Keith has been claiming for years now that there's a Cleveland accent. Something about the vowels in "milk" and "pillow" that seems to grate on his nerves.I can't say I ever really noticed a Cincinnati accent, other than the peculiar use of "please" instead of "excuse me" when a person didn't hear something.
This morning I took a quiz: What American accent do you have? I was surprised to learn that Cleveland is considered a Northern--rather than a Midwestern--accent.
My results are below. Other Clevelanders--are you the same?
Northern
You have a Northern accent. That could either be the Chicago/Detroit/Cleveland/Buffalo accent (easily recognizable) or the Western New England accent that news networks go for.
2 comments:
*****
Midland
("Midland" is not necessarily the same thing as "Midwest") The default, lowest-common-denominator American accent that newscasters try to imitate. Since it's a neutral accent, just because you have a Midland accent doesn't mean you're from the Midland.
*****
The map highlights the area from Kansas City to Pittsburgh, so most of Ohio falls in this category. There's a little notch cut out around the lake for Cleveland/Toledo, but since I'm from Akron, I guess I sound like I'm supposed to sound.
While we're somewhat on the topic of linguistics, this is always my favorite:
What do you call the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street?
If you're from Cleveland, it's a treelawn. If you're from Akron, it's the devilstrip. That's totally an Akron thing, although according to one heavy, dusty book I consulted in the Fairview Park library, there have been isolated uses of it elsewhere in the Midwest. Check out this page for more than you never wanted to know . . .
I get Northern too! I don't know why I gave that an exclamation point.
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