Submitted by bubbynee t3_10f95f9 in newhampshire
CheliceraeJones t1_j4vdnmt wrote
Why hide the accent in the first place? Is it considered uncouth? Unprofessional? Hell with that, I don't have the accent but when I hear it I know where the person is from and I think that's great.
OldEcho t1_j4vievb wrote
I think it's cute honestly but I think the universal standard is good for news programs so that it remains intelligible across the US. I understand the Bostonian accent but I've heard Scottish people speak English sometimes that might as well be another language. I imagine there are probably plenty of other accents in the US that are also incomprehensible to me and lots of other people. Or maybe the Bostonian accent is incomprehensible to some people.
lellololes t1_j4vxncp wrote
People in the US that are that difficult to understand are pretty rare. Not very many people are going to be confused by a Boston / NYC accent.
This, however...
Probably the most unusual accents in the US are the ocracoke islands and what you find in deep Appalachian areas, but Ireland and Scotland easily take the cake.
Nellisir t1_j4wc4y3 wrote
When I was living in Montgomery AL I had to go to a junkyard way out in the country. My cousin's fiance insisted on going with me; I said it'll be fine; he said "no, I'll need to translate."
Yes. So much yes. I had no idea what was said at any point.
sheila9165milo t1_j4wiko5 wrote
Same with rural parts of Florida. I met someone from northern rural FL one time and could not understand what in the world he was talking about.
Rixtertech t1_j4yspji wrote
This. I was born in KY, mostly raised in the south and southwest as a child and thought I could at least basically understand any cracker I ran across until I met old Uncle Calvin from the panhandle who might as well have been speaking Etruscan. Then we came up here to NH which was a whole 'nother story. Hiwaiya! HafaBeeyah! Itzindacah,opendado-wa, itzondaflo-wa. AndthenCameeeYah! JeeeezumCrow! This was a rural lakes-region accent of the 60's, like the Boston cant but infantilized and opened up so consonants were almost impossible. Not everyone spoke like that but a lot of my neighbors did and were almost imposible to understand.
sheila9165milo t1_j51igli wrote
Lol, yup, New Hampshire and New England in general, has a wide variety of accents, just like the South.
zetterbeauty t1_j51fmnf wrote
I think a Downeaster accent from Maine would throw people not from New England for a loop too, to be fair.
lellololes t1_j51l82q wrote
Eh - the defining thing of a new England accent is that they are non-rhotic. The Maine drawl isn't really out there. Other aspects of the accent - a few words are pronounced differently, but everyone has heard "aunt" versus "ant".
"There" might be "theh" in Boston and "theyeah" in Maine.
If you have an example of a ridiculously strong Maine accent id be curious. The strongest ones I've heard in person mostly sound like a combination of a slowly spoken Boston accent with a rural southern twang (more like Georgia than, say, Texas or Mississippi).
There's always some regional slang, of course. Nobody around here would ever be found whipping shitties, but tonic and bubblers might take some context for someone not from the region to figure out.
sheila9165milo t1_j4wifvh wrote
True of Cornish accents as well. I remember when I was a teenager and waitressing at my home town's HoJo's. A few English people had come over to do a foreign exchange thing, maybe through UNH, and one of them was from Cornwall. I swear, I could not understand a single word he said. Fortunately, he had a girlfriend who "translated" for me and they all had a good laugh about it all, thankfully.
LuridPrism t1_j4x6lk9 wrote
I was on the tube in London with some friends once and there were a couple guys talking to each other somewhat loudly. Their stop was before ours, so after they left we were like "wow, what language were they speaking?? It didn't even sound familiar. " Someone else just laughed and said "uh, English, but they're Scottish."
scarletuba t1_j4y7la7 wrote
My husband and I once got to help translate between a Scottish hostel host and a German cyclist. Both of them understood us perfectly because of American TV. Both were 90-95% comprehensible to us, but when they talked to each other it was blank, confused looks all around. My favorite part is when she was so flustered she couldn't remember another word for "loo" and the poor German guy was standing there awkwardly until my husband burst out "TOILET IS DOWN THE HALL."
Overall, I think most NH accents are considered perfectly understandable outside of home. We certainly have our little quirks but nothing too outlandish.
My former Wisconsin boss thought "wicked" was an exaggerated joke until she visited. But they say "horse a piece" instead of "six of one" and when you mix it with a Bostonian understanding of expressions it sounds like "horse of peace" which is incomprehensible.
Brostafarian t1_j4wd9yp wrote
CheliceraeJones t1_j4why3i wrote
The epitome of "soul vs soulless".
[deleted] t1_j4wj55l wrote
[deleted]
SolomonG t1_j4w02iu wrote
What part of NH are you from? In some of the more rural upstate areas I've seen people get harassed for sounding too Boston. It would not at all suprise me to learn TV news stations try to get their anchors to sound more generic.
yahhhguy t1_j4wc8yh wrote
Yess-a but then in a lot of rural NH there’s Namp’sha, a sort of quasi Maine/Boston/NH combo.
AnythingToAvoidWork t1_j4wvpzn wrote
Non-regional diction is the standard for news in general.
CallMeCasper t1_j4w1y8v wrote
Im grew up around boston and I immediately perceive anyone with that accent as being dumb. If a girl has the accent I lose interest.
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