I'll take pronunciation for 800, Alex

[Coco]

We may have called those little bitty critters pill bugs in biology class. I know our professor wanted us to repeat the experiment we did for Research and Analysis with pill bugs instead of crickets and then to get our paper submitted for publication.

I was looking for the famous map of the regional differences with Americans' word for soda pop and could find quite what I was looking for, but did find this:Dialect maps showcase America's linguistic divides

I've noticed that Martha Stewart pronounces pecan either as pee-KAHN or p'Kahn which I'd think is rather unusual for a woman from northern New Jersey. I meant to listen to how she pronounced caramel today since the Martha Bakes episode was on caramel. Does she pronounce it with 2 syllables or three? To me, 2 sounds like a mis-pronunciation.

Here's one more link: All of Joshua Katz's dialect maps.

Dialect survey maps

I have to say that I LOVE Pittsburghese! It has so much character!

I've heard her say caramel both ways, iirc. It must have been as an ingredient because i can't find the video, all the recipes using caramel in the title seem to be super emphasized as three syllables. :lol: I remember being actually surprised that she said Carmul, iirc it was in an offhand way. I'll have to pay better attention and see if i can find it again. I'm not a huge fan other than i love that look of decorating with pastels but my kindergartner loves cooking and she wants to watch it almost every day.

I assume Martha changes her pronunciation based on current perceptions of class. :lol: but i can't snark on that because that i do it too.

[JillyO]

The quiz did a pretty good job locating me in California. Of course, English is my second language. Now, my German is MUCH more controversial than my English. After 5 years, my boyfriend still occasionally looks at me like I'm a crazy person for a weird word or construction I was using. Anyway, I used to speak what Mr. O called a "very nice, general North American." Then I went to college in California and now I apparently sound really Californian. Oh well.

FWIW:

Ben/bin: Totally different sounds

Mary/marry sound the same, but merry is slightly different

And yes, the Duggars say Jinnifer!

[eri]

I live in the Midwest too, the Duggars sound mostly normal but they do not pronounce Ben or Mackynzie right (Anna does).

[SamiKatz]

OK, I'll play.

I grew up in Southern Ontario. Mostly in the Toronto (Torawnnah) area.

Mary = Merry but Marry has an "ah" sound.

I would like to know when the Americans decided that the work "buoy" should be pronounced with two syllables: boo-ee instead of sounding exactly like boy. How do you pronounce "buoyant"? I would pronounce it just like it had a silent "U" (which it does!!).

I grew up in Parry Sound - just north of Tronno (how to tell a native from a non native), and I say boo-ee, lol

[2xx1xy1JD]

Can't hear a difference between Don and Dawn.

I can understand most accents but the ones that are hardest are Newfoundland outports (I once had a case I nicknamed Dueling Newfies and at one point during a settle t conference they started yelling at each other and all of us Toronto lawyers just sat back wondering WTF they were saying) and anything that is really a separate dialect (like Scots or Jamaican patois).

[Cassielfsw]

I can hear a difference between Don/Dawn, cot/caught etc, but when I pronounce them they come out of my mouth the same. Even if I think I'm saying them differently.

[JillyO]

I can understand most accents but the ones that are hardest are Newfoundland outports (I once had a case I nicknamed Dueling Newfies and at one point during a settle t conference they started yelling at each other and all of us Toronto lawyers just sat back wondering WTF they were saying) and anything that is really a separate dialect (like Scots or Jamaican patois).

This. I have a Trini friend and I have a pretty hard time understanding him even when he makes an effort. When he's on the phone talking with another Trini, I'm lucky if I understand every other word he says. :lol: Other than that, I have no trouble understanding most accents.

[Miggy]

I grew up in Parry Sound - just north of Tronno (how to tell a native from a non native), and I say boo-ee, lol

Toronto, Australia

A local or anyone with any sort of an education : Tor-on-to

Bogan : Tronno

(I will have to remember not to judge Canadians.)

[lookinggoodforjesus]

Over here in BC (Canada) we say buoy. But we have so many people from other provinces that say buoy.

Can't speak for all of BC, as I live on Vancouver Island, but merry, marry, and Mary are distinct. As are bin, Ben, and been. Fairy and ferry are similar, but not the same. That NY Times quiz was entertaining - it pegged me for Seattle, Tacoma, and Spokane. Couldn't be any closer. But where do they have drive thru liquor stores?

[JillyO]

Over here in BC (Canada) we say buoy. But we have so many people from other provinces that say buoy.

[lookinggoodforjesus]

HAHAHHAHA

I meant... buoy as in boy. Hahaha oh dear

[SamiKatz]

Toronto, Australia

A local or anyone with any sort of an education : Tor-on-to

Bogan : Tronno

(I will have to remember not to judge Canadians.)

Canada's a big country. I'm sure there are lots of areas where they pronounce Toronto the Australian way. :)

I looked up the pronunciation of buoy on Youtube, and apparently boo-ee is the US version, so I'm not sure where it came from as far a Parry Sound is concerned.

[Geechee Girl]

The quiz pegged me for GA, LA & AL. Close enough, I reckon.

[lookinggoodforjesus]

Canada's a big country. I'm sure there are lots of areas where they pronounce Toronto the Australian way. :)

I looked up the pronunciation of buoy on Youtube, and apparently boo-ee is the US version, so I'm not sure where it came from as far a Parry Sound is concerned.

"Boo-ee" in Canada is regional. BC pronunciation seems to be unanimously "boy" for buoy. People from BC and Ontario sound quite different anyway.

As for the pronunciation of Toronto, even way over here in BC we say Tronno. It's very rare that someone says To-ron-to. The only person I know who pronounces it that way is my English immigrant grandmother.

[mpheels]

Over here in BC (Canada) we say buoy. But we have so many people from other provinces that say buoy.

Can't speak for all of BC, as I live on Vancouver Island, but merry, marry, and Mary are distinct. As are bin, Ben, and been. Fairy and ferry are similar, but not the same. That NY Times quiz was entertaining - it pegged me for Seattle, Tacoma, and Spokane. Couldn't be any closer. But where do they have drive thru liquor stores?

There is a chain of drive-through beer stores on the coast of North Carolina called Brew-Thru. They sell beer and wine only, and have to load the booze into the truck or back storage area of a car (out of reach of the driver). I think there are other states with similar stores.

[Maple]

"Boo-ee" in Canada is regional. BC pronunciation seems to be unanimously "boy" for buoy. People from BC and Ontario sound quite different anyway.

As for the pronunciation of Toronto, even way over here in BC we say Tronno. It's very rare that someone says To-ron-to. The only person I know who pronounces it that way is my English immigrant grandmother.

I'm in Alberta and the pronunciation I hear most for Toronto is "Tron-to". People usually say the 't' unless they are speaking quickly. I have relatives living in Toronto and I'm certain I've never heard them say, "Tronno" or "Towranah" except in jest (My uncle just calls it the big T-O) but we all actually hail from southern Manitoba so they aren't 'natives' of there, lol.

I once read that Canada was the country (out of all English speaking countries) that had the least amount of dialect/accent shifts of any country from coast to coast. I don't usually detect differences from anyone from Ontario to BC, but I can tell if someone is from the east coast, even if it's not Newfoundland. I've lived in BC and didn't think people sounded any different from Ontario. Maybe I just suck at picking out differences. I took the quiz for fun and apparently I'm a mix of the midwest and Seattle. I had no idea what a bug that curls up is. Or crawfish. Don't have those here on the prairie, lol. Oh, and it's pop here.

One really interesting thing is my name is pronounced differently in the US vs Canada. I found that out when I visited some online friends in the US. My friend has the hardest time trying to text me using Siri, because she has to use the US pronounciation to get Siri to recognize my name. She couldn't even use it at all until I suggested using the US version. It worked. :lol:

[albanuadh_1]

From page 1 talking about when vs. whenever. Use when if you know the specific time or location & whenever if it is unspecified.

[ClaraOswin]

From page 1 talking about when vs. whenever. Use when if you know the specific time or location & whenever if it is unspecified.

Exactly.

I think using "whenever" wrong is definitely a regional thing. Thankfully I don't notice people doing it where I live. But I hear it on the show a lot.

Someone at the baby shower made a comment about "whenever Jill helped deliver" her baby. Stuff like that drives me insane.

[PennySycamore]

Canada's a big country. I'm sure there are lots of areas where they pronounce Toronto the Australian way. :)

I looked up the pronunciation of buoy on Youtube, and apparently boo-ee is the US version, so I'm not sure where it came from as far a Parry Sound is concerned.

What's funny is that the deodorant soap Lifebuoy is pronounced Lifeboy by most people. That's the soap that Ralphie had his mouth washed out with in A Christmas Story after he dropped the F bomb while helping the Old Man change a tire.

[lookinggoodforjesus]

I'm in Alberta and the pronunciation I hear most for Toronto is "Tron-to". People usually say the 't' unless they are speaking quickly. I have relatives living in Toronto and I'm certain I've never heard them say, "Tronno" or "Towranah" except in jest (My uncle just calls it the big T-O) but we all actually hail from southern Manitoba so they aren't 'natives' of there, lol.

I once read that Canada was the country (out of all English speaking countries) that had the least amount of dialect/accent shifts of any country from coast to coast. I don't usually detect differences from anyone from Ontario to BC, but I can tell if someone is from the east coast, even if it's not Newfoundland. I've lived in BC and didn't think people sounded any different from Ontario. Maybe I just suck at picking out differences. I took the quiz for fun and apparently I'm a mix of the midwest and Seattle. I had no idea what a bug that curls up is. Or crawfish. Don't have those here on the prairie, lol. Oh, and it's pop here.

One really interesting thing is my name is pronounced differently in the US vs Canada. I found that out when I visited some online friends in the US. My friend has the hardest time trying to text me using Siri, because she has to use the US pronounciation to get Siri to recognize my name. She couldn't even use it at all until I suggested using the US version. It worked. :lol:

I'm sure you can hear the difference between Alberta (prairies in general) and BC!

I too had no idea what a crawfish was, but I've always called those bugs "wood bugs"

[Miggy]

Hands up for yabbie instead of crawfish/crawdad/whatever. Is it just Aussies who use this? I looked up crawdad when Michelle Duggar used it years ago cause I had no idea what she was talking about. (We've got a blue one in a tank and we use to catch brown ones in the creek as kids.)

[BarbaraMary]

Over here in BC (Canada) we say buoy. But we have so many people from other provinces that say buoy.

Can't speak for all of BC, as I live on Vancouver Island, but merry, marry, and Mary are distinct. As are bin, Ben, and been. Fairy and ferry are similar, but not the same. That NY Times quiz was entertaining - it pegged me for Seattle, Tacoma, and Spokane. Couldn't be any closer. But where do they have drive thru liquor stores?

I'm on the Island, too, and I say the same sounds for Mary/merry/marry.

[2xx1xy1JD]

I can't tell much difference between Toronto and any point west in Canada. There are a few signs of a Montreal Anglo accent but it is pretty subtle. I do hear a rural/urban divide. The Bob and Doug stereotype is NOT how urban Canadians speak. Using eh every other sentence is more of a rural thing.

[nolongerIFBx]

My central MO grandparents (one maternal, one paternal) both say Missourah. One is from a German family, the other's family has been here over 100 years but was from either the Carolinas or VA before that. My brain is failing me. My grandma says "sody" when referring to a soda, pop, coke, soft drink, etc.

[jilly_muffin_dilly]

I live in southeast Michigan. We live pretty close to the Ambassador Bridge (connects Michigan to Ontario, Canada). I have only ever heard Toronto pronounced Tor-on-to. I didn't even know it was pronounced another way. Something that some Michiganders might do that could bother people is that we sometimes don't pronounce double Ts of words. Button become bu-on. I didn't notice I did that until my late teens. We have a tendency to talk fast.