Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, I believed that midwesterners spoke without a noticeable accent. An English teacher of mine used to say that newscasters aspire to talk like midwesterners, whose flat speech is largely devoid of regional dialect.
So imagine my surprise when I left Chicago to attend college in Boston—and it seemed that everyone I encountered made a comment about my “Chicago accent.” The third person I met at college orientation, Meg, would go on to become one of my best friends and a roommate for the next three years. But at first, we could barely understand one another.
Meg is from Philadelphia but I swore she was from the deep south. She still says I had one of the strongest accents of anyone she met at BU—and our college is known for its robust international student body.
Rounding out our college roommate quartet were two girls who hailed from northern California and New Jersey. The four of us spent so much time dissecting each other’s accents that I think we could’ve qualified for a formal minor in it.
California, New Jersey, Chicago, and Philadelphia
We also discovered that our accents were fluid. I went home on summer breaks talking like an East Coast-California hybrid (something my Chicago friends loved to pick on) and my Californian friend picked up a Chicago twang. Moreover, when I went back to Chicago, I could hear the midwestern accent everywhere. (“I forGAHT to call my MAHM and DYAD.”) How could we midwesterners ever claim that we were accent-less?!
This past weekend, one of my college roomies emailed us these Dialect Survey Results, compiled by Harvard linguists. Boy, are we all just products of our environments or what.
Below are some of my fav questions. Click on the links to see how the results differ across various regions of the U.S. Since you readers are from all over the country (and the world), I’d love to know how you pronounce these words. Please chime in with your variations and pronunciations—those of you outside the U.S. included!
1. How do you pronounce Mary, marry, and merry?
As a Chicagoan, I say them all the same. But my Philadelphian friend pronounces them each differently—and I must admit, it does make sense.
2. Those things you sleep in: PaJAMas or pajaaahmas?
This one surprised me. We midwesterners are in the minority pronouncing the second syllable like “jam.”
3. How do you pronounce cot and caught?
I say ‘em differently, but my Californian friend swears they’re the same.
4. What do women to use to tie back their hair: rubber band, hair tie, elastic, hair thing, or other?
For me, it’s hair tie, all the way. Elastic, on occasion. But never hair thing. And rubber bands are those tan, stretchy bands that you use for office supplies—never in your hair! Ouch.
5. The shoes you wear when you exercise: sneakers, tennis shoes, or gym shoes?
I discovered this is a distinctly upper midwest thing, but I call them gym shoes! I simply can’t call them anything else.
6. Soda, pop, or Coke?
Pop for me! My friends in Boston would occasionally giggle when I said pop but saying “soda” seems so… pretentious to me. Ha.
Help settle the debate on the website Pop vs. Soda. You can enter your hometown and what you call the beverage, and the website logs your data on the regional map.
I usually say lightning bug, but I’ve used both at times.
8. How do you pronounce syrup?
I’m really in the minority with this one but I say it like “sear-up.”
I love the little map you have of soda vs pop vs coke! I live in Maryland, and we say soda. I’ve never been told I have an accent before. I’m sure I do, but I guess I just haven’t been around that many people who weren’t from Maryland or Pennsylvania. Now, if I crossed over into Virginia, I think people would start commenting on my accent.
I did have a bit of a laugh at your questionnaire, especially the part about pajamas. I started saying some of the words you had written out in your Chicago accent, and it was spot on how you wrote it.
I’m so glad you could hear my Chicago accent through my writing, Samantha! I was trying to type it as phonetically as possible. I absolutely love comparing accents with people from different parts of the country! Maryland is definitely soda country.
What a fun post!
I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia and never thought I had an accent … until I met my friend from Texas who swears that I do. I’m with Meg – “Mary,” “marry,” and “merry” are all pronounced differently! (Also – “soda” all the way!)
I totally get the “merry/Mary/marry” thing and I wish I could pronounce them differently! It actually makes sense to me that they should all be said differently. But old habits die hard. I guess
The weirdest one I found out about was kitty corner versus catty corner…
A very good one. I’m all about the “corner” and thought someone misspoke the first time I heard “catty corner.” Which one do you say?
I say kitty corner. Catty was big at Penn State though. :/
this is so wonderful! the baseball team i worked with this summer had boys from all over the country on the team, lots of cali boys, a few nebraska boys, and some new york boys. the most common thing they said was that i dragged out my vowels, especially o’s and a’s. they would constantly tease me about the way i talk, but i would insist i did NOT have an accent. it took me spending the whole summer around people WITHOUT my accent that i realized i did have one. good ole wiscaaansin accent. haha.
You are spot on about the vowels. We midwesterners apparently do a number with our vowels! Just like the way you typed it: “Wiscaaaaaansin.” That’s how I say it too!
so funny. I am from boston but don’t have a boston accent, (accept for a few things) but my parents have killer boston accents. I think lingo is the biggest giveaway for areas for example I say wicked way too much.
Wicked is always a dead giveaway for Bostonians! I love when Bostonians let it slip — I find when people from Massachusetts get agitated, excited, or a bit tipsy, it really comes out.
Great article! I think the soda and pop debate is hysterical and I think for the most part I just call it coke! Or if it’s something else I call it something else, if I had to choose I would go with soda though! I don’t think I have too much of an accent but I can hear them more now that I am surrounded by a melting pot of people in DC!
The “Coke” thing totally boggled my mind the first time I heard it. I couldn’t wrap my mind around calling, say, a Sprite, a Coke! But I love those little regional idiosyncrasies.
“Pop” all the way!!!
Atta girl!
I spent the first 20 years of my life on the East Coast and everyone asks where my accent is. Then they get me angry or a few drinks in me and they hear it. I talk faster with my east coast accent. My Mom has lived in Colorado for 9 years, but moved out here at the age of 52 she can’t get rid of it.
I think you’re onto something with east coasters being the fastest talkers! I talk pretty fast normally but I think when I’m with my college girlfriends from the east coast, we chatter away at lightning speed.
I love dissecting accents like this! Mine was totally fluid in college too, I would lose by heavy Boston accent when I was in NY for years, picked up a slight southern twang after living in VA, but whenever I had a few drinks or got on the phone with my mom, slipped right back into my Boston ways. 1. They’re all pronounced differently 2. PaJAMas 3. They’re different 4. Elastic 5. Sneakers (or sometimes running shoes) 6. Soda 7. Fireflies 8. Sear-up as well (how else do you say it??)
I totally know what you mean with the hodge-podge accents, Meghan! I once read that there is a linguist somewhere who is so good at picking up accents by ear that he can listen to you talk and tell you where you were born and where you spent a significant amount of time. Crazy, right? As for the “sear-up” thing, I suppose some others pronounce it like “sir-up.” Hmph. They’re wrong
I had to take a Intro to Lingusitics and History of the English Language in college. We discussed this kind of stuff all the time and I found it so fascinating
As for me, I say: PaJAMas, hair tie, gym shoes, cot/caught are the same sounding, all the ‘merries’ are the same, lightening bug and sir-up. 
Isn’t it crazy how close states can be to one another but we have such different ways of saying things? Pennsylvania is right next door to Ohio and yet they have such a different ‘accent’. They also say hoagie instead of sub and ‘yens’ for ‘you guys’. 
Di, I’m so glad to hear another person say gym shoes! My friends who aren’t from Chicago look at me like I have two heads when I say that one. I have never heard of “yens” for you guys but I don’t doubt it. My good girlfriend Meg from Philadelphia says “yous” and it cracks me up every time.
This is so great! I grew up in Wisconsin but have now lived in Minnesota for college and 5+ years post college and even between these two states there are differences! Totally a “pop” drinker but I do say soda at times. And tennis shoes- I’ve never heard the gym shoes thing, except maybe in school when we had a pair for gym class.
Oooh, very interesting the differences between Minnesota and Wisconsin. To me, the accents sound interchangeable (as with most of the midwest). I think gym shoes is a strictly Chicagoan thing–at least I’ve never heard anyone else say it!
Hahaha this is so funny! My boyfriend is from Minnesota and he totally has an accent. I love the way he says “fire”…
I’m from Ohio and I think we actually don’t have an accent. (Cleveland does, but not Columbus!)
Minnesooootans have the cutest little accents. I think it’s like a Chicago accent but stronger and somehow more…wholesome? It’s adorable.
I love this! I’m from Oklahoma, but after living in DC for almost two year I think I’m already starting to talk different. I definitely used to say Coke (the map was right!) but I’ve started calling it soda lately. Also, I had a lot of Oklahoma-isms (read: redneck speak) that I’ve stopped saying because people look at me like I’m crazy. For example, in redneck, instead of saying your about to do something you say you’re “fixin’ to” do it. Sometimes I still slip up with that one.
I think I say Mary and marry the same, but pronounce Merry differently. And I say pa-JAM-as and gym shoes (although I think I said tennis shoes when I was younger).
I know what you mean about adapting your speech to fit your region! I started curbing my “pop” in Boston but I really couldn’t bring myself to say soda. Haha. I’ve never heard anyone use “fixin’” in real life but it sounds adorable. And another one for the gym shoes! We are definitely a dying breed
How interesting that none of us think we have accents! Actually, being from Montana, I really don’t have one
I’m sure I do, I just can’t hear it. In my linguistics class I learned that I say some weird things that are typical of people of Irish/Celtic descent. For example, I say ‘height’ with a ‘th’ sound on the end. That was a fun class, reminded me of this post. Good stuff, ey?
I feel like the mountain time zone has the least detectable accent, actually! My aunt has lived in Colorado for about 25 years and I can’t hear a single strange syllable on her. Then again, she grew up in Chicago, so maybe it is lingering in there somewhere.
That’s super interesting about the Irish/Celtic descent affecting your pronunciation. Who knew that our ancestors would have such an influence generations later?
My accent comes out in my vowels – from the Midwest – now on the West Coast. Another one is Ant and Aunt. Great Post – Happy Monday:)
Aunt and ant is a good one! I say it like “ant” but it feels classier to pronounce the soft a in “aunt.”
This is so intersting! Have you seen the dialect video that some bloggers do where you say a list of words? There are so many different ways that people say things! I said a lot of things wrong until I met my husband and he corrected me. LOL. I used to pronouce pillow as “pill-o” and spaghetti as “spa-gayt-ee.”
I haven’t seen those blog videos but I’d love to! Right up my alley. But wait, I have to ask — what is the proper way to say pillow? I think I pronounce it pill-o too!
Haha! This post is hilarious, and SO true. I didn’t think I had an accent.. still think I don’t. However, when I was in Seattle I walked into a store, spoke 3 sentences to the sales associate and she said, “You’re from Canada, aren’t you?” – HOW did she know that. I think we all sound the same.. well, depending on the state, but in Seattle – COME ON. Oh, and shoes I wear to exercise: RUNNERS. I think thats a Canadian thing though?
I love that you call them runners! It’s cute and accurate. I feel like the Canadian accent is very similar to the midwest accent — or just sounds accentless to me! I don’t think I’d be able to tell a Canadian from an American very easily!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: sock and talk rhyme. So do Mary, marry and merry. This has been our topic du jour for years now! And finally we have some data to backup our claims. I will never not want to dissect varying accents and lexicons. Too fun!
We’re going to be comparing words when we’re in our 90s…lounging on a beach in the Caribbean with mai-tais during our 75th reunion
You should totally do a vlog and SAY these words out loud! I love hearing accents! I haven’t been told I have one (I’m from Washington state, nothing special up here.)
Man, I wish I had thought of the idea to do a v-log to accompany this post! It didn’t even occur to me. And you’re right, I haven’t heard a Washington accent before!
Pronunciation battles were also one of my favorite college activities. I thought the first Chicagoan I met was doing a joke impression of the SNL “DAAA BEARS” skit, but nope, I found out that some people actually talk like that. However, I can’t say I do much to dispel the loud/fast-talking NJ stereotype. Another one of our big debates was “crayon” – are you “Cray-on” or “Kran”?
Hahaha I think “Da Bears” SNL skit put the Chicago accent on the map, but not in the nicest way. I’m totally a “cran” person, but when I think about it, I realize it should be pronounced “cray-on.” Which one are you?
The pop, soda and Coke thing is awesome. I always argue about this with my hubby! Even thought we are both from Wichita, KS and have never lived anywhere else we say it differently. He likes to say pop while I say soda or Coke (or whatever type of soda it is such as Dr. Pepper, Sprite, etc.)
I love that some research group took the time to create a map! Isn’t it so interesting? And thank to the Internet, they have an endless trove of self-reported data.
This looks like SO Much fun! I will have to do this ASAP!
I always love a good accent discussion
I think i’ve picked up bits and pieces of dialect from all the places we’ve lived. Growing up in Western PA, it was always pop, hoagies, sweepers and buggies (shopping carts). After living in central PA (with Philly and NJ influences) and central Ohio, I know my pronunciations changed and certain word uses (now it’s soda, not pop). Now that we’re in GA, there are few of us that are accent-neutral – relatively speaking, that is. Every sugary and carbonated is “coke,” your father is always called “daddy” regardless of your age and everything above North Carolina is “up north.”
Buggies for shopping carts is so cute and quaint! I also have overheard the “daddy” thing and I must admit–it has always made me cringe to hear grown adults say “mommy” or “daddy”! Now that I know it’s a regional thing, it makes it better.
I totally think moving around the country does kind of dilute or erase accents altogether. So you might actually be accentless!
Oh, these are funny! I have friends from all over but, when we get on the phone, it can be hard to understand people sometimes…lol!! I say most of these the same as you. These are different though: #4 is hair tie or scrunchie (even if it’s not a scrunchie…lol!), #5 is tennis shoes and #8 I pronounce as sir-rup
I live in MI but, I do use y’all a lot and that tends to be more of a southern thing, I just have always used it and liked it!
Scrunchie! I haven’t heard that word in a long while. But I totally used it back in the day. I think you’re in the majority with “sir-up.” Apparently only like 20% of the country says “sear-up.” And I have recently started writing “y’all” in my emails because it seems like a more polite way to address a group of people instead of “you guys.” One of my biggest irks with the English language is that we have no plural form of you — most other languages do!
In our travels, we noticed a difference in the pronunciation of roof. In Chicago, we say, what is
on the ruf, like a dog barking. I have heard people say, what is on the roooof?
Good call, mom! I definitely hear “ruf” and “brum” and “rum” more in the midwest–although it might be a generational thing too.
Haha I love hearing these accents my friend, I watch so many American movies that I think I am starting to get the hang of them – I am stuck with good ol’ Aussie
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Uru, you have the best accent of all then! I loooove the Aussie accent. After studying abroad in Sydney for four months my junior year of uni, I just couldn’t get enough of it. I will stop people on the street here in Chicago if I hear they have an Australian accent
Coming from Australia, I have always avoided having conversations with people from the country that invented the word “Thunk” as in “who would have thunk it”. Having said that, my country is hardly immune from bastardising the English language out of laziness.
But surely you can see that Mary, marry and merry are constructed differently?
Still loving the posts Maven!!
I’m so jealous of your Aussie accent! It’s my favorite in the whole world. I studied in Sydney for four or five months my junior year of uni, and I tried (and failed) to imitate it all the time. I just think it’s the best.
Well Thank you Jorie, if I am allowed to represent the Australian nation on your site. I guess accents are something that everyone else has except for ourselves. Kind of like faults. Anyway, please keep up your posts. I really like them and your other blog that you wrote when you were in Australia is the reason I have a blog now!
Cheers cobber! (LOL)
I definitely have the midwest dialect — pop all the way! I never knew I had the Chicago accent either (I’m originally from NW Indiana), but when I got to Wisconsin, and everyone here has the Minnesota twang, mine really stood out!
I bet you have a really good ear for deciphering different accents across the midwest, having lived in so many regions of it! I’m not that good at distinguishing between the various states; Wisconsin and Minnesota sound interchangeable to me
This is so interesting! I have the worst Texas twang you can imagine. I grew up only a few miles from the Texas border, and that part of Oklahoma all speaks like that. Unfotunately, mine seems to be way worse than most! I actively try to control it, and teach myself to speak differently. I always say Coke. I watched a show about accents once, and they said that saying Coke is dominant in the South because the Coke headquarters are (or were. Not sure if they still are!) in Atlanta so the rest of the region picked it up. Great post, Jorie!
It’s so funny, Natalie, because I never pictured you with a southern drawl. I bet it’s adorable! That is soooo fascinating about the Coke headquarters and it totally makes sense, even if it’s not the real reason. I would love to hear you on a v-log!
I think my Wisconsin comes out in a few words–I’ll add one to the list–bubbler or water fountain?
Water fountain all the way for me! I heard bubbler occasionally in Boston from the girls who were from Massachusetts. Which do you say, Nicole?
Bubbler all the way
I LOVE this post!! I seriously have so many comments, that I am having a hard time deciding which to say first. Okay here it goes, pop reigns in my book. Even though everyone in Texas makes fun of me for saying it
My fiance is from New York, so he an I go to battle on certain words-pajamas, tournament – it is so fun! I will say that I have switched from calling everyone ‘you guys’ to ‘y’all’, but I will always be an Iowa girl!!
Fight the good fight, Kate! Pop all the way!
I say tournament like “tern-ament” — does your fiance say “TOR-nament”? I secretly love saying “y’all” even though no one up north says it…I feel like there is no good word for the plural form of “you” and “y’all” serves that purpose!
I’m from South St. Louis where we get on highway farty far and do the warsh when our clothes get dirty! I lived in Texas for a few years and when I came back to STL people were all “you talk ridiculously!” I hadn’t noticed that I apparently developed a bit of a twang. Fun post.
Hahaha I loved how you typed that out phonetically “farty far.” I didn’t know the “warsh” was a Missouri thing. Adorable. I find regional accents so endearing! (I don’t know if others feel the same about my Chicaaaahhgo AAAAccent
)
In Australia we call it soft drink or fizzy drink, soda is something I have with vodka and lime
It is fun reading about the variations in accent and the different names for things, there is variation between the states in Australia as well but we all like to pick on the Kiwis from New Zealand.
PS: In Australia we wear thongs on our feet
Yes! I remember from my time in Sydney that it was soft drink or fizzy drink — leave it to the Aussies to come up with something accurate AND adorable. It makes so much sense because alcoholic = hard drink, so non-alcoholic = soft drink. I love Australian slang in general! I still use “arvo” for afternoon although I get a lot of crazy looks here in Chicago. My boyfriend who also studied abroad there knows what I mean. We also still say “sunnies” and “brekky.” If I could have any accent in the world, I’d choose an Australian one
Favorite post ever! So fun to read. Miss you already!
I know I’m a little late to the party (or pahhhty) with this post, but I wanted to fondly recall the moment in Warren Towers when I ID’ed you as a Chicagoan just hearing you say “mayshed potatoes!”