Is it disappearing?
I think that many regional accents are getting muted, due to the homogenization from television, and the much greater amount of intermixing as people move to different areas. The article doesn’t really explain the difference in the coffee pronunciation, though. I say “cawfee,” as she spells it. A New Yawkah says “kooawfee.”
A friend linked to this video, “Sh*t New Yorkers Say“, which I thought was noteworthy for capturing the essence of New York groupthink, notably without a noticeable accent.
Even sometimes overseas the Midwestern accent is the preferred sound for communication.
But everyone is supposed to talk like New Yorkers! Or at least the Northeast.
Jeff Foxworthy says that when he started in comedy, he went to New York and they told him to “lose that stupid accent.” His response was, “Does anyone tell Seinfeld to lose his accent? A third of the country talks the way I do.”
Sometimes I get the sneaking suspicion that people are making fun of me behind my back because I talk like Mr. Howell from Gilligan’s Island. YEeeessss that’s riiiiggghtt.
I say “worshington.” Worshington state; George Worshington, the father of our country; Worshington DC, the source of all our troubles.
My parents were from the midwest. Ya wanna make fun about it? 😉
Yeah, and I worsh the dishes, and my clothes. And I worsh myself in the shower (getting to be TMI there…).
The entire country will have no regional accent if all of America’s females over the age of 11 continue to use that annoying, nasal, faux, valley girl, Kardashian daughters / Paris Hilton speak.
On the other hand we may lose our regional accents because almost all the kids under 25 speak like they grew up in a gang house in Harlem.
Well I am pretty sexy, don’t know about a complete cultural shift for ALL women.
I was born in Brooklyn, but the first time I remember hearing it was from a young traffic cop when I went with a cousin to see family…
I couldn’t understand a word… much thicker than anything you hear on film or tv.
Of course, the confusion continued when I caught a cab and asked the Jamaican driver what language the music he was playing was. He told me, “That’s English mun!”