My roof has two long "o"s and I say skedule for schedule. I say the word presentation like you do also.

Sue

My roof rhymes with woof.

I think I say preesentation.

One that bugs me is when you hear people say 'pitcher' when they mean 'picture'. Another one I hear is 'patterin' for the word pattern.

As to dialect? It's common in this area of the country to say you're going 'down the shore' when you mean you're heading to the beach. It's completely incorrect and virtually meaningless, taken word for word, but no one--including newscasters--would ever use any other term. Sort of a point of honor with us.

I speek like you...long oo, schedule and present ation. Crick and creek.

Yep, we have a "roooof" over our heads, we "skedule" things, and have avoided "presentations" by time-share folks!
The one I can't get over, and I think it must really be local is "sim-u-lar" for similar. Of course, we've heard pillars (pillows), mush (mulch), and "compote" (compost) also, but I think that is definitely local!

chest of 'draws' drives me crazy.... it's 'drawers', people!

We had a Master Gardener speak at our Garden CLub meeting, and her talk was on pre-enials, instead of perennials.

Twelve miles can make a difference. Our friend Mark grew up just south of Boston we grew up just 12 miles north. His accent is different than ours.
There is a city near Boston Medford. The locals call if Meffa.

This English language is an odd thing, isn't it?? LOL One that gets me is the word COUPONS....there is NO Q in the word. I pronounce it Coup-ons,some say Que-pons. Dotttie

Seems to be another south vs. north thing but "nuclear" is NOT pronounced noo-cue-ler or nuk-u-ler! But then again, "Favre" should be pronounced "favor" or "fave". Move the r in front of the v if you want to pronounce it "farve". Gotta send some books down to the schools down there I guess!

And I think I'd rather listen to nails on a chalkboard than hear (mostly western US-ers) talk about warshing their face with a warshcloth in Warshington! What gives????? While we're there what's with "strenth" and "lenth" instead of strength and length? 'Splain that to me Lucy!

How about "dint" for didn't? "wu-unt" for wouldn't? Because or be-cows? kill-o or key-lo?

Route is another. My area it normally rhymes with cow. However probably from publicity Route 66 rhymes with hoot. Root is another. With some it rhymes with who and other it rhymes with put. And I have to be careful with which words are used for rhyming since some of them can be pronounced differently too!

What else? Either: eether or eyethur? Aunt: ant or aahnt? I say toMAYto, you say toMAHto.

And many Canadians with the words out & about say oat and a-boat! As I'm watching a new show and hear this I go OK, it's a Canadian production! and "sho-nuff" 'tis.

And I never quite understood the deep Scandinavian areas where you tell a funny "yolk" and an egg has a "joke". Till the day he died my dad could never get this straight. In fairness he didn't even learn English, well I should say "English" since the English he learned I call "Sunburg" (where he grew up and went to school) until he was in school through the 8th grade.

I still like Norm Crosby. When people butcher the language around me, I can't help but butcher it a bit more at times!

LOL some pretty funny differences noted above. I do find I have adopted saying "asseptable" instead of "ackceptable" as I used to say. It's that darn Nanny Jo - for some reason I've started saying the word the way she does...
I don't really mind if people pronounce a word differently, I hate the ones that say libary and I axed him to do something. Those make my hairs stand up!
Suzan J

My DH is glad I finished reading "The Help" because I tend to take on whatever I'm hearing (or reading). We are now back to living outside of the Deep South.

Yore prolly wonderin' what I'm on about, eh?

And I forgot the age old question.... ENvelope or ONvelope?

YES!!!! Cynic and Sjarz....thank you, I forgot about those two. Aks and onvelope. Besides the old saying I before E except after C,,,,there should be one about S before K and after the A in the word...ASK. And the word envelope doesn't start with an O. Dottie

When in a college speech class, my sister's professor could locate students hometown by their accent. Now admittedly, the Midwest isn't a 'hotbed' of accents -- but the college did draw students from around the country. He truly amazed the class!
Do you say 'pop' or 'soda' do you 'bag' or 'sack' your groceries?

I'm ok with the variations in pronunciation, even though I'm from Minnesota, and I don't have an accent!

It's the wrong ones that bug me:

Realtor: mispronounced as Re-LA-tor, instead of Re-al-tor

Jewelry: mispronounced Jew-LUH-ry, instead of Jew-el-ry

Athlete: mispronounced Ath-UH-lete, instead of ath-lete

Vehicle: mispronounced Vee-HICK-le, instead of Vee-i-kle

Accessories: mispronounced as A-SESS-or-ies, instead of Ak-sess-or-ies

the list goes on...

Azzalea--Sounds to me that you live in Jersey. You might add to that Jersey sound Pa-sake instead of Pa-say-ik.

Woont or cou'nt are called glottal stops--you hear it also in bu'er or bo'l (butter or bottle)--a rather nasty sound to my ears.

I've learned over the years from dealing with people from ALL over the world to try and accept their dialect and the way they pronounce words...boy have I heard some doozy's and of course when you speak suthin and are trying to converse with them sometimes it really becomes comical...The pakistani's have the hardest time with our language as well as some of the african nations. I really have to put my listening ear on to get what their wanting...

Mom always warshed her clothes on Monday. My brother drove a mushtang...and sometimes her and Dad would eat at Burger Chief...We tried our hardest to get her to wash her clothes, and eat at Burger Chef but it never worked...We were thrilled when my brother dumped his Mustang...LOL..I'd give anything to be able to hear her for a few seconds now...I do have one small clip of a video and I'm thankful for that...

I am from Mass, now live in Maine, and I thought all New Englanders pronounced roof so it rhymes with goof.

"Do you say 'pop' or 'soda' do you 'bag' or 'sack' your groceries?"

Soda and bag.

I make yeast bread but my next door neighbor says she makes East bread.

'Shedule' is the English pronouncation for schedule and is common usage in Canada.

The "bible belt" zone rips the language and has a unique dialect. It is heard in a zone from Ohio to Arkansas along a strip along the Ohio river. This strip is about 100 miles north of the river and I'm not sure about its southern boundary. This band of land was settled by people who came from both sides of Appliachia to TN and KY and thense to north of the Ohio river. I was born and raised in south IL to an Arkansas mother and to this day, I still have problems with pronounciation and grammar. It has been a life long struggle.

Early schooling in the area was available in country grade schools, but until the late 1930s, teacher requirement were not strict. Up to 1915, it was possible to become a school teacher after having finsihed the 8th grade and having an preceived aptitude for the job.

The students were taught to try a phonetic pronouncation of unfamilar words. By this procedure, all vowels were sounded as long and this gave rise to the dialect of the region. You will often hear the 'long a'. Listen for it when you get a chance.

A problem arises in that some words are almost unpronouncable with all long vowels. So what happened? When these words were encountered, the pronounciation was either garbled or simply dropped from a person's voacbulary. Combine that with a thin nasal twang and you have the dialect of the region. One either hates it or considers it is cute. In either case, it is unique.

The one that turns my crank is battery. Some people, especially older folks, call it a battree.

Ron

Jemdandy, I've never heard "shedule" spoken here in Canada.
The reason I remember it, is because I often hear it on American tv programs. Sportcasters and newscasters use it periodically, and it catches my ear, cause it sounds to odd to me.

I was raised by immigrant parents who spoke their native tongue in our home. I also grew up hearing their poor pronunciation and bad English grammar even though they were educated here. So I still have the same problem. My vocabulary is great and I excelled in all my language and English classes. However when I speak words still come out of my mouth mispronounced. Sometimes I sound like Ziva on NCSI which is what endears me to her character. LOL

I say "yella" instead of "yellow". A mirror to me is a "meer".

I have learned to just accept the pronounciations from all over the country after having lived in so many states and England and Scotland. I think we are losing those differences as our children and grandchilddren are exposed to TV and the "American" dialect more and more. Won't that be a sad thing? I really do enjoy listening to the different accents....even the hard to undestand ones. I remember when many years ago we went to the Luray Caverns in Virginia and couldn't understand a word the young tour guide was saying to us. I'll bet the young tour guides today have learned our "melting pot" language and accent. And I used to love to listen to my South Carolina friend talk to her "Mama" on the telephone....instant SC accent! It is a little bit sad, don't you think?
Nanny

I'm with you, Ron, on battree. Another one that really gets to me is veteran as vetran.

A common misuse is "battery" and "cell". A cell is the most simple unit of a voltage producing device. It has one anode, one cathode, and an electrolyte. A battery is a collection of cells. When these cells are arranged in series inside the battery, the voltage is a multiple of a single cell. A 9v battery has a stack of 6 cells inside at 1.5 volts each.

I have a flashlight with 3 cells. If I go to a store to buy replacements, I have to ask for "flashlight batteries" else I won't be understood. A 12 v. car battery contains 6, 2 volt, lead-acid cells and is properly called a battery. Today, I was in a big box store and walked by a big rack labelled "batteries". I looked and did not see a single battery, but a plethoria of cells.

For that matter, a battery is also an intentional unpermitted act causing harmful or offensive contact with the "person" of another. It's also a group of guns or missile launchers operated together at one place among other definitions.

A cell is also a place to hold prisoners. It's also most any small compartment holding people or otherwise such as a cell of a honeycomb. A cell is also the smallest part of any living thing. It's also a term for a communication device that causes controversy, accidents and more, but this is OT anyway.

I just wonder when Batman tells Robin (Ronf's secret identity perhaps?): "Quick Robin, to the BATTREE!!!"

Another one is Figure. I've always pronounced it Fig-yure, but have heard it pronounced Fig-er. i'm not sure if the difference is regional or another country. Dottie

Mischievous.

It's pronounced MIS-che-vus NOT mis-CHEE-vee-us.

There's no I between the v and the o.

And lots of the above ones bug me too. OTOH I'm a Texan and have an accent, although it's not that thick. But I know I pronounce a lot of words differently than people in other parts of the country.

And as for the soda or pop question. Neither. It's coke.

Me: You want a coke?
You: Yeah, what kind do you have?
Me: Sprite or Dr. Pepper.

I work telephone support and I hear them all :-) None of them really bug me unless I can't understand what the person means.

Here's one from Minnesota..... Ber-mid-gee for Bemidji. It should be Be-mid-gee but many Minnesotans manage to put an R in there. Kind of reminds me of Far-ve for Favre except Favre actually contains an R :-)

Oh yes, for non-Minnesotans, Bemidji is a town in Northern Minnesota, home to Bemidji State College.

I live about 20 miles from Pittsburgh and can't believe how many say, "Picksburg"...The one that really bothers me is instead of ASK, they say AXED....Just gives me shivers!

Learn "sumthin" ever' day. I've lived in MN all my life and have never heard anyone put an r in Bemidji.

There's the old one about Da-loot, for Duluth... "this bus go to Da-loot? No, dis bus go 'beep-beep'"

My husband is from S. Carolina. His family talks goofy! LOL.

"Mash" the button instead of 'push' the button.

Fifty cent a yard, instead of fifty cents.

Bole the water. Well, I boil it.

Tented windows. Mine are tinted.

My all time unfavoritest word in the english language mispronounced by southerners : Jury. It's JEWELRY.

My pet peeve is when people put a 'sh' in between 'str' words, like straight or strong and pronounce them 'shtraight' or 'shtrong.' I notice Tyra Banks does that all the time.

The one that puzzles me was a phrase mentioned by cynic. I've often heard that Canadians pronounce 'out and about' as 'oot and aboot' and now I see that it has been heard pronounced as 'oat and aboat.' But living in Ontario and having realatives all across Canada, this one is a huge puzzle to us. Everyone we know pronounces it as 'out and about' rhyming with the word 'shout.' Can someone please let me know which area of Canada they are hearing a different pronunciation, as I've always been so curious about that one. I have heard a few Canadians say 'shedule' but they're mostly people who have moved here from Britain.

Azzalea & Leel -- I always go "down the shore". No one around the NYC area says they are going 'to the beach'. Not sure where it comes from, but we understand each other. LOL!!

Has anyone mentioned expresso and sherbert? I see these spelled incorrectly even on menus and menu boards. We say espresso and sherbet.

I'm Cuban and have been in the U.S. for 48 of my 49 yrs. I still cannot pronounce "pool" and "pull". I pronounce them the same. Just can't do it. I haven't read all the posts but I'm bothered by people saying "pitcher" for "picture".

I thought it was just the people up on Da-range that said Da-loot.

Ron

Dear Pickyshopper:

In Canada, to hear the "oout" and "shed-ule" sounds, go to Winipeg. The gentry at that location have a lovely dialect.

'Close the lights', 'turn off the lights ', 'shut the lights'.

I know someone, originally from TX, who says 'Cut off the lights.'

jemdandy, thank you! I have never been able to figure out where in Canada people do not pronounce "out" or "about" like the word shout, because I know people in every province. After I read your post, I called a friend who lives here in Ontario, but is originally from Winnipeg. She said that because Winnipeg, Manitoba borders Minnisota and North Dakota to the south, the accent found in those States can also be heard in Manitoba.

Actually, we usually hear that Canadians pronounce "out" and "about" to rhyme with the word "boot" and don't know where that is originating either. It sounds like the way a Scotsman might pronounce the words, so perhaps it is heard in the province of Nova Scotia, where much of the population are descendants of European settlers from Scotland.

Some shows that will have the "oat and aboat" sounds are Red Green, Design U and Junk Raiders.

Come to think of it, my cousin in Sasquatchewan, er, Saskatchewan says it too, along with a lot of "eh?"s.

The United Kingdom has an awful lot of regional dialects (more than accents-some people from Scotland used to have trouble understanding people from parts of England), & we've inherited the pronunciations from all the different people who settled the Americas.

I once was ridiculed by a guy I was dating for saying a beach umbrella was "stri-ped".

Well...it's English.

like wick-ed, bless-ed, curs-ed, etc.

hurt my feelings so bad all those years ago that I still try not to criticize other people's speech.

My aunt has a small stream on her property. We have always called it "The Crick". But evryone knows its just a creek.