They Talk Funny!

            There is a set of maps making the rounds on Facebook that are pretty interesting.  Joshua

Katz, from the Department of Statistics at North Carolina State University figured out a way to show graphically some of the basic differences in the way Americans speak the English language.  At least one of the 22 maps is a statement of the obvious.  People in the southern states say, “Y’all” while the rest of us say, “You” or “You all.”  Well, that one certainly is no great revelation.  But some of the others may be news to many.

            I found these maps particularly interesting as they show differences between the two primary places where I grew up.  I spent the first eleven years of my life in Syracuse, New York.  My next ten years were spent largely in Southern California.  I still remember my first year in California and the way kids made fun of the way I spoke.  They, for instance, claimed I was pronouncing the word fog like the word frog, and that I was putting the accent on the wrong syllable when I spoke the word downtown.  And one of them looked at me funny when I mentioned the davenport in the living room.  I never thought any of them spoke with any kind of an accent.  After living in Southern California for about eight years, I visited Mexico with a group of people.  Upon reentering the state the Border Patrol officer asked me a few questions about where we had been and whether or not we had any fruit in the vehicle, all of which I answered casually.  Then he asked, “What part of New York are you from?”  I was shocked that anyone could tell my origins after so many years.

            As I looked at these maps, I realized that I still pronounce some of those words like a New Yorker (the state, not the city).  Been, crayon and pecan are some examples.  However, I was surprised to see that there is no great difference between the two regions for many of the chosen words.  I guess our world is getting a little smaller.

            My interest in language in general, the fact that I have relatives living in various states, and the fact that I have visited quite a few states, has aided in my awareness of many of the differences pointed out on these maps, and some differences not mentioned.  I was always quite aware that my nieces in Minnesota drank pop, not soda or coke.  They also asked their friends if they, “…want to go with?” not, “…want to go with me?”  I can easily spot a Southern California transplant to the northern part of the state.  All they have to do is refer to I-5 as, “The 5.”  I’m sure there are other tells, but that’s the one that always catches my attention.

            These maps surprise me in one respect.  We Americans can actually understand each other.  We may recognize obvious differences, but we don’t usually have difficulty comprehending others’ speech.  I find this amazing, having visited the United Kingdom.  The UK is slightly smaller in area than the state of California.  Yet the difference in dialects and accents from one end of that country to the other is vast.  There are good, understandable reasons for this, most of which concern politics, social structure, and historical geographic separations.  However, these factors in the U.S. have produced quite a different result.  We may be separated by thousands of miles, but we have, for the most part, always shared common threads and intermingled easily.

            But if you listen carefully, you will hear those differences in your acquaintances’ speech.  Who knows, you may even hear me speaking like a Knickerbocker while sitting on the davenport or heading downtown.