Do you have a New England accent?

[SusanLHM]

I lived in SE MA for 38 years and now live in NC.

People here either ask me, "you ain't from here are ya?" Or.
"Say pahrk the cah!"

It gets old after a while, but it is nice to be different.

 

[Provision]

Maine has a different accent than those who are from Boston, and they are friendlier too.

I have a slight Boston accent but lost half of it when during my teenage years I decided to pronounce the letter R in words because it is in the alphabet.

 

[Fangtastic]

no sir and it takes some geting used to here. I'm new to Vermont,am a Arizona transient born in California and just worked up in Oslo for a few weeks.

 

[bulu30]

I used to have an accent....twice.LOL. Once, when I was a kid, I lived in NY for a few years but I lost a lot except for every now and then I'll say something that comes outta nowhere that is all NY.

Then, the second time was when I was 18. My family was living in RI my first year in school and I came home and spent a month and a half at home with them in RI (they moved that summer) and I gained it back in that short time though I didn't realize it until I went back to school and my roomie's boyfriend had thought I was from NY and had a "NY accent" as he put it. I didn't think I sounded any different, if anything he was the one that had an accent and I had said so (I was in Michigan and thought everyone there talked weird.hehe). Of course, after that I was more aware of how I talked and I lost the accent again except for it to pop up when I least expect it. I don't know if it's like this for anyone else, but sometimes when I talk I want to say it a different way than how it's coming out...as if I have to sometimes concentrate more on how I'm saying something.

Anyways, it was kinda scary how fast it came back though! What's interesting is I'm not even native to New England area, my time in NY and RI was in passing (military brat.hehe) though I do have a lot of family in Boston.

I think it depends on the person too, whether they lose the accent or still have it. My grandfather hasn't lived in Boston since he was a teenager and his accent is still strong.

 

[Voegelin]

In Connecticut, "cahr" kicks in east of the Thames River in Groton. West of that and most noticably west of the Connecticut River (Old Saybrook) the accent is lower Hudson river valley. Think Katheren Hepburn and FDR.

 

[EchelonForm]

I didn't think I had much of an accent until some one from another state with their own fruity accent laughed me...followed by "I laugh the way you people talk."

 

[matreshka]

Ayuh!

 

[hd08]

ayuh.

(For those of you who don't know...it's kind of a slang for "Yeah" I've gotten a lot of weird responses when I've used that in the Mid-Atlantic states lol)

I'm originally from CT, both of my parents grew up in the Boston area so have have some hints of a Boston accent at times, which mixes with the fact that I was born in RI, grew up in CT...)It especially slips out when I'm tired, joking around, or when I'm around my extended family (all of which are from around Boston).

I've gotten teased quite a bit at times (I go to school in Pennsylvania).

I say 'ayuh' a lot, wicked, drop my "r's" on occasion

I like the Boston accent though....

I remember having to go to Virginia, visting a friend, and my accent came out some. I got some weird looks some one was like, "Your from up North, aren't you" and then botched the Boston accent. My friends try to do it all the time too. All in fun though....

 

[JesusGirl1289]

nope, but i am from NE

 

[UncleDave]

I'm from Conatta-kit, lived here all my life. My mother grew up in Hartford and has quite an accent. Dropped R's, or R's where they don't belong ("I sawr Linda rin Wal-Maht taday"). When she says Noah's Ark, she says "Naw Rizahk." It's comical because people I grew up with in this area don't have such a thick accent, we're much more subtle.

We have such fine cities as Hartfid, N'Brittin, NuHayvin, and Wattabury. We drive a buck-twenty down EightyFoa, NineDefive, daWilba, and daMerritt. We like hangin out wit You Guys, and wonderin what's Goin' Ahn. We're wicked tired of rush hour and road work, but who isn't?

Ah, New England life.

 

[Verve]

I'm a 7th generation Vermonter and can use a woodchuck accent when I want but usually speak with a TV accent.

 

[Crandaddy]

I think I can put on a decent Boston accent. Does that count?

 

[ButterflyPoette]

I do have a New England accent with the open vowels. I do sometimes drop the "g" when a word ends in "ing". I do say my Rs, but they are soft.

I was raised in Webster, MA and NE Connecticut.

I got in trouble for having an accent when I taught English in Korea. The examiner was in there and told me I said "fahm" instead of "farm" in pronunciation exercises.

 

[Butterfly]

Nope, I don't. I've been in Vermont my whole life (Except for when I was a baby) and I still don't have the accent. My "accent" is influenced by many different accents though so I'm a little of everything. I have noticed that I have started to pick up a little bit of a New York type accent though.

 

[emily_elizabeth]

I only do with specific words. I'm from northwestern Connecticut and we don't really have much of an accent. I do pronounce talk as 'tawk' and coffee as 'cawfee', which is more like a New Yorker, for some odd reason. I had an ex-boyfriend from North Carolina drag me up to a Dunkin Donuts booth at a hockey game in Charlotte and make me say coffee so they could here, lol. And I say wicked a lot too, haha.

 

[ButterflyPoette]

To be honest, I think practically everyone in New England has an accent to a degree, whether it is very thick or not. I spent time in Michigan and Korea, and whenever I came home I could hear the accent on everybody. Many people think they have no accent, but go anywhere else, and you will.

 

[Inspiredbylight]

I have a bit of the old greater Boston accent

 

[beaverpond]

Been living in Maine for over 40 years now and have a family of my own. My daughter got so insulted when somebody said she had a wicked accent. I told her that she does not have an accent for where we live. I looked at the tourists from out of state...I said to them, please don't think that I am being rude or anything, but where are you from and they said South Carolina. I said interesting. Here you are visiting Maine and the vehicle that we just got out of has Maine plates and stickers for the town we live in right on it and you say to my daughter where we live that she has an accent. Did you ever stop to think that maybe the people who live around here have what they think is a normal accent and they try to understand yours and without saying a word out of being polite never say a word about your accent nor do they make fun of it. I would ask that before you comment to a young child about their accent that you consider your own.

They looked at me and said they never thought about it that way and that they certainly did not mean anything by it. I said that it is my responsibility to stick up for my daughter as I would not want her to talk like this to just anybody, although she has in the past when I have given her permission.

 

[beaverpond]

I think what I find most frustrating is when I will be standing in line in the grocery store is when stuck behind two ladies who go from one minute talking English to talking French. The way I see it is if two people are going to carry on a conversation in line at the store and they don't want people to know what they are talking about, then keep their private conversations for elsewhere. What they didn't realize is that one time I had my friend's child with me and she could translate...so for the fun of it I looked at her and said I want you to translate everything they say out loud. She said, that does not sound right. They may get irritated, but it will be fun and I will take all the heat.

So she did, kind of juicy and she left out the profanity. The women looked at her and said what are you doing? I said well you speak in English and then you speak in French. I think that is rude. So I am having my young friend here translate everything you say for everybody around us to hear. Everybody around us was laughing in hysterics as to what we were doing. The two ladies cashed out and left quite angry. They filed a complained with store management which went nowhere because they said you are in a public place and anything and everything can happen including your so called public / private conversations can be publicized as to which there is not a whole lot they can do about it. Everybody laughed and continued on and several people commented on how they hate it when people do this as well...meaning trying to have public / private conversations using different languages.