nyewclear

As I said elsewhere, I'm watching the debate ATM. Shrub's 'noocyular' irritates me enough, but both candidates saying 'nooclear' makes me want to bash heads together. WTF is so difficult about 'nyewclear'? Tisn't really that big a deal ifor any native Engish speaker...

...So you're expecting Americans to talk like our demented ancestors?

Its the yankee dialect. They pronounce the word "NEW" as "Noo", down south we say it "nyew"

No, I expect them to talk like educated individuals. Don't you?

Do you really expect Americans to speak with a British accent?

How do you feel about Biden pronouncing the word corroborate, co-ob-or-ate?

He has not had any air time over here.

I'm sure you can find reruns of the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, can't you?

Once you've discovered that is a fact, what then do you think of Biden's attempts to talk like an educated individual?

Funny thing about how things are pronounced. I know a lady who has two kids, one boy and one girl. The boy is named Don and the girl is named Dawn. These names are pronounced differently down here but up North they would sound exactly the same. They don't pronounce the "W".

At least it's not "nuke-u-lar".

Regional accents, m'dear. There is no official "educated" accent in the Colonies, though most of us with regional accents are taught to speak as if we come from the Midwest, which is what American newscasters sound like.

In my native Brooklyn, it was be either "noocleAH" or "noocleRRR," but the first syllable is always "noo," not "nyew."

In fact, I can't think of anywhere in the States where it would be "nyew."

I find it very funny how Canadians say words like about.

You never been to the real south then.

It's "Dohn" and "Dawhn." Unless you're from NewYawk, in which case the girl's name would be "Dawwwwn," and stretched out to two syllables.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_English

Still doesn't make it official.

And where Mewa and I come from, anyone talking like FDR or William F. Buckley would get his ass handed to him.

I have heard the horrid speech that comes from New York City.

It is a crime against my hearing.

Which is why a lot of people try to lose it, but some never do. Think of Ike Asimov. You can take the kid out of Brooklyn, but sometimes you can't take the Brooklyn out of the kid.

I have recently. I can say one thing about the experience. There are definitely terms and phrases used in the South that I didn't know or understand.

Which is funny due to "oot and aboot" being a Newfie thing.
Of course Newfs are known for their inability to speak either official language of this country...

I've been to the Carolinas and Georgia. Mostly in cities, though, so maybe I didn't hear any of the rural variations.

Louisiana, now...that's an interesting stew of dialects. New Orleans sounds like New York.

Oi!

Edit: Are you sure about the Newfie influence? West coast, maybe, but the East Coast dialect is a thick Irish brogue.

Come to the mountains. There is a big difference between how we talk and the rest of the state out east.

Did any of them have the "N" word in them?

Exactly. I've never heard it that way.


The people who really should be taken out back and flogged are the ones who pronounce "coupon" as "cyewpon" instead of "coopon".

Ouch! That's another one.

Don't know how it is in the rest of the country, but you can tell the difference between someone from Upstate NY and a *real* New Yorker by how they say "route."

Downstate it's "root." Upstate it's "rowt."

Garamet, have you ever watched the miniseries by Melvin Bragg, "The Adventure of English"? The first four episodes are historical lessons (such as how the words "impede" and its abandoned sibling, "expede", came into being), the final four explain the regional dialects and growth of English in the various Anglosphere nations after the 17th Century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_English

Here's a sample clip I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WagGv_Qdmfc

Theatre. lol.

Although I do like behaviour over behavior.

What has always bugged me more than anything is when people say "pitcher" instead of "picture".

Also, it irks me when people say "cot" instead of "caught".

But, in the end, language is not static, it evolves and changes. It's not surprising that different areas develop different dialects.

I don't know where YOU'VE been. In Middle Tennessee, it's "noo," not "new." No one ever says "new." Down here you read the noospaper and watch the noos.

I hear more "noocular" from southerners than from anyone else.

Thank you! I love stuff like this. Reminds me of a cross between "Connections" and "The Story of English." Especially love that bit toward the end about Henry VIII being so terrified of the "invasion" of bibles in English. The more things change...