Hi CJ, from the Jersey shore. Unlike NY and Texas, we have no accent ;)
Welcome to a great Texas lady - ceejaytown!
Hey!
We Noo Yawkas don't have accents!
jersey shore lol they sound like the sopranos hahahahahha
lol... thank good everyone here doesn't type things phonetically, as they speak them.... I don't know If I would be able to understand anyone except CJ :-p
Not me, of course!
ummm... Yeah, right! :-p
I know you'd have a hard time with me Shelly, but Victor did very well when we met. I like to think I understood everthing he said too. ^_^ lol
That's good, since I don't usually understand everything I say.
lol,
Eventually I'd get it Pixie! I think. It just takes me 5 or 10 minutes to sort of get used to it. Before too long, my 'r's and 'w's are different when I say them as well.
Ok, learning to talk like a Mainer ain't easy ya know.
I found this info written by Debby Fowles...a Mainer.
The key is to relax your jaw. Say "Mainer." Notice the tension in your jaw and how it opens only slightly. Now say "Mainah," letting your lower jaw drop on the "ah" paht (er, I mean "part"). Practice saying it in an exaggerated manner to get the feel. Now you're ready for the rules of Mainespeak.
Words that end in "er" are pronounced "ah." Mainer = Mainah. Car = Cah. Mother and Father = Muthah and Fathah. Water = Watah. You get the drift.
Conversely, words that end in "a" are sometimes, but not always, pronounced "er." California becomes Californier. Idea becomes idear. Yoga becomes Yoger.
Drop the "g" in "ing." Stopping and starting = stoppin' and startin', or more correctly, stoppin' and stahtin'.
Broaden a and e sounds. Calf becomes cahf. Bath becomes bahth. Can't becomes cahn't.
Drag out some one-syllable words into two syllables. There becomes they-uh. Here becomes hee-ah.
Getting the accent down is not all there is to speaking like a Mainah. You also need to learn some Maine lingo. Here are a few of my favorite Maine words or phrases:
Apiece: An undetermined distance: He lives down the road apiece.
Ayuh: Yup. Sure. Okay. That's right. You Bet.
Bug: Lobster
Cah: A four wheel vehicle, not a truck.
Chowdah: Chowder
Crittah: Any furry animal
Cunnin': Cute
Finest Kind: The very best
From Away: Not from Maine
Gawmy: Awkward or clumsy
Numb: Dumb. Stupid.
Pot: Lobster Trap
Prayer Handle: Knee
Quahog: Thick-shelled clam (pronounced co-hog)
Scrid: A tiny piece
Steamers: Clams
Wicked: Very. To a high degree, such as wicked good, wicked bad, wicked exciting, etc.
Now you can talk like a Mainer!! LOL
This message was edited Mar 12, 2009 7:53 PM
That's funny. I like prayer handle!
The handle above my head in Brian's truck is my "Oh Jesus " handle.
Good one! That would be for St. Patrick's Day!
That's awesome Pixie. I love it.
Here...dropping the g from 'ing' is speaking 'redneck' or like the country foke ( I ment foke, not folk).
Prayer handle = the "oh sh## handle". Usually it's the handle above the passenger side car door. However, it could also be your knee if you can't reach the actual 'oh sh## handle'!
This message was edited Mar 12, 2009 4:55 PM
Welcome Ceejay!
It's funny sometimes, then again not at others.
Such as my DGD name is Hunter...now if you listen to my DH say it, then you had to spell it from his pronunciation, you would spell "Hunner".
I have no idea were that "T" went but it's been missing since the day she was born!
ok that is why I say that kids in the united states have their work cut out for them just learning how to read and write since if the teachers speak with the accents during spelling time they must get all mixed up and trying to read when the words dont fit the letters lol must be fun hahahah
I spend time in the US every year and I pick up accents very quickly so when I come back for about a month people can tell where I went lol
Go to DC and learn to steal without punishment!
No thanks..I'm going to have to pass on that one.
If you're over this way, make sure to get out in the small towns, it's the only way you'll pick up any interesting dialects or accents. If you just stay in the larger towns, you'll sound pretty boring!
havent figured out how that actually works lol but I hear they do it in ottawa to hahahahah
but the guy that tried to auction of obamas seat lol he takes the cake
Is there a Canadian influence up there, Shelly?
I always travel off the beaten track that the only way to get really good food and cheap accomodations and to meet the real people the nice ones, I hate cities lol to many cars and to concrete for me I like going out to farming country
in 1992 in a small town me and my friend stopped at this little store and I was driving so by the time I got my stuff she was inside when I stepped out I had these guys giving me a hard time saying things like hey honey where are you going and why dont you come and play with us lol so when I didnt come in my friend came out she is with corrections canada and she told the boys lol men to take a walk or she would kick their butts she took one of them out since he swung at her the other took a walk
out of all the places we have gone and all the things we have done it is the only time we had a hard time these boy were up to no good had nothing better to do lol
new yorkers done sound anything like canadians lol
Scicci.... where was this little town that that happened?
Victor, i don't really know. I would say probably not much. However, up north of here, there is a little more. But, it can be hard to tell really. Folks from Western Canada don't have that much of an accent compared to Eastern Canada. At least from what I've heard. I was in Halifax once, briefly, that had a pretty strong accent to me. But the accents in Vancouver and Calgary were litlle to none. But, that's just from my experiences, which were very brief.
Celeste, your description of "Mainah" speak reminds me of a great movie that really represents it. That was Stephen King's STORM OF THE CENTURY. His DOLORES CLAYBORN was another good one. I love Stephen King stories.
Yup, Shelly, we do have strong accents in Halifax. LOL!
Karen
haha.... ok, ok, I forgot about that. Halifax, Nova Scotia! I've never been to Halifax Ma. thanks for clearing that up! lol
I'll be there are many states with a town called Halifax. I wouldn't be surprised. I think there is one in England. A lot of our names came from there, after all.
Karen
hahha I made the same mistake and I have driven by stephen kings house lol had to since I have read every single one of his book great writer
I have never been to Bangor, ME, but would like to visit someday and see his house. I've seen pics. He certainly picked a spooky house to fit his spooky personality. There is a house in the Brant Rock area of Marshfield, MA that I just love that overlooks the ocean. It's a little spooky to me. If I had a lot of money I would love to own that house. Here is a picture of that house.
Karen
Here's another view.
Anyhow, I loved the look of this house, and I thought the yard had lots of potential for nice gardens. There were no houses across the street, just a short cliff and the ocean.
Karen
Think we scared cj off?
Oh, CJ, I thought I'd share with you a couple pics of my hardy prickly pear cactus, a bit of an oddity here. This is what it looks like now. All shriveled up.
Karen
I grew up in New Brunswick only an hour and a half from bangor
my neighbor grows them and we are zone 5 she puts a large dome on them in spring and fall to extend the season so she can get to eat the cactus fruit
Then once the weather is warm, it springs back and looks great!
Karen
Mona, I have to correct you. People from "down the shore" do not speak like the Sopranos. The Sopranos have an accent more similar to people from Staten Island which is in........ ^_^
It doesn't have the long spines like the prickly pears I saw in Texas.
Karen
yes they started off there but then they all move to jersey to raise the kids hahahhahaha