Howdy, all y’all.
Today I’m doing a vlog to show you how I speak.
I first found this prompt for accents and dialects on Jessica’s blog, Meet the Buttrams. Her accent is super-cute. I also saw it on Lessons From Teachers and Twits and She’s a Maineiac.
I work with actors and I’m always impressed with how they’re able to slip in and out of dialects and accents. Most impressive was when we were opening the London company of Jersey Boys; in tech rehearsals when we stopped, the actors would turn on a dime from dirty Jersey to the Queen’s English.
I don’t think I have an accent. I’ve noticed though that most people don’t think they have an accent.
The sound is a bit low and at times doesn’t match the video. The irony is not lost on me.
- What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
- What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
- What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
- What do you call gym shoes?
- What do you say to address a group of people?
- What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body & extremely long legs?
- What do you call your grandparents?
- What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
- What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
- What is the thing you change the TV channel with?
So, whaddaya say- do I have an accent or not? Do you?
JM Randolph, accidentalstepmom 
Okay, you are gorgeous, your voice is gorgeous. Good lord! Your vlog was awesome. I don’t think you have an accent, that I can detect anyway (of course, I don’t think I have one either, so I’m not a reliable accent-detector…)
I love that you say “ant” for aunt. I do too and got a lot of flak for it. Caramel–you said it much better than I did. I also loved it when you said, “a frickin’ miracle”! And I will be sure to never ever go near your garage. *shivers*
You only have an accent on certain excellent words (wicked pissah comes to mind). Carmel has always been a two-syllable word to me. I get flak for one that isn’t on the list: to me Dawn and Don are the same word. How about you?
With the first words out of your mouth, I thought Mid West.
“All-Y’all” is your dad talking — definitely southern.
(little roll up bugs are “Pill Bugs”.)
Can’t hide my midwestitude! Pill bugs- that’s fantastic!
When we were growing up, we called them roly-poly’s and sometimes potato bugs. I have heard them called pill bugs, too.
I would say you don’t have much of an accent. There is some regionalism in your speech but not much of an accent.
I would like to see you do this one. I bet you have some interesting east coast meets Texas words.
I definitely enjoyed this.
I’m originally from Mississippi but have spent the last 12+ years in Chicagoland. It doesn’t take long for people up here to ask “Where are you from?” when talking with me and people at home call me Yankee.
I call Southern-speak a “lazy language” because we drop letters out and it’s VERY easy to slip into when I go down there.
The first time I was at Dunkin Donuts up here with my wife (12 years ago) I ordered a strawberry filled donut except that I didn’t say filled. I said it the way I would in Mississippi so it came out as “strawberry field.” Tammy asked me if that’s where they pick the strawberries. Lesson learned. haha…
Here’s my answers to you questions:
1. Rolling (up here I’ve heard it called TP’ing)
2. Roly Poly
3. Coke (in the South if it’s brown and bubbly it’s Coke. They don’t even ask “Is Pepsi OK?” down there like they do up here. I have never and will never call it “pop.”)
4. tennis shoes
5. Hey ya’ll (South) Hey guys (North) I’m multilingual. hahaha…
6. Granddaddy Long Legs
7. Pappaw and Granny
8. Buggies
9. ??? First thing that came to mind was an angel getting it’s wings but I don’t know why I thought that. hahaha…
10. Clicker
Oh and my family in Mississippi seems to think the invisible letter “r” appears in wash.
I can’t even think of how to spell how “oil” is pronounced in the South. hahaha…
Is it kinda like Awl? Ahwil?
Whoa- BUGGIES?!?! That’s the first time I’ve heard that term. I may start using that. No one will have any idea what I’m talking about,
You don’t really have much of an accent to me 🙂 You really are like I imagined you in real life from your writing 🙂 cool how that happens!! I might try this later, have never done a vlog before 🙂
You should totally do this.
I’m so glad you did this. I went back through 4 or 5 layers of this, starting from Meet the Buttrams, but you’re the first person I follow who has done one. Very fun! Actually, I thought I got the first link on one of your One and Done posts, not sure now. It’s so interesting to watch these, simple as they are.
I don’t think you have a particular accent, that I can hear anyway.
I’m so glad you did this. I went back through 4 or 5 layers of this, starting from Meet the Buttrams, but you’re the first person I follow who has done one. Very fun! Actually, I thought I got the first link on one of your One and Done posts, not sure now. It’s so interesting to watch these, simple as they are.
I don’t think you have a particular accent, that I can hear anyway. I also love that you talk some with your hands!
I rarely watch videos on my computer but I’ve been completely sucked in to these. I do like to look up in the corners of my head and talk with my hands. You should do one!
Hi Julie! I loved this. I liked hearing you speak since I have only read your words so far. Anyway, I don’t think you have much of an accent either, except whey you said “Hi Ya All.” Pretty much I think I sound the same, and use many of the same words you do. For the record, I don’t think I have much of an accent either, but sometimes people tell me that I say some words with a bit of spanish dialect. Funny, because I am not a native spanish speaker. I do use the words “Lolo and Lala” for my in-laws when I am referring to them as grandparents to my kids. The kids call them that because those are their personal nicknames for Abuelo and Abuela, “grandfather and grandmother” in Spanish.
Then clearly, you need to do one of these so we can tell you whether or not you have an accent. I love Lolo and Lala. Great words!
OMG – you totally look like ME! (gorgeous, obviously)
You sound fairly normal, but I do hear something very non-Jersey, probly your Indiana accent. I had lost my NJ accent, between 4 yrs in Washington State (no accent there) and 6 in central California (by then I was cured). But after years back here on the East Coast, I fear my accent is back and raging away. SO much work getting rid of it, and now it’s back! Nice Vlog – don’t know if I have the guts to proceed with that. Yet. Maybe one day…
Oh, I meant to put a note on that “Probly” of hers! I totally drop the ab out of that word, too.
We were separated at birth! You got the green thumb, I got the black. I heard myself today gettin’ all Jersey with call, dog, and awesome.
Totally forgot the use of “probably”…
I use “prolly” so much that I added to my the dictionary in my email at work and online so it doesn’t flag it every time I write it!!
All of this talk is making me miss home. Maybe I need to give Mom a call tonight. hahaha…
You should prolly do that!
Yayyy I’m so glad you did this!! I concur with the other commenters that you look gorge – LOVE your hair! Okay, now that the important part of this critique is out of the way… 😉 You definitely don’t have a Jersey accent, but I hear a little Indiana (midwest) in there. I pronounce everything the same way as you, except pecan, probably and caramel.
Oh, and I am a little mystified by everyone’s “Coke” response to #3, because Coke is only one type of carbonated beverage. (I say soda.) But I’m glad you also don’t know what the heck that bug is either (that curls into a ball), LOL!
Now. If I just can CONvince you to vlog for 30 seconds about your silliest guilty pleasure (by October 22nd), you could be in the running for a pretty spectacular prize…
Tune in tomorrow, chipmunk!
Ah, this is funny. I used to live in Indiana, for nine years. And I used to live in New Jersey. And I’m originally from Philly. So I’ve been kind of obsessed with accents for a long time. When I moved to Indy, everyone thought I talked funny because I’d come from PA (not direct from Philly, but close enough). When I moved east to my current location, everyone thought I sounded more midwestern because I don’t suffer those horrific pronunciations in Jerseeze. Apparently, spending half my life in the midwest (Indy and Ohio) and half on the East Coast has neutralized things almost entirely. But I can “do” accents, and have for theater, etc.
Anyway, I can definitely tell you’re midwestern. The giveaways for me were “crayon, alabama, route, syrup, coke, and tennis shoes.” The first four were pronunciation giveaways. The other two were terminology giveaways. (To me, in clinging to my East Coast roots, it’s soda and they’re sneakers… although when I lived in the midwest I did make the concession to tennis shoes just so people knew what the hell I was talking about.) And I figure “all y’all” is more of an approach than anything, since you can choose your salutation to evoke a mood. Oh, one other thing: the speed at which you talk is midwestern. East Coasters talk faster. Midwesterners used to complain all the time about my faster, more clipped way of speaking.
Fun to see and hear you!
Okay, now you’ve stumped me. How is my Alabama different?
Northeast Coasters will pronounce the third “a” with a sound like a sheep: baaa (i think it’s called a short A)
Midwesterners will prounce it with a sound like… um… I can’t approxmiate it. A longer A. Like you say it. 🙂
I’m beyond devastated! I can’t hear this. At all. I have everything turned up. No sound. I wonder if anyone else is having this technical difficulty. Boo for me. Your lips look cute when they move. 😉
Okay, my son came in and fixed it!
I heard your voice. Yay!
I loved your answer to #9: What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
When you said, “a “frickin’ miracle,” I burst out laughing. 😉
I had no idea there was a word for that until I saw it on your vlog. Sun shower is a great word!
As I have family living in Indiana and am from North Central Illinois, I can say that at least to me, you do have a touch of an accent. It was most noticeable on Crayon, New Orleans and Coupon, primarily by where the emphasis was placed when the word was spoken. “All ya’ll” was another one *grins*
Also, notable, was the use of the exact beverage name which I would bet is something that you picked up from touring across a wide variety of areas. Asking for something by name removes the confusion of regional colloquialisms. Example, a Coke where I live will get you a Coca-Cola, whereas a Coke in Florida will get you a question of which brand.
All in all, it was great to hear a fellow blogger for a change. Fun and creative post 🙂
So the guy from Chicago thinks I have an accent- sweet! 🙂 I’d love to hear you do this one.
We pronounce everything the same except for caramel! I don’t know if it’s because of my nomadic childhood (Army brat) but I catch myself changing my accent to match the accent of people around me. Beautiful, by the way!
I do that too, change it up to match those around me. Not on purpose though. Then I worry that people will think I’m making fun of them. I think I say caramel that way because there’s a suburb of Indianapolis called Carmel, and to me they’re the same sounding word.
I heart you and your beautiful hair and accent! Happy week!
Happy week back at ya- when do we hear yours, eh?
No accent.
I love your hair!
Some words I picked up on that you said a different way than I would: Nyorlins, prawbly, cyoopons.
Words that should be on the list: mouth, house, garage
Your voice is nice. Like you would be a good teacher or something? As if we decide that based on voices. Anyway, I’m just *points to door* gonna leave now… *awkwardly run-walks*
Thanks! I think your words should be on the list. Also call and dogs. I am pretty sure that you have to be more patient than I am to be a teacher, and also they get up really really early. But I could talk about teaching. Except um, I have to go over here now *takes a quarter turn to the left*.
Hahahahaha
I can’t believe I’m just now seeing this. You would have what I think is a non-accent. Probably the least of one out of all the accent vlogs I’ve watched anyway.
I literally cheered out loud when you said “coke”.
To me, you sound like a most people here in California. And by most people, I mean most actual, real, professional adult people that I interact with every day; not most people that you see on TV or in the movies that supposedly sound like Californians.
I totally didn’t think you had an accent but then…you said, ‘route’, yup only the second word. And then data and pecan and…
ha ha
This is a great idea and I love your beautiful hair!