Utah Accents crack me up

[YOhio]

mountain --> "mout 'en" (soft on the "t")

It's more like mao-uhn. I like to go huh-uhn in the mao-uhn.

I love the Utah accent. My parents aren't native Utahans so unfortunately I don't have much of one, but I really love it when I hear it in church. It makes me homesick.

My most favorite Utah word is 'peckles.' As in, "will you stop by the store and peck up a jar of Dill Peckles?"

The hardest regional accent to imitate is the North Dakota/Minnesota accent. It's probably my favorite of all the American accents.

[pellegrino]

Accents/grammar differences definitely aren't just a Utah thing. I lived in the south as a kid and heard my teachers say wary for weary, weeeeul for will, not to mention peecan for pecan. I was told to "wash them hands" and "clean them crayons up."

"I was fixin' to" was a common phrase as well, meaning "I was going to." "Cut the lights" for "turn off the lights."

Oh, believe me, I understand the southern thing. My wife always laughs when I talk to my dad's brothers because I always slide into a southern accent (I have a tendency to talk like the people around me).

My favorite NC ways of saying things are "Cut the lights on" for "Turn the lights on" , "Mash the button" for "Press the button" and "You favor your daddy" for "You look like your dad." I also like the way they refer to geographical areas of the state. Southeastern NC is called "Down East" and when anyone who lives down east talks about going to Raleigh, or even Winston-Salem, they say that they're "goin' up the country." Language is fun.

[CardiacCoug]

The hardest regional accent to imitate is the North Dakota/Minnesota accent. It's probably my favorite of all the American accents.

When we lived in Minnesota, our next-door neighbors (an extremely kind and tidy couple in their 70s) had the ultimate Minnesota accents.

Every time I spoke with them I had the overwhelming desire to go watch Fargo again.

[smokymountainrain]

You could say that those are common anywhere in the intermountain west (Colorado, UT, Idaho Wyoming, Montana and parts of Arizona and New Mexico), but you'd have a hard time finding that in any of the coastal states. Plus, the Mormon Corridor covers a large swath of that region.

I'm not making fun or disparaging the UT accent, as all places have accents and quirks. I just laugh when an accent becomes so ingrained into a person's language that they unintentionally transcribe the spoken to the written. It's a funny, human trait, that's all.

I agree completely.

[beefytee]

I didn't really notice or appreciate the Canadian accent until I went home over the American Thanksgiving break during my first semester of school.

I went to Dry cleaners. Where the middle age lady talking to me said:

D'ya heear some bugger won 16 million on 6/49, eh?

It made me laugh inside.

[Tim]

My wife often says melk. She doesn't have a strong Utah accent, but sometimes her vowels give her away. I'm fortunate I guess because although I was raised in UT, I never got much of the accent because my father was from NC and my maternal grandmother was a very educated woman and wouldn't tolerate improper diction, so none of her children were allowed to pick up uneducated accents. If I want to I can speak a very passable southern and a good Utahn too.

I love the North Carolina varietal of southern accents. It's mostly just on the letter "o," from what I can tell.

[Tim]

Oh, believe me, I understand the southern thing. My wife always laughs when I talk to my dad's brothers because I always slide into a southern accent (I have a tendency to talk like the people around me).

My favorite NC ways of saying things are "Cut the lights on" for "Turn the lights on" , "Mash the button" for "Press the button" and "You favor your daddy" for "You look like your dad." I also like the way they refer to geographical areas of the state. Southeastern NC is called "Down East" and when anyone who lives down east talks about going to Raleigh, or even Winston-Salem, they say that they're "goin' up the country." Language is fun.

Don't forget "whenever," as in "Whenever I got to work this morning, the email had already arrived."

[Tim]

Oh, believe me, I understand the southern thing. My wife always laughs when I talk to my dad's brothers because I always slide into a southern accent (I have a tendency to talk like the people around me).

My favorite NC ways of saying things are "Cut the lights on" for "Turn the lights on" , "Mash the button" for "Press the button" and "You favor your daddy" for "You look like your dad." I also like the way they refer to geographical areas of the state. Southeastern NC is called "Down East" and when anyone who lives down east talks about going to Raleigh, or even Winston-Salem, they say that they're "goin' up the country." Language is fun.

LOL! I can't stop laughing at this one. "Cut the lights on" is vintage NC.

[Indy Coug]

wash --> "warsh"

I'm not sure this is unique to Utah. My grandpa was from Iowa and said it exactly that way.

[YOhio]

I'm not sure this is unique to Utah. My grandpa was from Iowa and said it exactly that way.

My neighbors loves to complain about the politicians in Warshington, DC.

[FMCoug]

I'm not sure this is unique to Utah. My grandpa was from Iowa and said it exactly that way.

My MIL says this and she is from Nebraska. And my grandma who was raised in CO but family was from OH said it too.

I think this one is a common rural thing. Which brings up a point. A lot of the so-caleld "regional" hick accents have a lot in common. Redneck is redneck everywhere. And there is a lot of commonality in rural accents in general.

[wuapinmon]

Don't forget "whenever," as in "Whenever I got to work this morning, the email had already arrived."

This is a South Carolina thing too.....and I say "cut the lights on" sometimes.

[beefytee]

My MIL says this and she is from Nebraska. And my grandma who was raised in CO but family was from OH said it too.

I think this one is a common rural thing. Which brings up a point. A lot of the so-caleld "regional" hick accents have a lot in common. Redneck is redneck everywhere. And there is a lot of commonality in rural accents in general.

It might be rural, but my MIL was born in San Antonio, grew up in Denver and she says it. Sure she lives on a farm in Washington now, but my FIL doesn't say it. She picked it up when she was young.

Yes it is really sad that she lives in Warshington, because you hear her say it a lot.

[pellegrino]

Don't forget "whenever," as in "Whenever I got to work this morning, the email had already arrived."

LOL A cousin of mine always uses it that.

[New Mexican Disaster]

I think that Utahnics/Idahonics is one of the great underrated accents in the U.S. Many of the expressions are the same throughout the Western U.S. but the accent is unique. The best thing about it is that Utahns are frequently unaware that they have any sort of accent at all, and will claim loudly "judas priest I ain't got no accent." ( pronounced: jew-dust priest oy ain't got no acksent).

A favorite Western word of mine is "alls," as in "alls I am saying is.." This one is popular in Utah, but has an extremely heavy usage in Inland Southern California from my experience.