Regional identification by vocabulary choice

coloradobluesky said:
Colorado is Colo rah do (like rah, rah rah), not ra as in rag.
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But most people who live here say it like the "a" in rag or apple, not rah rah rah. I changed the way I pronounced it after I had lived here for awhile. I had the east coast or west coast way of saying it (rah rah rah).
 
RJM62 said:
Midwest: "Needs fixed."
New York: "Needs fixin'."
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Where? Because I've lived in the Midwest my whole life, and I have never heard or used the term "needs fixed"
"Needs to be fixed" however is in my vernacular.
 
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Everskyward said:
But most people who live here say it like the "a" in rag or apple, not rah rah rah. I changed the way I pronounced it after I had lived here for awhile. I had the east coast or west coast way of saying it (rah rah rah).
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Thats wild, I've never heard anyone(even on the news movies, etc.) say it that way, ra as in rag, only ever heard collar odd-oh

Merriam Webster confirms what you're saying: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/colorado

Then again, i've never been to Coloraaado :) I'm an oustider:
Col·o·ra·do \ˌkä-lə-ˈra-(ˌ)dō, chiefly by outsiders-ˈrä-\​
 
EdFred said:
Where? Because I've lived in the Midwest my whole life, and I have never heard or used the term "needs fixed"
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Maybe it's the west midwest because I hear "needs fixed" around here.
 
Everskyward said:
Maybe it's the west midwest because I hear "needs fixed" around here.
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We do seem to have more than our fair share of former residents from the Republic of Texass. Seems like the ones with the lower IQs get shipped to ColorAYdough. And then there's the western front where we're being invaded by the thirsty morons from the dusty wasteland of bankrupt California. Ugh. Its hard living here. We need better immigration laws.
 
Since Colorado is a Spanish word, maybe the correct pronunciation has not yet been mentioned.
 
oldShar said:
People used to tell me that they knew I was from Connecticut from my pronunciation of a $0.25 piece ==> "qwaw - ter"
:)

Then, there was also my grandmother's pronunciation of "pa day da" [potato]
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In Maine they say ba day do
 
Shawn said:
Take "The" I-10 East...you might be from Southern California.

Get me a glass whuter (water) with my arnge...one sylable...(orange) and you are from the North East
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Usually we would just say "Take the 10...."
 
When we moved from Cincinnati, where we both had lived all of our young lives till then, 50 miles north to Dayton, the folks at my wife's office told her she had an accent. No idea what was the tip off.

BTW, I also have no idea why some people say Cin-cin-nat-tah instead Cin-cin-nat-tee.

Cheers
 
Lachlan said:
We do seem to have more than our fair share of former residents from the Republic of Texass. Seems like the ones with the lower IQs get shipped to ColorAYdough. And then there's the western front where we're being invaded by the thirsty morons from the dusty wasteland of bankrupt California. Ugh. Its hard living here. We need better immigration laws.
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Be careful- most of Color Radio used to be in Texas, perhaps we might repossess it! :)

---

Growing up here in Dallas, if someone said "I want a Coke," they might well have meant that they wanted a Dr. Pepper. All fizzy drinks were "Coke," not just... Coke.

The place where you wash clothes with machines that accept coins? A "washateria."

And "barbecue" is most absolutely NOT pork only; it is a means of cooking, smoking, and it can apply to beef (brisket), sausage or even (under extreme duress) chicken. But if you are grilling steak, you are not barbecuing.
 
Caramon13 said:
My wife has a rather neutral southern accent, but when she travels back to her home state it's like I'm hearing a different person talk.

I've been back up to my home state of PA and I do the same thing...by the way, the natives of Pennsylvania I've met (myself included) seem to refer to their state as "PA" as opposed to the full name.

Where you from originally? "PA"
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You don't call it "Billy Penn's back yard"?
 
GlennAB1 said:
Needs fixin, or needs a fixin
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Yep, "needs fixed" was as popular as "needs washed" when I lived along the Ohio River. Didn't say them in the Deep South, where all carbonated drinks are Cokes, tea is sweet and you don't want the ladies to "bless your heart" if you know what's good for you.
 
EdFred said:
Where? Because I've lived in the Midwest my whole life, and I have never heard or used the term "needs fixed"
"Needs to be fixed" however is in my vernacular.
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Ohio. Specifically Dayton and Massillon.

Rich
 
Around St. Louis the common joke is if pronounce 'fork' as 'fark' and 'forty-four' as 'farty-far' then you grew up south of Interstate 64, if you pronounce it like a normal person you grew up north of 64. I've only know one person my entire life that pronounced it 'fark' and 'farty-far' and that was my aunt.

Not really vocabulary, but it's common in St. Louis to inquire where someone went to high school, which is really funny when you watch someone ask that of your wife who went to 3 different high schools in Virginia.
 
Down here when we drink beer, we say "I bought me a case of beer and drank it Obama self".
 
Oh I had a couple two tree beers last night, don't cha know...
 
Good luck guessing my region by what I say or how I sound. People in AR don't believe I'm from here. I always get told I'm from England, New England or by one old lady Holland.
 
X3 Skier said:
When we moved from Cincinnati, where we both had lived all of our young lives till then, 50 miles north to Dayton, the folks at my wife's office told her she had an accent. No idea what was the tip off.

BTW, I also have no idea why some people say Cin-cin-nat-tah instead Cin-cin-nat-tee.

Cheers
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Most likely they're from Missou-rah.
 
Caramon13 said:
Going beyond the US, to Canada, a dead giveaway for a Canadian is the word process.

It's "PRA"cess for most people in the US, but up there they say it like it's spelled "PRO"cess
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The other way around, Canucks in the states can be identified when they say "oot" or "aboot" (for out or about). Another giveaway is "shed-ule" (for schedule).

Dave
 
Tarheelpilot said:
I can confirm you are correct. Also if someone suggestes a bbq restaurant they are referring to pig. Not beef. Also "coke" references any soft drink. So if you tell the waitress you want coke she will rattle off what soft drinks they have and ask which one you want.
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Coke, soda, pop, soda-pop if you are in between the pop and soda areas...
 
Auntie Bee Otics.
 
Unit74 said:
Never called it "I " ever......SoCal boy here. Can't recall anyone calling it " interstate" either or I-405 (eye four oh five)

"Jump on the 101 and take that to the 405. Run through OC and merge onto the 5 south. Take the 163 to TJ and party on Wayne."
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Yeah when I lived there that sounds right. "The" 405 was only what TV broadcasters said. But they did. It's weird.

coloradobluesky said:
Colorado is Colo rah do (like rah, rah rah), not ra as in rag.
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Agreed.

Everskyward said:
But most people who live here say it like the "a" in rag or apple, not rah rah rah. I changed the way I pronounced it after I had lived here for awhile. I had the east coast or west coast way of saying it (rah rah rah).
Click to expand...

I've been here my whole life and say "rah", because it's closer to the Spanish pronunciation.

EdFred said:
Since Colorado is a Spanish word, maybe the correct pronunciation has not yet been mentioned.
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Bingo. Kolor Ah-doe.

SCCutler said:
Be careful- most of Color Radio used to be in Texas, perhaps we might repossess it.
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We'll see if we let you. Let's chat. There's some things y'all got right down there but if you can't learn how to ski and to stay out of the way and off of the blues and blacks when you visit, this is to going to work out well.

And how long did it take you to pass constitutional open carry? Sheesh. You know things are bad in Texas when we had that and Texas didn't. Congratulations by the way.

Now if y'all could come up here and kick someone's ass for the stupid magazine law...

Anyway...

Want to start a fight even amongst Colorado natives?

Is it "Coloradoans" or "Coloradans". Heh. Hell I live here and haven't figured that one out.

Oh and back to the Spanish pronunciation thing. It doesn't apply to the town of Limon.

That's Lie-mun, not Lee-moan. My GPS disagrees and it ****es me off. But there's a lot of things she can't say correctly. :)
 
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There is actually a project that has been going on for several years now out of the University if Wisconsin. They send out questionnaires which basically ask "what is the name of the strip of grass that grows between the sidewalk and the street?" or "what is the name of a big dinner where everyone brings a dish?" They compile the answers to determine the speech "regions" in a dictionary called the Dictionary of American Regional English or DARE.
Answer the above questions yourself - you might be surprised at the variety of answers.
 
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