My son-in-law still maintains his Pittsburg accent even though he's lived here for 13 years. He still says yuns for you all. Cap't JackHaha, those Yinzers. I'm supposed to hate them, because of football rivalry, but they have a special place in my heart. They say "yunz", and we in Bmore and Philly say "youze". I think NYC says "youze" as well. It's all the Irish immigrant's fault. %-P Actually, I hear "yiz" in New York and Northern NJ. "Where yiz goin'?"
What’s up with Americans saying “uh-huh” instead of “you’re welcome”? I have never seen anyone on TV say that, but it’s seems very common otherwise. I don’t like it at all. >:-(
What’s up with Americans saying “uh-huh" instead of “you’re welcome"? I have never seen anyone on TV say that, but it’s seems very common otherwise. I don’t like it at all.Neither do I. It's rude and thoughtless. That's slang that we can do without. Cap't Jack
I checked my Websters and it shows the first a in Mary as either e as in very or a as in bat. When I was a kid I recall the rhyme “Mary, Mary, quite contrary.” It would seem that the a in the last would have the same sound as the a in the first word. But then, maybe some people pronounce it as contrery. 
Occam
I checked my Websters and it shows the first a in Mary as either e as in very or a as in bat. When I was a kid I recall the rhyme "Mary, Mary, quite contrary." It would seem that the a in the last would have the same sound as the a in the first word. But then, maybe some people pronounce it as contrery. :) OccamPeople brought up in England are more likely to pronounce Mary as merry, at least in my experience. But most Americans seem to pronounce the first syllable of Mary to rhyme with mare and they pronounce merry the sameway. We might think we make a distinction between the two words but mosy of us actually do not. That's why it's best to have someone else listen to how we say the words.
What's up with Americans saying "uh-huh" instead of "you're welcome"? I have never seen anyone on TV say that, but it's seems very common otherwise. I don't like it at all. >:-(Yes, it's an American thing, I think. Writers often try to clean up real American speech. But it makes it less authentic. On the other hand, if everyone in books, on TV and in the movies said uh-huh as much as most Americans do, it might drive a lot of people crazy! Even people who say it all the time often don't realize that they do and would deny it if you pointed it out.
Hmmm. My wife was born in Canada of parents from England, and she and they pronounced the a in her name as in at. And I’ve always pronounced the e in merry the same as the e in evolution even though I’ve never even been to England.
Occam
What's up with Americans saying "uh-huh" instead of "you're welcome"? I have never seen anyone on TV say that, but it's seems very common otherwise. I don't like it at all. >:-(I've never heard that. Either it isn't common where I live, or I'm 'running' with the wrong crowd...
I checked my Websters and it shows the first a in Mary as either e as in very or a as in bat. When I was a kid I recall the rhyme "Mary, Mary, quite contrary." It would seem that the a in the last would have the same sound as the a in the first word. But then, maybe some people pronounce it as contrery. :) OccamMy Mary sounds more like 'marry', and unlike 'merry'....but that wasn't a choice.
My Mary sounds more like ‘marry’, and unlike ‘merry’....but that wasn’t a choice.Here Both words sound identical as in "marry me" and "merry Xmas". We don't make a distinction. Same with the name Mary. So "marry me Mary and we'll both be merry" would confuse a non native speaker. Cap't Jack
Didn't seem very accurate for me. I got "Inland North." I grew up dividing my time about evenly between Illinois and Northern California until settling permanently in CA (Southern until my twenties then Northern) at about age 8 (almost 40 years ago). I was teased about my mid-western accent for about 6 months, and since then everyone who has ever offered an opinion guesses I'm from California, so I suspect I have a CA accent. On an unrelated note, only my deep fascination with language and linguistics could overcome my loathing of libertarianism enough to make me visit lewrockwell.com. I'm still queasy from clicking the link! :-)The test had nothing to so with Rockwell. The person who sent it to me got it from the Rockwell site. Rockwell picked it uo from here http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have So you can go there and stop feeling queasy. Lois
That's funny because to me, "marry me" and "merry Xmas" sound very different to my ear. :/My Mary sounds more like ‘marry’, and unlike ‘merry’....but that wasn’t a choice.Here Both words sound identical as in "marry me" and "merry Xmas". We don't make a distinction. Same with the name Mary. So "marry me Mary and we'll both be merry" would confuse a non native speaker. Cap't Jack
That's funny because to me, "marry me" and "merry Xmas" sound very different to my ear. :/ To mine, too. Most people I know pronounce Mary to rhyme with the way I pronounce berry, but some pronounce merry and marry the same way. To add to the confusion, some people pronounce berry to rhyme with curry. Sometimes what we hear and what we say are different. I think I say merry different than I say Mary but some people can't tell the difference. They can tell the difference in the way I say marry, though, which, to me, rhymes with Barry. The problem is when we write it, a person who says marry rhymes with Barry may pronounce both words to rhyme with berry (to my ear, anyway). That's why linguists use linguistic nnotations, but it isn't exact. It's impossible to make distinctions in writing that correspond exactly to how people actually sound. Pronunciation is in the ear of the listener.My Mary sounds more like ‘marry’, and unlike ‘merry’....but that wasn’t a choice.Here Both words sound identical as in "marry me" and "merry Xmas". We don't make a distinction. Same with the name Mary. So "marry me Mary and we'll both be merry" would confuse a non native speaker. Cap't Jack
What's up with Americans saying "uh-huh" instead of "you're welcome"? I have never seen anyone on TV say that, but it's seems very common otherwise. I don't like it at all. >:-(I've only ever heard middle aged white women say that. Not many Americans under say, 40, will respond with "you're welcome" - unless it's a very formal setting.
My son-in-law still maintains his Pittsburg accent even though he's lived here for 13 years. He still says yuns for you all. Cap't JackHaha, those Yinzers. I'm supposed to hate them, because of football rivalry, but they have a special place in my heart. They say "yunz", and we in Bmore and Philly say "youze". I think NYC says "youze" as well. It's all the Irish immigrant's fault. %-P Actually, I hear "yiz" in New York and Northern NJ. "Where yiz goin'?"I'll be damned.
Yeah, “Bawtimer" is part of the local lexicon. It must be said that the “Baltimore accent" is mostly confined to lower, to middle class whites, today. The upper - middle class whites in this area have hardly any trace of any stereotypical East coast accent - except maybe “tidewater". The Philadelphia accent is very similar to Baltimore’s, but there seems to be far more people in the Philadelphia area with that accent; maybe because it’s simply a much bigger city then Baltimore? Pittsburgese, OTOH has some similarities with the Baltimore accent, but not as much as the Philadelphia accent does.I had never even heard the pronunciation of Baltimore (we use the accent on the first syllable and stretch the more) until I talked to some of the locals there. We've visited Aberdeen, Annapolis, and B'more to visit the fort and have heard the same accent in all three paces. However, in West MD. Around Fredrick, the South Mountain area, and Cumberland the accent sounds more familiarly Southern. East coast dialects are far more Britsh sounding than the West Trans-Appalachian accents. The farther from the coast, the more the dialect and some of the word meanings change. Yeah, Pittsburgers nazalize words more than we do and we only live five hours down the river from there! Cap't Jack
Yep, thanks for confirming what I already know. All my life spent in the South and I still don't have a Southern accent! I blame television! :)You should ask others whether they hear a Southern accent. They may hear it while you do not. If you lived in a cosmopolitan area, you would be somewhat less likely to develop a noticible Southern accent, especially if your parents didnt have one. Where did the test place you? LoisWhen I joined the Air Force and started meeting people from various parts of the country, they would usually comment on my lack of a Southern accent. I've even tried faking an accent, and people tell me it sounds like a fake accent! The frustrating thing is I had a friend who moved here from up North, and within a year she picked up a Southern accent! The test said I had that "Midlands" accent, essentially no accent at all it said.
When I joined the Air Force and started meeting people from various parts of the country, they would usually comment on my lack of a Southern accent. I’ve even tried faking an accent, and people tell me it sounds like a fake accent! The frustrating thing is I had a friend who moved here from up North, and within a year she picked up a Southern accent!Moving to other areas with distinct dialects in all probability washed out your Southern accent as it did ours. With the exception of my mother, my father and brother also lost theirs, although we can slip back into it on occasion. My brother worked hard on eliminating his as he had a career in broadcast journalism, so he had to effect the Midwest accent. He lives on the Carolina coast but still has that Ron Burgandy voice. It's also a bit easier to lose the Southern drawl if you're from the upper South or from the Southern coastal area, e.g. Listen to Haley Barbour's mush mouth accent in comparison to Lindsey Graham's S.C. Dialect. Graham's is far more subtle than Barbur's Mississippi drawl, especially when they get excited about abortion or gun control! Cap't Jack
What's up with Americans saying "uh-huh" instead of "you're welcome"? I have never seen anyone on TV say that, but it's seems very common otherwise. I don't like it at all. >:-(I've never heard that. Either it isn't common where I live, or I'm 'running' with the wrong crowd... What they say in Southern California, in my experience, is "No problem!" which can be even more annoying than "uh-huh."
I think it's highly unusual to say that Mary and marry sound the same. A lot of people I know say Mary and merry the same way, though."Mary" Christmas just sounds plain weird to my ear. :roll: