# Dialect Accent Map



## Pokeymeg (Jun 7, 2013)

This has been going around the main stream media lately, but in case some of you haven't seen it, I thought it may be interesting  Especially since we are from all over the country/world on this forum!

It's a map of how we say/use different words all over the country. I found this very fun to look at (I minored in linguistics, so this is a big interest of mine). I have a fairly strong Eastern MA accent/vocabulary, but my boyfriend from Western MA pronounces a lot of these words differently/uses different words!

http://spark-1590165977.us-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com/jkatz/SurveyMaps/ (source website with 100+ maps)

Here are a couple of my favorites!




I had no idea that almost the entire country pronounces Aunt as ANT. 




My boyfriend and I fought over this one...notice the split down the middle of MA? Lol! I didn't know that crayon was pronounced any other way. 

If Dante could talk, he would definitely say Aunt and Crayon my way


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## SpdTrtl (Jun 7, 2013)

I have to much time on my hands I guess because I did this...lol


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## wellington (Jun 7, 2013)

Ant, cran, and pop are the correct ways. Any other way is just weird  
Don't attack, I'm kidding, sorta


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## CtTortoiseMom (Jun 7, 2013)

Haha "Ant". We say Auuuuunt in my hood .


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## Pokeymeg (Jun 7, 2013)

wellington said:


> Ant, cran, and pop are the correct ways. Any other way is just weird
> Don't attack, I'm kidding, sorta



Hahahaha I love all the variations!


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## wellington (Jun 7, 2013)

Another one that I never heard of until I met my Chicago hubby and most Chicagoans is "three". They say "tree" and "thousand" is "tousand". I think it's the "mobsta" slang. Not "mobster" .


Oh, and it is contagious if you live here long enough.


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## Pokeymeg (Jun 8, 2013)

Hahaha no way! I haven't heard that one, but I've never been to Chicago... sounds like they have a Jamaican influence lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using TortForum mobile app


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## RosieRedfoot (Jun 9, 2013)

I grew up in Alaska and then lived in Washington for 4-5 years. Now I'm in the south so I'll have to look at how I'm saying words that makes them go "ya'll ain't from 'round here"


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## ChiKat (Jun 11, 2013)

I am so interested in accents!! I recently moved from the suburbs of Chicago to southern California, and I have been misunderstood a few times!
I took my car in to get the brakes looked at, and told the man it feels like the brakes lock.
Mechanic: "...they lack?"
Me: "They lock."
Mechanic: "Ohh, they 'lawk'" 
I pronounce it "lahk" 

Last weekend was the first time I've misunderstood someone from here. I was at a bar and a guy told me his drink tasted "aud". I was seriously so confused.
Me: "...it tastes 'aud'??"
Him: "Yes..."
Me: "What's 'aud'?"
Him: "Like the opposite of even...aud..." 
Me: "Ohh, odd!" 

I just took this quiz http://www.youthink.com/quiz.cfm
and got:
Which American accent do you have?
Northern
You have a Northern accent. That could either be the Chicago/Detroit/Cleveland/Buffalo accent (easily recognizable) or the Western New England accent that news networks go for.

I remember my roommate in college was from Central IL and she would say the words Don/dawn collar/caller stock/stalk as if they sounded the same, and I pronounce them differently.


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