When I moved to New York City from the Midwest I had a tough time understanding people who spoke English with various accents, whether it be from an other American regional accent or English from another part of the world, or English as a second language. My ear quickly tuned to be able to understand the many ways English is spoken. Probably after 5-6 years of living here, I started to be able to recognize the regional Midwest accent whenever I returned. It’s so interesting how all that happened. I’m here for all the accents! And a shameless plug to be more gentle and patient with folks who are speaking English in a different way than you are used to. There is often not a ‘language barrier’ but a ‘listening barrier’. ☺️
I purposely lost my southern accent when I moved to St. Louis because people were treating me poorly. I have since recovered some of it. I have a coworker with the distinctive Philly accent and I love it. My mom has a strong Richmond accent and everywhere we go, please ask if she is from Richmond. I love southern accents.
We try not to do podcasts with the them "He sucks. Everything is awful." BUT HE MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE! Because he sucks. And it's all tremendously awful.
I have lived in the mountain west for almost my whole life and very much talk like people out here. I also spent the first 8 years of my life in Omaha NE and as a result, I have a lot of midwestern phrases in my vocabulary. I am moving to central KY at the end of the month and just got back from house hunting there. Just being around people with southern accents made me feel like I’m going to develop one sooner rather than later. So I imagine the migration south will have an effect that goes both ways. It will probably flatten accents all across the country.
I grew up in KY and now have lived the last 30 years of my life in NC. The word “y’all” is so baked into my vocabulary so I have just learned to embrace it😂😂 I feel like my greatest accomplishment last year is when I heard my Executive Director at work (who has spent most of her life in NY or MD, in NC for about 2 years) use the word “y’all” in a meeting last fall… I had given her a “Happy Fall Y’all” little sign for her office the year before, and I feel like I directly contributed to her embrace of what must be my favorite word😂😂
I had to stop this pod episode to go listen to your “wtf just happened” playlist to get some rage out. Thanks for providing the news and also the rage release! 😂
I LOVED the conversation on accents at the end! I find it fascinating how people develop their accent. I grew up up in Texas and never realized I even had an accent until I moved to Cincinnati for college! Then, I moved to Denmark about 13 years ago and thought I had done a pretty good job of softening the accent… until my kids started talking and I realized THEY have a Texas accent!!! They’ve never lived there but have clearly picked up some pronunciations from me without me even being aware that I still have the accent 😅 But the funniest part is that my older son will add a Danish accent when speaking English with his Danish friends but speak with an American accent to our family
Thinking about MT members of congress and their recent “poo poo” to the sale of western federal lands and how they have ZERO credibility or power because they have relinquished it all to Trump-DOGE. Can MT get what they want when they have been an absolute doormat to our new authoritarians?
When I was a teacher in rural Arkansas, I taught an oral communications class to 10th graders. We did a lesson on the concept of semantic noise and in that lesson, I spoke in different accents and had the students share what they believed others thought about people who spoke with those accents. And it was a very powerful conversation with these students about the stereotypes that can get attached to our accents and how those aren’t true and don’t define people. It was one of my favorite lessons I ever taught.
I am from DC, but lived in rural Arkansas for two years. I have always picked up accents really quickly and being surrounded by the thick, rich Delta accent 24/7 I adopted it without thinking about it. When I went home to visit my family, I would revert back to the “non-accent” pronunciations I grew up with. UNTIL, my Arkansas landlady called me on the phone. When I got off that call, my brother was staring at me like I had grown a third head, my Arkasas accent had come out strong and he’d never heard it! I live in New England now and I’ve lost the Southern accent, but I still say y’all all the time on purpose.
The Trader Joe's check out person made the mistake of asking me how I was doing today. I started with "The Librarian of Congress was fired." He didn't know and was actually interested. I think there are a lot more people who don't follow the news much at all. If we can talk to them about what is actually being done rather than the old, "Donald Trump is a fascist." we might sway people.
And Sarah, I wonder what part of Canada people think you sound like. Because half my relatives live in Atlantic Canada, and your accent is nothing like theirs. Maybe western Canada?
My husband is a TJ cashier and your lament would’ve been so ‘nice’ for him to hear. And he would’ve jumped right in with you in whatever work appropriate way he would’ve been able to 🥰
I've been reading about the Librarian of Congress today. I didn't know anything about her before. It's appalling that she was fired.
The people from outside of the United States sometimes cannot hear the difference between our Southern accents and our Northern accents. That's what I thought she meant. So Sarah can pass as Canadian just as well as I can while traveling through Europe.
On accents, my mom still has her Baltimore (I mean “Baldimer”) accent and she moved away in the 60s. I’m from north central West Virginia, and it amazes people that I don’t have a southern accent. My reply: Well, I’m not from the south! Check out the Appodlachia podcast/YouTube. They had thousands of people from all ends of Appalachia submit accent samples. So interesting.
When I moved to New York City from the Midwest I had a tough time understanding people who spoke English with various accents, whether it be from an other American regional accent or English from another part of the world, or English as a second language. My ear quickly tuned to be able to understand the many ways English is spoken. Probably after 5-6 years of living here, I started to be able to recognize the regional Midwest accent whenever I returned. It’s so interesting how all that happened. I’m here for all the accents! And a shameless plug to be more gentle and patient with folks who are speaking English in a different way than you are used to. There is often not a ‘language barrier’ but a ‘listening barrier’. ☺️
My grandparents accent from southern Georgia sounded like a song when they spoke.
Ky Gov Andy Beshear does a segment on his podcast “in my accent” about things that piss him off
Just listening to this episode today ironically after hearing about Walmart's warning of price increases this morning ..... send help
I purposely lost my southern accent when I moved to St. Louis because people were treating me poorly. I have since recovered some of it. I have a coworker with the distinctive Philly accent and I love it. My mom has a strong Richmond accent and everywhere we go, please ask if she is from Richmond. I love southern accents.
We try not to do podcasts with the them "He sucks. Everything is awful." BUT HE MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE! Because he sucks. And it's all tremendously awful.
Was thinking Marie Antoinette right before you said it. “Let them fly a palace.”
I have lived in the mountain west for almost my whole life and very much talk like people out here. I also spent the first 8 years of my life in Omaha NE and as a result, I have a lot of midwestern phrases in my vocabulary. I am moving to central KY at the end of the month and just got back from house hunting there. Just being around people with southern accents made me feel like I’m going to develop one sooner rather than later. So I imagine the migration south will have an effect that goes both ways. It will probably flatten accents all across the country.
I grew up in KY and now have lived the last 30 years of my life in NC. The word “y’all” is so baked into my vocabulary so I have just learned to embrace it😂😂 I feel like my greatest accomplishment last year is when I heard my Executive Director at work (who has spent most of her life in NY or MD, in NC for about 2 years) use the word “y’all” in a meeting last fall… I had given her a “Happy Fall Y’all” little sign for her office the year before, and I feel like I directly contributed to her embrace of what must be my favorite word😂😂
“Then it turns out the duck tape is mortgaged to the Saudis” couldn’t have said it better 😵
I had to stop this pod episode to go listen to your “wtf just happened” playlist to get some rage out. Thanks for providing the news and also the rage release! 😂
I LOVED the conversation on accents at the end! I find it fascinating how people develop their accent. I grew up up in Texas and never realized I even had an accent until I moved to Cincinnati for college! Then, I moved to Denmark about 13 years ago and thought I had done a pretty good job of softening the accent… until my kids started talking and I realized THEY have a Texas accent!!! They’ve never lived there but have clearly picked up some pronunciations from me without me even being aware that I still have the accent 😅 But the funniest part is that my older son will add a Danish accent when speaking English with his Danish friends but speak with an American accent to our family
Thinking about MT members of congress and their recent “poo poo” to the sale of western federal lands and how they have ZERO credibility or power because they have relinquished it all to Trump-DOGE. Can MT get what they want when they have been an absolute doormat to our new authoritarians?
When I was a teacher in rural Arkansas, I taught an oral communications class to 10th graders. We did a lesson on the concept of semantic noise and in that lesson, I spoke in different accents and had the students share what they believed others thought about people who spoke with those accents. And it was a very powerful conversation with these students about the stereotypes that can get attached to our accents and how those aren’t true and don’t define people. It was one of my favorite lessons I ever taught.
I am from DC, but lived in rural Arkansas for two years. I have always picked up accents really quickly and being surrounded by the thick, rich Delta accent 24/7 I adopted it without thinking about it. When I went home to visit my family, I would revert back to the “non-accent” pronunciations I grew up with. UNTIL, my Arkansas landlady called me on the phone. When I got off that call, my brother was staring at me like I had grown a third head, my Arkasas accent had come out strong and he’d never heard it! I live in New England now and I’ve lost the Southern accent, but I still say y’all all the time on purpose.
The Trader Joe's check out person made the mistake of asking me how I was doing today. I started with "The Librarian of Congress was fired." He didn't know and was actually interested. I think there are a lot more people who don't follow the news much at all. If we can talk to them about what is actually being done rather than the old, "Donald Trump is a fascist." we might sway people.
And Sarah, I wonder what part of Canada people think you sound like. Because half my relatives live in Atlantic Canada, and your accent is nothing like theirs. Maybe western Canada?
My husband is a TJ cashier and your lament would’ve been so ‘nice’ for him to hear. And he would’ve jumped right in with you in whatever work appropriate way he would’ve been able to 🥰
I've been reading about the Librarian of Congress today. I didn't know anything about her before. It's appalling that she was fired.
The people from outside of the United States sometimes cannot hear the difference between our Southern accents and our Northern accents. That's what I thought she meant. So Sarah can pass as Canadian just as well as I can while traveling through Europe.
On accents, my mom still has her Baltimore (I mean “Baldimer”) accent and she moved away in the 60s. I’m from north central West Virginia, and it amazes people that I don’t have a southern accent. My reply: Well, I’m not from the south! Check out the Appodlachia podcast/YouTube. They had thousands of people from all ends of Appalachia submit accent samples. So interesting.