All Questions
Tagged with dialects american-english
141 questions
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Is there any implication of drunkenness in "high lonesome" as used in the term "high lonesome sound"?
Wiktionary has the following entry for "high lonesome sound":
high lonesome sound (music) An expressively emotional, powerful and earthy style of musical expression associated mainly with ...
- 169k
4
votes
1
answer
96
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Are there any other out-loud-slashers here?
Native speaker (American English): I say "slash" out loud sometimes in place of "and" or "or," and an example sentence that is natural in my idiolect is "When slash ...
- 252
4
votes
1
answer
164
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dialect/idiolect quirk? "for whom" instead of "whose"
I'm a native (American English) speaker and I've noticed that this is a weird feature of my idiolect. Here is a direct quote:
To the person for whom I spilled apple cider, if you're watching this, I'...
- 252
0
votes
1
answer
440
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Current prevalence of idiom "pulling for you"
A prior question asks about the origin of the phrase "pulling for you," a phrase that conveys well-wishes and support (Merriam-Webster):
US, informal
: to say or show that one hopes (...
- 41.7k
6
votes
3
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842
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Who uses "uni" for "university"?
I think much has been clarified by the many interesting comments this post has received. In Edit 5 below, I've tried to summarize what I think I've learned and what questions are still outstanding.
I'...
- 151
3
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1
answer
217
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Use of definite article in school grade names
I'm a younger speaker from Chicago. All throughout my education, I've noticed two different ways in which people can refer to grade levels. One includes the definite article and one does not. For ...
- 890
7
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0
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424
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Is there dialectal variation in the weak form of "on"?
This question is related, but not quite identical, to a previous one and to another similar one.
In a recent video, phonetician Geoff Lindsey claimed that the words "off" and "on" ...
- 19.6k
11
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2
answers
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"Swear" as a noun as opposed to "swear word"
I'm a teenager from Chicago. During my childhood (and, presumably, that of almost all English-speaking children), I was taught that some words were "bad" words; these words were ...
- 890
1
vote
1
answer
345
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Flapped r after th in English?
I have heard a few English speakers — native — say the word “three” with what sounds like a flapped r. This might include other words that begin with “thr”, but I can’t remember. It’s just been ...
TheAquilineNose
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0
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530
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Terms for grandparents and other relatives [closed]
I’m a teenager from the Midwest. Different people obviously refer to their relatives in many different ways, and I’ve noticed a wide variance in what people call their grandparents.
Many people who ...
- 890
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10
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What would a British person call the biscuits that Americans put gravy on?
What are the biscuits that Americans put gravy on called in British English? They're very different from British biscuits. I like both kinds of biscuits, but the British ones would not be good with ...
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5
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8k
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"call out" vs "call in"
When I am ill and cannot go into the office to work I say "I called out sick". I now live in Texas and people like to correct me and say that it's "call in sick".This doesn't make ...
- 41
4
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2
answers
214
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Examples of the "Proper" use of "ain't" etc. in Georgia/American English Southern dialect?
In Hendrickson, Robert. The Facts on File Dictionary of American Regionalisms. New York: Facts on File, 2000. p6 the introduction to "Whistlin' Dixie" we find (emphasis added):
Another ...
- 141
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1
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375
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What does "pack a buck for miles" mean?
I am reading "Where the Crawdads sing" and I stumbled upon this sentence "pack a buck for miles".
Does this mean some money (e.g., US dollar)?
"The Land . . . being marshy ...
- 109
0
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1
answer
43
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Welcome travelers and locals to your premises
"Welcome travelers and locals to your premises."
I believe that sentence would be understood by Australian/NZ people. I'm just checking, is that something an American would understand and ...
- 191
3
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0
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140
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Reverse Tensing of the /æ/ Phoneme in American English?
I am a native speaker of a General American sociolect that realizes the /æ/ phoneme as [ɛə] before nasal consonants (e.g. 'fan,' 'stand,' 'ram'), and I've recently noticed that I've begun un-raising (...
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3
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348
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Are Canadianisms like "aboat" equally common on the American side of the border, adjacent to it?
Most Canadians live close the the border. If you cross to the American side of border, in a rural area, do Canadianisms (1) like "aboat" (2) suddenly become much less common?
Since this ...
- 1,436
1
vote
1
answer
283
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Can the idiom "fall off the wagon" be said to be "chiefly American"?
I read an answer on another site which referred to the idiom of falling off the wagon as being "chiefly American". That got me curious since I would have thought that this particular idiom ...
- 22.4k
15
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3
answers
3k
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Use of "Say ..." to begin sentences, particularly in BrE versus AmE?
We were looking at this sentence, or actually a line of dialogue:
They're in the car.
JACK
Say John! I better concentrate. Would you be able to figure out the AC?
Our colleague Jane who is generally ...
- 9,696
4
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2
answers
2k
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Where, when, and how did the term 'dogie' for 'orphan calf' originate?
Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003) has this brief entry for the word dogie:
dogie n {origin unknown} (1888) chiefly West : a motherless calf in a range herd
In seeking an ...
- 169k
1
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0
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175
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How many allophones possible of phoneme /ə/ are there in American English? [closed]
I am an ESL student. I want to speak American English fluently.
Due to influence of my local dialect in my country, I only discover that there is [ə ɐ ɪə ɑ] doubtably according to my ear, and native ...
- 43
6
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1
answer
458
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When did the California Vowel Shift begin?
When did the California Vowel Shift begin: as soon as California was settled by English speakers? Or did it develop later?
- 1,436
3
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1
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634
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Is drinking-jack another word for mug?
In "Tower of the Elephant", Robert E. Howard uses the word "drinking-jack" three times apparently meaning mug or something like that, judging by the context:
Torchlight licked ...
- 133
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1
answer
153
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How do I pronounce names that end with "t" in the standard American dialect?
For example, how do I pronounce the "t" in "Robert"? (Assuming nothing is said after it, or the thing after it starts with a consonant)
Is it a half-stop "t" or a regular ...
- 13
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vote
1
answer
1k
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Is "awe" pronounced as /ɔː/ or /ɑː/ in American English?
I have an American friend who pronounced the word "awe" with the same vowel as British people pronounce Thought: /ɔː/. But when I look up this word in dictionaries, they pronounce it as /ɑː/....
user387044
0
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0
answers
194
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GROCERY or GROSHERY [duplicate]
I am from Minnesota and have always pronounced GROCERY as GROSH-RY. I teach grammar and pronunciation online, and I recently encountered much controversy regarding what is the correct or incorrect ...
3
votes
2
answers
506
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Regional meanings of the word "Yankee"
I saw this in an upvoted YouTube comment:
To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a ...
- 1,436
1
vote
0
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146
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Slight GOAT-fronting in GenAm
According to the Wikipedia page, GOAT in GenAm is realized as a slightly fronted [ö̞ʊ]. I have also heard some GenAm(-like) speakers produce that variant, though others produced a completely back ...
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1
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828
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Where is this accent from?
Where does the accent used by the actor who plays Mazikeen in the Lucifer series belong to? I can tell it is American, but I don't know what region in there. Here is a scene from the series where she ...
user391210
0
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0
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33
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Does using the words "might" and "could" consecutively in same sentence have a name or is it just improper English? (spoken English) [duplicate]
It is now more than a coincidence, but I have heard numerous people from different parts of the country use the words "might" and "could" together in a sentence as in:
"This ...
- 4,046
5
votes
1
answer
265
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How would you transcribe and/or describe this vowel?
I'm analyzing the /æ/ vowel sound (also known as 'short A') found in words like cat, dad, or man. I am particularly interested in how that sound is realized in different dialects of American English ...
- 53
4
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2
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3k
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Regionality of "scarf" vs "snarf" as in "to scarf down food"
A friend asked in a group chat who uses "scarf" and who uses "snarf". Some of us had only heard one or the other.
I was reminded of the American English dialect heat maps (e.g., LINK), and I was ...
- 141
3
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1
answer
536
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Pronouncing "warrior" to rhyme with "lawyer" ... is this a feature of any dialect of English?
I've been listening to a section of The Great Courses: Medieval History, an audiobook narrated by Kenneth W. Harl. From his accent, Prof. Harl is clearly American, with what I would describe as a ...
- 153k
-1
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1
answer
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Is "one in the same" only a bad transcription of "one and the same"?
Trump suggested the lack of communication was justified because European countries don't inform him when they raise taxes on the US.
"When they raise taxes on us, they don't consult us and I think ...
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2
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30k
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"Have a nap" or "Take a nap"?
I'd like to know what's the difference between:
"We decided to have a nap" and "We decided to take a nap".
Is it a BrE / AmE thing?
- 55
5
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2
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7k
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"Class, open your books TO/AT page 13!"—Is it a matter of dialectal difference?
My original notion was,
A) If there's a movement and a destination (as in the case of thumbing a book to reach a certain page), it should be to:
Class, open your books to page 13!
B) If there's ...
- 4,183
4
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3
answers
1k
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I pronounce question as kweshtin. Is my pronunciation wrong?
I've lived in Houston,TX for about 10 years and after that I moved to the ME and I've made friends since then. Whenever they heard me say kweshtin they told me my pronunciation was weird. I told them ...
20
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3
answers
3k
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Southern Dialect: Word for a time of day?
I remember reading a story somewhere that a Southerner wrote about one of his life experiences. He mentioned that in the region he lived there was a time of day that cooled off a large amount in less ...
- 309
4
votes
1
answer
471
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"Git 'er done"—use of "her" as dummy subject
This site has a number of questions and answers (e.g. this question) on the use of the third-person feminine pronoun ("she" or "her") as a substitute for specific things like ships and hurricanes and ...
- 153k
3
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3
answers
1k
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Bain't = be not
Please read the passage taken from "A Few Crusted Characters" by Thomas Hardy:
According to Wiktionary, "bain't" is the contracted form of "be not" and it is a British dialect. Therefore, the ...
- 3,519
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2
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4k
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The term “handy” in “Of Mice and Men”
[Candy] "That's the boss's son," he said quietly. "Curley's
pretty handy. He done quite a bit in the ring. He's a lightweight, and he's handy."
"Well, let him be handy," said George. "He don't ...
- 92.9k
3
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1
answer
369
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Are there American English dialects which distinguish /ɑ/ and /ɒ/ but not /ɑ/ and /ɔ/?
I relied on the Logic of English (LoE) phonograms to give myself a better understanding of English pronunciation since the spelling gives me a hard time (even as native speaker), but I noticed that ...
- 195
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0
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How much later?
Growing up in the 1980s in New York City, I understood a plain "later" to mean "later in the same day", as in the examples below. As an adult, I lived in St. Louis, met people from many more places, ...
- 3,975
1
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0
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79
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What is the name of this American/British dialectic phenomenon? [duplicate]
When telling stories in the past tense, I've noticed that Americans will tend to say "I was standing on stage..." or "I was sitting at our table at Friendly's last night when..." while the Brits will ...
4
votes
1
answer
2k
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Pronouncing the final "‑ing" inflection as [əŋ] instead of as [ɪŋ]
I’m asking about American English, but feel free to answer about other dialects.
The ‑ing verbal inflection ending is, in the abstract, a phonemic /ɪŋ/. Those phonemes usually get realized ...
- 906
13
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5
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7k
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Is there a difference in meaning between "fill {something} in" and “fill {something} out” in American English?
Is there a subtle or significant difference in meaning between the following?
fill something in
fill something out
In my humble opinion, the two expressions are interchangeable and both ...
- 92.9k
1
vote
1
answer
1k
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Meaning and origins of the American slang expression "ad' a boy, shooter!" [closed]
What does the American slang expression ad' a boy, shooter! mean? In high school I had an American teacher who would always say this, can't remember which state he was from, I think it's an ...
- 21
36
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5
answers
3k
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Regional dialect or just improper grammar? Eating on leftovers or just eating leftovers
On several occasions I have heard white people from the deep south part of the United States (Louisiana to Georgia) say that they will be eating ON leftovers, instead of just eating leftovers.
For ...
- 4,046
0
votes
2
answers
117
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there's no more you? [closed]
I'm reading the lyrics of the song So Sick, and I'm puzzled about the following line:
Gotta fix that calendar I have that's marked July 15th because since there's no more you. There's no more ...
- 1,879
8
votes
1
answer
808
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Is "Time is short and the water's risin'" a Southernism?
My Georgia-born mother used to say, "Time is short and the water's risin'."
I think the expression was the title of a recent memoir, but couldn't find it on Amazon.
Is anyone familiar with its ...
- 81