Regional Pronunciation

Anyone who's seen Fargo will know what fun listening to regional dialects and variant English pronunciation can be.

The French, ever the language snobs, cackle when they hear French Canadians speak their language, and English speaking North Americans are at no loss finding humor aboot their spoken word either, don't 'cha know? Ay?

I am amused when I hear local North Coast folk mention "bag-ells" an imported bread product introduced, mainly as a frozen odditya decade ago, and first known as a freshly baked local product only in the last few a few years. You may know them as a Eastern European Jewish delicacy known as a 'BAY-gell."

Ditto 'pop', meaning soda, as in Coke or Pepsi. We are not alone in this regionalism. Pop vs. Soda has a long-standing regional variance best explained by those who've studied the regional nomenclature reference in depth. In the South, all soft drinks are called 'cokes." Go figure.

Viewers of the classic Saturday Night Live's sketch featuring those Chicago sports fans fond of "da bears" will know what North Coast speech often sounds like. Broad, nasal aaaaa sounds predominate.

Crap is a favorite word on the North Coast. It can be a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, invective, or insult without the onus of profanity. "What a load of crap, that crappy man said. It's crap! Plain and simple, you crap-for-brains crap monger!

At my local supermarket, I went through the check out with a fennel bulb which on the North Coast they call, inncorrectly, anise. The 17-something checkout girl ask me, 'Is this anus?' I failed the test, what my friends call, 'a teachable moment,' and rudely told her, "No, anus is what you sit on, this is fennel."

She was not amused.

Comments

[Jim Kloss]

'A teachable moment' --- I've never heard that before. I want to remember it. What a great phrase!

[Jenny]

Yes I too like the opportunity for a "teachable moment". I'm interested in the dialects - "pop" is what a balloon does when it bursts and "soda" is carbonated water often mixed with whisky. Coke and Pepsi are soft drinks - apologies for being a pedant.

[thebizofknowledge]

I stumbled across your blog while I was doing some online research. I can't imagine how I would have kept a straight face in my cashier asked if my fennel was anus! Plus, I think I might have lost my appetite for the bulb!