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The Atlas of North American English has a rather broad definition of the West. Its primary characteristics are: The merger of words sounding like cot and caught (they're pronounced the same) The fronting of /uw/, as in boot but not /ow/, as in boat No monophthongization of /ay/, as in ride So, these features more or less distinguish the West from its ...

I see a small difference between I am fine with it and it is fine for me, which is the same difference between I am unclear (used to express doubt or confusion) and it is unclear to me: in one phrase the grammar subject is I, in the other is it. For example, the focus could be placed on I to mean it is unclear to me, but it can be clear to others, or it is ...

I'd guess that the "50's accent" you hear had much to do with the technology of AM and shortwave radio. Precise diction and a somewhat clipped style for words and phrases helped to overcome the crackle and hiss of static in radio reception. As microphone and broadcast technology improved, it became less crucial to speak distinctly. If you spoke like a 40s ...

Pronunciation in America certainly has changed a lot since the 1950s, but to identify exactly what has changed depends on where you are (see my answer here). It's also probable, but I don't know the solid facts, that standards of "house pronunciation" at broadcasting companies have also changed. What was once considered good pronunciation is no longer, so ...

You might find this article in Wikipedia to be elucidating, though I don't like the term itself, as "Mid-Atlantic English" to me signals the accents spoken between New Jersey and Washington, D.C. Anyway, it's true that there's a now-largely-disappeared dialect that was spoken both by the upper classes of the Eastern Seabord and by Hollywood actors and ...

Rachel, I wouldn't hold your breath for the atrophy of the apostrophe. HA! Sorry, I couldn't resist a little assonance and a near-pun. In informal usage, these differences have been neglected often for some time. In formal usage, of course, contractions aren't very appropriate. There is the middle ground, though, of general writing that is neither chatty ...

The Corpus of Contemporary American English, which has text from 1990 to 2010, has 9 occurrences of “I am fine with it” (with either “I am” or “I’m”), and 28 occurrences of “It is fine with me”. So, both are still in use, and even though your second sentence seems less used in American English. Regarding the meaning of the two, I don't think there is any ...

I grew up on the West Coast but went to college on the gulf coast. One thing I notice about westcoasters, we don't articulate our "t" very well. For instance, people in Washington say "Ren'in", not "Renton". "Didn", not "did not". Also, it's Portlund, Orgun, not Portland, Oreeygone. Like the beautiful city of Nawlins, LA, we should all try to pronounce ...

West coast accent can also include the word "aunt" being pronounced "ant" rather than "aw-nt" Some word are used more than others like "like" and the style is considered more informal than the East Coast, Midwest, or South. West Coasters often say "pop" when others say "soda" and in parts of the South every soft drink is a "Coke."

This is similar to a question that I asked my father 15 years ago. (I was born in the early '50s, he in the mid '20s.) "The speech of Lowell Thomas on recordings sounds very different from our present day speech. Have things changed that much, and did people really speak as he did?" My father's answer was that indeed people did speak (or try to speak) in ...