22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently

22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently From Each Other

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/22-maps-that-show-the-deepest-linguistic-conflicts-in-america-2013-6?op=1#ixzz2VTs2Viqh

That's excellent. A few days ago, one parent asked me if I could teach her kid's pronunceation in an American style and if her kid is okay to go to school their. i.e. will the kid speak properly.

I asked her when is the little darling going (he's 8 now). She said for university.

Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyy

What part of the country is he going to? She doesn't know

Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Then I did an "accent" monologue for the various parts of the country. I'm really good at this. All the perents laughed because most of them have been to one part or another and are a little familiar with the different twangs and intonations.

Its nice to see it so spelled out. Nice one, CWL

I'm gonna explain the drive-thru liquor stores. They're called beer barns in Texas, which became a brand name for a while when I was a kid. If I remember correctly, you got a discount if you had a gun rack in your pick-em-up.

They're called beer barns in Texas...

Please tell me that they are literal barns which you drive through as if you're barnstorming them with a biplane.  Whether this is actually true or not I do not care, just tell me it is so.

ROFLMAO!

It is actually true that they are shaped a bit like barns because they're simple warehouses that you actually drive through without exiting your vehicle. It was a great idea, but it seemed to fade away or got outlawed. Buying alcohol in Texas is a major pain in the butt, at least in Dallas. So many rules and regs and different parts of the city where you can buy beer and wine, but not liquor, etc., etc.

What would have really been cool would have been a combination beer barn and automated car wash connected to a NAFTA free trade zone so you could sip your beer outside of US jurisdiction while they were wiping down your pickup. Then an illegal alien designated driver could take you home. Win win, yes?

I mean if we're gonna have globalization, we might as well enjoy it.

There are a couple of great documentaries about American accents/dialects. One is called "Do You Speak American," from PBS, and the other is an episode of the History Channel's show, "How the States Got Their Shapes." I usually show one or the other to my students preparing to study in the USA. The look on their faces when they hear the Ocracoke and Geechee dialects is absolutely priceless.

In case you couldn't tell, I do love dialects.

...If I remember correctly, you got a discount if you had a gun rack in your pick-em-up.

Good one!   

Being born and raised in Texas, I have seen plenty of them in all different shapes and forms.  What gets me are the "dry" counties and "blue laws".  Never really quite understood them.

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I thought the you'ins was a major oversight. And there's an entire dialect in the Pacific Northwest of people who mispronounce apple and bag that wasn't covered.

Pennsylvania has drive-thru beer distributors. You buy by the case.

Strange though, I seem to have somehow acquired speech patterns from places I've never lived, nor did my parents.

Unfortunately, the maps didn't even touch on Pittsburghisms or such general PA locutions as "y'uns" or "my car needs washed."

A friend from Pittsburgh who has since moved on to a better place (South Korea) would often speak fondly of the type of beverage he prefered

Col-bere

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They talk about you'uns in the documentary I mentioned. I'd never heard of it before that.

Personally, I prefer this map http://aschmann.net/AmEng/

It also has links at the bottom where you can hear samples of the various accents and dialects. It is much more academic than the posted survey that is making the rounds on facebook but I find it extremely fascinating.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yinz

Apparently all of these: you'uns, y'ins, y'uns, yunz, yuns, yinz, yenz, yins or ynz.

are acceptable.

Interesting eh?

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