You've heard my "slight" midwestern accent (ha). I was born in Ohio as was my mother and my dad is from greater Chicago. My twang gets way more when I'm on the phone with Mom, but it also shows that I know a real midwestern accent when I hear it.
Yup, this one's real:
And both these guys have one (hilarious):
But I'm sorry, to my ear this one has that "practiced in the bathroom mirror" sound to it. Or maybe she's just spent way too much time in Iowa. They all have.
Though not born and raised there, I did live in Madison WI for a decade.. and picked one up. My husband's is still present. But it gets REALLY thick when he talks to his parents (and his original accent is very very thick.. northern Wisconsin Indian reservation sort of thick.. which is an accent all itself!)
ReplyDeleteEven my kids, despite living in NY for the last few years, still have their WI accent.. most noticeable when they say "no" ;)
Does Dennis Kucinich have a midwestern accent? I guess the MSM never gives him enough of a chance to talk.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Tim
Er, excuse me . . . midwestern "accent?" We do not have an accent, the rest of the country does, though. And, btw, Chris Farley was a University of Wisconsin-Madison grad. If you're looking for a "queen's English" equivalent for American English, you won't find a better example.
ReplyDeleteGod willing and the crick don't rise, Hillary will be today's biggest loser.
Apparently everyone I encounter from the Midwest I encounter finds my slight southern drawl just as amusing as I find their nasally twang.
ReplyDeletei consider all three to have NO accent..... hmmmm
ReplyDeleteHer message sounds sincere to me. As a born (but not again) Hoosier, she sounds pretty much like everyone else I know who grew up in the midwest, then moved away.
ReplyDeleteI spent 28 years in Indiana, 9 years in Florida and now 17 in DC. I think I sound the same, but who knows ...
BAC
Happy new year from another transplanted midwesterner.
ReplyDelete"A nation at war in a dangerous world...
ReplyDelete...a war that I have supported and still support. A war I will not end even if you vote for me."
There are exceptions (Fargo), but like Threadingwater says, Midwesterners tend to have the flattest accents in the nation. Some casting directors like hitting Minneapolis or Chicago for that reason.
ReplyDeleteAs to Hillary - she's gotten better over the years, but she used to be one of the worst public speakers I'd ever seen on the national stage. She often sounds pretty canned. It doesn't mean she's a bad person (well, for that), but good speechifyin' is part of the gig. Or, err, rather, it should be. ;-)
"...Or maybe she's just spent way too much time in Iowa."
ReplyDeleteFrom tonight's results it would seem that she did not spend enough time there.
Midwestern accent? Midwesterners have no accent, like white bread & American cheese have no flavor. The PBS series, The Story of English, reveals that Midwestern English was chosen as the "Network Standard" for broadcasters, although it was modified to sound less "nasally." Dan Rather describes at length his efforts to lose his Texas accent.
ReplyDeleteChris Farley & Mayor Daly, though, exhibit Chicago accents (sans classic Chicagoisms like "youse".)
I detected no accent in the Hillary clip, unlike that other clip from a few months ago when she deliberately adopted a Southern accent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaDQ1vIuvZI
that was a Midwestern Accent ? really ?
ReplyDeletePersonally that video she did is creepy....and she is washed out, and she seems drugged or cocktailed or something....
( I have heard her put on the Southern too...)
Obviously I can't speak for Ms. Clinton, but I've been accused of doing the same thing with accents. I adopt whatever I hear coming out of someone else's mouth and I don't do it intentionally in most cases. Okay, I do a lousy Irish accent, but at least all the Irish folks I spoke with figured I was English (and not American) anyway. And the English didn't know what I was, but the Scots figured I was one of theirs, so, whatever. (I lived in the UK for a while)
ReplyDeleteShe may come across as being disingenuous to some, but to me she sounds just fine.