Our Michigan Accent

[snoogit]

This may help you out, snowguy.

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

EDIT:2000 posts!

[blueradon]

I actually talk to a lot of new yorkers at my job and I just find their accent so unique - it's kinda cool to hear it in a sense. I have had some people that when they talk to me they ask me what kind of accent I have...because I tend to talk fast and mix all my words together and I usually have to slow down and repeat myself which I now notice that I do that quite frequently.

We had a discussion at work about southern accents and how people in Michigan (especially in northern lower mi) use it. That's one accent that I just find very annoying - it sounds illiterate...and then I think about our accent and I can see where the same factors apply.

But whatever - we have accents - they're all different

[6th Gen local]

We had a discussion at work about southern accents and how people in Michigan (especially in northern lower mi) use it. That's one accent that I just find very annoying - it sounds illiterate...and then I think about our accent and I can see where the same factors apply.

But whatever - we have accents - they're all different

[GRDadof3]

Assuming you are a guy, you've probably never had a southern woman say "my you are a sweet thing" or you wouldn't be making the comment about illiterate let alone do business with people from down South. The accent means nothing. I could listen to those women talk all day.

[Nitro]

Uhh, not me. That Southern congeniality sounds so fake to me. My wife watches that Paula Deen (sp?) show on Food Network and I have to leave the room, it's so grating.

[GRDadof3]

Having lived in Savannah, I know Paula. She really is one of the sweetest people in town. She isn't pushing her accent for the TV, that's just the way she talks. The Savannah accent is a very refined southern accent. A lot of the Savannah natives have a similar drawl.

I do miss that town.

[6th Gen local]

I know she's not pushing her accent for TV, but it's still grating to me. I like Northeastern accents, British accents, Russian, and many others. Just not a big fan of Southern.

[Rizzo]

I don't know... the southern region encompasses many different accents and ways of pronunciation -- much like the north.

[tamias6]

Its pretty interesting that according the ancestry chart shown in that Wikipedia article that a majority of this country's land area is occupied by people of German decent. My ancestry can be traced back to both medieval England (my Dad's side) as well as Germany (my mother's side).

This may help you out, snowguy.

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

EDIT:2000 posts!

[Rizzo]

You can directly follow your lineage to medieval times ?

[mejane]

I pronounce the I in ing as it normally would be, but my g is often much quiter or silent... make more of a getteen or rideen getting/riding

[RustTown]

I don't know if I'd call it correct. There is a clear difference (an a difference between correct and incorrect) between ing and in'. Still, it's an American thing. Imagine how boring it would be if we all looked and talked the same.

[tony speller]

It seems like GR-pidians really don't have as thick of Michigan accents as people from other places. Most people I know from the east side of the state have their own distinct accent, down near PawPaw where some of my relatives live, they say "warsh" and things like that, go north and things get completely CRAZY!... but in GR, I still think we sound like normal northern midwesterners. That is except for the O sound. When I go back I really notice how we say Os more and more... and it sort of bugs me. Other than that, I guess POP is the only other weird thing! There are all sorts of crazy ethnic groups in grand rapids though... like on the west side, I guess I have noticed that people do speak a little stronger than others around town. Maybe from the Polish influence?

[wolverine]

I was just told I have a slight NY accent today, and I thought of this thread. I also thought wtf? Oh well, this person was from the south.

[Eridony]

I thought that "couple-three" was a Michigan thing, but the webmaster of Michiganative claims that it is a Midwest thing.

[Skittlebites13]

I've realized that i talk more like the wiscoes than the illini people. I guess michigan belongs in the family with wisconsin and minnesota. Except for wisconsins tendencies to call pop soda and a drinking fountian a bubbler.

[LA Dave]

I've realized that i talk more like the wiscoes than the illini people. I guess michigan belongs in the family with wisconsin and minnesota. Except for wisconsins tendencies to call pop soda and a drinking fountian a bubbler.

[ArsEcclesiae]

I am from the Irish-German area of Grattan Township but am now living in Detroit and I think that there is a different accent in West Michigan (or maybe its just the city of Detroit is different from the rest of the state). Funny though...I was once told that I had a Canadian (Ontario) accent by a native Ontarioan! But yea...other than a few local word usages I don't think that we are all that much different that the normal 'northern midwest' accent.

[jas49503]

Never heard "couple-a-three" or any combination, but I also use couple to mean two or more, but not exclusively two.

And, I don't know what NorthEnder is talking about saying an accent is all "white trash." I guess that makes New York, Boston, Chicago...all white trash. EVERY place has an accent, some are just far more distiguishable and pronounced than others. Compared to Wisconsin or Minnesota, the mild accent is pretty mild.

[blueradon]

We used to do this funny thing in band - my band teacher had us write this phrase

"M R ducks."

"M R not ducks!"

"C D E D B D wings?"

"O, M R ducks!"

basically all the letters when you say it out loud is a word - kinda funny eh?