You know what, you are right. And now that I think about it, I would have picked up Al-bany while living in Athens county, attending OU not in Cleveland. There was town named Albany right next to Athens. In Albany was a Busch distributer that I would frequent. Considering the size of the cargo I would most likely made the trip with one of many local friends from down there, that had a pick-up truck. Its all making sense now!

I was driving up 77 this morning to go to class, and I passed up a cop on the side of the highway, and I saw that his bumper guard was all bashed in... I just said aloud, "Man that is one f'd up bumper guard" and i just replayed that in my head for some reason, and then i caught myself...

 

I said 'bumper gaerrd' instead of bumper guard... I've been using the ae more often than ever, maybe because i'm downtown a bit too much...

This guy probably has one of the thicker Cleveland/Northern Cities accents I've heard in a while:

 

 

Hey, now I know how to make a Jeeyapaneez Cacktail!

 

"Jeeyapaneez cAcktail," this guy is the real deal, right?

 

First thing I noticed is him pouring ice cubes that end up falling all over the place but that is obviously neither here nor there.

 

I love it. It's interesting that there's so many different accents in Ohio within a few hours' drive. Can most other states outside of NY claim the same thing?

I'm so curious, do any of you Clevelanders detect an accent at all in this guy or does it seem totally normal to you? With my stint in Cleveland, I've heard varying accents but I'd have to say this guy is quentissentially Cleveland. I also think the older generation, people in their  50s and 60s tend to have a thicker Cleveland Accent.

I hear it here and there, but I also exhibit some attributes, and I usually catch myself before I sound like a fool to other people from out of state...

 

'Are you from Cleveland?'

'Ye... how ken you tell...'

 

Also anyone notice that nobody up here says 'you're welcome?' We just nod or just say yep most of the time...

No reason to catch yourself. I'm sure you don't sound like a fool. Accents are cool no matter where you're from.

 

I really thought 'ken' instead of 'can' was more of a Michigander thing but maybe I just haven't paid close enough attention.

 

I just say 'yep' too. Who has time for "Your welcome?"

I always get made fun of, its actually kind of embarrassing.

 

'Wait a minute, did you just have a stroke?'

'what?'

'say highway again...'

'haiyweey...'

 

I swear i'm a mix between Canadian with their 'aboot' and drawn out 'ou' vowels and a thin-mid Cleveland accent. If you have the Cleveland accent you talk with your nose but also exhibit different vowel patterns from standard mid-western.

Yeah, no one in Dayton says "you're welcome."  You barely get a "yep."

I'm so curious, do any of you Clevelanders detect an accent at all in this guy or does it seem totally normal to you? With my stint in Cleveland, I've heard varying accents but I'd have to say this guy is quentissentially Cleveland. I also think the older generation, people in their  50s and 60s tend to have a thicker Cleveland Accent.

 

I grew up here and live here now and I notice it all the time, but I lived in Columbus for five years and four years in college in Oxford before that, so my accent is pretty moderated nowadays. I tell Clevelanders about the accent all the time and they enjoy hearing about it, but I would say most native Clevelanders are pretty unaware of it. It's typically most prominent on local radio and TV commercials for blue collar-esque business like any kind of contractor or a car dealership.  Jeeyaaapanese Cahhhcktail guy is also a pretty extreme example.

 

The "a" in "Japanese" is often mentioned as the prominent feature of the CLE accent, but the "o" (pronounced aahhhh) in "cocktail" or "job" is just as significant.

I just say 'yep' too. Who has time for "Your welcome?"

 

This is an American thing, not sure if it's more prominent in certain regions more than others, but I once hung out with an Australian guy who made fun of Americans for this. I say uuu hmmm a lot when people thank me.

I like how the Italians do it and lead off with you're welcome "prego" That way the only option is to be thankful ;)

Is it true that most people all around ohio end their sentences with propositions? I've been reading the only in Ohio threads, I don't know why, and I cant find anything different in any different blog. They're all the same. It actually makes me mad.

I don't think it's at all exclusive to Ohio. It is a serious marker for level of education, though. I avoid ending sentences with "at" like the plague.

I'm so curious, do any of you Clevelanders detect an accent at all in this guy or does it seem totally normal to you? With my stint in Cleveland, I've heard varying accents but I'd have to say this guy is quentissentially Cleveland. I also think the older generation, people in their  50s and 60s tend to have a thicker Cleveland Accent.

 

I grew up here and live here now and I notice it all the time, but I lived in Columbus for five years and four years in college in Oxford before that, so my accent is pretty moderated nowadays. I tell Clevelanders about the accent all the time and they enjoy hearing about it, but I would say most native Clevelanders are pretty unaware of it. It's typically most prominent on local radio and TV commercials for blue collar-esque business like any kind of contractor or a car dealership.  Jeeyaaapanese Cahhhcktail guy is also a pretty extreme example.

 

The "a" in "Japanese" is often mentioned as the prominent feature of the CLE accent, but the "o" (pronounced aahhhh) in "cocktail" or "job" is just as significant.

 

You think the Cleveland accent is just a local blue collar accent? Really?

 

I don't think class has anything at alll to do with the Cleveland accent I've heard, all throughout Cleveland. It's just simply  the accent of white people in Cleveland. It's just as prevalent in Shaker as it is in the trashiest white parts of the a west side ghetto.

 

Black people in Cleveland don't have it and I honestly wonder why that is because black people in NYC have blatant NYC accents. I think it's a really interesting subject. One thing that always struck me about both Cleveland and Cincinnati is how different races sound totally different in the same city. I didn't experience that in Columbus, where I spent most of my life.

 

If I heard a black person in Cleveland say, "Jeeyyaapanese Cacktail," it would officially be by far the most bizarre thing I've ever heard in my life. I'd probably go into shock and would have to be transported to the Cleveland Clinic.

All accents tend to be more prevalent among working classes, at least according to the consensus of linguists. Yeah, you can find it in Shaker, but I absolutely notice it more prevalent, in general, among working-class people or people who perhaps were raised working class even if they aren't themselves. By working class I don't really mean "trashy white west side ghetto," I mean blue-to-white collar suburbs full of families who have been in NEO for generations like Mayfield (where I'm from) or some of the Lake County suburbs. Not really sure about the West Side equivalents but I'm sure they're out there.

Is it true that most people all around ohio end their sentences with propositions? I've been reading the only in Ohio threads, I don't know why, and I cant find anything different in any different blog. They're all the same. It actually makes me mad.

 

What's silly is there is no reason for this rule, which is why it is widely and rightly ignored.  It came from a 19th century belief that English would be improved if it followed Latin grammar rules.  It's not possible to end a sentence with a proposition in Latin, therefore you shouldn't in English?

Is it true that most people all around ohio end their sentences with propositions? I've been reading the only in Ohio threads, I don't know why, and I cant find anything different in any different blog. They're all the same. It actually makes me mad.

 

What's silly is there is no reason for this rule, which is why it is widely and rightly ignored.  It came from a 19th century belief that English would be improved if it followed Latin grammar rules.  It's not possible to end a sentence with a proposition in Latin, therefore you shouldn't in English?

 

As Churchil once said about ending sentences with prepositions:

 

"this is the kind of tedious nonsense up with which I will not put".

All accents tend to be more prevalent among working classes, at least according to the consensus of linguists. Yeah, you can find it in Shaker, but I absolutely notice it more prevalent, in general, among working-class people or people who perhaps were raised working class even if they aren't themselves. By working class I don't really mean "trashy white west side ghetto," I mean blue-to-white collar suburbs full of families who have been in NEO for generations like Mayfield (where I'm from) or some of the Lake County suburbs. Not really sure about the West Side equivalents but I'm sure they're out there.

 

Everyone has an accent, even if they think they don't. I get what you're saying though, you're essentially talking about a deviation from the 'standard' and we happen to live in a region where America has deemed us the 'standard;' at least the standard applies to how SOME of us talk.

 

Your point reminds me of how blue collar people I've met from Boston have a more blatant Boston accent.

 

I'm not entirely convinced but I'm curious though, why do you think that is the case? Why would the working-class have a thicker accent? There has to be a reason.

 

Perhaps people who are more educated, or care to be more educated, choose to adhere to what we perceive as a correct accent in similar vein to how they adhere to what's perceived as correct syntax.

 

 

Is it true that most people all around ohio end their sentences with propositions? I've been reading the only in Ohio threads, I don't know why, and I cant find anything different in any different blog. They're all the same. It actually makes me mad.

 

What's silly is there is no reason for this rule, which is why it is widely and rightly ignored.  It came from a 19th century belief that English would be improved if it followed Latin grammar rules.  It's not possible to end a sentence with a proposition in Latin, therefore you shouldn't in English?

 

I couldn't agree more.

 

If the majority of people would say, "Where's he at?" then that's the proper syntax. Its what is normal and therefore should be considered the standard. Still, for some reason I try to prevent myself from using unnecessary propositions. The only argument you could make against it is that it's less efficient to put 'at' at the end. You can still get your point across, without using it.

 

IMO, the same thing would apply if everyone was going around saying, "I prefer to buy bananas by the each." If that's what everyone says, it's a common pattern in speech and therefore, it's absolutely correct. There's no reason to believe otherwise.

 

Perhaps people who are more educated, or care to be more educated, choose to adhere to what we perceive as a correct accent in similar vein to how they adhere to what's perceived as correct syntax.

 

This. If you look at Victorian England, the people who had the stuffy "formal" British accent was actually the middle class and upper-middle class, while the working class had their regional accents (Cockney, etc) and the aristocracy didn't really give a crap about how they sounded. The middle class would essentially put on airs to seem more important than they really were. Since rich people were already rich, they didn't need to bother with it, and working class folk weren't really educated enough or exposed enough to that lifestyle to feel a need to modify their speech patterns.

That explains the working class having thicker accents.

 

Maybe I just haven't noticed a difference because the different classes within a city still interact with each other frequently so there's obviously going to be common traits within a city or region that I notice. Being primarily from Columbus, I'm used to hearing just about every accent. As far as class is concerned, though, I really haven't noticed a thicker Cleveland accent among blue collar or white collar people. Maybe that's just me and maybe I haven't paid enough attention. I don't know.

Just because it was bugging me... ?

 

Preposition, not proposition

The snoot chimes in  :D

 

It's funny you mentioned that. When I was writing my post, I spelled it wrong and was thinking, "Is it preposition or proposition?" Oh, wait, I definitely know what a proposition is... It's when you're proposing something. LOL!

 

The real question is whether it is OK tend a sentence with a proposition.  ;D

The real question is whether it is OK tend a sentence with a proposition.  ;D

 

Shut up! lol

 

For some reason, I always get the two confused.

 

Ending a sentence with a proposition is something up with which I will not put

Could the Cleveland accent be ethnicity specific? The Toledo accent, western cousin of the Cleveland accent, is also present among older folks, but I've noticed it in particular among people with Polish ancestry. I think the same might be said of Chicago. Toledo has a large Polish American pop; our recent mayoral election featured a Kapszukiewicz and a Waniewski.

 

That said, the zenith of the Toledo accent may be former mayor and everlasting stickler Carty Finkbeiner.

 

Could the Cleveland accent be ethnicity specific? The Toledo accent, western cousin of the Cleveland accent, is also present among older folks, but I've noticed it in particular among people with Polish ancestry. I think the same might be said of Chicago. Toledo has a large Polish American pop; our recent mayoral election featured a Kapszukiewicz and a Waniewski.

Could the Cleveland accent be ethnicity specific? The Toledo accent, western cousin of the Cleveland accent, is also present among older folks, but I've noticed it in particular among people with Polish ancestry. I think the same might be said of Chicago. Toledo has a large Polish American pop; our recent mayoral election featured a Kapszukiewicz and a Waniewski.

 

That said, the zenith of the Toledo accent may be former mayor and everlasting stickler Carty Finkbeiner.

 

 

That said, the zenith of the Toledo accent may be former mayor and everlasting stickler Carty Finkbeiner.

 

 

The Cleveland accent isn't 'ethnicity' specific. What we're actually talking about is the accent of white people from all backgrounds, in greater Cleveland and Akron. It might be thicker among the working class but it's prevalent and noticeable with the majority of white metro Clevelanders.

 

This guy sounds more like a Michigander. If he lived in Cleveland, he would manage to blend in pretty well, though. If he was in Cleveland, no one would detect any major deviation and bother to ask him where he's from.

 

Now that I think of it, my friends in Cleveland with eastern European last names have way less of a Cleveland accent. Every last one of them. They sound more like what's considered Standard American. That's interesting. The people I know in Cleveland with the strongest Cleveland accents by far are all actually of Italian descent, believe it or not. Though, like I say, I can only speak on my own experiences.

I always get made fun of, its actually kind of embarrassing.

 

'Wait a minute, did you just have a stroke?'

'what?'

'say highway again...'

'haiyweey...'

 

I swear i'm a mix between Canadian with their 'aboot' and drawn out 'ou' vowels and a thin-mid Cleveland accent. If you have the Cleveland accent you talk with your nose but also exhibit different vowel patterns from standard mid-western.

 

yep i always refer to the cle accent as backwards canadian. they say ‘eh’ at the end of a statement and for example when clevelander friends meet, at least in my day, it was universally, ‘ay hows it goin?’ at the beginning of the greeting. its like letting the flag fly with the vowel thing lol.

I read somewhere - maybe on this board - that the Northern Cities Vowel Shift was a phenomenon of second and third generation (Eastern) European immigrants counterbalancing the accents of their immigrant parents.

I always get made fun of, its actually kind of embarrassing.

 

'Wait a minute, did you just have a stroke?'

'what?'

'say highway again...'

'haiyweey...'

 

I swear i'm a mix between Canadian with their 'aboot' and drawn out 'ou' vowels and a thin-mid Cleveland accent. If you have the Cleveland accent you talk with your nose but also exhibit different vowel patterns from standard mid-western.

 

yep i always refer to the cle accent as backwards canadian. they say ‘eh’ at the end of a statement and for example when clevelander friends meet, at least in my day, it was universally, ‘ay hows it goin?’ at the beginning of the greeting. its like letting the flag fly with the vowel thing lol.

 

I worked with this woman who, to me, sounded straight up like Sarah Palin. She started talking and I was like 'Good lord, are you from Minnesota or somewhere like that?' She said, 'Nope, Cleveland Heights, born and raised.' She said a lot of people ask her that. I couldn't believe it. It was the strongest northern accent I had ever heard in my life.

 

The accent of some Clevelanders are much stronger than others but no one there usually thinks anything of it. In Columbus, a lot of folks sound blatantly Southern or Appalachian but the folks who speak 'normal' there also don't think anything of it. They're just around it so much that it isn't noticeable.

 

I notice in the Cincinnati area it is really on the tip toe edge of southern/appalachian accents.  Native people from the West Side and farther East Side (like Batavia), then besides a region more or less within 275 for Northern Kentucky, everything immediately outside of it has a thick accent, unless you go straight north.

 

I notice the northern accent now a lot more, like the Scandinavian one my family has.  It is similar to the Michigan accent IMO, kind of Minnesota light though I know there are more differences.

 

When I visited my mom for a week back last summer she was saying some of the stuff I was saying sounded southern.  I supposed whatever the Cincinnati accent is has rubbed off on me a bit!

I can sometimes pick out someone from Iowa because I hear a mix of a northern nasal accent and midland drawl. Chuck Grassley is an example. Every time I notice this mixture, it always turns out the person is from Iowa.

 

I can sometimes pick out someone from Iowa because I hear a mix of a northern nasal accent and midland drawl. Chuck Grassley is an example. Every time I notice this mixture, it always turns out the person is from Iowa.

 

 

Haha that's awesome and to be honest that is how most Iowan's talk but I will admit ole' Chuck has a bit more farm in him.  Probably the best one I can think of besides trying to find newscasts or something is Terry Brandstad, super long time Governor now Ambassador to China.  You can really pick it up here but he's been in Des Moines for a really long time and is from a smaller town in Central Iowa but this is the main Iowa accent to a T before you get up further North towards Minnesota:

 

I read somewhere - maybe on this board - that the Northern Cities Vowel Shift was a phenomenon of second and third generation (Eastern) European immigrants counterbalancing the accents of their immigrant parents.

 

Yes! It began with massive immigration. Back then Cleveland used to be an Irishtown. The Irishmen were known for their hard work, which is why our St. Patty's day parade is one of the best in the country. People from the East coast began moving over to freshwater cities where the Vowel Shift took place. I would imagine a mix of Gaelic, Slavic, German, Italian and English would have been massive contributors not only to Cleveland but as a Region around the Great Lakes in general. The end of the Industrial Revolution sent alot of people home, and home is where people could interact with family, neighbors, and friends.

I was driving to school this morning listening to WMMS on the radio when a Conrads advert began to play.

 

When the narrator says Conrads, it almost sounds like "Conreds" atleast to me.

I was driving to school this morning listening to WMMS on the radio when a Conrads advert began to play.

 

When the narrator says Conrads, it almost sounds like "Conreds" atleast to me.

 

 

Agreed.. or even "CAN-reds" (sort of how people here say "Le-BRAN" from the Cavs.)

 

I've been kind of realizing myself speaking again lately. I've been touring around artsy parts of Cleveland, and I'm realizing my pronunciation of "Art" is more like ert without a hard A. Maybe it's just me...

I heard a hardcore east coast accent in Cincinnati yesterday at a high school graduation party.  He has lived in Cincinnati his entire life and I would guess is 55.  I tell people that you still run across these guys sometimes but nobody believes me.  You need to be a regular on the west side high school graduation party circuit. I don't know if his kids were there but it would have been interesting to hear them speak. 

I have a question involving accents in Ohio - Do people in Toledo have a strong midwestern accent? I remember having a younger teacher once who had a very strong accent. For example, she pronounce her A's as E's - so calendar would sound like "ceelender" or Allen would sound like "Eelen" - To all of our shock, she did not come from Minnesota, but from Toledo.... Is this common up there? I'll admit I've never really spent much time in that area, but I always found her strong accent super strange. According to her, it was not uncommon to hear A's pronounced like that up there.

If I had to guess, it's probably the Michigan ("Meeshigan") influence.

There are many Midwestern accents, but I think the Toledo accent reflects the Northern Cities Vowel Shift you describe. It sounds pretty similar to the CLE accent, although a bit toned down. I don't know Detroit well enough to know how Toledo's is similar or different; my sense is that Detroit is more southern inflected than CLE and TOL because of the huge migrations there a century ago. Toledo's is more influenced by the east and its history of Eastern European immigration, I think.

 

Former mayor Carty Finkbeiner: add--ayeedd

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

^ its definitely vastly flatter there than the cle area. at least these days long after euro immigration fell off the map. its much more influenced by its rural surroundings, i think.

Toledians draw more of their vowels than Clevelanders, I definitely think that Toledo has kept theirs running for longer than Cleveland. I mean we're both dying cities here, without a saving niche, or maybe a niche just not a definite crutch, we've both lost the majority of our ethnic neighborhoods. I think the smaller size of Toledo was the saving grace of their accent.

 

I'm afraid it's too late to have done something about our ethnic neighborhoods. There has been just too much that hit the shitter (Excuse my French). I do hear accents now and then around town, in classes, and within family even. My Grandparents have it and they're the strongest ones vocally. They're even more ethnically close to their immigrant grandparents from Scotland, Serbia, and Hungary. I do believe the stronger the accent, the closer they were to their immigrant ancestry. Including the density our boom-towns had pre-post WWII there was definitely something there to spread.

Just asking, do you guys say Roof or Ruff as in the part of your house that keeps you out of the rain.

roof

The Sausage Queen talent contest is an interesting who's-who of the old accents surviving in a watered-down form. 

 

The comedy girl "Betty" who starts at 7:30 is how the majority of the women I grew up around talked. 

 

 

 

I cant be the only one who says ope when I accidentally bump into someone...
Down here in Texas I say ope, and they look at me like I have a third eye...

17 hours ago, tastybunns said:

I cant be the only one who says ope when I accidentally bump into someone...
Down here in Texas I say ope, and they look at me like I have a third eye...

 

Not sure how you are pronouncing "ope", but try it the Spanish way (OH-pah) and the Texans should understand perfectly.