veteran’s day quiz
I love accents! If I had do-overs, I might choose to become a linguist (the most cunning of all).
ANYway. I had Californian parents and have lived here a majority of my life. So, I guess my speech patterns and accent are generally* associated with “The Westâ€, or “the lowest common denominator of American speech†— according to this quiz. Hock/hawk? Marry/Mary/Merry? No diff, in my ears. If we Westerners have our way, we’ll get this language down to three or four grunt-like sounds.
On Friday, my friend Scott was brought up short when I asked him what he was doing for Veteran’s Day. He was totally confounded by the way I pronounced “veteranâ€, which totally confounded me. He said it sounded all fancy and high-falutin’, the way I said it.
Scott’s from North Carolina, but his accent does not sound heavy to me, and we have never encountered an accent-related roadblock before.
So, I put this out to you, my faithful reader. How do you pronounce “veteranâ€? If you pronounce it my way, you get to be my friend. Scott’s way, then you are Scott’s friend. He’s pretty nice, so you’ll have fun being his friend, eating hush puppies and pronouncing “veteran†together.
So comment or email with your response. Maybe take this short quiz too! Thenks!
*Generally. My Californian friends sometimes call me out for having New York or Boston twinges to my speech. Boston, maybe — I have family there, so I have absorbed it somewhat, maybe? And New York — six years of middle/high school in NY probably had less impact on me that all the New Yorkers I went to grade school with whilst growing up in Arizona.
nablopomo 07 day 12
In all honesty, I am not a reliable kind of guy when it comes to knowing how to pronounce correctly. I come from the world of “AppaLATCHan” not “AppaLAYSHan”, of “Y’all” not “You”, and of “Coke” not “soda”.
With that little disclaimer out of the way, my vote goes to vet-er-an.
Okay, Scott, if you win this, can you confirm that you can make hush puppies?
vechrin
Hmm. How I say it and how I’ll type it might be different things. Can we skype this conversation?
I think I say it the way it is spelled, but the “t” is more “d-ish” in my world. Yeesh.
DP
fuhGEDaboudit. ManHATten. You marry Mary, but do not find it merry… Vedran’s day. Kerri, carry. Harry is very Hairy. My NY-ish comes out when I’m mad. 🙂
vetran’s day. I don’t have time for all those extra syllables sandwiched in the middle.
Actually, I’m closer to vetrin’s day.
Yup, I’m with Dagda. VETrins. I really thought this would be an East: “VETerins” vs. West: “VETrins” debate, but it’s not that at all. HUH.
And me thinking Hush puppies were shoes!
Now, I took your test and go figure! My way of murdering the (U.S.) English language was translated into this:
Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you’re not from Philadelphia, then you’re from someplace near there like south Jersey, Baltimore, or Wilmington. if you’ve ever journeyed to some far off place where people don’t know that Philly has an accent, someone may have thought you talked a little weird even though they didn’t have a clue what accent it was they heard. Yup… weird indeed! I don’t think I’ll even try the vet’ran – puppies or no puppies!