been influenced by my parents, who were raised elsewhere. Southerners are often ashamed of their accents because it is associated with supposedly being stupid. I figure that there are different accents in the US and that I shouldn't be ashamed, but I do try to make sure that I pronounce all of my letters and not blend them too much because I work in a call center. I have found that when I say "you all" to the customer, they think I am saying y'all. I don't know if I'm blending the letters too much or if that's just what they're hearing. I have started saying "You guys" even thought I might be speaking to a woman. lol.
Lots of places say “y’all,” my grandfather was from Iowa and he used it, people are sometimes embarrassed by accent because of the way it is depicted in popular culture, they are usually shown as less intelligent. You should do a video on Wisconsinesse or Minisotan.
Oofda... doncha know it's spelled Minnesota? We have plenty of different terms for things, but I feel like we mostly talk neutral (nothing like Fargo) with occasional drawing out of vowels. Unless you bring up that blasphemous game "duck duck goose" then I'm not sure someone could just spot me as Minnesotan.
Don't minnasotans say beg instead of bag? Or an i thinking of more the Wisconsin area? All I know is I stopped at a gas station there and when the clerk asked if I wanted a beg about 20 times it finally dawned on me they might mean bag.
It’s really only used in certain parts of the southern part of the United States, I’m from Maryland which is on the east coast and we don’t really say y’all, our accent is very basic
But the aerospace engineer,optic scientist and author,Travis Taylor would completely disagree with you.Born,raised and still lives in Alabama and as country as cornbread (without sugar of course)
Kansan here: our accent is pretty much the "standard" or "common" American Accent. Our accent is very unremarkable. Generic is a good way to describe it.
It's the General American dialect that's the most common accent (or lack thereof) in the US, spoken all the way across the middle of the country pretty much from coast to coast. North and south of that band is a different story, but the I-70 corridor is pretty much all GA. The band is narrower band in the east and fans out wider as you go west. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American_English
As someone born and raised in Jersey for like 21 years. I've not once pronounced it "joisey" But there are times where I catch myself when I'm speaking fast that I'll drop things, mother and father become mudda and fadda, hell loses the H sometimes, and if anything has NG at the end it no longer has that G, so itll be stylin, drivin, relaxin
Boston accents completely remove the r's, whereas New York accents generally turn it into a "au" sort of sound. For "park", Boston says "pak", and New York says "pauk" But to most Americans, the two accents sound the same as well. But to actual Bostonian/New Yorkers, obviously they're very aware of the differences.
@@deliaby4557 That's true. New Yorkers don't really speak fast per se but they shorten their sentences sometimes by cutting words off before their done or kind of letting the words come out sloppily without fully pronouncing them. Haven't heard that as much from Boston accents.
@@AllHaiLKINGTIsHeRe3 Accurate. New Yorkers speed through their sentences and drop the ends of words. Bostonians are almost southern in the lengths of their sentence phrasing
I'm from Kansas City and when I moved to New Jersey, people were stopping me in mid-sentence and asking me to repeat words in my "Southern" accent. When I'm comfortable and chill, I do incorporate drawls from central/southern Missouri that I heard in my family growing up. I even use different words and phrasing.
If you'd like to help support the running of our channel (but please don't feel obliged): www.ko-fi.com/joelandlia
This is a authentic Louisiana accent:
ua-cam.com/video/eK4umRMJlrs/v-deo.html
This is southwest Louisiana creole accent ua-cam.com/video/q_-Cm8f3CZY/v-deo.html&feature=share
Grant Wheeler and lionel riley have given you examples of a Cajun (Acadian) accent: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Louisiana_regions_map.svg/1200px-Louisiana_regions_map.svg.png
Barry Fletcher yeah the video I post I know him he has that Acadian southwest creole accent. I’m from the greater New Orleans area & River Parishes so our accent is different as well.
Video Idea for you: Brits react to American College Football Pre-Game/In-Game Traditions (i.e. Florida State University Chief Osceola Planting the Spear and the Warchant playing).
Lmao thinking 3 hours is far away is the most British thing ever.
😂😂😂😂 facts
Just drove 2.5 hours for dinner with my husband for my bday last weekend. 😂😂🇺🇲
Hell, even without traffic, it take over 45 minutes to drive from one side of metro Atlanta to the other. When I have to drive to the northern suburbs, it can be well over an hour! lol
In Montana 3 hours is the next town over.
It takes 3.5 hours to go from Austin to Dallas, both still in central Texas. 😂
"Why are southerners self-conscious about their accent?" Because the rest of the country tells us we sound stupid and low class.
I'm Southern and proud. I don't care if people don't like it.
@@sonoftherabbitpeople4737 same, but it took me a long time to feel that way after being told those things as a kid.
True. Its hearing characters that have more pronounced southern accents be perceived as stupid or hicks causes me to feel self conscious of my own accent. And not even just to portrayal of characters. Ive heard my step mother say how my brother and his ex wife should train their child to not have the southern accent he has(even though both of my nephew parents are from the south), because his accent apparently makes him sound "stupid/dumb".
I like your accent
It's romantic and sexy
I'm from south Louisiana and im damn proud of my southern draw.
The south has so many different accents. Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Kentucky and Tennessee alllll sound different!
The heaviest accent I've ever encountered was from around Birmingham Alabama. Not only the pronunciation, but the extreme slowness of the pace.
Even within the states themselves you will find lots of different accents.
Abby Smith very true! I’m from southern Ohio but moved to Columbus when I was young and everyone always pointed out my country accent 😂 now when I go back to my hometown, everyone thinks I talk different
@@tommccafferty5591 If you want to hear a slow, drawling accent, try spending some time in the Appalachian Mountains. I'm from Northeast Tennessee and I swear with some of my older relatives you could start a conversation, go get dinner, and be back before they finished their first sentence.
Either that, or they'll chatter so quickly you'll have trouble picking the words out.
@@VioletEnds It is amazing how slow some of them can talk.
Southern accents, especially Appalachia, are heavily influenced by early settlers who were Scots-Irish. The accents and the grammar and sentence structure are also heavily affected by our ancestors.
Don't forget the many British ancestors who chose to settle in the South long ago. A vast number came to Alabama and Georgia in the 1880's to build the railroads.
There were as many English settlers in Appalachia and the Carolinas as there were Scotch Irish, hence so many of our common surnames.
@@maryreilly5092 the redneck's ancestors?
Only Brits would explain their meaning of the word "common". It is rare in the US that we use "common" in a social economic way so it never even occurred to me.
Yeah i was confused when they explained the other definition of common at first.
Haha ikr
Common ain’t in our vocabulary
Common as in House of Commons - as opposed to House of Lords.
Same
The "southern accent" is stereotyped as "stupid" a lot of the time. I think that's why some people are embarrassed of it,
It's funny because a southern drawl doesn't imply stupidity. Probably the result of Gone With The Wind, but my dad is from WV which his accent implies stupidity. One of the smartest men I know, and his accent is judged as stupid. I really know why the woman in the video felt a little uncomfortable speaking with her accent. But I was raised in western PA. and we embrace the differences of the words we "mispronounce" and laugh at ourselves because we're from Picksburgh. Go Picksburgh Stillers!! 😂
@@gingersnap22 TBC: I'm not agreeing with the stereotype, just saying it exists, and like a lot of self conciousness issues it probably stems (at least in part) from people who project their own insecurities about themselves onto the opinions of others
Totally agree! People seem to want to put everyone in a certain box. A box that doesn't fit anyone. We are much more complicated than that. Its unfortunate that it seems to be amped up lately. 😔
@@gingersnap22 I'm going to set aside my loathing of the Stillers for a moment. (I'm a lifelong Bangles fan). Is it that the southern accent in general is stereotyped as stupid, or is it the association people make with Appalachian states partially responsible for that? People who aren't from the south or from Appalachia probably can't tell the difference between the two. I'm sure that my father, who was brilliant and could reverse engineer anything, but who almost didn't finish high school, would be stereotyped as stupid by his accent. He kind of sounded like Foghorn Leghorn, actually.
@@MajahDancer omg! My dad can imitate Foghorn Legorn! Awesome. Lol. Yeah, I was referring to the stupidity/southern accent stereotype. Yeah. I love dialects and can pick them out usually by area. It seems though as southern drawl like in some spots in the south, are considered cultured and refined. My dad, unfortunately, would fall into the banjo picking hillbilly group. Like I said, your dad and mine could be geniuses and still get laughed at. Now my grandpa came from the southern part of Virginia and had the drawl. He also was illiterate. Stereotype destroyed. It sucks to be put in a certain "class" of people purely for your dialects. Smh
As an American I forgot that “common” has a meaning related to class difference 😂
I thought the same thing. That was such a British thing to say. “Well not like the class common” yeah no American thought that.
I was thinking that too. We don’t really use the word common in that sense
I didn’t catch that, either, haha.
Was absolutely about to comment the same thing lol
@@ImYerDadJourdan Same
As a native Texan I can assure you there are many different accents within Texas itself. Depending on where abouts in Texas you live or grew up.
There are a few differences across dixie but unless you are from here or lived here a while they arent super distinguishable
facts normally west texas has a stronger accent while if you’re in the big cities or near the gulf coast you have more of a neutral accent
@Bubblez & HoneySuckle I'm from the south so maybe I'm a little biased, but the Texas drawl is one of my favorite American accents. Definitely nothing boring about it in my opinion. 😊
Exactly I sound very different from my cousins and they don't even live that many towns away.
and actually they are 4 sisters and 2 of them have thicker accents then the other 2 idk why just thought I should say that I guess maybe they moved around abit.
So true! I grew up in a small town about 30 min from Dallas and I have friends from there that even say I have a heavier southern accent.
The accent that you called 'normal' is what Americans call the Midwestern accent.
and northern
@@qpol No. Wisconsin and Minnesota and North Datoka are not what is "normal" - snooo ya knoooo eh?
Is Pennsylvania midwestern
@@CaspiRose99 depending on who you talk to west pa like Pittsburgh is midwest, while
east PA like Philly isn’t (I live in the middle so uh)
Facts, they just sound normal
I think the word you're all looking for with the Kansas accent is "neutral".
I'm from Kansas and the accents range from somewhat southern to somewhat northern, depending on age and education. The example is from a young man, who seems educated. I'm much older, and educated, but my dad only went to the fourth grade, so his accent was quite different. For 'soda,' I say 'pop' or even 'coke' in the generic sense, which could mean Pepsi; my dad used to say 'sody' or 'sody pop.' My niece says 'soda.'
Lyle Gentry really? Why do you spend your days looking for people to insult on the Internet?
I think for regions in the center of the country some of the key identifying features are the way they choose to pronounce certain words. Words like aunt, pecan, caramel, pajamas, can vary region to region even when the rest of the accent sounds fairly similar. I think that’s why some of the words that he was reading were on the list.
@@pjschmid2251 Whom did I insult?
Lyle Gentry in what universe is calling someone slow-witted not an insult?
I love people in the UK trying to wrap their heads around distance in the US.
I have a friend in the UK who so far has come to the US to visit twice, and one of the things she wanted to do was a classic American road trip like she had heard about and seen in the movies. No problem, I love road trips. The first one we did was about 400 miles each way. She enjoyed that one so much we did a bigger one the next time she visited, closer to 1,500 miles round trip. I've driven all over the US including coast to coast several times and a 12, 000 miler from the east up the Alaska Highway to Fairbanks, AK then to L.A. and back across the country to home a few years ago. 1,500 miles isn't a big trip to me, but she was amazed at the distances we think nothing of driving on "holiday", also how cheap gas is here, and the way motels, gas stations, restaurants and etc are open 24/7 and set up to accommodate long distance travelers. I've toured the UK and Europe by car a few times, and if you try to travel long distance by car there they way we do in the US and you're counting on finding motels and open restaurants and gas stations along the highways at all hours, you might very well find yourself hungry, out of gas, and sleeping in the car.
LMAO YEAH LIKE AN HOUR AWAY IS NEARBY
😂😂
Exactly. We are very large compared to the uk. Ok hey are the size of 1 small state Alabama and Alabama is a lil larger
@@TS-ef2gv my husband and I did a road trip in the UK a few years ago (decades really since it was 1998). We were very thankful that there were some roadside hotels in many towns along the way that didn’t require a reservation and weren’t quite as shady or scary as some of the ones you’d find here in the states. But yes, we had to plan a bit and skip a town or two until we found some accommodations. Luckily there were lots of little towns and no long stretches of nothingness like you get here in the southwest.
I’m from Kansas City (which is actually in Missouri). The accent here is the Midwest accent found in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa. It’s commonly called the “news caster” accent because when television was getting its back in the 40’s and other American accents were still quite strong, the TV stations hired news reporters from the Midwest because our accent was the most neutral and easiest to understand across the nation. I’ve had British friends say it can almost sound a bit posh, but I guess that depends on the individual speaker. Hope that helps.
yeah im frl stl and the only time i hear an accent is in specific words and sometimes my vowels have a bit of an "ah" sound to them. wash "wersh", doll "dall", missouri "missouruh" are the ones that stick out in my mind
I’m from St. Louis as well. I went to KU, have lived in 4 other states and now live in Kansas again. You’re spot on.
Kansas is a State, its in the exact center of the country.
@@garycamara9955 not quite.
Kansas accent is “Midwestern “. Many TV news anchors are hired from the Midwest because there isn’t any strong accent. The Midwest is considered the most neutral accent in the US
Also, in Washington D.C. tour guides get hired based on weather or not they have a "Midwestern" accents. Same reason.
"Neutral" is the best term to use.
I live in Kansas City. Decades ago one of the TV stations hired a Texas beauty queen as a news anchor. First thing they did was to send the poor girl to speech therapy. True story.
@@russbear31 that’s nuts! Why not just hire a local gal? Here in TN the news anchors have thicker accents than the general population! Also a true story
It is not, however, Northern Midwestern. We of Wisconsin, Michigan, & Minnesota have far more nasality in our accent yet we are still considered the Midwest. And even Northern Midwestern has a subset that some just call Minnesotan, but here in Michigan we call it the "Yooper" accent. UP'er or Yooper is someone from the Upper Penninsula of Michigan.
*speaking of Boston accent* “I thought this was a New Yorker accent”
*every New Yorker has left the chat 😂😂
Facts 😆
Lmfaoooo yaaaaaaaassssss
New Yorkers left... Bostonians are looking for where “the fight” is gonna be ;)
Every Bostonian face palmed.
@@siddmic every New Englander, even.. I'm from Vermont, we have our own accents, but we can definitely tell the difference between a Boston and New York accent.. heck, I can tell the difference between a Lynn, South Boston, and Harvard accent even.
Southerners can tell which part of the South a person is from by his accent, even though most non Southerners can't.
Agreed
Agreec
Agree
Even we can tell what city sometimes by what words you use for certain things. For example, feeder roads is strictly aHoustonian word for access Rds or frontage roads.
Pretty much
I really enjoy how my Alabama accent is taken in England. Seems everyone wants to talk with me. My British friends and I often joke about needing an interpreter.
Row Todd brother
Sweet home Alabama 😂
“Yeah, Kansas City”
Kansas City: actually....I’m in Missouri....
There is also a Kansas City in Kansas. Much smaller population though.
@@wordrioter oh really? Thx, I didn’t know that haha
And Kansas. It’s actually in both, isn’t it?
@@ĐłłĐĐØ27 It's because the Missouri river cuts through the middle of it on the edge of the state. Kansas City, (neither side) is a good example of a Kansas accent. The western half of the stste would be a better example. My mom had a strong accent, and one example is the word "wash" is pronounced as "worsh" and "coupon" is said as coo-pon.
Grew up in South East Kansas and is way different than North and Middle
As a Southerner, I feel like a lot of us are self-concious about our accents because it's often associated with poverty and lack of education. There are some historical reasons for this, but Hollywood hasn't helped. Some of us have been made fun of when we travel or live in other regions.
I don't use voice chat when I play games online because of this.
Absolutely. I was born in San Antonio, but after moving to Northern Va, I was so relentlessly made fun of growing up I sorta forced myself to speak in a much more generic manner. Granted if I am drinking a lot or REALLY angry the accent still comes back out.
@@chickensandwich8808 my parents are from up North and I've moved around a bit, so my own Appalachian accent is a little wibbly-wobbly, but when I'm stressed or pissed or stoked - any time I'm talking faster than normal - it comes back with a vengence.
@@NinjaGidget its rather funny. Just this moment at work I got a little stressed for almost spilling a drink and boom out came the accent 🙃
There's also a flip side to that. I grew up in South Dakota and Minnesota, but have been told that I talk "Minnesotan," but not nearly like what you hear on the Fargo TV show. Anyway, during the times I lived in Texas and Oklahoma I got a few comments about my accent. Some just identified me as a Yankee, with a bit of hostility. Another time I was asked, "Where y'all from? Ya sure don't talk lak we do." But then I was always a bit amused at being offered a cup of "cowfee." Strangely enough, though, I carried a few Southernisms back north, such as "Fixin'" to do something. In the backwoods of Kentucky, I could hardly understand a word. And in Tennessee, they couldn't identify my accent at all.
just remember: The "Bostonian" is more Irish based. The NY'r is more jewish and Italian based.
Brooklyn has a lot of Irish. “ He was sperlin’ for a fight when he was a yoot!
Nonsense. There were more Irish people in New York than in any other city in America. Yes, Boston is known for its Irish-American population, but there were always plenty of people in Boston whose roots were from places other than Ireland.
@@CheekandBluster Not talking about their populations. I'm talking about their accents, which is what this video is about.
the north end in Boston is all Italian.
southie is irish
the "Boston Accent" is more an amalgamation of old school British and local Algonquin, with a smattering of Quaker and Puritan originally.
Present day NYC accent especially in the Bronx is more Italian based
I'm so glad you guys like our southern accents! Most of the time we're embarrassed because it comes with the connotation of being either 'slow' or 'hillbilly' and is generally negative.
Or naive. A sweet southern gal to protect as she takes care of everything inside a house you didn't even know needed to be taken care of.
Or someone you don't want to cross. A serious mama bear. An action based man who talks very little with words (accept to his wife) and is always ready for a fight. (not looking for a fight, but ready if warranted)
I think southerners are “embarrassed” or shy about their accents, because the United States tends to based someone’s intelligence based on their accent and southern is considered less intelligent, even though it’s not necessarily true
Hello there. I'm southern and I'd have to say I definitely agree with you. Plus, when I was military I was told I needed to 'fix' my accent so it just really makes us self-conscious.
People like to put others in a box to make themselves feel good and above you, but they are only full of smelly hot air.
Didn't Jeff Foxworthy say something about how, when people heard his Southern accent, he could almost watch them deduct IQ points from their assessment of him?
Somehow, America has shifted to think that a Southern drawl indicates lack of education or intelligence, or that Southern accents indicate rural (read: less cosmopolitan or worldly) backgrounds. That's stupidly misinformed, of course, given that the Southern states -- like all of the rest of our states -- have a healthy mix of big cities and small towns, industry and farms, highbrow culture and history and homespun traditions... and that living in a big city is no more a guarantee of intelligence than living in a rural community means you don't value education. I'm from Oregon myself and speak in a fairly bland "common American English" way, but I personally love some of the Southern accents for their lovely cadence, softer consonants, even the twangy vowels -- so charming!
@@oregonchick76 and we don’t typically speak 100 mph. 😂
Naw....Texas...in Houston we shoot off rockets into space 😂
I was dying when they just spouted off "Wizard of Oz" and "Kansas City" when talking about Kansas. The Missourians are gonna flame yall.
I was like *facepalm* 🤣🤣
You have to remember there is a Kansas City Kansas as well as a Kansas City Missouri.
Yes!!!!
Im from missouri, i just find it funny
I am a native Missourian, still live in the Show Me State..and am glad that some people's knowledge of one of our major cities inadvertently causes them to associate it with a much younger and in need of recognition state of our glorious Union! Yes..Kansas exists and is a state.
You were playing with fire when you said that Bostonites sound like new yorkers! There is a multi generational feud between Boston in New York City…
Indeed, although it can be forgiven to an extent. After all, call a Cockney in the UK a Scouser and you would be welcoming a fight. Or say someone from west Midlands sounds Brummie and same deal. The cultural dynamics are interesting to learn, just hopefully no one gets a black eye from it xD
Also to be fair it depends on the location. North End has more of an Italian influence on the accent heritage which followed the same morphology as NY, where as East Side has more Irish influence and some Dutch which is where the more recognizable Boston accent comes from.
yes lol
I'm born and raised in MA....not Boston, but greater Boston mostly on the North Shore. Every time I've traveled, people would either ask if I'm from Boston or New York. I don't get insulted, the fued is between the Red Sox and Yankees fans, not that our accents are similar, but different. My accent only comes out when I'm tired or drinking!
I hear it's like mixing up Man City and Manchester U or the rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester.
I think the word you were looking for is "Bostonians", although I've heard Bostonites, in sports reference. New Yorkers talk funny.
As a west coast American, I visited Norway and I hung out with some kids around my age. One of the kids asked me "Do Americans always sound so serious?".
As for people being "ashamed" of their southern accents: a thick southern accent is stereotypically associated with being poor, uneducated, rural, lower-class, and sometimes "backward" and ignorant (regardless of how fair that is). For people unaware of or who don't have that association, it would be confusing why someone would be ashamed of it, as on a phonetic level it's often quite pleasant (as you noted).
Bruh southern accents are a breath of fresh air... Any accent from any state.... Except California its just bland English and Spanish accents sometimes my mother's Spanish accent comes out when she says sandwich----> sandgwish 😂😂
I like them! I'm also not from the US, though. Mostly I was trying to clear up their confusion as to why they've had people from the American south apologize for or be embarrassed by their accent, especially since it sounded nice to them.
yeah, this is exactly the reason. it's so often associated with being uneducated, low class and has so much bigotry attached to it here that many people drop or loose the accent on purpose. it's hard to find that balance of not sounding like a hick (uneducated, "backwards") and still keeping the drawl.
I would love to have a southern accent (as an Ohioan with a southern parent). My family on my moms side just sounds so pleasing and I’m over here with a really nasally voice (more general american, probably couldn’t pick out where I’m from). Southern accents are so pretty
? I think its rather funny, cuz your right.. that thick accent is a ploy so they dont have to pronounce english properly lol...
like they have all those great idear's but never make sense of um
louisiana has a lot of different accents. there's like southern louisiana, cajun, new orleans, up north by shreveport and just central
This one was Shreveport so she basically sounds Texan. Natchitoches is a bit more country and New Orleans actually has a few different accents just within the city. Baton Rouge is either country or USA anywhere and Scott and Lake Charles or Opelousas are pretty similar and mostly what people think Cajun should sound like.
Dialects
Yep, Shreveport is very neutral, more twangy because we're so close to Texas. But we have an air force base here (Bossier City) so we have people from all over the U.S. living here and it really effects the "not really an accent" accent as I call it. Lol
FACTS
@OriginalNorvaal that's how I say Shugha lol
Americans can generally ditch their accent for a generic accent if I can't understand them.. my accent will change based on who I'm speaking with.
I find though that it can help AND hurt at the same time. I’m Cajun but my mom isn’t so I was taught how to speak “normally” but when I switch to my Cajun accent suddenly. I’m so white people think I’m trying to sound black. It’s shitty but still.
Me too, I grew up in Illinois, so I've got a Midwest accent, but my mom's side of the family is from Mississippi, so when I'm with them I have a bit of a southern accent😂
Especially us with the "generic" accent. We can very easily change up our accents like it's nothing.
Louisiana even has at least 3 different accents in it that I’m aware of: the Cajun accent, the New Orleans accent, and the general Louisianan accent. Y’all Louisianans, please feel free to jump in and add to my comments. 🙂
I'm in South Louisiana [Acadiana region], and have a Cajun accent. It's definitely different from anywhere else in the state, as well as the world.
Cajun is almost an entirely different language lol
@@matthewperdun9312 Well it is heavily influenced by French... isn't it?
I'm from Louisiana. There's definitely more than 3. In New Orleans alone, there are at least 10 different accents.
@@abeycee7427 Acadian French. In my ignorance, this is my impression: the Cajuns, properly called Acadians, were forced out of French Canada when the English won a war with them. The French they spoke was NOT what we know as Parisian French; it was an older form. Once again, I don’t know much about it at all. What is spoken currently in Quebec is called Quebecois French, I believe. I DO know this: a few years ago, my husband and I were in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in a restaurant, and I heard some people at a nearby table speaking a language I didn’t recognize. I asked my husband if he knew what it was, and he said they were speaking Québécois. He lived in Quebec for 6 months many years ago. It didn’t sound anything like Parisian French to my ear.
Y’all should listen to Cajun Louisianans that’s so different we can’t even understand them
It's like thick Scottish accents are for them.
As someone who lived in Illinois and is currently living in Scotland, I can understand Cajuns and thick Scottish accents 😂 you just gotta listen a little harder or ask them to slow down slightly
It is pigeon French/ English.
@@hellavadeal I think you mean pidgin
@@lunarul , Thanks , I thought it was spelled like the bird.
Rightly or wrongly, Americans often perceive the southern accent as a sign of low intelligence. You see it on TV or movies, the deeper the accent the dumber the character is assumed.
As a Southerner it's very frustrating
That happens with most cultures, as an Asian I can say that happens with us too. The thicker the accent, the more 'hick' or stupid you are. It's such a shame.
I was born and raised in WV, and sometimes I get sad when I think about how I purposefully trained as much of my native accent out of myself as a kid specifically because I didn't want to be perceived as "stupid" -- and moreover, how I bought into that stereotype and internalized it so much that I actually believed that about the people around me. It's *still* something I struggle with, even though I know better.
As someone who was raised in the south by 1 parent from the south and 1 from the west coast, 1000% agree, I was taught from a very young age to speak “clearly” or I might sound uneducated. Now working in a southern restaurant I try to overplay my accent, but people still say I sound like I’m from the Midwest (I’ve never been north of Virginia in the states)
I actually think the Boston accent sounds the least intelligent.
Ask a Bostonian and a New Yorker to say the word “coffee” and you will hear a pronounced difference. Also hate to tell you, but in the old days, the different boroughs of New York each had distinct accents. My grandfather, raised in Hell’s Kitchen, pronounced “girls” as “goils.”
My mother has family in New Orleans. She said that the older generation, which would’ve been born in the early 1900s, pronounced girl that way. I wonder what caused it.
And there is a Rhode Island accent that is literally about half way in between them
Priscilla Bennett like Archie Bumker lol.. he lived in one of the boroughs and always pronounced « girl » as « goil »
And honestly what they were saying was a new york accent sounds more like a (new) Jersey one... (Still various different ones in nj, but they are usually a bit more similar than new York ones from what I know (mom grew up in NJ, and we had family and family friends that live there and they pronounce things like that))
my grandma is from new jersey but she moved to boston when she was in her 20s and lived here ever since, it’s been almost 60 years. she lived right across the river from new york, so she had a new york accent, and now the only word she still pronounces with that accent (she’s picked up a boston accent after living here for such a long time) is coffee. i say it more like cAAfee, she says cOWAHfee
My Mom was from Florida. I found out years later she had gone to a dialect coach to get rid of her drawl. As a kid I kind of wondered why her siblings had accents, but didn't. I think she was afraid people would think her less intelligent with the drawl. Silly stereotype really.
That “Louisiana” accent must be from the northern part of the state. The Cajun & creole accents down south are WAY different
I was trying to place it as well but I didn't get northern Louisiana... Then again there are many accents in Louisiana
Agree! I feel as though Cajun and even New Orleans (true New Orleans) accents are SO different that you have to say specifically what area you’re from rather than just say “Louisiana”. They should get someone from Villa Platte to talk, they’d lose it laughing.
Look my granddaddy is Cajun. My grandma is creole. Her mother is half French. I have that New Orleans accent where my words run together. Like a cross between a drunk slur and singing
@@StreetHeart13 im from grand isle and when i heard this i was like nahhhhh thats that northern crap
Northern Louisiana is really a blend of east Texas and Arkansas accents, in my humble opinion.
The stereotype of southerners is that we sound stupid because of our accent.
There exists a similar stereotype in Britain, but for 'midlanders', which likewise is regarded as sounding stupid.
Always thought the North Dakota and Minnesota accents made the people from there sound unintelligent.
@@primemover1416 that’s just because it’s Canada lite.
Horrible stereotype but it's true. 😔
Depends. I think culturally it starts to sound unintelligent when you're louder and angrier, there's definitely an elegant version of it that seems very high-society southern that carries with it this almost high society swagger, just a different kind of high society.
People sometimes judge someones education/intelligence based on an accent which is honestly the MOST ridiculous thing. I love hearing everyone’s accent. 😊
Accent and also pacing. I nearly got whiplash when I moved from Oklahoma to Chicago; NYC would’ve been a way worse transition 😂
Goosebump 801 Depends. Grew up in Oklahoma. Worked in Georgia. Went to college in NYC and GA.
There is a reason that Southern accents are considered less educated in the US.
Hookworm was rampant in the US and was endemic to the southern states. It actually causes developmental issues and perceived laziness.
@@goosebump801 do you miss Braum's?
@Jason Morgan that is terrible!
Hey, Boston guy here. Sadly, the accent is not commom, is found primarily in the eastern part of one of our smallest states (MA), and seems to be dwindling. Fortunately, I’m still around it every day. My grandmother’s is the thickest I’ve ever heard. For such a rare accent, its cultural/historical significance is felt by its continued use in movies, tv shows, etc. The Boston accent is older than the New York accent and is only really similar in its non-rhoticism (R drop), like in most Enlish accents.
Boston > New York. FIGHT ME! ☘️
Regarding Louisiana: a New Orleans, Louisiana accent is VERY, VERY different from what you hear in this video.
Yep, David H.. South Louisiana accent also spills over some into coastal Mississippi.. North Louisiana and Central to North Mississippi are very similar..
I love the New Orleans accent. Both the city and the accent have to be the most unique and cool things in America. I love Louisiana!
I will say I was a little bummed last time I was there trying to find someone with the New Orleans accent to show my kids and couldn’t find a single person that day. I don’t know if it’s getting diluted or I was in the wrong place, but I was deliberately looking for locals and not tourists and still couldn’t find anyone.
When I started working in the oil field I couldn’t understand anything they were saying. After years around them my ears have been trained but when I introduce them to family or friends that have never met people from Louisiana they can’t understand them.
Some people think New Orleans and New York (Brooklyn) accents sound similar. Being from Brooklyn and living in New Orleans I agree!
@@named6635 I also agree! Before I realized they were so similar I very often mistook folks from New Orleans as being from NYC.
Here’s a well kept Southern secret: only English actors and actresses can do proper Southern accents. We roar at the attempts of non Southern US natives trying to do ANY southern accent. We are laughing AT them , not with them.
i dont know if i agree with that. vivian leigh wasnt very convincing in Gone With the Wind if you ask me.
@@bbbrunella she sounded just like my 4th grade teacher . Or my 4th grade teacher sounded just like her😆
Lol well put
Except Daniel Craig
@@KRYMauL it was hard for me to truly enjoy that movie because of how terrible his accent was
As a Bostonian it’s funny how people love our accent from other countries, seeing that most Americans hate it! Also how DARE you compare us to New York
I came to the comments looking for this specifically.
Do they not KNOW the war they are starting? 😆
You do realize your profile picture is the Statue of Liberty, right?😂
I grew up in Colorado but have loved living in MA for 45 years. I LOVE the Boston accent in spite of never having picked it up.
Right??
I love the Boston accent
I LOVE that y’all are so drawn to the southern accent! I’m from Selma, Alabama, and it’s very endearing to know that people overseas like it so much! I usually get picked on for it where I currently live in Fort Walton Beach, Florida 😂
Which is also in the south.
@@haraldisdead Yeah, but it is or was a fort/military area. So people expect higher levels of communication around them.
More direct talking and you're supposed to ditch any accents or clues of where you're from.
I'd say around Forts and fort towns there's this air of professionalism or expedience.
Even Louisiana doesn’t have just one accent. You have “southern”, you’ve got Cajun, and then you have one of the most distinct accents in the country, the New Orleans area accent. It is so distinct that only one in a hundred film makers even tries to get it right. For those who have never heard it, it is closest to a mix of New York and Southern.
Yeah, I generalized the name, for an easier understanding if the rest of the country. It exists in New Orleans, and then the greater metro area, which is roughly the surrounding 4 parishes, roughly a 75 mile ring around the outskirts of the city. Within that area are at least 15 variations that I know of.
As to the NY and Boston accents, I went to college with a school population that was 1/3 Boston and 1/5 New York and heard their accents all the time. Both are very different and very distinctive from each other.
Enjoyed the video!
My first time visiting New Orleans was for a bachelor party back in 2017. Y'all had some nasty flooding that weekend and I got caught up in it trying to meet up with the rest of the guys.
I think twenty people told me to "pull up onto the neutral ground" before I figured out what the hell they were talking about!
@@thefortyniner oh yeah, we have some phrases! 😂
@William Berry I'm not sure what you are hearing to even think of comparing NO to Boston, but I've lived in NYC and boston and they both sound similar, as most accents you'll hear on websites are older people with far more extreme accents than the norm. Cajun accent is like mixing french with generic southern US.
I lived in New Orleans and worked in St Bernard Parish where they have a distinct accent as well.
@@alexanderbohl6710 yep! 👍 I covered that mile-wise in my rambling second paragraph, LOL. I figured it would be easier for people to visualize that on a map than naming parishes. My second wife was from “da Parish.” 😁
Southern people aren't embarrassed when they're in the South, but I think in general when you see a southern person portrayed in the media they are always made out to be ignorant, stupid, etc.
It’s such an untruth, Southerners are very intelligent and speak with a classic accent. I spent so much time there
Y'all come see us down here in South Carolina anytime now, ya hear. You will get all the y'all you can take. I know that British Accents can vary widely, but are always very rich and delightful to hear.👩😇
As someone who's lived in the South most of my life I can confirm that there's a lot of truth in the stereotype of Southerners being dumb.
But, it's not their fault.
Education isn't a priority for most Southern states. They'd rather put money towards oil companies and football teams than updated textbooks and well paid teachers.
There's also a well defined anti-intellectual sentiment that only adds fuel to the fire of Southern ignorance.
But... we're super nice, y'all.
@@michaeld519 I've lived in the South my entire life. The south does tend to be lacking on the education front, but I wouldn't say stupid. Ive traveled over half of the U.S. and in my experience most people in the South aren't stupider than people from anywhere else as far as intelligence goes.
@@ikikazz1 you're right. Southerners aren't naturally more stupid than anybody else. Just generally less educated with a tendency to be more willfully ignorant. It's frustrating because there's so much wasted potential.
The Louisiana girl has a really nice voice, but isn't typical of Louisiana. She has more of a 'New South' accent. You need to hear Creole and Cajun.
I know right? She has a regular southern accent. It’s not unique to Louisiana.
Doug Michalak. I was thinking the same thing. She may represent her generation (not sure), but it’s definitely not the traditional accent.
I disagree, only a small portion of people in Louisiana actually have a Cajun accent. You literally have to go down the bayou to hear that particular accent, alot of people here have an accent similar to that woman.
Agree with Emily! Most people in Louisiana sound like the girl in this video. The cajun accent is often only found in very rural areas close to the bayou.
@@emily_stewart I'm from Louisiana and we have variety of accents and most are creole and Cajun for sure in the bottom half of Louisiana. New Orleans has the biggest variety of accents that is found in most parts of Louisiana. Lafayette is mostly creole speaking. Where I'm from, which is two hours away from New Orleans , we speak pig Latin.
Kansas accent is the “Midwest” accent-it’s closest to the one used by network news anchors. As a Canadian, I grew up with an “oot and aboot” dilute variation of a Scottish accent, (“Sunday” pronounced “Sundee” for example) but after a few years of watching television, I developed a Midwest accent.
Nobody says Joisey anymore. Unless, you’re a gangster from the 1930s.
Or Bugs Bunny...
You some kind of wise guy, see?
I say Joisey just because I can
Actually we DO say it, to mock people who think we say it that way! It's fun ngl
"It's close in American distances." I don't understand why I can't stop laughing at that.
People in America tend to relate the Southern accent to being unsophisticated and low bred. I often find myself feeling a bit insecure with my Texas Twang accent.
On the positive side, the rest of America finds your accent soothing and friendly, and will trust you more easily, and feel comfortable around you more quickly. Some people who work with folks in distress--like funeral directors, or crime scene cleanup crews--FAKE a Texas accent in order to have clients feel calmer and safer around them.
I personally like the southern accent it’s cool. Especially when singing lol
From one southerner to another, who has felt the same insecurities, let that beautiful southern draw out on display. Some do quite enjoy it.
Stay safe & take care :)
I'm from New York and I think it sounds really nice, probably the most pleasant of all accents in the country. The accent is part of what makes that part of the country interesting. It would be sad if it went away because people feel self-conscious. Embrace it!
Boooo. Why??
Instead of the “common” accent, I think you mean more like the standard. The Midwest accent is considered the standard accent. Specifically, the standard phone operator voice was selected to be the Ohio accent because it was considered the most neutral. This video was fun. Yeah Boston and New York totally sound different to an American. Haha. I am from Tennessee. I have heard several Brits say that they like the southern accent best. The farther south you go the more droll and slow it gets. The stereotypical Gone With the Wind accent is from Georgia. Sorry to ramble. You guys are cute. 🥰
Kansas kid spoke in what is considered a standard "Midwestern" accent, which is often used on American TV and in American movies that aren't based in an area known for another accent (like the South, New York, Texas, etc.). It's also what is used by newscasters, and can be called "Broadcast English."
The reason why some Southern people might be self-conscious about their accent is that it makes them stick out in the larger population, and some of the assumptions made regarding a Southern accent is that you're "slow," or "dumb."
Disagree - that's a not a standard Midwestern accent he has, and the midwestern accent is not "broadcast English". The MW accent is Chicago, Minnesota, etc.
kansas is middle america accent which is def not midwestern. that’s like half Canadian
@@marie-hm8xt wot? No it's in the midwest, and its snack dab in the middle of the country and this is coming from Indiana
@@kilroy2517 I dunno I think it is again as someone from indiana who has been to Ohio and lived in Illinois and Missuori
Chicago has like four different accents in the city alone.
When you say common in America, nobody thinks of social or economic class.
The issue is, the individual with alleged accent thinks they don't have an accent and everyone else does. That's how it usually works, unless some one relocates to a different area.
I agree, when they say common, I would think of typical.
Common = ordinary = regular
“It’s close in American terms” lmfao
fr i drove from nj to boston and its 8 hours on a good day LOL
Your opinion about Kansas accent is spot on!!! I am from Northern California and I couldn’t even tell the difference of whether the guy was from Kansas or California. Good job guys!
You guys have to react to the video, "50 People Show Us Their States' Accents." You'll get a better understanding of how all the states talk. :)
Agreed! Just watched it, myself, and thought it was great: ua-cam.com/video/UcxByX6rh24/v-deo.html
I think that video is more like caricatures of many of the accents.
Yes!
The Alaskan accent in that video is not accurate... there are a few different accents in that state.
That is not a good example. Alabama has several different accents.
What you’re calling “general American accent” (like the guy from Kansas has) is the midwestern accent. It’s kind of analogous to BBC “Received Pronunciation” in that it’s so widespread largely because it’s the preferred accent of anchormen (newsreaders) and other media voices. That’s because it’s readily comprehensible to pretty much everybody. It has spread very widely because of this and can now be found pretty much anywhere, not just in the Midwest.
@Hello World! Only sorta, eh. In BC its more like standard American.
How can it be midwestern when he calls a bubbly carbonated beverage soda?? His accent sounds neutral to be. As someone else said, places like Wisconsin, the Dakota’s, Illinois, all sound different. He sounds super neutral IMO. Sounds just like people from Northeast who don’t have the accents.
@@thecheese3595 well, there’s no such thing as a “neutral” accent or “no accent.” There are only familiar accents and unfamiliar accents. And I assure you, his accent falls right in the spectrum of what is called Midwestern. If it sounds neutral to you, that’s because it is so familiar for the reasons I listed.
No idea how true it is, but I've heard that if you want to be successful in a news media career, you have to live in the Midwest at least a few years to become accustomed to speaking that accent. (I grew up in the Midwest, specifically the Great Lakes area.)
Another thing to consider is that if it's a 3-hour drive from Boston to New York, that's not a straight-line distance. That area of the country is known for meandering routes.
The Upper Midwest has several distinct accents that aren't really "general American". Its people from Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska who have the most "generic" accent.
Bostonian here: all the people, i’d say, 40+ who grew up in the area have an accent and the older they are the thicker it tends to get
That's true. I have a much stronger Boston accent, 59 than my son does at 26.
@@BostonBobby1961 New England accents, especially more northern they are, retain more of the British pronunciation and intonation from the early settlers. Living way down east we also have local accents that have Irish and Scottish echoes. Ayuh!
I ❤️LOVE❤️Boston accents,it’s one of my favorites.I think it’s one of the sexiest ones to me,aside from Scottish,Irish ,and Australian☺️👌🏽
I don’t think it gets stronger with age. I think younger people are more exposed to the internet and media in their formative years so they end up talking more like that than the people around them. I think most English language accents will get more neutral over time everywhere
Yall make me feel better about my accent. I was just watching amber heard and j depp trial and I said "trial"but it came out as "trall" lol
But thank yall for the complements!
Us with a south accent are made to feel like we are stupid just for having an accent. Thanks again. Have a good one!
Not just southern accents, rural Midwestern as well. My father grew up on a farm during the Great Depression in rural Ohio. He pronounces "creek" as "crick" for example. I had to get kind of crappy with one of his doctors for being kind of condescending about a medication question. The doctor seemed to think he wouldn't understand the answer. Before he retired 25 years ago he was a pharmaceutical research scientist, and probably knew more than the doctor about the drug in question.
I knew someone from Georgia who pronounced "Boiled" as in "Boiled Peanuts" as 'Bold"
I'm a New Yorker living in Boston and I can tell you with absolute certainly that they are 100% not the same
I've lived in both cities, they are so different.
I get why people outside of New England struggle with it, but you are absolutely right.
Both New York and Boston have so many different accents in the same city that it's hard to compare them anyway. However, there are some Boston accents that do sound similar to New York accents. I was born and raised in another Massachusetts city, Fall River, and moved to New Hampshire. Everyone always asks me if I'm from New York, even people from New York.
Yes, they are different...but they both come with much faster pacing, a greater sense of urgency - which distinguishes them from other regional American accents, and contributes to confusion among those who haven’t lived in or near one of them. (I graduated from high school in upstate NY, less than an hour from the MA border.)
@Joel & Lia, here’s my amateur description of the most obvious characteristics of these accents. (Please, no hate: I’m painting with a *very* broad brush here!!)
1. NYC area would say something like “nyoo yawk”; Boston area would say “new yahhk”; the South would say “nyew yorrk”; the rest of the US would say “noo york”...where you in the UK would say “nyew yohk”
2. “I paahked my caa in Haavaahd Yaahd” is the classic phrase used to illustrate a Boston accent. R’s are dropped in much of New England, similar to the UK; the vowels are different, though. (Joel, you have a good ear!)
3. “Tawk” (for “talk”) is a good NYC indicator. Also, “I godda go witchoo” (for “I[‘ve] gotta go with you.”)
Suggestions for other interesting US accents:
1. Minnesota: listen to the o’s and the a’s; remember the movie “Fargo”?
2. Texas vs. Louisiana or Georgia vs. Virginia: get a sense of nuance across Southern accents
3. Utah/Idaho vs. Kansas/Nebraska: you might be able to hear a bit of the Western twang vs. the plain-vanilla Midwestern standard, though it’s more subtle
Love your channels! 🍾
lornaduwn .
PUMA is a GERMAN brand and is pronounced POO-MA in German. Pew-ma sound like Pubes and gawd awful.
Also, it's a Spanish word. "
The term puma is also used in the United States. The first use of 'puma' in English dates to 1777, introduced from Spanish, and prior from the Peruvian Quechua language in the 16th century, where it means "powerful"."
Right like that’s what I was thinking saying pewma sounds much worse than pooma
Huh. I’ve always said it as poo-ma in Kentucky.
RIGHT
I was thinking the same thing on the pew-ma. I much rather Pooma. 🤣
New Yorkers say "qwafeee" when saying coffee.
bostoners say "khafeee"
I'm from Wisconsin and thanks to SNL, I'm always surprised when people from Brooklyn or NYC don't talk like the 'Coffee Talk" lady.
That's a great example. Ima khafee drinker.
"Cough-e"
That's kinda how i say it
I live in New Jersey btw, more western and southern part right next to east Pennsylvania
Lmbo.. me and my sisters are jamericans in nyc snd we say coffee that way.. but we didnt realize it ..lol
you know im from new york but dont have a new york accent at all lol
I think the reason why the Kansan accent sounds like a 'default American accent' is because in the early days of radio communication, that accent was the easiest to understand. The US military actively recruited from the Midwest because they typically annunciated their words clearly and the vast majority of people can understand. It probably steeped into radio and television entertainment, and since entertainment is one of the US's biggest exports, it all makes sense.
Louisiana has several accents. Cajun, New Orleans area’s and Northern areas.
I didn't see your note, I made the same comment.
Or just plain ole down the bayou 🤣
Yessss. I saw Louisiana on the thumbnail and was so happy ‘cause we have SOOOO many different accents💖
I'll tell you, who doesn't have a Louisiana accent is any actor trying to emulate a Louisiana accent.
I lived in Batton Rouge for a while - stayed with a Cajun family. What a trip😁❗️
Their accent is almost another language.
Of course Creole is.
📻🙂
New York is more "aww" and Boston is more "ahh".
As someone from Boston I totally agree. But, even Americans think we sound similar. Completely different to me though. They say cawffee we say cahffee
New York also gets more lips. Saying “sauce” in New York will equate to “suaw-ce” with decent lip movement. Boston “sauce” is more like “suh-oss” with very relaxed lips
✔️ ny is more aww
boston is more ahhh
Indeed, Boston and NY accents do not sound similar at all, but most people are not familiar with them and don't have their ears tuned to the sounds so they think that they are similar just because they are non rethoric, but the sounds are completely different
Best example!
“Common” isn’t a class-related term in America
Because every American is a "commoner".
@@RoachDogg_JR put another way, there are no rigid classes in America; class boundaries are rather fluid.
@@tylerbwilson We swapped class boundaries for racial boundaries!
@@RoachDogg_JR eh
@@RoachDogg_JR nooooooo 😂
If you want to hear authentic regional American accents, you should try to find middle-aged or older working class people. People in their teens and twenties, especially if they're from well-to-do families and have a college degree, tend to have more of a generic American accent regardless of where they grew up.
They all so tend to "up talk" meaning stress the latter half of words later in a sentence.
@@ExperienceEric yes!! It's so true & annoying lol!
Listen to the California "valley girl" accent, the "Fargo" Midwest accent, and the New York Bronx accent!! Those'll be fun!
Or Bernie Sanders’ classic Brooklyn accent!
Their heads will explode 😂
@@samanthab1923 or get very YUUUUUGE
Karen Nyere 😉😂
@@TheDivayenta Oh sure! Either way, the difference between Bernie Sanders and, say, Rosie Perez is not too dissimilar.
“Puma” is a Spanish word and we Americans pronounce it the Spanish way.
Yes same way we pronounce California and Nevada the Spanish way to and in the Midwest German also has a influence on American English
In SoCal we just say “mountain lion” and the heck with it!
@@markkiss6188 in a lot of the south we say Catamount
And a lot of us don't call it a puma. My area is 70% "mountain lion" and 30% "cougar"
@@markkiss6188 Or cougar.
If you've ever listened to recordings of President John F Kennedy, he spoke with a distinctly Boston accent.
Yes...President Kennedy..that would be easy for them to google and listen to a speech....then can do the same thing with Gulianni for NY..even Trump..but in NY they vary more...not as distinct as Boston. I'm from California, but I love Boston...
Michael Earendil no, he had a combination of mid-Atlantic, which was a fake “posh” accent developed in the late 19th century for theater, and a true Boston accent. I know no one in New England who actually speaks like a 20th century Kennedy.
@@jameswhalen4507 Thank you for the correction! I always love to learn from those who know.
@@michaelearendil6843 yeah his accent was what was seen as a 'posh' Boston accent that was developed in upper class communities- it was common in movies as well (Mid-Atlantic basically was half English RP and half American and taught in private schools and cotillion classes to children). Kennedy still had a Bostonian twang, which was made it a Boston Mid-Atlantic accent, but it was distinctly different from the majority of Boston accents. It has mostly disappeared though some of old great wealth in Boston supposedly still maintain parts of the Posh Boston accent.
Ny itself has multiple accents Brooklyn, Staten Island and Bronx are more distinct because their communities are often more home grown while manhattan can be more transient
Oh my goodness, you guys are so cute! As an American who loves British accents, it's so nice to see you guys responding so nicely to American accents!
I never say “route” the same way, I randomly just change them up
Where are you from? I'm from New York State and say it both ways too.
Im from Arizona and I switch them
I do this with many words I don’t know why. I guess because I grew up in a culturally neutral state, so I just kind of picked how I say things at random based on what I hear from other people lol.
@@bobungaurmoms4954 I usually say "root" when talking about a physical path to somewhere, and "rowt" when talking about a metaphorical path. Where do you live, btw?
Same I do that with a lot of words, personally I'm like a mix of the Inland north accent and Midland American english
I'm from NY. The NY "R" is pronounced aw while the Boston "R" is pronounced ah. It's also in other words like Boston (NY = Bawston, Boston = Bahston).
What if you pronounce ”aw” and ”ah” the same though?
This is a PERFECT description of both accents.
Common misconception there. No body in Boston says "Bah-ston". A Connecticut accent would say "Bah-ston". Boston is "BAWST-in" in Boston. A clear differentiation is in words like "can't" and "half". In Boston it's said, "I CAHHNT get there in a HAAFF hour."
@@JCluvr19 Then yer scwoowed.
@@johnford2898 Depends on where you are in Connecticut. I say it the new york way because I'm closer to there geographically.
Southerners are embarrassed because, generally, everyone else in the US makes fun of our accents. It can be quite annoying.
I agree. I love having a Southern accent. I am from Southwest Georgia and we get made fun of a lot.
Me too I'm from Florida panhandle. Everyone makes fun of our accents and implies that we are all ignorant. But I love our accents,they're beautiful.
I'm from southern Louisiana. I don't have a very obvious accent. Even if I did, I'd never be embarrassed. Lol
Southern born Southern bred, wouldn't have it any other way.
it really is tho like i get we sound different but I cant catch a break
In my experience of traveling the US, I’ve noticed that accents are separated by regions. And within a regional accent you can pinpoint where it’s from except for maybe what you would call a “normal” accent. Such as: I would classify a New York and Boston accent as a New England accent as a whole. The whole northeastern region sound very similar and is the most British sounding of American accents ranging from as south as Pennsylvania and West Virginia all the way north until the Canadian border. Next is the southern accent. states that Start transitioning from northern to southern accent include Kansas straight lined east to Virginia and everything south of those states. Then you have the Canadian sounding northern accents which are prevalent in eastern North Dakota, northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Then there’s the Mexican border states such as southern Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, southern Nevada, and southern California have Mexican/Latin accents. And then I believe southern Louisiana has its own Creole accent. Everywhere else you go in the US has your typical American accent where you wouldn’t be able to tell whether someone is from Nebraska or all the way across the country in Oregon. And of course your typical American accent is sprinkled everywhere you go. I myself am from South Dakota and everyone around me has your typical American accent.
New York is not in New England. My parents are both from New York and we pronounce our "a" vowels differently.
My mother has a New Jersey accent and my father has a Boston accent. Their accents get thicker when they are tired. They have been married for decades and still can't understand each other. All my life I have had to translate. New Jersey has weird vowel sounds especially "a" and they speak really fast.
The parts of the country that were well settle when travel outside your local area meant days on horseback created isolated populations where distinct accents developed in what is today close proximity.
Lol she's wearing a sweatshirt that says Colorado on it which is literally right next to Kansas
I hope she knew Colorado's spot 😆
Exactly xD
So you but a t-shirt with writing on, doesn't mean you know where it is precisely if at all...
@@sampuatisamuel9785 British people brag on there geography knowledge so she SHOULD know right?
I love this observation.
If you like Southern accents, then you’ll want to compare aTexas accent vs a Deep South accent - like South Carolina or Georgia or Virginia - vs a Cajun accent. They are really distinct.
Also, try listening to a Boston accent alongside a Brooklyn accent and a New Jersey accent. All will be different.
It’s funny - I’m partly blind and have to rely on audiobooks for reading. One of my pet peeves is when they get accents wrong. A recent one gave all Yorkshire people an Irish accent! Another gave someone from Savannah, Georgia a Texas accent. They need to do what you’re doing and learn the differences!
Virginia is not deep south
That Louisiana girl was either from Central or North Louisiana which has absolutely no bearing on a Cajun accent (western or eastern) or a New Orleans accent or a plantation Parish accent
Texas has several different accents depending on the region. We’re from Deep East Texas and when my youngest went off to school in central Texas everyone would always say how they loved the accent.
South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia are not deep South. That would be Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky
Virginia may be Old South, but it's not Deep South. The best-known accent here is Tidewater, which extends down to North Carolina, and is similar to the old aristocratic Southern accent, derived from British. If you really want to hear something crazy, Google Tangier Island accent.
A word of advice: Never tell a New Yorker he sounds like a Bostonian. Also, never tell a Bostonian he sounds like a New Yorker. In both cases you may find yourselves in nasty arguments. The primary differences between these accents are the letters "a", and "o". One thing both accents have in common is that they're nonrhotic, similar to the accents of GB. Bostonian vowels tend to be broad and flat (I pahked the cah in Hahvahd Yahd). New York vowels are more rounded (cawfee, tawk). Also New Yorkers tend to pronounce the "th" combination like a "d" or "t". The New York accent reflects the speech patterns of its largest immigrants groups over the centuries, namely; the Dutch, English, Irish, Italians and Jews. I've read, the Boston accent, however, is the modern derivative of the accent used by the English Puritans (better known as the Pilgrims) who founded Plymouth.
Good description of the differences. As for New Jersey, that is slightly different from NYC - at least NNJ. Once you go south of Monmouth County, though, it sounds closer to the Philly accent (my opinion). :)
The stereotypical New York City accent really doesn't exist anymore. I was born in NJ but raised 2 kids in NYC, neither has that accent and you really don't hear it on the street anymore. I think that accent is mostly out on Long Island now.
My sister knew a UMass linguist who determined that the Boston accents originated from Dorset, England and the original settlers in the area founded Dorchester ("Daw-chestah")
@@edwardmiessner6502 Interesting
@@edwardmiessner6502 Isn't that where the Wahlberg's..and the .NKOTB are from?
Southerner here. I came into this video scared I would be attacked but wow. Thank you 😊💓
I am from Texas, born and raised and honestly didn’t realize I even had an accent until I visited Europe, starting with the UK, lol. I kept being told how fun or adorable my twang was. I would just say “what’re y’all talkin about? What accent?” 🤣 so funny now!
I'm from Oklahoma and we Okies sound just like Texans. When we hear a northern accent, we say " y'all ain't from around here air ya?
I am proud of my southern/southwestern accent. Easy to understand, not too fast. Love rodeos, shooting sports, Sooner and Cowboy (OSU) football and good BBQ.
i feel you on this because i'm from cali and people from other parts of america that i've talked to said i have a accent
"Y'all" is not just Texas. It's pretty much west of the mountains that separated the original 13 colonies. Lewis and Clark probably started it, Day 1 of their journey.
I'm from Oklahoma City, and while I do use "y'all", "howdy", and other "southernisms", I'd say I have a mostly Midwestern accent. But my mom is from south-eastern Oklahoma, and they've definitely got more of a twang down there.
People view their southern accents like how you view your northern accents.
Rose Tyler: "If you're from another planet, why do you sound like you're from the north?"
The Doctor: "Well, most planets have a north..."
People assume people with southern accents are stupid. That's how we're portrayed in media anyway.
The media sucks. Don't let it dictate your life. The less you watch, the better. It's 99% coastal elites that know nothing about normal Americans. I'm from New York, by the way, so I know.
There used to be lots of slight variations in the Boston accent, which have been flattened out in recent years. And, you are correct, there are many similarities between the Boston accent and the version of the New York accent you are thinking of. The biggest difference between the 2 is in the “short o,” which Bostonians pronounce very similarly to Canadians from Ontario. This is one of the underrated characteristics of the Boston accent.
One that never gets mentioned is the Michigan “yooper”/Northern Wisconsin. You’ll find that one hysterical! (“Doncha know!”)
Bruh our accent isn't that bad...lol jokes
@@ashg0999 You wanna beg fer yer groceries?
Yooper accents are closer to Minnesota accents, from what I've heard. Not sure how much the accent is due to the original "melting pot" ingredients.
The following thoughts are what I was told, not sure how much truth is in each "fact":
Milwaukee (southern Wisconsin) is heavy in germanic heritage, while many parts of Minnesota were heavily Scandinavian heritage, and the U.P. had lots of Yorkshire miners.
Kansas was a stereotypical "American" accent, and the further from that accent someone is, the more isolated from the wider world a person is perceived to be.
A heavy Yooper or Appalachian accent is seen as less intelligent, because the accent is from a sparsely populated area, where formal education opportunities used to be very limited. The south used to have 2 accents: one for the ones rich enough for a private education and for those without an expensive education. The "southern twang" known today is the latter of the two.
New York doesn't have the same stereotype, but there still is one. "Each huge city is so large that the average citizen never looks at/listens to/pays attention to anything outside it. In media/entertainment, a heavy New York/Chicago/any huge city accent is associated with someone who will never leave that city and doesn't want to know anything outside its area.
@@aprilvoecks5877 Yooper native, living in Appleton Wisconsin kinda near Lake Michigan, Yooper accents are a bit of it's own flavor of North mid-Western accents in many ways. I don't like it at all, I think I've taught myself to avoid particular things in the accent. The "R's" in some words are just abrasive sounding even to my ear. The THICK accent makes me cringe. I've heard that in the harsh cold Northern area of Northern American/Canadian accents may have come from a person who's talking in the harsh cold weather (-20s-30s are coldest ive felt, terrifyingly cold, and historically it was probably much colder) so, ppl talked with their mouth stay closed as much as possible to speak? and jaw motion makes words come out differently. I have no idea for sure, but its something i've heard. My family came to America from Scandinavia, and different originating peoples versions of American accents with that adapted jaw position of the jaw maybe explains the differences in very cold climates accents? not an expert, I just hear things and believe them if they sound neat. lol It's an lesser known accent, and for good reason imo lol not a fan, personally.
Try saying "Sorry" as "Sore-ee" rather than the "Sah-ree" = I say "Sore-ee" Has a very different jaw & mouth motion & positioning, my jaw hardly moves and mouth barely opens. its almost like a ventriloquist's talking, instead of having a slightly open mouth "Ahh" lol
Makes my ears bleed!
Hawaii has the most unique accent in the whole country but people don’t talk about it enough. You guys should do that one.
Let's see - I've known and/or worked with dozens of people from most states in my life, even a fair number of Alaskans - and how many Hawaiians?
Um, one.
Maybe that's why no one thinks about it. I don't think most of us have ever heard it.
What's it sound like?
@@renroxhrd you should look up videos about Hawaiian Pidgin. It’s a creole language that blends linguistic elements of all the immigrant populations Hawaii received over the last few centuries. I grew up in Hawaii. I can understand it and speak it, but it’s not really something I can just describe and you’ll get it. Just Google or UA-cam “Hawaiian pidgin”.
@@Johnnygyro I also grew up in Hawaii, moved to the mainland as a preteen and it took me a while to stop verbally punctuating sentences with, "yah," or, "no." The entire island culture, not even including Hawaiian Pidgin, is so different from anything you'll find in the mainland and is the closest thing an American can experience to visiting a foreign country without needing a passport.
I LOVE the Hawaiian accent! It’s so cool
Boston, NY, and Philadelphia (philly) are all VERY DIFFERENT! To a trained ear, you can easily hear it. New Jersey has heavier consonants.
My girlfriend asked me to kiss her where it smells, so I took her to New Jersey.
@@universeno.1223 an oldie but a goodie
@@universeno.1223 i live in jersey and this is hilarious to me sjjssjos
as a person from philly,we sound similar to New Jersey people,especially where I live which is 15 minutes from Trenton
I am not sure about other New Jersey accents but I sound very midwestern and so I kind of get confused when people talk about NJ accents. Like I know people who live in North NJ have the New York accent and thus will say New "Jorsey" but me and a lot of people I live with have little accent.
8:15 To answer your question, Southern accents are often associated with TV or movie characters who aren't terribly smart, so a lot of people think a Southern accent sounds uneducated.
You should definitely react to the Minnesota accent. I went to college a state away and constantly got made fun of and my accent isn't even heavy.
I think Minnesota shares a similar accent with Alaskans.
The Japanese guy doing the Minnesota accent in Fargo cracks me up every time.
Comedian Henry Cho is a Korean guy from Tennessee, he has a thick Southern accent, and it's hilarious.
I think Upper Michigan and Minnesota have similar accents:)
@@chinchillacrystal6899 : Ya, eh.
As far as Minnesota goes, there is also the distinct "Range" accent.
Boston and NY accents are soooo different.
The “r” is close, but the vowels are very different. Sometimes the “r” is different as well, where some (Brooklyn) people might add one to the word pizza, and say it like “peetzer” instead. New Jersey has the more refined and correct version of the accent, hahaha!
I know they are distinct to people from both cities, but to a lot of people outside of the region they sound generally alike, kind of like Southern accent sounds alike to people from the Northeast
There’s not just one NY accent. Lol
As with NY, the Bostonian accent varies. -er, -ar sounds become that ah sound that's a little higher than the English ah. Some Bostonians (like Brooklyn folks, apparently) change standard ah sounds (think Cuba, idea) to er (Cuber, ideer), but many never do and some (like in some English accents) only do it when the next word starts with a vowel sound (Cuber is v. Cuba was, my idea for v. My ideer of). Younger people tend toward the more standard American pronunciation though--indeed, I've lived here all my life and can't even speak thick Bostonian on command anymore--and my grandparent's generation had a more British sounding Bostonian (baaahth more than bath).
Some Bostonians also pronounce short o similar to NY (so close to NY's coahfee or even Boastin, like the guy in your vid) but I usually hear caahfee and Baahstin more.
And none of this is to mention differences in regional vocab . . . (e.g. we say wait in line. They say wait on line, which just scratches through the record in my head whenever I hear it).
Long Island is weirdly close to MA accent.
In Boston a person can die from a hat attack.
Lool
My family is from Atlanta, and we have some close family friends who moved here from Maine. One time one of their brothers came to visit and we met them. He was trying to tell my dad that he owned a car auction, but with his New England accent, my dad thought he was saying he owned a cow auction. LOL
LOL
Here in Minnesota, khakis is something you wear, in Boston, khakis is what what you start your vehicle with. 😂
😂😂😂😅
When I worked at a store years ago, one of my co-workers moved down from Boston. I loved how he said it. It was pronounced like Boiston. I am a southern American, although my accent has been influenced by my parents, who were raised elsewhere. Southerners are often ashamed of their accents because it is associated with supposedly being stupid. I figure that there are different accents in the US and that I shouldn't be ashamed, but I do try to make sure that I pronounce all of my letters and not blend them too much because I work in a call center. I have found that when I say "you all" to the customer, they think I am saying y'all. I don't know if I'm blending the letters too much or if that's just what they're hearing. I have started saying "You guys" even thought I might be speaking to a woman. lol.
"Standard American". Most Americans pronounce aunt as "ant".
In the south, it's "ain't" Bessie, Katherine, Pearl, etc...
Funny I say "awnt" when referring to aunts in general but "ee'ents" when addressing my own aunts.
Not here in New England. It's pronounced aunt, like how its spelled.
Nooo it's AWNT
Thomas Hernandez I speak standard american, but do not pronounce ant as ‘ant’ - sound odd to me.
Lots of places say “y’all,” my grandfather was from Iowa and he used it, people are sometimes embarrassed by accent because of the way it is depicted in popular culture, they are usually shown as less intelligent.
You should do a video on Wisconsinesse or Minisotan.
Yes. Y'all is super common in Detroit which is pretty far north.
Oh yeah, Weskaahns'n and Minnersodah. That could be fun.
Oofda... doncha know it's spelled Minnesota?
We have plenty of different terms for things, but I feel like we mostly talk neutral (nothing like Fargo) with occasional drawing out of vowels. Unless you bring up that blasphemous game "duck duck goose" then I'm not sure someone could just spot me as Minnesotan.
Don't minnasotans say beg instead of bag? Or an i thinking of more the Wisconsin area? All I know is I stopped at a gas station there and when the clerk asked if I wanted a beg about 20 times it finally dawned on me they might mean bag.
Americans can generally ditch their accent for a generic accent if tech can't understand them.. my accent will changed based on who I'm speaking with.
For me it mostly doesnt but I tend to just speak in several accents depending on what I'm doing
@@thekommunistkrusader3921 yeah if i am sleepy or tired at all i sound more southern than i do most of the time lol
I think I've heard it's very common for peoples accents to shift subconsciously based on who they're speaking with.
@@ArlanKels it’s true. I do it quite often.
I love it when Americans say y'all 😁 It just sounds so cool to me 😎
It’s really only used in certain parts of the southern part of the United States, I’m from Maryland which is on the east coast and we don’t really say y’all, our accent is very basic
"Aunt" is generally pronounced like "Ant" in most of Kansas but generally that is more familial than regional.
I've always said Aunt as Ant and I grew up in PA and Iowa, so I'm not really sure if it is a regional thing (like you pointed out)
sometimes like "aint" too
@@jaminwaite3867 Where?
It’s always ant, aint, ahnt, or uhnt (plus there’s the ahntie/uhntie people I’ve never heard antie/aintie) lol gotta love our weird dialects
For me it depends on which aunt I'm referring to for some reason.
Over the years, Southern accents have been stereotyped and perceived as being more unintelligent and uneducated. 🤷🏼♀️
But the aerospace engineer,optic scientist and author,Travis Taylor would completely disagree with you.Born,raised and still lives in Alabama and as country as cornbread (without sugar of course)
Kansan here: our accent is pretty much the "standard" or "common" American Accent. Our accent is very unremarkable. Generic is a good way to describe it.
Your fellow Kansan seconds this, I'm legitimately jealous of the colorful accents that can be found around the world haha
It's the General American dialect that's the most common accent (or lack thereof) in the US, spoken all the way across the middle of the country pretty much from coast to coast. North and south of that band is a different story, but the I-70 corridor is pretty much all GA. The band is narrower band in the east and fans out wider as you go west. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American_English
Nebraskan. I’m honestly okay with the “accentless” style...though some might let a “y’all” slip in from time to time 😁
Me too...we are neutral sounding I guess...I tend to twang myself...especially after a beer or three.
@@TS-ef2gv Bet it don't come near north or south cairlina
As someone born and raised in Jersey for like 21 years. I've not once pronounced it "joisey"
But there are times where I catch myself when I'm speaking fast that I'll drop things, mother and father become mudda and fadda, hell loses the H sometimes, and if anything has NG at the end it no longer has that G, so itll be stylin, drivin, relaxin
Boston accents completely remove the r's, whereas New York accents generally turn it into a "au" sort of sound. For "park", Boston says "pak", and New York says "pauk"
But to most Americans, the two accents sound the same as well. But to actual Bostonian/New Yorkers, obviously they're very aware of the differences.
Boston and NY sound different because of the speed of the words too
@@deliaby4557 That's true. New Yorkers don't really speak fast per se but they shorten their sentences sometimes by cutting words off before their done or kind of letting the words come out sloppily without fully pronouncing them. Haven't heard that as much from Boston accents.
@@AllHaiLKINGTIsHeRe3 Accurate. New Yorkers speed through their sentences and drop the ends of words. Bostonians are almost southern in the lengths of their sentence phrasing
No one talks like that in NY, everyone here in NY talks like the person from Kansas in the video.
@@shane0707 It depends who and where you are in NY. E.g., A Brooklyn fireman would likely have a strong accent. But a Manhattan lawyer would not.
I LOVE the Southern accents. Only folks on earth who can say "Bless your heart" so sweetly, yet make it a deadly insult if you've angered them. :-)
HAHA lol I love that, but what I wanna know is why states that aren't southern don't have sweet tea, like why.
Kate Midwest have sweet tea
Yeah, 'oh, bless your heart' is the nicest way we say 'You fucking idiot'
He tries so hard.
We can shift our accents. From regional to general in a lot situations. I think normally the more comfortable we are the more regional we sound.
Probly one of the best responses
I'm from Kansas City and when I moved to New Jersey, people were stopping me in mid-sentence and asking me to repeat words in my "Southern" accent. When I'm comfortable and chill, I do incorporate drawls from central/southern Missouri that I heard in my family growing up. I even use different words and phrasing.