Dialect differences

[CelticFrog]

Next on the agenda: how do you pronounce pecan?

Where is the accent - first syllable or second? And what is the value of each vowel?

This is research for me, so I will reveal my own after others have contributed.

LMAO!

Okay...

Sheath makes fun of me for this. I pronounce it two different ways, depending on how I'm speaking that day and what context it's being used in.

Pecan pie -- "pickON pie"
Pecans -- "PEAcans"

So sue me.

Ang

 

[cricketbug]

And of course i'm right, cricketbug. Do you REALLY expect anything less from me?

Oh, and don't forget about directions. In town people turn to the right or left and tend to use street names. Out of town they use the cardinal directions and landmarks - except in highly wooded areas. Then they use both landmarks and road names.

Nope, don't expect nothing less.... but how 'bout lots more?

directions. *sniggers* anything like "Drive 'til ya hit the mountain and turn right?" ...........................driving thru/under a barb-ire fence

 

[entitled]

It's pickONs. And those half moon ones are cashEWs, not CASHoos.

Peanuts are also called goobers.

Potatoes can be either taters or spuds. *snickers* The inlaws didn't know what I was asking for the first time i had them pass the spuds.

cricketbug: *does that duck-and-cover, antenna-flying-through-the-window thing*

 

[logan ross]

mildly on topic -- why the hell do I say 'fair dinkum'?

Anyone?

Ang

we say 'fair dinkum' cause where aussies and thats the only excuse i can come up with. it does confuse alot of tourist and thats always fun.

 

[frustratedpoodle]

I love this stuff.

I'm from the US South, and have a cousin who married a Buffalo Gal. As someone else mentioned, we say "soda", but she says "pop". But where I am from, "soda" has slowly replaced calling all such drinks "Coke".

People have a hard time distinguishing "pen" and "pin" when I speak, as well as "ten" and "tin".

I once dated an Aussie, and he cracked up the first time I said that I would "root" for the Florida Gators. Apparently, this is the Aussie way of saying "fuck".

 

[CelticFrog]

we say 'fair dinkum' cause where aussies and thats the only excuse i can come up with. it does confuse alot of tourist and thats always fun.

But... but... I'm half and half Scot/Irish. I'M CONFUUUUUSED!!!

Ang

(and YES, Sheath, I've been saying it for more than a few months)

 

[Guest]

 

[sheath]

but I say cattywhumpus for something that has gotten all mixed up or fallen akimbo.

CATTYWHUMPUS?

LMAO!

I'm SO gonna steal that one!

S.

 

[midwestyankee]

But... but... I'm half and half Scot/Irish. I'M CONFUUUUUSED!!!

Ang

(and YES, Sheath, I've been saying it for more than a few months)

Perhaps there is some cross-pollination going on here. Remember that the first non-aboriginal residents of Australia were all imported from the British Empire. Chances are, the expression "fair dinkum" originated in one of the celtic communities under British rule and spread to both Australia and the U. S. with emigration.

 

[CelticFrog]

OK, when something is positioned diagonally from you, is it:

or kitty-cornered?

but I say cattywhumpus for something that has gotten all mixed up or fallen akimbo.

HA! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

SO THERE RANGER!!!!!!!!!

(told you so)
Ang

 

[midwestyankee]

OK, when something is positioned diagonally from you, is it:

caddy-cornered

catty-cornered

or kitty-cornered?

(I say caddy-cornered)

but I say cattywhumpus for something that has gotten all mixed up or fallen akimbo.

I have heard a couple of these expressions but don't use any of them. When I need to say that something is positioned kitty-cornered to where I am I say, "diagonally across the street."

 

[logan ross]

Perhaps there is some cross-pollination going on here. Remember that the first non-aboriginal residents of Australia were all imported from the British Empire. Chances are, the expression "fair dinkum" originated in one of the celtic communities under British rule and spread to both Australia and the U. S. with emigration.

spot on mwyankee.

 

[Guest]

 

[CelticFrog]

Huh? Don't get ME in the middle of something!! lol

Nah. You just proved my point that there IS such a word as cattywampus for all screwed up.

Ang

 

[ABN_Ranger]

HA! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

SO THERE RANGER!!!!!!!!!

(told you so)
Ang

Bite Me!

J

 

[CelticFrog]

Bite Me!

J

Okay... well, if you WANT me to, I guess I can.

Ang

 

[logan ross]

a couple more.

you say we say
cell phone mobile phone
flip flops thongs (not under wear)
thongs(under wear) g strings
sweater jumper



my favourite is the term "fanny" to you guys it means "bum"
but to an aussie it means "front bum", vagina, pussy what ever you want to call it
so dont tell an aussie the have a nice "fanny" you may get a bad response.

 

[frustratedpoodle]

Fannies and Boots

There were a few Aussie-ism's that threw me for a loop.

Boot instead of trunk.
Tea instead of supper.
Utes instead of trucks.

I had forgotten about Fanny. I feel sorry for the American woman /named/ Fanny that goes to Australia. Then again, who knows, she might be the lucky one.

 

[sheath]

Re: Fannies and Boots

There were a few Aussie-ism's that threw me for a loop.

Boot instead of trunk.

THAT one threw me. When I told him that was the 'trunk', he said, 'I know...you think it is...but a trunk is actually that thing' and he pointed to my boxy kind of suitcase.

I asked him what he called a suitcase and he rolled his eyes and said 'Luggage. Of course it is just luggage, darling.'

Of course.

S.

 

[sheath]

What about the regional quirks of phrase?

For instance, now that I am completely and totally entrenched in the southern lifestyle, I find myself using a lot of terms that threw me when I first moved to Tennessee. Like...

Lord have mercy

Good God Almighty

Lawdy (as in, lawdy, chile, but it's hot in heah)

Hells Bells!

Jesus, Mary and Joseph (used when you are amazed and feel the need to pray en masse, I suppose)

Thick as kudzu (you just have to SEE kudzu to understand that one)

Slow as a Georgia creek

Fast as a black rattler in a hen house

I'm sure there are more, but that is all that I actually USED today. LOL

S.

 

[kopite]

Well I`m from a little place called liverpool

And we have some really weird things.

We say la which is a friend.

"alright der la" means hi friend

"Kidda" usually means younger brother.


Damn this is ahrder that I thought o think of scally things to say.


Us can mean either a few ppl or just one person ie

Show us - Show me

 

[entitled]

*snicker* Show uuussssss... my precioussss....

*ahem*

How about 'little bit' for a baby?
There was another one, too, but i forgot it now.

 

[fsumusic1981]

This is a neat little thread, so I thought I'd post two interesting things....

1) In Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Huck and Jim, the slave, go down the Mississippi River, encountering different towns. The interesting thing that linguists and researchers have shown is that Mark Twain, in the way he wrote the dialogue for each part of Huck and Jim's journey is exactly how the people talked on that part of the river.

2) I work in sales. I sold a customer a few big ticket items the other day. Afterwards, I was talking to him and his wife about a rebate and they asked me if I was from a certain part of a certain state. As a matter of fact, I am... the funny thing is, I haven't lived there for 17 years. Now, my parents lived there for 35 years, so maybe I picked up an accent from them growing up... but surely I'd think living in the south would somehow mask it. Go figure.

-Peace

 

[kopite]

We also say ma instead of mum

e.g wheres me ma? Me ma`s making scouse for tea

 

[SlickTony]

Now, my parents lived there for 35 years, so maybe I picked up an accent from them growing up... but surely I'd think living in the south would somehow mask it. Go figure

Same thing happened to me. I have always lived in the South, but some people used to think I was a Yankee because of my parents, who came from Nebraska. When I met English people overseas, they thought I sounded completely Texan. However, when I got back to the states people thought I sounded British. I can pick up the accents of any group I hang out with a lot. if I spent enough time in Scotland, I'm sure I'd acquire a brogue. That's one of the reasons I've always hesitated to go there. They say once you acquire a brogue you can never get rid of it, and that's certainly true of all the Scots I have met.

What's scouse?