Do you have an accent?

[Hatman 🍁]

No.

Liar. Michiganders have quite a distinct accent.

But anyways, I suppose I have bit of a Canadian accent.

[Franzl]

People in the U.S. tell me I speak somewhat strangely. I pronounce words more distinctly than most people, I suspect. But it's not an accent people could really identify. The closest people have come is "european". But I don't really have anything close to a German accent.

Actually, those points aside, I speak pretty close to standard St. Louis English (except I've eliminated some of the grammatical errors that are frequent in that area )

Interesting really.

[DownWithTheLeft]

I sound like the people on TV

I do use a lot of New York/New Jersey type mannerisms and idioms and the like though.  I'm not one of those people that has a Jersey City/NYC accent although I know quite a few, including some people in my family.

[DownWithTheLeft]

I keep saying it and I don't see this water thing, maybe I'm the exception for NJ.  There are some words I say weird though, but that's just a personal thing not an accent.

[exopolitician]

I have a slight Texas twang. I hate it...

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I speak Pittsburghese.


Yins Guys.
Sowside (South Side)
Dantan (down town)

But I don't say PIXBURG.   God I hate that.

[MasterJedi]

Minnesotans (except Coleman who is from Brooklyn) can be identified in a mili-second. And I can tell them from those from Milwaukee and those from Chicago quite easily.

Cool, someone else familiar with Milwaukee-ese.

"Come over here once. It's hot out, aina?"

[Verily]

I have some dialect stuff, but no accent of note. And most of the dialect is Boston that I picked up at college. ("Sketchy", for example, although I don't say "wicked".)

I never thought of "sketchy" as regional.  Do you mean it in the same sense as "dodgy"?

Yes. New Yorkers and New Jerseyans look at me funny when I use it.

[12th Doctor]

31 of my 35 years have been in St.Louis or Omaha, so no, I have no accent at all.

Actually, you do.  There is no such thing as someone who doesn't have an accent.  You speak English in a particular way, yes?  Thus, you have an accent.

What's the point of the OP?

That you do, in fact, have an accent.  I thought that was pretty clear.


If you are looking for a deeper point, its this... the construction of a "prestige" accent or dialect (the one that people tend to process as "normal") is totally arbitrary and artificial, as is the case for most "standards" when it comes to language.  First off, no one speaks Standard American.  It is a made up dialect for newscasters and such.  But, even with this as the case, the "neutral Midwestern dialect" is based off of is still an "accent".  The only reason people think its not, is because they think that all these "accents" represent degraded forms of speech, while a Standard is some kinda linguistic ideal, and then proceed to both artificially check their own speech, and attach all kinds of negative evaluations to people who "don't speak properly".  It's utterly ridiculous.

[??????????]

Yes, southern. Also, every southern accent varies depending on what state you're from.

[afleitch]

Aye

[Ban my account ffs!]

No.

Liar. Michiganders have quite a distinct accent.

But anyways, I suppose I have bit of a Canadian accent.

What...are...you...talking...abaowt, eh?... Canadians daownt have aeccents... I'll bet you ten doe-llers thet they daownt.

Actually I think the Canadian accent is really annoying.  Sorry guys.. it just sounds like you're pausing for a brief moment between each word and I always have this feeling like Canadians have to constantly try to differentiate themselves from Americans.. especially calling the U.S. "the states".

[Хahar 🤔]

A freeway is a controlled-access road. A highway is a numbered road. An expressway is a semi-controlled, multi-lane road with no properties fronting and speed limits about 60 MPH: a Santa Clara County speciality.

Expressways are allowed to have those at-grade crossing and fronting properties, unlike freeways.

The main different in New York (Long Island!) seems to be that trucks can use freeways but not expressways.  It's a bridge height thing.

No, no fronting properties. At-grade crossings, though.

I thought that in New York, expressways were just older.

[tik 🪀✨]

Kind of a dumb question to ask, honestly. No one has an accent to his/herself, but everyone has an accent.

[Bacon King]

I have an essentially standard American accent, but I do use some southern expressions. I'll say "y'all" once in a blue moon or so.

[AndrewTX]

Yeah.. I pretty much do. It's a mix of New England/New York

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I have a Californian accent. A test I took online said that I have a Chicago accent, though. Eh, what does the internet know.

[Хahar 🤔]

     I have a Californian accent. A test I took online said that I have a Chicago accent, though. Eh, what does the internet know.

Not much. I can imagine you would sound pretty much like me.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I have a Californian accent. A test I took online said that I have a Chicago accent, though. Eh, what does the internet know.

Not much. I can imagine you would sound pretty much like me.

     I know. I've never even been to Chicago. It makes no sense why I would have a Chicago accent.

[Хahar 🤔]

     I have a Californian accent. A test I took online said that I have a Chicago accent, though. Eh, what does the internet know.

Not much. I can imagine you would sound pretty much like me.

     I know. I've never even been to Chicago. It makes no sense why I would have a Chicago accent.

And the accent we have here isn't even particularly similar.

[Sam Spade]

Naturally, I have a mild Southern (Texan, really) accent that I temper even more up here in NYC.  However, if I get angry, it becomes quite noticeable.

[HardRCafé]

Yes. New Yorkers and New Jerseyans look at me funny when I use it.

I very recently discovered "tag sale" is incomprehensible to Midwesterners.

[Хahar 🤔]

Yes. New Yorkers and New Jerseyans look at me funny when I use it.

I very recently discovered "tag sale" is incomprehensible to Midwesterners.

What's that?

[YRABNNRM]

Yes. New Yorkers and New Jerseyans look at me funny when I use it.

I very recently discovered "tag sale" is incomprehensible to Midwesterners.

What's that?

A garage sale.

[HardRCafé]

I took for granted "tag sale" was self-explanatory for both the indoor "garage sale" and the outdoor "yard sale."  Guess not, though.

"Rummage sale," then?  Or did eBay kill off all four of these?