Comments on: I am Sarah Palin

By: Kevin Marshall

Kevin Marshall — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:48:05 +0000

Nofi – I absolutely can feel myself almost slipping into an accent when I listen to 60s and 70s country. Particularly George Jones or Conway Twitty.

By: Noficazal

Noficazal — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:03:24 +0000

Occasionally when I talk I get a slight Southern accent, and when tired or the like I get a much stronger Southern accent as well as some dialect closer to that region of the country. Also, when tired a few other accents come in certain words. When in this state, I find is quite difficult to talk normal and enunciate every syllable, but when not tired or feeling like it, it takes decided effort to talk with the accent. Also, when referring to a group of people, I always use “you all” as I find it easier and more natural.

I am from Upstate New York, nigh on due east of Albany, betwixt the Hudson and Vermont/Massachusetts border. Nobody around me or that I interact with for any appreciable amount of times talks as thus. Furthermore, I have not been out of the state for any time greater than a week that I can recall.

Possible reasons for talking with the accent include: watching several Civil War based movies repeatedly from middle school through early college, listening to country music (from the 70s onward by and large), and finally that it is easier (feel less effort needed in speaking).

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:34:52 +0000

Kev, that’s a Troy accent. Seriously.

Some of my Green Island and Watervliet family does the same thing, including my big sister sometimes. I seem to have been raised far enough away from it for it to miss me. :P

(And Palin grew up in northern Idaho.)

By: KatieB.

KatieB. — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:40:42 +0000

When my family first moved up to the Adirondacks from Coxsackie (Tupper Lake, not Brant Lake, though I still kind of resent the inbreeding comments…), my sister and I got made fun of a lot for our accents, and one of the things they noticed was the way we pronounced words like coffee. But coming back to this area from up there, the slight Canadian accent that I have from living up in the North Country for so long hardly ever gets pointed out. I guess the difference is a little more subtle. However, if I go to Boston, for example, they love to call me out on it (especially when I say ‘eh’). It’s not anywhere near as strong now, though, as it was after I lived with a dorm full of Canadians for four months – I came home saying ‘aboat’ instead of about, and everyone mentioned it until I lost the accent.

By: Rat Woman

Rat Woman — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:18:35 +0000

I don’t think this is at all unique to you. My family is from Troy and all pronounce words similarly to the examples you gave – coffee, chocolate, daughter, etc. I also know many people from Troy and Lansingburgh that speak like that.

By: BL

BL — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:05:07 +0000

I picked up some slight things, like accenting the wrong syllable of words like “hotel” and “insurance” from my time in Texas,. A bigger thing, though, is my not being able to let go a little slang words, like “y’all”. I also spent several years living in Baltimore, so I learned to drop entire syllables of words altogether. That also happens when I’m drunk. Come to think of it, Baltimorean, in general, sounds like drunk talk.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:36:44 +0000

I slip in and out of a Canadian accent, and I have no idea how that started. Considering I’m not even a little bit Canadian.

By: Kelly L

Kelly L — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:03:02 +0000

When I was growing up in Albany, if I wanted to get something out of my desk drawer, I pronounced it “dror.” Then I went to college with people from Connecticut and New Jersey who pronounced it “draw.” Oh, peer pressure, you do funny things. I was outnumbered — I changed my pronunciation. When I came back to Albany, the desk “draw” didn’t sound right anymore. Back to “dror.” Angst ensues when I hang out with my college roommates now.

Also, my dad thinks I pronounce “garage” funny, but he gets an occasional Boston accent from his Massachusetts upbringing, which is like an entirely different language, so he’s got nothing to complain about.

By: For Common Sense

For Common Sense — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 22:54:17 +0000

Why should anyone give a damn what kind of accent you have? Anyone who does care doesn’t have much going for him upstairs.

By: J. Eric Smith

J. Eric Smith — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 20:19:54 +0000

My poor daughter has a bizarre combination of my Southern accent, my wife’s Minnesota accent, and the local Awulbunny accent, as she’s lived here since was two.

Having lived north of the Mason-Dixon Line for the better part of two decades now, I’ve generally managed to turn my Lowcountry Carolina accent into something more closely approximating Newscaster Neutral, although all it takes is a phone conversation with my mother or sister to undo all of that.

I’m attuned to accents, and to my own diction, up here in large part because when native New Yorkers or New Englanders actually do pick up my Southern accent, they immediately assume that I am stupid.

See: http://blog.timesunion.com/jericsmith/low-country-upstater/8/