<p>Apparently I have a New Orleans accent. I wasn’t aware but when I went on a family vacation, our waitress asked us without prompting if we were from New Orleans. We told her that we were, and she told us that she knew from our accents. </p>
<p>I do say “y’all” a lot but I can’t really figure out a way to get through the day without it.</p>
<p>Now I’ve heard many people with very thick Cajun accents and also many with the Southern Drawl.</p>
<p>Not in New Jersey they don’t! Here, we emphasize the “aw.” Majorly.</p>
<p>Ok question for everyone! People from midwest, like Kansas, Missouri, that area. Do they have an accent to you?</p>
<p>I grew up in Connecticut, but I live in California. I don’t think I have an accent at all. Maybe a little WASPy, Long Island Lockjaw and all.</p>
<p>Someone once told me I sound British. LOL.</p>
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<p>I can slip into a slight British accent. It’s odd.
I live in California, though. I don’t think we have so much of an accent as a lot of “like’s” and the whatnot.</p>
<p>^I agree. Plus TV shows and movies are made here, so what’s in the media in terms of speaking sets the standard accent. Does that make sense? So a CA accent becomes the norm.</p>
<p>^ That’s such a good point, and it does make sense. I usually only watch NBC Nightly News (based in NY?), but I can’t discern much difference between Brian Williams’ speech and my own. </p>
<p>Although, I recall reading somewhere that a lot of 1-800 operators are from Nebraska, because they have virtually no accent.</p>
<p>Really? I thought most of them were from other countries, like India, where they can be paid less.</p>
<p>Great point! I think that might have been from a publication written before outsourcing became popular.
Or a total lie. I never know anymore.</p>
<p>Maybe it WAS a lie. See what the media does to you? It confuses you, it makes you talk like you’re from California…</p>
<p>LOL</p>
<p>Born and raised! </p>
<p>Although, I’m surprised my Spanish accent isn’t better, living so close to the border and all. :'(</p>
<p>I’m actually kind of the opposite. I took one year of Spanish in the 7th grade (now a senior) and living so close to Mexico (I’m in San Diego), I remember so much of it. Like the colors: amarillo, verde, blanco, azul (?), rojo, etc. (Actually I’m not sure if all of that’s right, and this is so off topic)</p>
<p>there wwas one girl i met at orientation who had a slight jersey accent. she would speak without an accent, but every few words or so, she would stress on certain letters. i can’t think of any off the top of my head. it’s been a month. but i just found that interesting.</p>
<p>I’ll admit it, I say “caw-fee.” (coffee)</p>
<p>I probably have a somewhat southern accent, since i’ve lived in the south most of my life, although not many people up north mention it when i talk, i just talk a little slower than the normal which probably gives it a more southern sound</p>
<p>even though i’ve lived where people say ya’ll a ton i hate when people say that it sounds so awkward haha even though i know so many people who say it</p>
<p>It’s so easy to discern people from the midwest like wisconson and minnesota and dakota, as well as the northeastern accents, I hate the northeastern/boston/NY/NJ accent it’s so <strong><em>ing annoying and makes the people sound like arrogant </em></strong> bags(probably cause a lot of the ny and boston kids with huge accents are actually huge *<strong><em>ing *</em></strong>***s).</p>
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<p>If you’re going to go as far as stereotyping, when I hear Southern accents I automatically think that person is dumb and less-eduated than me. Because, you know a lot of the southern kids with huge accents are actually huge *<strong><em>ing *</em></strong>***s.</p>
<p>Just saying …</p>
<p>@ Halie: Those are right. I think my Asian-ness cancels out all the Spanish-speaking skills I ought to have acquired from being in CA. =P</p>
<p>Not really an accent difference, but when I went to NorCal, I got a kick out of people saying “hella.”</p>
<p>And being from L.A., I tend to say “like” way more than I should. I know it’s really annoying, but I’m so used to saying it that I can’t help it.</p>
<p>I’m from California and I’m curious to know about our supposed accent like what’s so distinctive about it. </p>
<p>And after going to school in Indiana I got to see so many different accents. Everyone from the South says “Yall” in like every sentence. And when it came to soda they would just say coke for everything. Chicago people can’t even say Chicago correctly, their A’s are legit messed up. New York/New Jersey is probably the most obvious. I could always pick out the East Coasters. And other Midwestern accents sound stupid…like I don’t know how to exactly describe it but they come across as uneducated or something haha. Oh and Midwestern people all said pop instead of soda…so annoying.</p>
<p>I’m from Ohio, and I hate saying pop. I grew up that way, but I’ll probably switch to soda. It’s so annoying, and totally doesn’t sound right. I still say pop at home so people don’t think I’m a pretentious East Coast wannabe, since Midwesterners frown on that. I find the upper Great Lakes accent to be annoying as well. There’s a trend in the Great Lakes known as the Northern Vowel Shift or something, where people use the “wrong” vowels. For instance, people in Michigan sometimes say, “I took a walk around the city black” instead of “block.”</p>
<p>I think the California accent is similar to the Nebraska/Missouri/Kansas/Iowa standard used in the media, except the vowels may be a bit more rounded as opposed to their flat Midwestern counterparts. Keep in mind that California was settled mostly by people from the east, so their accents probably just sort of blended together.</p>