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A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

atlasobscura.com

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Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#111

Whoa, I never thought an article about Liberal would be on HN. I'm a Liberal, KS resident since about 2005, and now that I think about it...people here do have a kind of unique accent, but I don't know if it's really as striking as the article makes it out to be. I don't know, maybe I've just gotten used to it. I was shocked when I opened the article and saw our welcome sign. Hahaha

What do you do there? Why'd you move there in 05?

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#113

Whoa, I never thought an article about Liberal would be on HN. I'm a Liberal, KS resident since about 2005, and now that I think about it...people here do have a kind of unique accent, but I don't know if it's really as striking as the article makes it out to be. I don't know, maybe I've just gotten used to it. I was shocked when I opened the article and saw our welcome sign. Hahaha

Listening to the audio, it's subtle but it definitely sounds unique to my ear. :)

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#114
As someone who grew up in Southern California and the "surfer" and "valley girl" cultures and dialects, I was hoping this article would provide some insight into the formation of such things. However, the biggest takeaway seemed to be the surprise that this was happening in the middle of Kansas. It was interesting that the Hispanic population quadrupled there recently, but no conclusions were drawn by the author.

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#115
post #107
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I've always wondered why that has happened in Britain but not so much in the US in that people on different ends of the country can often sound not too dissimilar,

It used to be that way in the US, too, up until radio and TV began exposing everyone to the accents from the Northeast (politicians) and California (Hollywood).

The accent of Hollywood wasn't actually the accent of California: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#116
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That scene is only a slight exaggeration. Rural West Country accents can be almost totally unintelligible to users of standard English. https://youtu.be/WjTIFkWJctY?t=40s

Wow. There's a linked video of farmers from Kerry, Ireland as well. I can't understand the first one, the second just barely. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsUvcjk8J5c

Haha, I ran into a couple of Irish lads in a club in the weekend.

I know it sounds like a stereotype, but with a few pints down them I swear I couldn't understand a thing they said when they were talking to each other. I had to check they weren't speaking Gaelic or something.

You definitely get used to accents quickly though. After a couple of weeks of hanging out with a bunch of Scottish people, I could understand Glasgow patter like it was normal English.

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

fwiw, I grew up in Miami, and I 100% thought that me and my friends did not have an accent of any kind whatsoever ... because for whatever reason, there weren't really a lot of people born and raised in miami in popular media (at least that I was aware of, days before Pitbull, etc). Well, I moved away to central florida (very different demographics) at 17 ... and it wasn't until a few years later when I went back to…

> and I 100% thought that me and my friends did not have an accent of any kind whatsoever I suspect everyone thinks that. It's all those people from other parts of the world/country that have accents. :)

I'm 37 and I'm still perplexed that it rains some places in the summer.

Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas

#119
post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and I 100% thought that me and my friends did not have an accent of any kind whatsoever I suspect everyone thinks that. It's all those people from other parts of the world/country that have accents. :)

I'm 37 and I'm still perplexed that it rains some places in the summer.

Ha! ya, first time I realized this I was like 14 and we went to the Midwest during the summer and there was a big storm. Before that, I always thought summer = dry and hot everywhere.
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