They sound "flat" to me...:)

 

but yeah I know the nasal vowel shift is anything but flat..

I'm thinking more Midland American English than Great Lakes.  Erie, Pennsylvania is more Great Lakes.  I can't even imagine a 'flat' Great Lakes accent as that seems like an oxymoron.

 

Speech in Erie is more like that in Pittsburgh than any Great Lakes city.

Oh, I believe it but as a Midland speaker, I can't imagine there being a big difference between Erie, Buffalo, Toledo, and Cleveland.

Oh, I believe it but as a Midland speaker, I can't imagine there being a big difference between Erie, Buffalo, Toledo, and Cleveland.

 

The wiki map for Northern Inland shows that Erie is not included and mentions it in the write up.

 

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

How strange.  Granted, I've never met anyone from Erie in my life but I would just logically imagine it would mirror Cleveland or Buffalo's accent.  Amazing!

How strange. Granted, I've never met anyone from Erie in my life but I would just logically imagine it would mirror Cleveland or Buffalo's accent. Amazing!

 

It did until about the forties.  When the rest of the Great Lakes cities underwent the Northen Vowel Shift, Erie didn't follow.  I've always wondered if that was due to a strong intra-state cultural connection with Pittsburgh that outweighed whatever affiliation they felt with the other Lakes cities.

That makes sense.  Pennsylvania isn't really a "Great Lakes" state (aside from Presque Isle) as its shift is more towards those rolling hills (I refuse to call them "mountains").

The northern inland wiki article is interesting, and I can definitely relate to it. The only difference I see with where I grew up, is the use of buggy for shopping cart. It is common usage in the Mahoning Valley. People in Cincinnati think I'm crazy though.

Why is the Dayton accent so distinctive?  It seems like people in Cincy don't quite talk like that.

Most older cities have regional quirky accents since there was little daily interaction with another area due to the obvious: no-highway-no-car.  Dayton is one of Ohio's oldest, established major cities so it makes sense it has a different "lingo" than Cincinnati as it does with Cleveland and perhaps the Southeast cities (Marietta, Chillicothe, Zanesville, Steubenville).

What is the Dayton accent? I've never heard anyone talk about Dayton having an accent or different words for things...

I personally don't think Dayton has an accent.  YOU ALL are the ones with the accents!

I could probably count on my hands the people that I have met from Dayton (who are natives and did not merely attend UD or live there at some point).  But I can definitely pick up a very distinctive accent from them.  It is not quite southern.  It is not quite 'mountain/hillbilly'..... but there is a certain drawl to it that really stands out to me.

^That sounds about right. It's always been hard to succinctly describe the accent in Dayton. (Except some of the East Dayton people, who sound pretty hardcore Appalachian to my ears.) But I'd never thought that it might be peculiar to Dayton. Perhaps it is.

 

I actually used to find the local accent kind of grating. If it were stronger or weaker it would be okay, but it's right at an annoying level.

I personally don't think Dayton has an accent. YOU ALL are the ones with the accents!

 

Whatever you say, MikeToronto lol!

Greetings from Syracuse, NY, where people talk sort of northern. 

 

I am on the tail-end of an extensive road trip that included stays in Scranton and about five days based in Hartford, Conn (but including road trips as far afield as NYC and North Adams Mass and Bennington, VT...but mostly in Connecticut)

 

I can say that Hartford actually has almost a "northern" accident instead of the stereotypical New England accent (or the NYC one).  It's actually closer to the Pbgh, Cleveland, and Buffalo accents, or maybe not that severe but between the "Great Lakes" and the way people talk in Indy and Columbus.

 

An interesting thing on "standard US english" pronunciation, it was based on Websters' Dictionary, and Noah Webster lived in Hartford and based his dictionary on the local dialect.  So, something to consider when it comes to standard US english.

 

 

@@@@

 

The Dayton drawl I put down to the applachian influence.  Native non-Appalachian speakerrs from Dayton don't really have it.  They sound more like Columbus people or maybe Indy people.  There is a very slight drawl in Southern Indiana speakers, as far north as Richmond area, so there is something to that, but its different than the appalachian drawl.

This topic fascinates me.  I have always had an ear for little differences in the speech patterns of people and try to guess where they call home based on the way they sound.  I'm not saying that I am good at it but it is fun to do.

 

As someone who lives in the border counties of Michigan's lower peninsula, I am in close proximity to both Ohio and Indiana and can say that folks on just the other side of the border sound just like me.  In fact, it seems as though that can be said to be true of folks from Gary IN to Cleveland.  But to my ears, someone from Lima sounds completely different than someone from Bryan.  Something about the vowels changes when one crosses US 30 in both Ohio and Indiana.

 

I am, however, aware of the nasal qualities present in my native speech patterns and try to keep them in check when speaking with someone not of my region.  There is also a gradual shift in speech in Michigan from South to North.  If you were to listen to someone from the Western portions of the Upper Peninsula and compare them to me you wouldn't even guess we were from the same state!

 

There was a kid who moved to my school from Wooster, OH when I was in 5th grade, or so.  He was a nice kid but I remember everyone taking note of his the way he spoke ("I'm from Weewster, Oohighoow.")  Being 5th graders, naturally we handled it in a sensitive manner.

 

One thing that I notice about my friends in the Hoosier state, however, is how many of them, regardless of social standing, seem to use the word "seen" in the place of "saw."  That drives me nuts.  People do it here, in Michigan, as well but they are usually not the "Rhodes Scholar" types!

 

For those who say that Columbus has no accent:  How do you pronounce the names of the larger of the two rivers that runs through town?

 

Don't get me started on how to pronounce "Bellefontaine."  That's just generations of institutional stupidity on display!

 

I can say that Hartford actually has almost a "northern" accident instead of the stereotypical New England accent (or the NYC one).  It's actually closer to the Pbgh, Cleveland, and Buffalo accents, or maybe not that severe but between the "Great Lakes" and the way people talk in Indy and Columbus.

 

 

The speech of Connecticut and most of western New England (western Massachusetts, Vermont, eastern New York) are part of a continuum of related northern accents that stretches into the Midwest.  Only recently have the Great Lakes cities begun to diverge from this.

 

Also, the Pittsburgh accent is NOT a Great Lakes accent.  It is very different from Cleveland and Buffalo, and also from Hartford.

 

An interesting thing on "standard US english" pronunciation, it was based on Websters' Dictionary, and Noah Webster lived in Hartford and based his dictionary on the local dialect.  So, something to consider when it comes to standard US english.

 

This isn't really true.  The idea of a "standard" American pronunciation really only took root with the national dissemination of media- movies, radio broadcasts, and news broadcasts.  If you want to point to Webster's as a pronunciation guide, the most influential edition was the second edition of Webster's New International, published in 1934.  The pronunciation editor for that edition was John Samuel Kenyon, who was from... Medina, Ohio.

 

Mr. Kenyon also co-wrote a very influential book on American Pronunciation, which is partly why the speech of the Inland North (pre-Northern Cities Vowel Shift) was the basis for "standard American."

 

The Dayton drawl I put down to the applachian influence.  Native non-Appalachian speakerrs from Dayton don't really have it.  They sound more like Columbus people or maybe Indy people.  There is a very slight drawl in Southern Indiana speakers, as far north as Richmond area, so there is something to that, but its different than the appalachian drawl.

 

I find the southern Indiana (and Ohio and Illinois) "drawl" to be quite noticeable, probably because I speak a Northern dialect.  The desire to differentiate the northern parts of the Midwest from the southern parts is why the speech in the north was traditionally so careful, and an exaggeration of that tendency is probably what led to the emergence of the Great Lakes accents in the first place.

 

 

As someone who lives in the border counties of Michigan's lower peninsula, I am in close proximity to both Ohio and Indiana and can say that folks on just the other side of the border sound just like me.  In fact, it seems as though that can be said to be true of folks from Gary IN to Cleveland.  But to my ears, someone from Lima sounds completely different than someone from Bryan.  Something about the vowels changes when one crosses US 30 in both Ohio and Indiana.

 

 

That's a pretty astute observation- that's approximately the line that divides Northern from Midland accents.

 

when i lived in toledo i would hear a lot of people say hwere for where (not the same as ware)

 

(unmerged witch-which, another example)

 

my friend and his family from bellevue don't merge these

 

living in 419 was the only time (just occasionally, tho) i heard people actually say 'hwich.' but i have a feeling it wasn't mainly toledoans, just ppl from rural 419.

I have a theory. Someone upthread was saying they grew up in NJ (my bet is South Jersey, because this sounds more like a Philly thing than NYC) and says "wooder" for 'water'. If you take that (or a minor variation, without the 'r' at the end) as a pronunciation from the non-rhotic* (North) Eastern dialects, bring it into a rhotic dialect (say Appalachian, where "worsh" is a pronunciation of 'wash'), something like "wooder" might become "worter", another pronunciation I've heard from "worsh" speakers.

 

So my theory is it comes from an interplay or evolution where a non-rhotic dialect became rhotic.

 

*: non-rhotic and rhotic just refer to whether 'r' is pronounced without a vowel following it.

 

For those who say that Columbus has no accent: How do you pronounce the names of the larger of the two rivers that runs through town?

 

 

Scioto = Sigh-OH-toe

 

Olentangy = Ol-en-tangee

 

If you thought Olentangy was odd, its Native American name was Keenhongsheconsepung.

 

 

Olentangy (ol-en-tan-jee) is my favorite word!

What is supposed to be the weird way Columbus people pronounce Olentangy/Scioto?

What is supposed to be the weird way Columbus people pronounce Olentangy/Scioto?

 

I don't know about ol-en-tan-jee, I hear everyone pronounce it like that but maybe some people put more stress on olen (like me) or tangy. Scioto, you hear a lot of people (even in commercials) say Sciotuh, like Ohiuh instead of Scioto like Kyoto (well, at least the way an Amerikajin would say Kyoto lol.)

 

I have a theory. Someone upthread was saying they grew up in NJ (my bet is South Jersey, because this sounds more like a Philly thing than NYC) and says "wooder" for 'water'. If you take that (or a minor variation, without the 'r' at the end) as a pronunciation from the non-rhotic* (North) Eastern dialects, bring it into a rhotic dialect (say Appalachian, where "worsh" is a pronunciation of 'wash'), something like "wooder" might become "worter", another pronunciation I've heard from "worsh" speakers.

 

So my theory is it comes from an interplay or evolution where a non-rhotic dialect became rhotic.

 

*: non-rhotic and rhotic just refer to whether 'r' is pronounced without a vowel following it.

 

 

Londoners started the trend in England of adding an 'invisible r' after the a sound, like a couple hundred years ago. Maybe that explains it.

 

 

 

 

Natininja, perhaps I ran with the wrong people from Columbus but they pronounced it "Sci-oh-tuh."  I always thought that to be kind of funny, perhaps I was right. 

 

Johio, I figured (apparently incorrectly) that Olentangy was a Native-American word.

 

If the original name had stuck I wonder if it would somehow be abbreviated by all the locals like the Monongehela River is is Pittsburgh.

olentangy is a native-american word, it was the name the delaware tribe gave to a different river... the new locals just messed up all the names. the olentangy should be named whetstone, and either the scioto or the big darby creek is supposed to be named olentangy

Reminds me of Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be from Ohio if..." and one of them was saying "Ohiuh". Who says that???

Oh, I believe it but as a Midland speaker, I can't imagine there being a big difference between Erie, Buffalo, Toledo, and Cleveland.

 

The wiki map for Northern Inland shows that Erie is not included and mentions it in the write up.

 

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

 

This is true. Actually it's also true of Ashtabula County, which also seems to speak with more of a general western PA accent. Ashtabula is in the Cleveland media market but also gets Erie TV channels. I grew up in Ashtabula county and remember watching the news from both areas and picking up on the Cleveland accents while thinking nothing of the Erie accents. There must be a bubble in the northern cities vowel shift around this general area. I always wondered how far west it went. Anyone know what kind of accents they have in Dunkirk, NY?

I have a theory. Someone upthread was saying they grew up in NJ (my bet is South Jersey, because this sounds more like a Philly thing than NYC) and says "wooder" for 'water'. If you take that (or a minor variation, without the 'r' at the end) as a pronunciation from the non-rhotic* (North) Eastern dialects, bring it into a rhotic dialect (say Appalachian, where "worsh" is a pronunciation of 'wash'), something like "wooder" might become "worter", another pronunciation I've heard from "worsh" speakers.

 

So my theory is it comes from an interplay or evolution where a non-rhotic dialect became rhotic.

 

*: non-rhotic and rhotic just refer to whether 'r' is pronounced without a vowel following it.

 

That was me and I was born in northern Delaware, so wooder is a Philly thing. But that pronunciation is split 50/50 in Jersey. I grew up in northwest Jersey. Warsh is definitely a Pennsylvania thing though. A lot of people in my area pronounce wash like that.

^ Do any PA folks say "worter" for 'water'?

Oh man. "Santa, put your pants back on!" might be the "Park your car in Harvard Yard" for the Cleveland/Great Lakes accent.

 

Near the end of this:

That is music to my ears.  "Santa put you pyants byack on."

 

Start at 2:45

 

Sound more upper Midwestern to me.  Just add "don't ya know" to the end of it to see what I mean.

I can't wait to hit Toledo and Detroit this Christmas to hear the Great Lakes accent in full force. Some of my family and childhood friends have got it really bad. "Burn" is an excellent documentary about Detroit, and the Great Lakes accent is everywhere in it. The Detroit/Toledo variation is really strong, and also seems to pick up a little from Ontario (it's a little bit more Canadian than in Chicago or Cleveland). Also, I've noticed college towns don't have it as bad. Detroit and Toledo have a noticeably stronger accent than Ann Arbor. That could be because Ann Arbor brings in people from all over the place while Detroit and Toledo are almost entirely populated by people native to the area. It's sort of like how Manhattan doesn't have much of an accent anymore, but Long Island's accent is still really strong. The Great Lakes accent is unique in that it almost always sounds strongest right near the water. Toledo and Sandusky have much stronger accents than cities just 20 miles inland. I find by Findlay, the accent is completely gone, with Findlay people speaking a really flat "no accent" version of English. I notice a similar thing in other Great Lakes states. The cities within a certain mile distance of a Great Lake have it the strongest. Rochester and Buffalo seem to have much stronger accents than Syracuse. This accent is strongest in the shipping ports on the Great Lakes.

 

*I've lost some of the accent since becoming a Californian. It only comes out after a few drinks...the Great Lakes accent is not that hard to lose if you try to suppress it. People in SF thought I sounded weird since I used to have a strong Great Lakes accent from working with a bunch of native Toledoans. I also used to swear way more since Toledoans swear a ton compared to Californians. California made me a lot more polished and professional. I learned a lot from San Franciscans and realize how ridiculous I used to talk when I was a Toledoan. Toledo is really gruff and revels in being anti-PC (not always a bad thing though since Toledoans have a dark, dirty sense of humor). Toledoans almost parody their own liberalism, which people in the Bay are way too snooty and self-important to do. For some reason, the nasally Great Lakes accent with the weird vowel sounds made Toledo humor sound even funnier. The Detroit firefighters in "Burn" nail this accent. The accent should not be called "Northern Cities Inland Accent" since we're talking about Great Lakes cities here. It should be called the "Great Lakes Accent." I realize most people on the Atlantic and Pacific generally don't understand the Great Lakes, but those of us from the Great Lakes know this accent is strongest in the shipping ports.

 

Now I've got a weird mix of Great Lakes, Coastal California, and Ontario. I suspect my Great Lakes accent gets weaker every year I'm not around it. Friends have commented though that I sound different when I drink. I might be trying to suppress it without even knowing it...I've had some people in SF and Oakland tell me it sounds "blue collar."

I've definitely lost some of my CLE accent since spending 4 years in Oxford and 5 years in Columbus. Now when I go home to visit, I can really hear it.

I still look down from my perch of lofty linguistic superiority on benighted Midwesterners for two major reasons:

 

(1) No, your car does not "need towed," your sink does not "need fixed," that project does not "need funded," and your grass does not "need mowed."

 

(2) Apostrophes are not as ubiquitous as you think they are.  There are no such stores as Sears' or JC Penney's (there also may not be such a thing as Sears or JC Penney in another few years, but there never were stores called Sears' or JC Penney's).  You cannot order a pizza from East of Chicago's.  (I could make a similar point about plural's, but the a'postrophe's are the wor'st.)

 

Maybe I should cross-post this to the pet peeves thread.

I still look down from my perch of lofty linguistic superiority on benighted Midwesterners for two major reasons:

 

(1) No, your car does not "need towed," your sink does not "need fixed," that project does not "need funded," and your grass does not "need mowed."

 

(2) Apostrophes are not as ubiquitous as you think they are.  There are no such stores as Sears' or JC Penney's (there also may not be such a thing as Sears or JC Penney in another few years, but there never were stores called Sears' or JC Penney's).  You cannot order a pizza from East of Chicago's.  (I could make a similar point about plural's, but the a'postrophe's are the wor'st.)

 

Maybe I should cross-post this to the pet peeves thread.

 

To #1, how would you say those things?

 

"My car needs towing" or "My car needs to be towed" or another way? Just curious? I've heard all these variations.

I've definitely lost some of my CLE accent since spending 4 years in Oxford and 5 years in Columbus. Now when I go home to visit, I can really hear it.

 

Where in CLE are you from?  I find that makes a huge difference in this regional dialect conversation.

When my family moved to Ohio from Massachusetts the "Noun needs past-tense-verb" sentences stuck out so much to us. I still hate them and don't respond to them. I try not to be a grammar snob but I don't let that slide or Cincinnatians' obsession with making every brand possessive like you've pointed out. "Kroger's" isn't a brand. It drives me crazy. There are so many companies that I legit thought were possessive in name when I moved down here that I found out weren't after I'd started calling them as such. It's such an odd (and not in a good, quirky way) regional dialect.

I still look down from my perch of lofty linguistic superiority on benighted Midwesterners for two major reasons:

 

(1) No, your car does not "need towed," your sink does not "need fixed," that project does not "need funded," and your grass does not "need mowed."

 

(2) Apostrophes are not as ubiquitous as you think they are.  There are no such stores as Sears' or JC Penney's (there also may not be such a thing as Sears or JC Penney in another few years, but there never were stores called Sears' or JC Penney's).  You cannot order a pizza from East of Chicago's.  (I could make a similar point about plural's, but the a'postrophe's are the wor'st.)

 

Maybe I should cross-post this to the pet peeves thread.

 

To #1, how would you say those things?

 

"My car needs towing" or "My car needs to be towed" or another way? Just curious? I've heard all these variations.

 

The correct way is "noun needs to be verbed." There's a lot of weird crap that goes on with the English language that leaves a lot of grey areas but this really isn't one of them.

I still look down from my perch of lofty linguistic superiority on benighted Midwesterners for two major reasons:

 

(1) No, your car does not "need towed," your sink does not "need fixed," that project does not "need funded," and your grass does not "need mowed."

 

(2) Apostrophes are not as ubiquitous as you think they are.  There are no such stores as Sears' or JC Penney's (there also may not be such a thing as Sears or JC Penney in another few years, but there never were stores called Sears' or JC Penney's).  You cannot order a pizza from East of Chicago's.  (I could make a similar point about plural's, but the a'postrophe's are the wor'st.)

 

Maybe I should cross-post this to the pet peeves thread.

 

To #1, how would you say those things?

 

"My car needs towing" or "My car needs to be towed" or another way? Just curious? I've heard all these variations.

 

The correct way is "noun needs to be verbed." There's a lot of weird crap that goes on with the English language that leaves a lot of grey areas but this really isn't one of them.

 

I'm no grammarian, but I think the form noun verb gerund is also legitimate. (i.e. My car needs towing). Neither of the two I mentioned sounds off to me in the way that the form noun-verb-past tense verb (Car needs towed) sounds to me.

 

I grew up outside Youngstown, and when I moved to Cincy, the possessivification of brands there drove me up a wall. It's not Kroger's or Meijer's or any other's. lol. Incidentally, I did grow up referring to JC Penney as "Penneys". Haha

^^That "needs painted" gnaws at me too. I never heard it growing up (in the eastern Cleveland burbs) but seems extremely common. Not sure if I just lived in a cultural bubble then or if it has increased market share over the years (I'm not young anymore).

I asked about the "noun needs verbing" at one point and the answer I received was that it's less wrong and often accepted as fine but technically speaking isn't "as correct." I guess it's the grey area and my last comment was a little off.

 

I think JC Penny is possessive or plural far beyond just Cincy. I grew up calling it Jc Penneys as well, even in Massachusetts. I don't know why that is.

^^That "needs painted" gnaws at me too. I never heard it growing up (in the eastern Cleveland burbs) but seems extremely common. Not sure if I just lived in a cultural bubble then or if it has increased market share over the years (I'm not young anymore).

 

As a Clevelander, I never hear people here say things like that.

^When we moved we moved to the southern burbs and noticed it seemed like it was predominantly said by people who moved from the first ring burbs or the Youngstown area.

^Seems to me that we can blame a lot of the stereotypes of CLE dialect on Drew Carey and his ilk from Paaaaaarma.

 

^^That "needs painted" gnaws at me too. I never heard it growing up (in the eastern Cleveland burbs) but seems extremely common. Not sure if I just lived in a cultural bubble then or if it has increased market share over the years (I'm not young anymore).

 

Me either.  I don't recall as a kid and can't say I hear it now.  Maybe I just never paid attention, but I usually do with odd speech. 

 

For all of my dialect/grammar flaws, double negatives are probably my most common mistake..... especially when "ain't" slips out.  Other common flaws of mine would be 'gonna', 'wooda'/'woodjya', 'wontcha'... and, of course, using 'got' when the proper term is 'have'

^When we moved we moved to the southern burbs and noticed it seemed like it was predominantly said by people who moved from the first ring burbs or the Youngstown area.

 

That could be. I grew up on both the east and west sides, but I never lived south of I-480

I still look down from my perch of lofty linguistic superiority on benighted Midwesterners for two major reasons:

 

(1) No, your car does not "need towed," your sink does not "need fixed," that project does not "need funded," and your grass does not "need mowed."

 

(2) Apostrophes are not as ubiquitous as you think they are.  There are no such stores as Sears' or JC Penney's (there also may not be such a thing as Sears or JC Penney in another few years, but there never were stores called Sears' or JC Penney's).  You cannot order a pizza from East of Chicago's.  (I could make a similar point about plural's, but the a'postrophe's are the wor'st.)

 

Maybe I should cross-post this to the pet peeves thread.

 

To #1, how would you say those things?

 

"My car needs towing" or "My car needs to be towed" or another way? Just curious? I've heard all these variations.

 

The correct way is "noun needs to be verbed." There's a lot of weird crap that goes on with the English language that leaves a lot of grey areas but this really isn't one of them.

 

I'm no grammarian, but I think the form noun verb gerund is also legitimate. (i.e. My car needs towing). Neither of the two I mentioned sounds off to me in the way that the form noun-verb-past tense verb (Car needs towed) sounds to me.

 

I grew up outside Youngstown, and when I moved to Cincy, the possessivification of brands there drove me up a wall. It's not Kroger's or Meijer's or any other's. lol. Incidentally, I did grow up referring to JC Penney as "Penneys". Haha

 

Hah. I think it's an Appalachian thing. I grew up hearing that all the time from my hillbilly family members. I never really noticed it until I saw one of those "You might be from Cincinnati, if..." lists. One of the things they talked about was how folks refer to Kroger as "Kroger's" but it definitely doesn't stop there. I've caught myself saying "Potbelly's" (the sandwich joint,) for God's sake. At least Kroger is the founder's last name! Potbelly literally just means a protruding stomach.

I've definitely lost some of my CLE accent since spending 4 years in Oxford and 5 years in Columbus. Now when I go home to visit, I can really hear it.

 

Second this. I didn't notice how strong the accent was on Lake Erie until I moved away from Lake Erie. Now it's a total culture shock any time I visit Detroit and Toledo. I like the accent though and think it sounds cute on women. Then again, I also really like the Long Island accent. I tend to be into the Great Lakes and Long Island/Northern New Jersey accents the most. I think they are America's sexiest accents. I think most people deep down have an accent they're into. Voice and accent are real turn ons that get overlooked too much by dating researchers who seem to focus mostly on looks, personality, height, status, living situation, etc. I rank voice and accent right near the top of things I look for in a partner, and it's a make or break thing for me. I've got to be into the voice before anything else. Maybe I'm different, but I think most people care about it more than they realize. You see it all the time with the way Americans fetishize European and Australian accents. Why not Canadian? I think Toronto natives have a great accent, and the unique French-Canadian accent in Montreal is top notch. Europe gets too much love, though I'll admit I've probably fallen for some girls at least partially due to their accents from Spain and Italy. Weirdly, I'm turned off by the British and Australian accents, which probably makes me atypical for Americans. This is also why online dating/Tinder is such a crapshoot and people complain about lacking sexual chemistry even though they are physically attracted to how someone looks. You've got to hear somebody's voice to know if you're into them...

 

*In the Bay, we don't really have any local accents. It seems like in global, cosmopolitan cities, accents soften or entirely disappear over time. Regional accents seem strongest in cities with lots of natives.

When I talk to my friends and family members I notice a definite accent in Cedar Rapids but even more so in North Iowa.  It's easy for me to spot out now that I have lived in Cincinnati a few years.  Cincinnati definitely sounds a touch "southern" when I think of it.  Iowa is more Minnesota sounding.  The main words are "Oh sure" and "you betcha" and when reacting to some sort of news "ohh yeahhh!?" in that Fargo accent but, hard to explain.

 

I think when people say "needs towed" the actual correct way to say it is "I need to tow my car".  Or maybe, "My vehicle needs a tow".  Not certain if that is correct though.  "needs towed" is like using a verb as a noun pre-fix to a verb

^I find Minnesota is sort of the like the UP of Michigan. It's its own weird world...

 

It has Great Lakes elements, but something else is thrown into it.