I’ve been spending some time with friends in Missouri. Since I’ve been here, I’ve learned a few things.
In some areas, the state we’re in is “Mi-zur-ee.” In other areas, “Mi-zur-uh.”
“That hound won’t hunt” means “you’re not getting away with that, young lady.”
“Even a blind sow can find an acorn once in awhile” means “anyone can get lucky once in awhile.”
“The sow found an acorn!” means “I just had a stroke of great luck!”
The lady of the house asked if I’d like some iced tea, and I said, “Sure, a tad bit.” Then I had to explain how much a tad was. (For those who don’t know, it’s more than a pinch, but not quite a schosh.)
Then the same lady said, “So, you’re from Ore-uh-gone.” I cringed and explained “Ore-uh-gone is a city in Illinois. The way you pronounce the name of my state is Orygun.” So important is the proper pronunciation that Oregon has it emblazoned on T-shirts, bumper stickers, magnets, and on and on. (Mispronounce it when you’re in my state at your own peril.)
She, on the other hand, stressed that Illinois has NO s on the end when you say it. It’s Ill-in-Oy. And if you mispronounce it, forget the acorn. The sow becomes bacon and all is utterly lost!
Colloquialisms and regional pronunciations are such fun!
And sitting there, delighting in what my Mi-zur-ee friends were saying, got me to thinking about authentic voice as a writer. When you write, you need to let your true voice, colloquialisms and all, shine forth. Writing nonfiction? Be sure you sound like you! Because your voice is what sets you apart from other writers. Are you a novelist? Make sure your characters use speech that’s authentic to the region they’re in. That touch of realism will delight the readers who know the area, and help educate those who aren’t.
So now I’m curious. What are some colloquialisms or regional pronunciations from your corner of the world?
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Time for more representation from the East Coast! I was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, where we put R’s and L’s where others don’t see them.
So if I said, “I wash my hands with water in the sink. And I read a terrible library book about Washington, DC….”
It would sound like, “I warrsh my hands with wooder in the zinc. And I read a turrible lyberry book about Warshington, DC.”
As a teen I worked in Bawldymore with some little old ladies with blue beehive hairdo’s, I picked up the habit of calling everyone “hon.”(Short for “honey”.) I can force myself to stop the R’s and L’s…but I’ll never give up the hon!
I was just commenting to a friend that it seems everyone who works at stores or in customer service the last few years has taken to calling me “hon.” Had a sales girl do it today. I’m clearly older than she is, and she called me “hon.” I don’t know why, but it makes me grit my teeth every time. Like she’s being too familiar. Funny how different our responses are!
I’ve got to respond to the “hon” thing. I get incensed at that or “sweetheart”. I almost always call them on it, politely of course. I think we need to educate people on that one. If a man did it, he’d be slapped w/ a lawsuit so it shouldn’t be o.k. for a woman to use such familiar terms. It’s very condescending. I’d like to have the courage to respond, “It’s Dr. Hon, to you!”
I get “hon” or “dear”. WHY?
I’m from Vancouver. Pronounced “Vancoover”. Where I learned to say “ah-bowt”, not “ah-boot”.
I live near Prince Edward Island, you know, Anne of Green Gables Land? Or as we say here, “Annagreengables”.
Ditch the “of” and you’ll blend in like a local.
There’s a big city in Canada called “Trohno”, but spelled “Toronto”. Everyone there is royally arrogant. Trust me. All Canadians know this.
Oh, and NO, we do NOT say “eh” after every single sentence.
That bugs me, eh?
That big province way east of here? “Noofinlan”. NOT, oh please, “Nyoo-founD-lanD”.
Slaps forehead.
I need a pop.
I love this post! We are from Missouri (Miz-ur-ee). My son recently spent a three months in Saskatchewan with friends. We have had a ball with words lately!
“It’s going to get cold soon, we need to get a new bunny hug (sweater)!”
“If your head is cold, you need at put on your touk.” (uh, sock hat? Yeah, the Canadians laughed long and heartily at that one!)
And the “Eh?” thing? Oh yeah, y’all do that ever’ day! 🙂
I need a sody.
I gave up on pronunciation a long time ago. After all, I’m a pharmacist. Ever try to teach someone how to say some of THOSE words? LOL I have gotten good at phonetics though. 😉
Thanks for the warnings!
I will limit my “hon”s to my immediate geographical area.
One of my college Linguistics professors told us he knew another Linguistics professor who could tell within 20 miles where anyone in America was from – unless they were from California. Since people from all over the country have moved to that state the accents have all gotten mixed together.
I dunno…I got called hon for the first time last week by my very sweet grocery checker. It shocked me for a second but then I realized she meant it in a nice way.
I think the reason we don’t like it -is because we have all seen too many movies where the snobby rich gal patronizes the nice gal and treats her like trash.
It is like many expressions, it is all in the delivery. Ma’am can make you feel like a soldier’s Ma’am and feel respected and then there are all the others…
I went to high school in Ha-y-ee not Ha-y-ya….
If you said that we knew you were shark bait (a tourist without a tan).
In South Africa/Zimbabwe, we say ‘Howzit” meaning, hello, how are you.
Instead of saying ‘that’s nice,’ we say ‘that’s lekker,’ (Afrikaans). Ja, instead of Yes.
And a phrase that drives foreigners batty is, let’s meet ‘just now’, or I’ll do this ‘just now’. Most foreigners take that as right now. What it really means is any time between now and the next thirty minutes or so.
These are all colloquialisms (there are many more of course). As for pronunciation, well, since we’re so different, I won’t go there, except to say that I love the way Americans pronounce orange. My second book takes place in SA and Zim, so maybe I’ll include a dictionary to explain our local ‘dialect’
Not sure if you would actually call this a colloquialism but I am from Michigan … And when people ask you where in Michigan you are from…every Michigander puts up their right hand and poi ts to somewhere on their palm in illustration of where they live. It’s pretty funny really. Sometimes I think it is simply because they want to avoid mentioning Detroit. I reside at the base of the thumb…..
All this is important for poets to know because rhyme and meter change depending on dialects. So what can poets do about that? Use only free verse?
Some of the fun mispronunciations come from airline crews not familiar with an area. I got a chuckle out of the announcement that we were arriving shortly in “Spo-cane” instead of ”Spo-can.” As an Idahoan by birth, pronouncing Oregon and Nevada “right” has never been a problem for me; Louisiana is quite another matter.
When I was in school in Illinois, at least 85% of the people pronounced “Idaho” as “Iowa,” But I think that error was more geographical than linguistic! Here are some Idaho towns to test your skill: Weippe, Kamiah, Kooskia.
(Wee-ipe, Kam-ee-eye, Koos-kee – derived from Nez Perce words)
I’m with Sheila–“Lou a vul” is commonly mispronounced, but we also have cities in Kentucky like Versailles (correctly pronounced ver say uhls, not ver sigh), Irvine (ur vuhn) and Athens (ay thins).
This was a fun post. It’s interesting to read all the responses.