English Dialects
 

Ok, so I was on the phone with my Dad (he lives in the South, I live in Chicago). I said something in a Chicago slang and he had no idea what I was saying so I had to figure out how they would say it in the South. After the conversation I thought it was interesting, so I looked up as much as I could about Chicago slang and vocabulary and I thought it be interesting to share it and hear comments, comparisons and other dialects!

Note - Yes, normally when I talk I do say these words this way, but when I talk with someone I know isn't from the area I try to not use Chicago dialect too much, it's hard though haha. Some of the ones are related to Chicago culture too.

"Grachki" (Garage Key in standard English)
"Sammich" (Sandwich)
"Sassage" (Sausage)
"Da" (The)
"'s" (Chicagoans tend to add an 's to the end of most stores, for example Meijer becomes Meijer's or Jewel becomes Jewel's)
"Frunchroom" (Literally 'front room', known as a living room elsewhere)
"The Lake" (Lake Michigan)
"Brat" (Short for bratwurst)
"Polish" (Short for Polish sausage)
"Beef" (Short for Italian beef sandwich)
"Goes" (Instead of "Then he says..." Chicagoans use "Then he goes...")
"Guys" (When referring to 2 or more people, no matter the gender)
"Pop" (Not a sound, but the drink known as soda)
"The Taste" (Short for The Taste of Chicago, an annual food festival in Grant Park)
"Junk Dror" (Junk drawer...everyone in Chicago has one)
"Expressway(s)" (Interstate highways in Chicago)
- Dan Ryan
- Kennedy
- Stevenson
- Eisenhower
- Edens
"Gym shoes" (Known as sneakers, tennis shoes or running shoes elsewhere)
"Cash Station" (ATM)
"Wanna come with?" (Chicagoans NEVER use a pronoun after, it always ends in with)
"Jieetyet?" (Did you eat yet?)

These are just a few of them...lemme know what you think or what are some dialect words or phrases you use?

I'm pretty sure most of those are used everywhere, seeing as they're mostly just broken English. I know in parts of the states people don't know what "pop" is, but I think that's beginning to change. I live in the northwest and I don't believe that there's much of a dialect up here, besides the nonsense that Hicks try to pass off as a language "I wanted dis her radio so gimmeh dat one." That mostly just makes them sound severely undereducated though...

As some people know from my youtube videos, I have a pretty strong Yorkshire accent. It's kind of lazy.

For example,

'The cat sat on the mat.'

Becomes.

'The cat sat ont mat.'

It's really hard to think how I'd say things since it's just normal to me. D:

I say 'summat' instead of 'something.' My mum tells me off, she says I sound common. People can still generally understand what I'm saying anyway. I can't really think of a list of words specific to here. They overlap with other places anyway.

lol a lot of chicago people and midwesterners

say Catch like "ketch"

I don't qkno why lol.

All the areas of Yorkshire have separate accents. In Skipton for example thats wayy different from Hull in East Yorks.

ilkley mo' bar't'at ;)

Lmao, I suppose that's true. I just don't want to give away exactly where I come from in case someone wants to stalk me. :p

Hahaha I say it like that!

And I huge distinction from people who actually grew up in the city
and people who live in the Midwest/Outside of Chicago:

People from Chicago say "Shi-caw-go"
People from far suburbs and elsewhere say "Shee-kah-go"

In the south, I think it becomes even harder to understand.
0_0 Though, with the heavy heat we tend to speak slower lol.

For verbs ending in "ing" turns to "in",
because in many places, there isn't much stress on every letter.

P.S:
"You guys" is not common here.
"Y'all" is more accepted.
I like to be referred to as a female haha.

^_^

Yeah, we almost always drop the 'g' in 'ing' verbs too...doesn't everyone?
And yeah, Southern American English....I'm sorry but I hate trying to understand it...haha

But southern language is so fuuuun! Haha, we have lots of different ways of sayin things down here. I usually try and (an' haha) change how I talk and how I speak on the computer. Or yall probably (prolly) wouldn't understand me all that great XD

my friend has a stong southern accent, my cousin's obsessed with (wit) it XD my other friend drops the 't' in watermelon, it's funny. Then my old friend is hard to understand cus she has a speech impairment (or whatever that word is) and the fast southern language ain't helpin her much. but she's cool

Where I live, I tend to hear "you guys" more often....I guess southern language varies more then I thought ^^;

Kinda makes me mad when people make fun of southern dialects.....but it's also funny that (here in KY, anyway) the ones speaking it make fun of it more then those who aren't speaking it XP

P.S.
Words that can be shortened to one syllible, WILL be shortened to one syllible ;P

I have the New England accent. [New York, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire]
The letter 't' is pretty much not even part of our alphabet.
Pretty much every word with the letter 't' is either silent or more of a 'd' sound, like the words 'water' and 'matter'.

But I don't think we use any strange words.
'Sick' is always used to describe something "cool". But I'm pretty sure a lot of people use it in that context. XD

Haha yeah, that's just a national slang, isn't it?

I grew up 15 min from Downtown Chicago and then moved out here,
about 2 hours away in the suburbs and my friends gimme crap about
some of the different words I use for things.
Like when I talk about my front room (or as I say, Frunchroom). When
I first used that word out where I live now, NO ONE knew what it was.
Funny thing was until that moment when they called it a "living room",
I've NEVER used that word or heard it used like that, except maybe once, haha.

How many Americans here use 'tight' that aren't from California?
When I came to California from Australia, they used it with me... and I didn't understand what they meant. I literally told them I didn't know whether they were insulting me or complimenting me.

Tight
adj. Having the quality of being awesome; provoking positive interest.
synonyms: cool, awesome, grand, spectacular, amazing, incredible, yabai, etc.
As in... "Oh, that's tight, cuz!" [Golly, that is quite incredible, my fair man!]

i live and was born in the south but i wouldnt say i have a southern accent. ppl here always ask me were im from bc they say i have an accent...they mistake me for being british alot lol

Yeah, we personally don't use it here really around Chicago. Well, actually we
do, but it's more of a "South Side" thing. Most people know what it means in
that context, but we don't use it.

How is that possible to not develop a dialect in the area you're born and
raised in? How do you talk then?

I say "totally", "like" and "dude" excessively. Also, "hecka" since I'm from Norcal. In the rest of California, it's "hella" I guess.

Guys use that word a lot more than girls. It's kind of crass for a girl to use it, in my experience.

i really dont know...hmmm i dont know how to explain how i talk....sorry

OMG! We talked about this so much in speech class.

Bubbler- water fountain (Wisconsin)
Gumband- hair tie (New York, I think)
Schlep- to carry (I think in Boston)
Cabinet- milkshake (Rhode Island)

There are a few more, but I can't think of anything else...

For people living in GTA suburbs in Ontario, Canada, Toronto is called "T'Ronno".

There are French/Quebecois loanwords in Ontario English a bit more than the average American English.

You're right.
Though, sometimes I've heard girls say it playfully, in a kind of mocking tone... in imitation of the dudes. I think it's fun when they use it like that. lol