I told Jamie, over at Jamie’s Rabbits, that my accent is kind of like when the south inbreeds with its midwestern cousin. You can judge for yourself if you’re all that interested.
A few things:
- Um is the new Like, only way more palatable. Maybe.
- The room I’m in is our family room, which means it’s messy because I refuse to clean it by myself. After all, Family Time is Fun Time.
- My sisters used to make fun of the thickness of my southern accent, because they don’t have one all that much.
- I am terribly awkward in front of the camera. And in real life. And always.
- Try not to fall in love with me.
The Words: Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spittin’ Image, Alabama, Tennessee, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught
The Questions:
- What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
- What is the bug that when you touch it curls into a little ball?
- What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
- What do you call gym shoes?
- What do you say to address a group of people?
- What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
- What do you call your grandparents?
- What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
- What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
- What do you call the thing you change the TV channel with?
There you have it, people. Straight from the southerner’s mouth.
Meet the Buttrams 
Okay first I’m in love. Too late. So before I change my mind (ha!) I’m going to answer your questions. Then I’ll listen to your answers.
1. T.P.ing. Obviously.
2. Pill bug. Or Roly Poly. Either is acceptable.
3. Soda.
4. Tennis shoes. (Even if you don’t play tennis.)
5. Speech. I think?
6. Daddy long legs.
7. Grandma and grandpa.
8. Shopping cart. (Is there something else to call it?)
9. I have no word for this. I just look for rainbows.
10. Remote. Duh.
Okay seriously, I have no idea what alternate answers would or could be to some of these…
Can’t wait to hear what you say. And how you say it 😉
Now I feel stupid about number five. Yep. I say “guys” too. Even though I’m usually addressing at least one girl if there’s a group of people.
Also, I think people say “sneakers” instead of tennis shoes. But that’s just wrong.
And what if you’re having a soda other than Coke?
Hmmmm….
The waitress says, “What do y’all want to drink?”
I say, “Coke.”
She says, “What kind?”
Do I automatically sound dumber because of mah ack-sayent? That was always my fear growing up. Which was why I tried to steer clear of the super southern words like y’all.
You are so cute, but we have some serious dialect discrepancies. Like, would we be able to understand each other in person? I am totally doing this! Over to Jamie’s I go, but you’ll get the street cred, girlie.
So much fun to hear your adorableness! Even if you pronounce things wrong. 😉
I hope so! We can each bring white boards to communicate. Or just make up our own language. I hear you’re good at that. 😉
Can’t wait to hear your northern spin.
First, I like that we see eye to eye on most of these. Second, I like that you’re very inflexible on some of these. Like “I don;t care where you’re from, it’s _______________.” Also, very southern.
Smidget Sisters 4-Ever.
Listen, cuz, it’s just the way things are. Trust us Alabamians. We even have our own state country band. (If there’s another band named after a state that I’m ignoring, no one correct me.)
I’m not from the South, and I say y’all.
Is this wrong?
THEN I DON’T WANT TO BE RIGHT.
It’s not wrong, it’s just southern. Next step, grits and sweet tea. And throwing in your middle name, Ricky Bobby.
Hahaha… both in informative and entertaining, Ms. B!
I spent about 25 years in North Dakota before I met my wife / moved to Missouri (where she is from), so I have lots of ‘accent moments’. Words I’ve noticed sounding a little ‘odd’ down here are things like ‘dime’, ‘lemon’ and ‘insurance’.
Of course if you’ve seen the movie Fargo you can guess what I’m used to hearing (although the accents are VERY exaggerated in that film. Really. Honest.)
🙂
I love those extreme accents. And Fargo is great, quite possibly even greater because of the accents.
No, definitely. Definitely because of the accents.
My wife is from Chicago, and her accent becomes much more pronounced when she goes back home. I love mocking them all with “DA Bears” and “DA Cubs” and every other stereotypical phrase I learned from SNL.
I am all on board with the Coke, even if it’s Pepsi or 7-Up, and tennis shoes, even if you’re not playing tennis with them.
Our pastor’s wife is from Chicago and I love her accent. She has that long, wide “ah” sound in all her words. So fun.
That was a lot of fun. Your line before the video made me laugh out loud. I might have to steal that next time I show video of myself.
What do you mean you laughed. I was being SERIOUS, Robertson.
No. No, I wasn’t.
YOU ARE SO DELICATELY SOUTHERN. I love it.
“That is called ROLL-ing.”
You never say y’all? Our couple best friendship is in EXTREME jeopardy.
The ending totally redeemed you though.
Honestly, I don’t sound that southern in my head. I also thought I did a pretty good British accent in my head, but now I’m doubtful.
The last 15 seconds is a more accurate portrayal of me in real life than any of the first 4 minutes. Sad.
Also, I’m so glad you’ve acknowledged our couple best friendship. It makes me feel less of a crazy person.
HA. Sorry. I whiffed on the initial few mentions and figured you thought I was giving you the cold shoulder. NOT TRUE. Resume couple best friendship permutations.
Jess, I love it! 🙂 I know I’m always going to laugh when you’re around. I mean who wouldn’t laugh at great lines like, “try not to fall in love with me.” It’s funny to me that you don’t say y’all. I mean what kind of Alabamian doesn’t say y’all? Y’all has been a part of my vocabulary throughout my life. When my family moved from South Carolina to Colorado in my sixth grade year, I HAD to change it to “you guys” – ’cause y’all just isn’t cool in Colorado. Breaking that habit took about six months, but I conquered it. We moved to Florida four years later, and y’all came back on me in a week. It’s become an interesting thing again since I recently moved to Pennsylvania… only now it doesn’t bother me too much if people pick on me about it. As they say, you can take the girl out of the South, but you can’t take the South out of the girl. …whoever “they” are.
You should keep vlogging – I’ll watch ’em.
I KNOW, Kim! It was a very deliberate effort not to say “y’all”. But I was trying to deny my southernness. And I’ve been out of practice for so long, I don’t think I’ll ever say it again.
And I can’t promise any more vlogs. This was painful enough.
love your accent!!
Thanks!
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The sassiness that your writing voice sometimes takes on does not match up with your real vocals in any way. Wow. I am shocked.
Loved when you said “oil.”
That’s what makes this so fun!
Although that was probably my Mom voice for the majority of the video.
Oh, this was great! I love the way you say “oil” like “earl” Too cute. Don’t worry I have my own Northern accent to own. Then throw in the Filipino one of my hubs and our kid’s articulation was jacked up at Mama and Dada!
Fun post!
Beth! Let’s hear that accent, girl.
Funny story about Filipino accents. My mom used to say “cupboard” like “cup-board.” (As opposed to “cubbard.”) Which is how I said it until I was, like 10 or something.
This is great!! I’m obsessed with accents. (Yours is great!) Needless to say, I think I’d horrify you with my Jersey accent, which of course I’m convinced I don’t have.
No, Jules, I looooove accents! All kinds! And Joisey accents are so much fun!
It’s funny, American accents can be so different for just one country.
Way to make a vlog so everyone on the internet loves you. You should’ve said “slow your roll” and combined it with the TP question. We call it TP-ing. Good job on that smooth outro too. You should go into broadcasting.
Are you making fun of me?
I feel like you’re making fun of me.
O ye of multiple video-logs.
Ah – lightbulb moment! This post originally said I needed a password to read so I totally missed it! I’m so glad I followed Renee’s blog back over here.
You are super cute – such a sweet voice, and you look great on video. Great post. I’m doing this one myself. Wait until you see how awkward I look on video. Egads. I’m scared! 🙂
Ha! I did originally password protect it when I was trying to figure out how to embed the video because I wasn’t sure I had done it correctly. I wanted to tweak in private, iykwim.
I can’t wait to hear your accent!
I feel your pain. I am going to do one as well, a decision which somewhat shocked me, frankly. I can talk in front of a class without a second thought, but a camera scares me silly! 🙂 Good luck! I look forward to watching it!
I read this ages ago, but I couldn’t listen to it or it may have endangered my life.
Your accent is beautiful (no one ever says that about a Canadian accent, by the way…). 🙂
I’m life-threatening? That sounds so bad-a!
And I want to hear your accent. When I said my Canadian friends I really meant you. I should have called you out by name but I’m not that kind of girl.
If you think you were awkward, wait until you see mine
Because as I told Renee on her post, a video blog about accents is SOLID GOLD for a linguist! In the wise words of Homer Simpson, “I feel like a kid in some kind of a store.” I can’t ignore this. Which means I’ll have to get over myself and just turn the darn camera on and start talking. I would do it now but I had a doubleplusungood day and I look like death on toast, so it will have to wait until tomorrow when I have my ‘face on’ 🙂
You’re probably also sick of hearing this, but you and your accent are totally cute. And I had no idea that TPing had another name (rolling).
I CANNOT WAIT! As a linguist, do you feel pressure to say everything perfectly? I’ll just have to wait and see.
Expect me to stalk your blog (I mean, more than usual) until it’s up.
If we ever meet in person, can we just communicate through mathematics? Mostly because we would sound really smart.
It’s a done deal, Square Root of Awesome. (I just nicknamed you.)
Digging it, Perfect Square.
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I’m so loving these accent vlogs! Its great to hear the voices behind the words 🙂
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I can’t believe your cutie little voice was on the internet for 1/2 a year and I never heard it! Love this. Love you. Can’t wait to hear your twang in person!