Country dialects - do they all have them?

IrishEyes

IrishEyes

Sharon
Location
Midwest
Here in the U.S. we have many that help us get a feel of where people are from.
Upper east coast, Southern mid states, Mid West, Northern Mid states, Southern East coast,
Southern West Coast, etc. Can even still be divided by rural and bigger towns.
I noticed dialects when I went to England from the more northern parts having a mixing of English and Scottish,
to watering down as you got further south.

I find dialects fascinating and love hearing stories from people how their dialect can cause an immediate assumption
of the type of person they are. It happens pretty often, with either good or bad results.
Care to share any stories of how dialects effect you or how you feel when you hear a certain type?
Love to hear them!
 
I travel to the UK often and hear different dialects all over the country. However, I've never been able to tell where a person came from by listening to them speak. I assume (?) Brits can tell if you're from Yorkshire or Cornwall?
My "worst" experience was in Scotland where I needed help with train schedules, and I had to go to three different people at the station because I could not understand them. That was in Helensburgh if that means anything to the scots here.
 
retiredtraveler said:
I travel to the UK often and hear different dialects all over the country. However, I've never been able to tell where a person came from by listening to them speak. I assume (?) Brits can tell if you're from Yorkshire or Cornwall?
My "worst" experience was in Scotland where I needed help with train schedules, and I had to go to three different people at the station because I could not understand them. That was in Helensburgh if that means anything to the scots here.
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In a online game we added a voice chat program and the one Scot we had on the team, said he didn't think he should come into it (in typed chat) He said "You'd never understand me if I did" He did come in and nope.. we sure didn't so our guy from Wales translated for him since
he had businesses in Scotland he had learned to communicate and understand it.
 
I was told I had a Northern West Coast accent and it surprised me as to me, I sound like everyone who isn't from the South or Northern states.

I had a difficult time understanding people here in Florida with Southern accents but now they are easy to understand.
 
Years ago I worked in an underground quasi government facility. We'd have high ranking military and politicians pay us visits. One day in the break room I heard someone talking and I turned around and said, you're from Canada. He laughed and said yes he was and so happy to run into someone who understood what he was saying.
 
robin416 said:
Years ago I worked in an underground quasi government facility. We'd have high ranking military and politicians pay us visits. One day in the break room I heard someone talking and I turned around and said, you're from Canada. He laughed and said yes he was and so happy to run into someone who understood what he was saying.
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My sister married a man from Quebec he was a Civil Service Conservation and got transferred to B.C. Everyone who heard him there
referred to him as "Ya know...the Frog". He had a French name too that gave him away Marcel, so that was a bit obvious.
 
Living in Chicago area you hear many many language accents. In Aldi's one day I was in an aisle with a young couple and I
was caught by the beauty of the language they were speaking to their child. I had to ask them what it was. It was almost like
singing in a way. They smiled and said it was an African dialect, but I can't remember the village or area now. I told them how
beautiful it sounded and pleasurable to hear. They grinned so big and thanked me. You can meet the most charming people
in such odd ways.
 
retiredtraveler said:
I travel to the UK often and hear different dialects all over the country. However, I've never been able to tell where a person came from by listening to them speak. I assume (?) Brits can tell if you're from Yorkshire or Cornwall?
My "worst" experience was in Scotland where I needed help with train schedules, and I had to go to three different people at the station because I could not understand them. That was in Helensburgh if that means anything to the scots here.
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The dialect in Helensburgh is the same broad west of Scotland dialect that is mainly spoken in the most populous city of Glasgow..
 
retiredtraveler said:
I'm in Chicago 'burb'. Ya know, we are supposedly the people without an accent. :)
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Yep it always makes me laugh when Americans think they have no accent.... as an outsider I can tell the difference between all accents of the USA.. not to say I know where they're from.. but they definitely differ from each other

The oddest accent of all to my Non American ears is the Appalachean accent... the way they pronounce words is very funny..to me...

It;'s like Canadians.. they swear up and down they don't pronounce ''out as in oat '' .. or aboat instead of about ...... but they do.. and in that way I can almost always tell a Canadian from an American.... after I hear them speak

That said I've mistaken the odd American for a Canadian after hearing them talk, and then discovered they are actually from Maine... :D


either way I like all the American accents and dialects...
 
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hollydolly said:
That said I've mistaken the odd American for a Canadian after hearing them talk, and then discovered they are actually from Maine... :D
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I lived in coastal Maine for about a year and a half.. they have some charming speech (and a very dry wit)

Unique affirmative expression: “Ayah” (Ah-yea)

One crusty older man told my then-husband (as they looked out over the water) “ the boats are fartin’ around the hahrbor” (phonetic)

To sail on the coast is to go “ Down East” (referring to prevailing currents)

Lobsters less than a pound in weight are “Chicken lobsters”

And ladies use a “patton” (pattern) to make a dress 😄
 
Rae said:
I was told I had a Northern West Coast accent and it surprised me as to me, I sound like everyone who isn't from the South or Northern states.

I had a difficult time understanding people here in Florida with Southern accents but now they are easy to understand.
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I moved to Florida when I was 8 years old and quickly lost my Southern accent because so many are from other states. I didn't think there were any regional accents in Florida? I guess in Northern Florida, which is like South Georgia. The rest are from all over the country, with the frequent Hispanic accent.
 
Back in the 60s I became a good friend of a fellow apprentice and shortly before I left England for Canada was best man at his wedding. We kept in touch via mail and then email throughout the years and eventually hooked up via voice chat, whilst I had no problem talking to his wife I could not understand a word he said with his Norfolk accent.
Strangely when they visited me here in Canada just a couple of years ago I had no problem when talking face to face.
When I first arrive in Canada I got ribbed a lot for my British expressions but not for my accent which is a mixture of Manchester, Pompy (Portsmouth) and Essex to the point that fellow emigrants from GB upon first meeting me ask ' where are you from?'
Thats a long story right there!
 
timoc said:

The confusion of the English language as displayed by this funny pair.​

​

The Two Ronnies - Four Candles​

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yes that's a classic ...even with Both Ronnies long gone now.. that lives on.... :D
RuralKanuck said:
Back in the 60s I became a good friend of a fellow apprentice and shortly before I left England for Canada was best man at his wedding. We kept in touch via mail and then email throughout the years and eventually hooked up via voice chat, whilst I had no problem talking to his wife I could not understand a word he said with his Norfolk accent.
Strangely when they visited me here in Canada just a couple of years ago I had no problem when talking face to face.
When I first arrive in Canada I got ribbed a lot for my British expressions but not for my accent which is a mixture of Manchester, Pompy (Portsmouth) and Essex to the point that fellow emigrants from GB upon first meeting me ask ' where are you from?'
Thats a long story right there!
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hahaha...how can you have a Mancunian.....Pompei/Essex accent...lol... like chalk and cheese... South and North.... :ROFLMAO:

I live here on the borders of Essex, Herts & London.... I lived in Gosport as a young married woman which as you know is next door to Pompei....
 
IrishEyes said:
My sister married a man from Quebec he was a Civil Service Conservation and got transferred to B.C. Everyone who heard him there
referred to him as "Ya know...the Frog". He had a French name too that gave him away Marcel, so that was a bit obvious.
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Two things. I'm from BC, Canada, and I have no idea what a Civil Service Conservation is. ??

Second, I have worked with people, and have friends who are, from Quebec. And I think that the term "Frog", as a slang label, is crude... and often meant to be derogatory. I'd never use it, and neither would any of my friends out here. Having said that, unfortunately it was common in Canada's English-speaking provinces in past decades, but it seems rarer now.
 
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