Is there a California accent?

[bluestateguy]

I was born and raised there, and I never noticed any accent. I always thought we talked normal, especially compared to all those northeasterners I went to college with.

Well anyway, this article suggests that there is a California accent, but there is so much academic jargon in it that I can't make heads or tails out of it. It reads like it was written by a linguistics professor.

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

[Tom Joad]

1. Fo sure. It's all gnarly and cool too. Peace out.

[KitchenWitch]

2. Cha!

[katty]

90. born & raised here too..'like it's cool, groovy and my fav bitchin'

[nkt35500]

140. +1

[Richard D]

3. Like ya know . . .

. . . I don't Think so!

[ailsagirl]

4. Isn't there the "Valley Girl" thing?

Kind of nasal? Lots of redundant words? ("I'm like so totally
hungry...")

[cascadiance]

6. Dude!!!

[ailsagirl]

105. But that's jargon-- not the way we actually pronounce the words

We tend to say "goin'" when we're lazy or in an informal setting-- we drop our g's a lot. But not so much in formal conversation (like, say, a job interview).

We may be the closest to a non-regional accent, though.

[cascadiance]

107. Wow, Omigod! That's the longest lived "conversation" i've had on DU!

Three years!...

And just last week I moved to Portland, so am no longer a "Californian" anyway...

Perhaps I should try to turn my handle into "Orependence", or "Cascadence" or something like that...

At least Californians don't call soft drinks "Pop" in a nasal fashion which almost sounds like they want a "pap smear" test or something. I got tired of that back in the midwest around Michigan.

[ailsagirl]

108. It's a subject that refuses to die!!! LOL

[ailsagirl]

109. How come this thread has existed for so long when others disappear

almost immediately???

Just curious

[Carla in Ca]

5. You betcha!

It's far out and totally groovy. Put on your shades and catch a wave. Oh, and if you don't know how to do the teaberry shuffle, it's a real bummer.

[proud patriot]

18. Is bummer a Californian thing

I'm a native Californian and use Bummer all the time .

[hvn_nbr_2]

36. I thought "bummer" was from the 1960s drug culture

bummer = bum trip = bad trip, a bad experience on LSD. Not specifically California. I've use "bummer" for a couple decades, I'm sure since before I came to California.

[Juneboarder]

94. LOL!!!

This sounds like California in the 60's... like way groovy and bitchin man! :)

[hvn_nbr_2]

104. OMG! You preceded Sarah Palin by 3 years, you betcha you did. :-) nt

[cally]

7. From what I understood from the article,

it appears that we do. The part that made the most sense was how we say Sacramento and San Frncisco. We emphasize the elongate the first syllable. I know I do. Also, the article implies that we don't distinguish the different vowels in words like Mary. ,marry, and merry or cot and caught. I know I don't distinguish between those sounds unless I'm trying to. I wish I could understand more of the article.

[Momgonepostal]

31. I agree about the Mary and cot thing...

but that was about all I think I do. I certainly don't say SAAAACCCramento.

[XemaSab]

118. You don't?

'Cause I sure do. :D

[mitchtv]

35. The Merry , marry , Mary thing

is strictly Midwest

[bobalu]

60. I've lived in both places..

so from experience, I would say it "travels".

[nkt35500]

141. +1

[Gormy Cuss]

53. Van Ness

Anywhere else in the country it would be pronounced van-NESS, but in SF it sounds more like van-es, with nearly equal emphasis on each syllable. There are other words with this flattening of the accent so that no syllable is emphasized. It was one of the first distinctly NorCal inflections that I noticed.
This may be the same elongation noted in the Wiki article -- I'm no linguist.

[MaryBear]

68. There is a San Francisco accent,

or there was. Less likely t pronounce "R."

[CountAllVotes]

78. yes there certainly is a SF and East Bay accent

I can spot it straight off myself as my father and grandfather were both born in the East Bay, the rest in San Francisco. It is a style of speaking. San Franciscans tend to speak very fast (listen to Bernie Ward - a good example of the San Francisco accent).

I have a whole thing *somewhere* on "San Francisco Talk". If I ever find it, I'll post it!

:kick:

[MaryBear]

76. And then there is Kearny Street

in the City. How you pronounce that street tells whether you have lived there for long.

[CountAllVotes]

81. Kerrnie!

eh? :D

[ailsagirl]

111. I'm no linguist either but I notice that people I've spoken to who are

from Southern California pronounce "San Bernadino" as "San Berndino"

Collapsing syllables??

[ascrodin]

102. California Talk

I'm from Northern New York State, and I say Mary, marry, and merry the same way, and cot and caught the same. I thought it was just a "North Country" (the northernmost region of NYS) thing, because I know people from Southern NY (Westchester, NYC, Long Island, etc.) who say those words differently. But then again, my mom was originally from California (Bay Area), so maybe her way of talking just rubbed off on me.

[CreekDog]

119. been told that us native Bay Area speakers are lazy

we slur our words together, drop letters, etc.

"San Frnscisco" is the way we say it, nobody from here says "San FRAN cisco"

and lots of locals say San Jose as Sanozay.

[AsahinaKimi]

121. but we NEVER..ever...ever...

Call it "Frisco"...we absolutely ABHOR that name. We never called it that, someone from back
east coined it. I remember reading once a Herb Caen article about it. I would like to find that article again. Apparently some people still use it as a barb ..like Bill O'Reilly. Just please, if you come to my city, call it by its proper name. San Francisco.

Although "Bagdad By The Bay" was popular for a while. Herb Caen must have used that too.

[hvn_nbr_2]

8. Yes

There are definitely sounds that are pronounced differently in California, although the differences are not dramatic to my ear. Also, there are different word usages and other language phenomena.

I couldn't comprehend the linguistic stuff about "front vowels" and "velar nasal" in the article, but I'd guess it's talking about the differences in vowel sounds that I noticed when I moved here, particularly short a and o sounds. I always thought the California vowels sounded very much like European vowels, in contrast to the mid-Atlantic and northeast U.S. sounds that I grew up with. BTW, if you skip past the "Phonology" section of that article, the rest of it is comprehensible to a non-linguistics professional.

Interestingly, the article talks about Valley Girl words and expressions but doesn't mention the Valley Girl nasal sound that ailsagirl mentions in post #4. I don't hear the nasal quality or the expressions much any more, so I kind of think it was more a fad than a real accent. Maybe it's still prevalent in the valley (the San Fernando Valley in the L.A. area, for any non-Californians reading this thread) and/or among younger people than I mostly hang out with.

The discussion of northern Calif vs southern Calif seems pretty accurate to me, having lived in Socal for ten years before I lived in Norcal 15+ years now. (Are the words Socal and Norcal expressions used only in Norcal? I can't now remember if I used to hear them in Socal or not.)

The word "freeway" seems to be a very California word. Growing up and living back East, I don't think I ever heard anyone refer to a road as a freeway, although everyone knew what the word meant. Because of the continuing influence of national media, I suspect the word is used more now outside California than it used to be.

One other California linguistic phenomenon that the article doesn't mention is the (my own term here because I never heard anyone else talk about it) declarative use of interrogatory inflection. That is, in normal English you can use declarative word order but make it a question by using rising inflection on the end of a sentence. Example: "He really said that?" Declarative word order but you make it into a question by the inflection. There's a distinctly California usage of that inflection when the sentence is still a declarative and not a question. I never figured out when or why native Californians did that usage, and I don't much hear it any more. Not sure if it's dying out or I just got used to it enough to not notice it any more. It used to bewilder me, and I would wonder, Why are you making it sound like a question?

In the OP, you said, "I always thought we talked normal, especially compared to all those northeasterners I went to college with." In a way, that proves the accent. To you it seemed that they had a northeastern accent, but to them it surely sounded like you had a California accent. If the "northeastern" way of talking that you refer to was either Boston or Maine (as opposed to the rest of the northeast), then that accent is more pronounced than the California accent, at least to my ear.

[cascadiance]

9. Actually the "falling inflection" on questions is eastern I think...

One other California linguistic phenomenon that the article doesn't mention is the (my own term here because I never heard anyone else talk about it) declarative use of interrogatory inflection. That is, in normal English you can use declarative word order but make it a question by using rising inflection on the end of a sentence. Example: "He really said that?" Declarative word order but you make it into a question by the inflection. There's a distinctly California usage of that inflection when the sentence is still a declarative and not a question. I never figured out when or why native Californians did that usage, and I don't much hear it any more. Not sure if it's dying out or I just got used to it enough to not notice it any more. It used to bewilder me, and I would wonder, Why are you making it sound like a question?

I remember growing up overseas and other places and going to high school and college in the midwest. When my sister and I were both back to the midwest on vacation while going to school at Penn State, I noticed a difference in the way she asked questions, which appeared to be unconscious to her, but was definitely something she picked up while going to school there as she didn't do it before. She would ask questions where the inflection would go up in the question until the second to the last syllable. The last word would always be down in inflection compared to the second to last syllable. Kind of hard to describe it on the net as it would be easier to hear me say it, but I think you are talking about the reverse here in terms of inflection (though you're noting that a sentence can sound like a question, which is a different issue). But she drove me nuts while I was hearing it then.

[ailsagirl]

91. I think it has spread to the general masses (esp. women) and

it has become more-or-less the norm, though people in my generation don't
talk that way. I want to distinguish between the vernacular and the
accent. The accent is what I'm more interested in. I'd say, compared
to the other regional accents in the US, that California has one the mildest.

IMO

[ailsagirl]

110. Great post!! I just saw it. When I watch TV, I'm bemused by the

accents I hear. There are people born and raised in the south who DON'T have southern accents, and people who are from the Mid-West who sound like "Valley Girls," and people from California that sound like they're from the Mid-West.

I read that the most prevalent regional accent by far is the Southern accent.

Interesting stuff--

[XemaSab]

10. Napes....

It's everyone else that has the accent. :P

[Oerdin]

11. Hmmm...

We come up with a lot of slang but there isn't an accent per say. Also since much of the media and mass entertainment industries are concentrated any California accent that did exist would quickly become standard in much of the rest of the country.

[XemaSab]

62. I was told the other day by a Brit

that I "talk like I'm from California."

I don't think it's just the words, either. :P

[xxqqqzme]

79. I had a french student tell me that

when I was on vacation in NYC. 'You're from California aren't you?'

[ourbluenation]

92. oh yes we do. take the word "candy" for example and say it out loud and listen carefully...

we almost seem to say kheyn-dee, certainly not can-dee. There is also quite a bit difference in the norcal vs socal. I grew up in southern california, but moved to the northbay, via chico, when I was 23, I'm now 44. I hear a difference whenever I visit. In the socal we would say sen-fran-cisco. emphasis on fran. up north we say senfren-cisco. empshasis on the cis. there's also a difference in things like "take the 101 North" vs "take 101 North". but that's not accent stuff.

anyway - yeah, I spent my summers in Ireland as a kid and my cousins always made fun of my sister and I (her name is mandy). They would say Mheynndee, do you whananee kheyndee?

[mikelgb]

12. California Standard

do you ever notice on national tv news almost every one speaks in "california standard" heard this in pne of my classes

interestingly there different vernaculars in northern and southern california, most notably the northerner's use of "hella"

[EFerrari]

17. My bro was forced to live in HelLA for a few years.

Does that count? :)

[ronnykmarshall]

26. HelLA????

[Moochy]

42. Your guide to Hella

It's like Bush saying he's doing a "heckofajob"

N. Californian 1: That was a hell of a good time we had at the beach, who knew you could swim in the ocean!

N. Californian 2: Hella, we should go to LA more often. :)

[Moochy]

40. American Standard English

There's a reason for this, the diffusion of ASE as it's known in linguistics, started with Radio, and eventually became transmitted as the language of Radio and TV. Diction became standardized in the broadcast media and I'd say that today there is still a proliferation of ASE, but it's more regionalized, and there are many broadcasters who have a regional dialect now.

ASE is probably more "Californian" these days because of Hollywood, and the nexus that it has become for all of our media and entertainment.

Then there's Tom Brokaw who doesnt have an accent, as much as he has a drunken slur. :)

[MaryBear]

69. Yes and now Brokaw Road is pronounced

Brokaw Road. According to San Jose/Santa Clara old timers, the name is for the family they knew that lived there and called themselves Bra (as in the undergarment) coe = Brokaw. But with Tom calling himself BROKE AW and the media picking it up and calling the road which is now a pretty big street with freeway access etc, BROKE AW, the mostly new residents now call it BROKE AW instead of the BRA COE that it really is/was.

[senseandsensibility]

106. Interesting

I've lived in the area for many years and have only heard Broke-aw.

[ourbluenation]

93. my norcal kids hella say hella all the time.

[Xithras]

98. Yup. Hella is a uniquely Norcal thing.

I'm born and raised 80 miles east of the Bay Area, and "Hella" is still a normal part of my vocabulary. My kids too.

I have never met anyone from anywhere else in the nation that uses the term.

[hvn_nbr_2]

95. I've been in Norcal for almost 20 years and have never heard a single person...

say "hella." I see it in text on the internet, most often in the context of norcal vs. socal, but never heard anyone say it. Maybe it's a sub-regional thing.

[Xithras]

99. Seriously?

It's hella common over here in the Central Valley.

[Sapphocrat]

13. Like, I am SO suuuuure!

Yeah, there is, actually. For me to recognize it, though, it's a process of elimination (i.e., subject doesn't sound like anywhere else).

We also talk fast, I'm told. I've been mistaken for a New Yorker (by Southerners mostly) many times -- but I think I speak at the same clip as everybody else born & raised in CA.

Now, if we could only learn to pronounce San Peee-dro correctly.

[ronnykmarshall]

14. When I go out state ...

I like soooooo "val it up".

[Sapphocrat]

15. So do I.

And I'm a NorCal-er. But I can't bear to disappoint anyone. :P

[proud patriot]

19. LOL

I absolutely have to remember to do that :evilgrin:

[OnionPatch]

30. Talking fast, yes!

That was what I noticed when I moved here ten years ago. I grew up in Ohio. I didn't notice a California accent when I first came here, but it really did seem like everyone talked so fast.

[StarsInHerHair]

146. that's what my relatives from OK say-& Hi every1 Native Californian here

I hadn't noticed a lack of "T" pronunciation, but:shrug:


Plus I say the California 'accent' is standard movie star accent

[mitchtv]

33. And Sacramenno, Safrncisco, Hunington beach

San Afel, Sanna Rosa

[avitali]

38. "Hunnington Beach"

That's how I've always said it. And non-Californians notice it.

[shanti]

56. don't forget sanna ana

i had hella fun growing up there ;) (socal transplant to norcal)

[avitali]

57. There, too.

That's how I say it, except when I'm speaking Spanish. :D

[Kajsa]

120. It's almost one word here,

Sannaana.

And yes " The OC" is for a Fox channel show,
and is not the name of this county.

i.e. I do not live in The Orange County,
anymore than someone lives in The Marin County
, The Contra Costa County or The Los Angeles
County
but I do live in Orange County.

And we now have over half a million registered
Democrats!
Things are looking up.

:)

[MsKandice01]

58. Well, EVERYONE pronounced Los Angeles wrong

[maveric]

67. "San Berdino"

[Xithras]

101. Good point. I never thought about our aversion to T's.

Of course, I live in a county where even the RESIDENTS can't agree on how it's pronounced.

Stanislaus -> Pronunciation 1: Stanisslaw. Pronunciation 2: Stanesslaws.

I fall into the first group.

[DBoon]

127. It's Peeeedroow

a whale of a town!

[Iggo]

137. Yep. It's Pee-dro.

Lost the San a long time ago.

[EFerrari]

16. Your mouth, quick and dirty.

If you think of your mouth as a musical instrument, you'll notice you play your vowels high, mid or low (top of your mouth, sort of in the middle or lower close to tongue or throat).

Also, you may play your vowels close to your teeth, between there and your uvula, or way back at your uvula.

That's what all those terms really try to describe, exactly where in your mouth you say "a", for example. If you recite "a,e,i,o,u", you will feel the different locations where you make the sound. It's kind of neat.

There's a similar thing that happens with consonants -- depending on where in your mouth you produce them and also, if you aspirate (puff out air) when you make the sound. :)

I went to school at Stanislaus one year when they had drama teachers I wanted to study with. I noticed I could pick out the guys from the SF Bay area right away. So, not only does CA have a distinctive accent, we also have regional ones. lol

[proud patriot]

20. Interesting and very cool

I'm so Bay Area, lived here all my 36 years .

[EFerrari]

21. I was born in Oakland, was in SF until the age of 7, then down

to Sunnyvale during the early 60s boom.

Have never wandered very far away except for a 3 year hiatus down South.

And if I met you at a QuickStop in Barstow, I could peg the Bay Area accent.

Short of like a secret handshake. :)

[Oerdin]

22. It's not really

How people say things but what they say. At least that's how I peg regional differences. Different slang /= accent.

[EFerrari]

23. It's both, I think. Slang is in a way easier to peg

but the "musical" differences are there, too, when you start listening.

[ronnykmarshall]

27. When I lived in SF

people said I had a "Modesto Accent". :wtf:

[Momgonepostal]

32. What on earth is that?

Inquiring Modestans want to know...

[EFerrari]

48. Relative to the SF Bay area, the vowels are longer, the accent is a

tiny bit more nasal and back further in the mouth. Or, that's my 15 year old memory. :silly:

You also don't speak as rapidly as we do. We mouth off as if we were feeding a parking meter for our speech, too. lol

[Momgonepostal]

49. Honestly, I've never noticed

:shrug:

We probably do have more old timers who are dust bowl era migrants and have that OK thing going on, but I can't say I've ever noticed that we speak any differently than they do in the Bay Area.

[EFerrari]

50. Sometimes it's context? I sound different to myself when visiting

Texas horse country for a week or so.

On edit: Also, aren't there a lot more people FROM the SF Bay Area living in Modesto now than in the late 80s? When housing here became ridiculous, people opted to commute. That would begin to shift the sound around a bit perhaps?

[Momgonepostal]

51. There are LOTS of Bay Area people here now

So, yes, there might be something to that...

[EFerrari]

52. I'd be out there in a heartbeat if Doug's work weren't here.

I'll never forget the grocer on Main Street in Turlock that always managed to meet me at the door when I was on my obviously pregnant way out, with a gift box of fruit. And, you guys much closer to Yosemite than we are.

:)

[Momgonepostal]

54. See, now I would love to live in the Bay Area, except

1) all our family is here and even more importantly
2) we don't have the kind of income that would allow us the livestyle we would want there. I just don't see us each taking on an extra full-time job to afford a tiny (by BA standards) mortgage. It's sure beautiful, though!

I took my daughter into SF in November and we had a ball. The weather couldn't have been better, clear and perfect. She told me she wants to live there when she grows up. :-)

[EFerrari]

55. When I was reading another thread about heating bills

I realized we call ours a "mortgage" because my PGE bill is about $40 a month!

[Ladyhawk]

63. So, what kind of accent do Sonorans have? We live east of Modesto. :D n/t

[bo44]

45. East Coast friends from college thought I sounded

like a southerner. My friend from New York City said we talked slow and lilting. I am from Stockton and attended San Francisco State in the mid 80's. I had to use a more elaborative, broad based language to be understood well in the city. If I used the slang heavy concrete, almost short hand like, working class language of Stockton I would get blank stares and requests to repeat or explain what I said.

"Checkitout dude!, W ' wen' t' the park 'n' saw'sum vatos ah'new kicken it w'some beezies. You should a seen them bitches. S' we rolled up and burned one with 'em. They had a case on ice and kicked downed bigtime. W ' left after a sixer with one of them beezies. Sh' got the knob 'n'then ah spanked that ass. Shit was tight."

[bobalu]

61. Translation, please?

"Checkitout dude!, W ' wen' t' the park 'n' saw'sum vatos ah'new kicken it w'some beezies. You should a seen them bitches. S' we rolled up and burned one with 'em. They had a case on ice and kicked downed bigtime. W ' left after a sixer with one of them beezies. Sh' got the knob 'n'then ah spanked that ass. Shit was tight."

...I'm a former Californian..and I can't understand this...are you talking about dope or female humans?...If the latter, it sounds nasty and disresptful.

[StarsInHerHair]

147. hehe good slang, too funny

[Moochy]

41. Hella! Bay Area Accents!!

Or the more polite word we used in Catholic School, Hecka! :)

[EFerrari]

46. That's right! Hecka!

LOL!

[AsahinaKimi]

122. ME TOO!!

Born and raised in San Francisco! woot! (Though being Asian, I guess my accent tends to heavily
lean in that direction..I guess.)Aiiiiiiiyaaaaaaah!

[Juneboarder]

24. California Accent?

No way man!! I think it's just because most of California is high on their cronic weed and just draw out all their syllabels cause they're so relaxed. Whenever I hear someone referring to the CA accent I think... they must NOT smoke pot! OMG and to think...?!? =)

[AzureWaves]

25. Even within California?

I was born and raised in LA and moved up to the Sacramento area a few years ago-I never thought I had an accent (I would be caught dead before talking like a 'valley girl') but somehow some people can tell that I'm not from around here. :shrug:

[ronnykmarshall]

28. Isn't that weird?

I can kind of tell a difference from a Bay Area or a So Cal .... but that's mostly with younger adults or teenagers.

Now us queens, we speak in our own accent that is known worldwide.

[StarsInHerHair]

148. you're now IN Sac?

[maveric]

29. My SoCal kids say "May-ouse"(mouse) and "Hay-ouse" (house).

And "Fer Sure"!
I have a Boston accent and they tease me about it constantly.

[Cleita]

34. There is.

We don't seem to be aware of it though because we sound like the movies. Since movies were produced in California most of the last century it would make sense.

However, people in other states, will point out to you that you have a California accent. Anyway, that's what happened to me.

[StarsInHerHair]

149. yes, me too

[bridgit]

37. there's like fully an accent, dude...

:hippie:

[kineneb]

39. long vowels

something I noticed when learning German. The Germans I spoke to always took me for someone from Holland, rather than an American, because my accent was correct, but I just couldn't quite clip my vowels enough. I was quite amused.

Like, you know, gag me with a machete...dude.

[Biased Liberal Media]

43. When I went to college down south I could definitely

tell the difference between the Northern Californians and the Southern Californians. Being from the central coast (and fairly close to San Francisco), it threw me off, bigtime.

[cagoldensun5050]

44. Wow dude...

I was born and grew up in California too, and I never thought we had an accent. It wasn't until I moved to Texas at age 12 that I noticed a difference in how I and many of the locals speak. Some of them commented that I spoke in a fast, articulated way. I was also surprised to find a CA english article (which I found a while ago). I too thought our English was not much different from regular CA English. (I was very well aware of Texan English such as "y'all" and "fixin' to" before I moved here, though I don't know if I will get used to it.)

[EFerrari]

47. Like, you R totelly welcum tu DU, cagoldensun!

:hi:

[Ladyhawk]

64. I've had people get pissed at me for using the word "dude."

I used it like an exclamation all the time: "Dude! No way! I can't believe we fuckin' voted for Ah-nold!" But people who aren't Californians thought I was calling them "dude." :shrug: It was a an exclamation, not a salutation. :( Can't please everyone. :(

[XemaSab]

65. Dude, you totally have to come on the 1st

We'll get along *just fine*. :D

[xxqqqzme]

80. that's the way my son uses it also.

That's nearly a direct quote of his as well. 'dude! is usually followed by 'no way!'

[martymar64]

84. Dude, don't call me Dude!

Ever hear that one?
I love the Cali accent, I lived in L.A. (Venice, SaMo, Mar Vista, Hollywood) for about 11 years and when I hear that accent I get absolutely homesick.

My favorite terms:

Dude(!)
Gassed or Gassing (I was totally gassed when I got that bike for my birthday)
Stoked (see Gassed)
Fatty (a big doob)
Local (as in "Locals only")


God bless Harry Perry and Slavin' Dave!

[StarsInHerHair]

150. just tell 'em it's either dude or damn, take your pick

[mshasta]

59. wa 'da ..heck ..!!!!

yo tal'kin bout..? you don’t have a freaking accent around sacramentoouuu!!!

x(

[maveric]

66. When my Socal born&raised kids say "house", they pronouce it "Hay-ouse"

"Mouse" is "May-ouse".
And they play on my Boston accent...

[Ernesto]

70. "The future just happens sooner in California"

Get used to reality parasite red states..........

[MaryBear]

77. Lol, Ernesto!

Are you joining us on April 1?

[silverojo]

71. Yes, but it's very subtle.

For instance, you folks don't put as much of a dipthong on long A sounds as other parts of the country do, so when you talk fast, a word like "paper" can sound more like "pepper" to the uninitiated. :)

[yurbud]

72. If everyone here talks like Paulie Shore and Alicia Silverstone, yes.

[Dem2theMax]

73. This 49 (ouch) year California native says no to any accents

but yes to weird language. "Valley girl" speak anyone?

Me? I'm too old to talk weird. I just swear a lot, at *. :evilgrin:

[bridgit]

74. like toe-tally...

:hi:

[Dem2theMax]

75. LOL. I had to say that one a few times before I got it.

Double LOL on myself! Like I said, I'm too OLD for that stuff! :hi:

Heck, I'm lucky if I can get a word out without having to say "you know, the 'thing' or 'whatchamacallit' over there," when trying to describe something. I wouldn't survive a day of Valley speak. LOL.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

82. Accent?

Indeed, You can cross referance California clear easy talk to mid state New York in accent,you will find that the two converse beautifully.Now, Northwest easy talk the same. In Calfornia the Californian cross connection to spanish in a common brings in a intresting diversity in language skills associated to annunciation,or articulation. Those people who drop accents from places afar or far away from California learn something about theirselves in language speaking skills that they may have otherwise never realized.Those that never learn diversity don,t know what they are missing. signed Southern California Beach Bum.If it ain,t layed back, it ani,t even there.Such as the saying goes.

[Juneboarder]

113. We definitely don't have accents...

the world and English language are all based on how we talk here in California! :sarcasm:

Please! Get Real! California most certainly has an accent...

[kskold]

83. North Valley accent

My Mom's family has lived in Redding/Shasta County for over 100 years. There's a distinctive sound I first noticed from my great-aunts (in their 80s-90s now.) But the last time we were up there, the waitress at lunch also had that accent. I can't "hear" it right now, so I can't describe it. But my Mom used to surprise people shopping in her gift store (in Santa Rosa) by recognizing the accent.

[fleabert]

85. hella accent, dude.

:-) couldn't resist. coming from Texas, I am one to talk, no pun intended. I say there is no 'california' specific accent, but there are regional ones.

[Stargleamer]

86. Let's not forget the Spanish heritage of California. . .

When one of my cousins from Delaware came to visit, he said I had an accent that reminded him of a Mexican accent.

Also, a lot of Okies came to California and settled in Kern and Ventura Counties, so the flavor of our voices could have been influenced from them as well.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

87. California cool

Diversity. Southern California. Accent, as many as you want to acquire.The more the better. Spanish influence, very much to do with the richness of California calture.California sun, has to do with other natural influences.Accent, ask the wise,they may dare to tell you.

[Xithras]

100. True. Much of southern California was settled by southerners after the Civil War.

Their homes were destroyed in the war, so they went west. Most migration happened laterally, so Southern California originally had a southern accent. It's been almost wiped out over time, but traces of it can still be found in certain inflections.

That's also why native Californians can so easily tell the difference between those of us in the north part of the state, and our southern neighbors. That, and their proximity to Mexico, have introduced some distinct changes in dialect.

[Snow]

88. Fascinating....

I moved back to LA in 2002, after having grown up the SF valley - well, age 2 to 12, anyway - in the 50s. The Valley back then was a bunch of Hoosiers and similar sorts who moved out here after WWII - and Pasadena, where I live now, was founded 120 years ago or so by another bunch of Hoosiers. The while Valley Girl accent/slang thing was publicized, at least, by Moon Unit Zappa, with a wonderful song that like, <u>totally</u> made fun of what she was hearing at her high school and in the shopping centers.

[LibDemAlways]

89. My 13 year old pronounces "furniture"

"funiture" - leaves out the "r." Don't know where she gets that from. She never fails to point out that I say "stand ON line" instead of "stand in line." That's got to be a regional difference. I lived "back east" for a few years as a child, and that one seems to have stuck.

[Nailzberg]

96. Not sure if talking like a douche is an "accent"

But that's what dudes sound like here in LALA land.

[Juneboarder]

97. Of course we have accents!!!

Why would people only from California sound "normal" when everyone in the rest of the country and world all sound different? We are not better than anyone else, hence the reason the way we talk is an accent of our language and not the appropriate way to speak with no accent... the CA accent draws out the vowels.

[slackmaster]

103. Dude!

Californians define how standard English sounds. Everyone else has an accent.

[mackerel]

112. Our tone is transparent. We have the opposite of an accent.

What truly differentiates Cali's from other regions of the U.S. is our slang and how it grows, changes and evolves more rapidly than the rest of the U.S.

In other words, we're poppin!

[Cleita]

114. I never thought so until I spent a couple of years in Kansas and was

told I had an accent. I think when you watch TV or movies and listen carefully, you can distinguish where the actors are from by their accents unless they are deliberately doing an accent. You will find that the actors who are native Californians sound just like us and of course we don't have accents just those other non-Californians. :-)

[noiretextatique]

115. i've never been told i have a califonia accent

but i have been told i have a slight southern accent even though i grew up in southern california. we went to visit the extended family in texas every summer, so that probably explains it. my texas cousins said we "talked like white people." funny, as they got older, most of them worked on ridding themselves of their southern drawls.

[Ecumenist]

116. Yes, there is! My husband is from Deepindaharta and when we

met over 17 years ago, he had such a thick accent and drawl, I compared him to a baritone Gomer Pyle. since dating and marrying me, his accent is almost gone. A friend who met both of us around the same time over a decade ago believes that "the California" has rubbed off on him and destroyed him accent. I have relatives in the south and the midwest and they seem to think that I have a weird accent and talk REAL fast.

[martymar64]

117. California surfer and Baltimore have very similar dialects

I noticed this from watching john waters films and living in Venice.

[ej510]

123. I am from California and I do not believe we have an accent.

[Lordquinton]

128. We have an accent

Everyone has an accent, it's just the standard to us so we don't see it. We also talk faster than the rest of the country, I noticed that when I was living in the mid west and encountered another Californian people had trouble keeping up with out conversation.

Nice necropost, btw.

[KamaAina]

126. I'm from Bawlmer!

Maybe I should take up surfing.

Then again, one would have thought I'd have done that during nine years living in Hawai'i. :-)

[KamaAina]

124. Ask anyone from the "Sintral" Valley.

You'll be sure to "git" it.

[mackerel]

130. I grew up there and never heard it once pronounced like that.

[KamaAina]

125. The quintessential Cailfornia band CCR

managed to rhyme "Come on the rising wind" with "Goin' up around the bend". So yeah.

[mackerel]

129. There is no West Coast accent. We have the best slang

in the nation and we turn a phrase like it was an art but we are the least discernible when it comes to accents.

[ej510]

131. We create most of the slang.

[david13]

132. When I was a kid, my uncle told my brother and I "you kids better

not start speaking with that southern California twang."
I think he meant 'kawabunga, dooooode'. And that type of thing.
dc

[The Green Manalishi]

133. I had someone who did *not* know where I was from peg me as a San Francisco native

He was a fellow who was pretty knowledgeable about linguistics and such; he said it was pretty easy to 'tell' out a Californian. I imagine I must have as much of an accent to someone who speaks funny, like a Virginian or a Texan as they have to me.
Also one retort to my European friends who chide me about how few Americans speak anything other than English- true, 'dat, but we have enough variations of English to keep the brain busy. I wondered why some relatives from Boston wanted to go "Potty",......

[Iggo]

134. That was a fun read. Much ass grassy ass.

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

[proud patriot]

135. LOL my husband laughed at me in Mexico

because that exactly how I was saying it LOL

[Cleita]

136. Yes, there is.

I found out when I moved to Kansas that I had a California accent. It was news to me.

[ej510]

138. This cat from NY told me I have a Southern drawl.

I assume most blacks have a bit of a southern drawl.

[OnionPatch]

139. No. I don't notice it.

I grew up in Ohio, lived Florida and Texas and traveled all over. I've been in CA for 15 years now. Most Californians speak like they do on television, a sort of neutral accent. That's not to say they don't have their own sayings and I notice that some of them tend to speak more quickly than people in other places I've been.

[nkt35500]

142. of course

[Doris32r]

143. Yes!

And I say this because I moved to Cali from Illinois and people comment on my accent - so it only stands to reason that if I have one than you Cali locals have one too :) Seriously though after more than 10 years I find myself slipping into a Cali accent. I'm not sure how to describe it, but my family hears it and so do I :)

[bayareamike]

144. I was just in Australia

a couple of weeks ago and from talking to people it was more common for my accent to be ID'ed as American rather than specifically Californian. Even with many years of college education under my belt, I still utilize the infamous "hella" every now and then!

[mackerel]

145. MY boyfriend is Australian and he says that the

'hella' and 'hecka' is the give away.

[Name removed]

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