Say.............what?

RUDE BOY

RUDE BOY

Space is the Place
According to that I'm all over the map ya'll, now lets vape up then go get a hoagie then hit the Brew-thru for a can of pop and a pint, and you's guys could always head down the freeway to grab some pick-AHN pie for later ... but we can't leave yet 'cause the Devil is beating his wife at the moment.

:wave:
 
cybrguy

cybrguy

Putin is a War Criminal
I think this is as much who you hang with as where you are. I have picked up a lot of idioms from people that don't fit with my location, like y'all. I occasionally even say "lift" or "loo" even though I have only visited Britain and never lived there. Loo is so much easier to say than bathroom, for example.
 
lwien

lwien

Well-Known Member
I remember the very first time that I left my cocoon in Southern California where I was born and raised. I joined the Air Force and did my basic training and went to cryptography school in Texas and the thing that I remember most about being in Texas was that EVRYONE, and I mean EVERYONE said the exact same thing when you left their presence whether it was a place of business or over someone's house for dinner, which was, "Ya'll come back now, ya hear?"
 
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arf777

arf777

No longer dogless
The you/y'all map completely left out the one I grew up with - "yous". As in "yous guys" or "yous are assholes".

I do not believe the one about Mary / merry / marry - I've lived in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and North Carolina, and I have never met anyone who pronounces those three words the same way.
 
cybrguy

cybrguy

Putin is a War Criminal
arf777 said:
I do not believe the one about Mary / merry / marry - I've lived in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and North Carolina, and I have never met anyone who pronounces those three words the same way.
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I am Midwest born and raised and have lived in California, Colorado, and Arizona and I pronounce all 3 of those words exactly the same. Just a data point for you.

I have been sitting here trying to see how they might be pronounced differently and I can't. Can someone share a phonetic spelling of the difference?

mar as in car I guess...
 
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arf777

arf777

No longer dogless
cybrguy said:
I am Midwest born and raised and have lived in California, Colorado, and Arizona and I pronounce all 3 of those words exactly the same. Just a data point for you.

I have been sitting here trying to see how they might be pronounced differently and I can't. Can someone share a phonetic spelling of the difference?
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Pronounce them how they're spelled? Ay as in 'nary' or 'scary' in Mary; 'eh' like Jerry in 'merry'; 'a' like 'carry' or 'tarry' in 'marry'.

May be relevant to my experience of this, almost everyone I have known is multilingual. As a Jew from a somewhat observant community, all my Jewish friends and relatives could at least pronounce hebrew by a young age, most could speak it by 13, for instance, and most of my other friends in new york as a kid spoke something else in addition to English, some spoke Italian, some spoke Spanish, some spoke Armenian, some Russian.

Learning to pronounce another language, especially one that is written in a different alphabet, does make you pay more attention to pronunciation in your own speech, so that may account for my experience. Hebrew speakers in particular have to be careful of vowels, as most vowels are not written in that language, you just need to know what vowel sound goes where.
 
cybrguy

cybrguy

Putin is a War Criminal
arf777 said:
Pronounce them how they're spelled? Ay as in 'nary' or 'scary' in Mary; 'eh' like Jerry in 'merry'; 'a' like 'carry' or 'tarry' in 'marry'.
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Funny. I pronounce all of those the same. They are all pronounced like 'air'. If by tarry you mean sticky like tar (rather than the name Terry) then that I would pronounce like 'car'.

There was some yiddish in my household and especially in the household of my grandmother and in the surrounding community, but the only language I knew (know) well was English, and American English at that.
 
His_Highness

His_Highness

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king
Lived in New Jersey most of my life and did the you guys thing till I spent a bunch of time with folks from the Bronx/Brooklyn and naturally adopted a yous guys thing. Joined the Navy and was stationed down south so I naturally adopted a ya'll drawl. None of these adoptions were done consciously. At some point someone would point out I was no longer using the pronunciation I used to and it would surprise me. Another thing I've noticed is that once you've incorporated one these pronunciations you become sensitized to them. It doesn't take much more than one phone call with someone predisposed for me to start using one of them unconsciously for a few passes.

The above isn't true for entire phrases for me though...for example...When we first moved down to Florida I noticed the 'extended U' sound. It works like 'How are youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu'. There's also the common phrase 'have a blessed day'. Neither the 'U' or 'blessed day' have taken hold.
 
cybrguy

cybrguy

Putin is a War Criminal
I've heard young'ns a lot, but not you'ns. Is that also southern?
 
cybrguy,
arf777

arf777

No longer dogless
cybrguy said:
Funny. I pronounce all of those the same. They are all pronounced like 'air'. If by tarry you mean sticky like tar (rather than the name Terry) then that I would pronounce like 'car'.

There was some yiddish in my household and especially in the household of my grandmother and in the surrounding community, but the only language I knew (know) well was English, and American English at that.
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By 'tarry' I meant the archaic for 'delay'. Rhymes with Larry.

Funnily enough I actually spoke coherent Yiddish before I could speak coherent English. Wish I still spoke it- it's officially a dying language. But we were encouraged to speak English and Hebrew instead of Yiddish as I got older.
 
lwien

lwien

Well-Known Member
arf777 said:
...I actually spoke coherent Yiddish before I could speak coherent English.
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Yiddish is such a cool language. It's the only language I know that when used in context, you actually can know what the words mean without really knowing what they mean. lol

Maybe because it was sometimes spoken in my house here and there when I was growing up. Don't know, but it kinda puts a smile on my face anytime I hear it.
 
cybrguy

cybrguy

Putin is a War Criminal
It is a fascinating and emotionally expressive language including elements of Hebrew, German, Russian, Polish and other local dialects. Many people use words from it without knowing that is what they are saying. Many words have entered common English like Schmuck and Putz, two Yiddish words for penis that most people use without realizing what they are saying.
Kind of like people like John McCain commonly calling people scumbags. Do you think he really knows that a scumbag is a used prophylactic? I think if he did he wouldn't use it as much, but then again its John McCain...
 
lwien

lwien

Well-Known Member
:lol: Yup.

Yiddish may be a dying language but there are yiddish words and phrases that I have no doubt, will go on forever.

I'd bet that there are at least 10 yiddish words that everyone here will know exactly what they mean.
 
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Enchantre

Enchantre

Oil Painter
RUDE BOY said:
According to that I'm all over the map ya'll, now lets vape up then go get a hoagie then hit the Brew-thru for a can of pop and a pint, and you's guys could always head down the freeway to grab some pick-AHN pie for later ... but we can't leave yet 'cause the Devil is beating his wife at the moment.

:wave:
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My ex said "Yous" all the time. I worked hard to try to teach the kids that it IS NOT A WORD!! :)

Ewes are mommy sheep. A group of people are "you" ... :)
 
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