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Started 8 months ago by peanutnozone
Latest reply from lifeontwowheels

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peanutnozone
Baltimore MD
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So, I was wondering today. Since I moved to Baltimore 2 years ago, I'm finally getting a handle on the local accent and -isms, but when I try to nail down what is unique to central ohio / Columbus linguistically, it's hard. I mean, it's the heart of Midwest English, which is basically Newscaster (I know there are different registers depending on race, class, education, etc., but I am generalizing here.)

The only things I can think of are...

We say "that car needs cleaned" instead of "that car needs TO BE cleaned"

We say "C'lumbus" instead of Coh-lumbus (and I do that one pretty bad. Some people when they say it with the 'o' it sounds like they are over-pronouncing it, but I guess it's just my upbringing.)

Can anyone else comment on the uniquities of Columbus-speak???

Posted 8 months ago #
cc

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Olentangy? I said it wrong for the first two weeks I lived here.

Posted 8 months ago #
0Angle
A brewery or my kitchen or my bicycle.
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cc said:
Olentangy? I said it wrong for the first two weeks I lived here.

Hah! I couldn't get my mouth around Scioto.

Posted 8 months ago #
Pablo
Crestview Addition
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Nerk (Newark)
Lang-gaster (Lancaster)
Morris Rd. (Morse Rd.)
Hilliards (Hilliard)

Posted 8 months ago #
groundrules

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the one I can't seem to shake is 'whole nuther'. Like, "that's a whole nother topic entirely."

I hate it, yet i say it ALL THE TIME.

Posted 8 months ago #
buckeye54

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The hilliards thing has more to do with hilliard's name once being hilliards's station.I guess I really haven't heard the other pronunciations that much escpecially from columbus residents. I have heard people from surrounding counties say nerk. Columbus probably gets a little appalachian accent from surrounding southern areas but I feel it generally has newscaster english. Scioto is sometimes pronounced scio-tah instead of scio-toe but that seems to be general of ohio.

Posted 8 months ago #
colrex7
Ohio
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I wonder if the Cleveland accent will make its way down to Columbus eventually. It's already started, considering a lot of columbusites are from northern Ohio.

Posted 8 months ago #
bastardsuperstar
ゴジラ
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i always notice how odd it sounds to hear someone hitting the last "g" hard in an "ing" suffixed verb.

which i notice WAAAAY more often in other cities.

leading me to believe the columbus accent includes many verbs that rhyme with runnin' or doin' or drinkin' or fuckin' . . .

(i've never done c'lumbus, or even ohia for that matter, but truthbetold i DID finally have to teach myself to get over pronouncing it "morris rd.")

Posted 8 months ago #
Anne
King Lincoln
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Get the Video Plugin

Posted 8 months ago #
Anne
King Lincoln
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:D

Posted 8 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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I think the fact that 90% of Columbus residents weren't born here (that's a made up stat) contributes to the fact that we have no universal accent.

Posted 8 months ago #
ChrisSunami
King-Lincoln District
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When I went away to college, people thought the way I pronounced "roof" was hilarious (apparently closer to "ruff"). And I once had a British girlfriend who spent some time and effort teaching me to hear the difference between "pin" and "pen" (also "Mary" and "merry" which was even harder).

I've been told that the Columbus accent, at it's extreme, turns all vowels into what linguists call "schwa", which is approximately an "uh" sound. Nearly all Americans do that with unaccented vowels, but in central Ohio we sometimes do it with the accented vowels as well --thus Cluhm-buhz for Columbus, "uh-hi-uh" for Ohio and "sci-uh-tuh" for Scioto

Posted 8 months ago #
Mr Man

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Pablo said:
Nerk (Newark)
Lang-gaster (Lancaster)
Morris Rd. (Morse Rd.)
Hilliards (Hilliard)

Interesting, I've lived here all my life (in Hilliard, even) and have never honestly heard any of these. Lancaster (from my father who was born there) is Lane-cas-ter, as opposed to the above. Morse Rd? Easy. Hilliards? Never. Also, and this has nothing to do with accent, it's always been Rome-Hilliard, never the other way around.

Posted 8 months ago #
ChrisSunami
King-Lincoln District
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Mr Man said:
Interesting, I've lived here all my life (in Hilliard, even) and have never honestly heard any of these.

Arguably, if you've lived here your whole life, you might actually be pronouncing those words that way without realizing it. I've never heard anyone put an "s" sound at the end of Hilliard, but the others are arguably the way someone might interpret the standard local pronunciations of those place names.

To tell the truth, I have a hard time imagining a way to pronounce "Morse" that doesn't sound just like "Morris".

Posted 8 months ago #
kit444
Elsewhere
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The thing I noticed when I moved away (that I didn't before), was the pluralization of things (or adding the possessive, more accurately) of things that shouldn't be. Krogers, Meijers. Now it bothers me to no end to hear it.

The Morse Rd. example is a personal pet peeve because I find myself having to spell my last name to people so they get it right, when my spelling is actually the more common form.

Posted 8 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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ChrisSunami said:
To tell the truth, I have a hard time imagining a way to pronounce "Morse" that doesn't sound just like "Morris".

Morse Road rhymes with Morse Code. ;)

Posted 8 months ago #
Pablo
Crestview Addition
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Mr Man said:
Interesting, I've lived here all my life (in Hilliard, even) and have never honestly heard any of these. Lancaster (from my father who was born there) is Lane-cas-ter, as opposed to the above. Morse Rd? Easy. Hilliards? Never. Also, and this has nothing to do with accent, it's always been Rome-Hilliard, never the other way around.

Never say never! Just because you haven't heard these pronunciations doesn't mean they don't exist. Double negatives - is that a C'lumbus thing too?

Posted 8 months ago #
Anidem
NE Ohio
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I also was raised and lived in the Columbus area all my life until this past decade. I've received comments from people in the Cleveland area that I talk slower and have a slight drawl. "You talk southern". I suppose I can hear a bit of that, I'm originally from Delaware county. My parents don't have a bit of an accent, though. However, I've always said Hill-yerd (no s), Lan-cas'-ter (not Lankster), Morse (as in code), Fishinger (not Fish-injer), Newark (not Nerk), Ohio (not ahia). Unfortunately, I've been guilty of saying Krogers and Meijers but it drives me batty hearing or reading Walmarts. Actually, Ohio's twisting of usual pronunciations of names kind of gets under my skin in general- Rio Grande, Lima, Bellefontaine, Milan, Berlin, I know there's more. I try to say the correct pronunciation in most things, Nik-ee, instead of Nike, Porsch-uh, instead of Porsh, Yee-ro, instead of Jye-ro. Kind of hard to do with those towns, though, or people don't know what you're talking about.

Posted 8 months ago #
Pablo
Crestview Addition
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^But isn't the local pronunciation of a town's name the correct version? I've heard that Ber-line was changed from the original Berlin during WWI.

Posted 8 months ago #
2thDoc
Downtown
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I have an aunt who grew up in NC Ohio which normally has a "Cleveland" accent. It's the same town I was born and raised. I say, "wash the windows on Tuesday." She says, "warsh the winduhs on Tuesdee."

Anyone else out there say dollar? and not dawler? Picture, not Pitcher? Mail, not mell? Color, not collar?

Posted 8 months ago #