Re: American accent in England(Regional Dialect Debate)

I'm right outside Houston and just within a 50 mile radius of here the accent and even the words used changes drastically.

Through a church I used to go to I met a group of people who only lived about 40 miles from me yet at times I couldn't even understand them. I remember one particular incident when we were all making peanut brittle together and they ran out of some of the ingredients and I volunteered to go to the grocery store for them. So I asked what they needed. Silly me thinking I'd know what the heck they were talking about.

This is how the conversation went:

Git sum oleo...bout fo-ur (yes this is the number 4 pronounced with 2 syllables) pounds.
And git sum sodee too.

Me standing there looking blank and embarrassed. Finally after a minute of trying hard to translate in my mind what has been said to me I say...What is it you need

They look at me like I must have something wrong with my hearing and repeat what they said again.

I ask "What is oleo?"

Now they're really looking at me like I've got 3 heads or something.

"You know..OLEO!!" (like saying it louder is going to make me understand what it is )

They talk amongst themselves and decide the other word for this oleo stuff is margarine. OK!! now we're getting somewhere....margarine I understand....oleo I do not understand.

Then we get to the sodee. I ask "what is sodee?"

Once again the looks that tell me they think I must be putting on an act about not understanding.

They say "You know SODEE...it's on the flyer all."

Me- HUH?

Finally another friend who apparently speaks both backwoods Texan and Houstonian walks in and translates for me.

Sodee= baking soda
it's on the flyer all= you will find it on the same aisle as the flour.

I managed to bring back everything they needed with no problems. God knows what was said about me while I was gone though.

Geez, I actually understood that........without the translation...LOL  (oleo- I remember my grandma referring to it as that)

I feel like I need a passport when I travel to other areas of the USA!

Hehehe....I understood that too.  Native Houstonian, born and bred, but I spent 5 years working for hicks. 

Oleo.     My Gramma used to say that too. 

Just out of interest, why are you taking such issue with my 'statement of fact' when Cascode's 'I said it so it must be fact' theory is fine with you?  
 

It's not.  I just found your hypocritical argument more upsetting.  I figured it was clear from my earlier posts that I didn't support *any* bold statement of "This is my opinion, therefore it is fact." without some supporting proof.  I see I was mistaken.  Sorry about that, I didn't mean for it to come across as singling one person out.  So far, neither of you have proved your case.  *grin* 

My mum used to say oleo too -- native Marylander.

I think Oleo might be a generational thing.  My grandmother says it all the time too...and she's from Wisconsin! 

'Course...she also calls the couch the davenport!  What the heck is that all about?!

I think I might have heard my grandmother use the word davenport.

It's not.  I just found your hypocritical argument more upsetting.  I figured it was clear from my earlier posts that I didn't support *any* bold statement of "This is my opinion, therefore it is fact." without some supporting proof.  I see I was mistaken.  Sorry about that, I didn't mean for it to come across as singling one person out.  So far, neither of you have proved your case.  *grin* 

Thank you. Good post. Please don't get upset.
You are right, Neither Mindy nor I have proved our case. It is subjective.
My opinion is based on experience and the four distinctive UK regional accents comparered to the US three.
Just observation.

Thank you. Good post. Please don't get upset.
You are right, Neither Mindy nor I have proved our case. It is subjective.
My opinion is based on experience and the four distinctive UK regional accents comparered to the US three.
Just observation.

Well, I for one feel no need to prove my case.  It's my opinion.  Take it or leave it.  And unlike Cascode, I have never presented it as fact.  I was unaware that I needed to present my views before a committee who could test for hypocriticism. 

And it's a bit rich Cascode, that you are using the 'three distinct US regional accents' as if that was information that you knew all along.  You opinion was just that, an opinion.   

I think I might have heard my grandmother use the word davenport.

My grandparents always said davenport.  And taps instead of faucet.   

Well, I for one feel no need to prove my case.  It's my opinion. 

Good post. And I agree. It is your opinion,

To my recollection, there are more than just three distinct (and obvious) regional accents in the US.

Off the top of my head:

• Bostonian
• New Yorker
• Southern
• West Coast

I also find the Mid-west accent very distinct, but know some people that wouldn't recognise it.

I can't speak for everyone, but I find the difference in these accents just as distinct as I would find the difference between an Irish accent v a Scottish accent v a Welsh accent v a Cockney accent.

Of course, we haven't counted my accent which can be best summarised as: non-descript, mid-Atlantic seaboard accent.   

ok lets look for linguistic facts rather than opinions

Here is the scientific dialect map of the USA, with explanations for and history of each dialect (24):
http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1906/dialects.html

Nice but here's a side by side comparison of England and the USA which puts the US at 16 dialects with 8 accents in the dialects for a total of 24 again, and England at 16 dialects including the accents. This is only for England, and does not include Scotland and Wales and the rest of the UK.
http://www.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionary/chapters/accents.php

Looking further we find 5 minor dialects and 3 major dialects of Scots some of these sub-divided and making a total of 12 dialects. http://www.campusprogram.com/reference/en/wikipedia/s/sc/scots_language.html
which is further compounded by the fact that Scots is also it's own language recognized by both the British Government and the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages.

All 12 Scots dialects are found here on both a dialect map and a text explanation for each
http://www.scots-online.org/grammar/pronunci.htm#cairt

We are now up to 28 for the UK and have only touched Scotland and England so far. Let's continue on then.

Wales, in addition to having it's own language outright which has 2 different dialects http://www.estelnet.com/catalunyacymru/catala/gwent_y_wenhwyseg_mynegai_1e.htm, has 6 regional dialects.

This brings the score of the US vs the UK's main Isle to 24 for the USA and 36 for the UK. I could add in Northern Ireland etc, but I think I have made the point already, with fact rather than opinion.

Jared