I love talking to people from Wisconsin

[catmandu57]

They have such melodious voices. My telephone co. and internet providors service center is located somewhere up there, I had a great time talking to a lady for about half an hour today setting up a service through them.
I've got to post and run, marshmallow is on her way to get me now.

[AllegroRondo]

1. They're very friendly up dere, doncha know.

oh, ya.

[mduffy31]

29. I will have you know

we don't talk like that....

[AllegroRondo]

33. They did where I grew up.....

in Kenosha, which is technically a suburb of Chicago, but we're all Packer fans anyway.

[youthere]

35. I grew up in Wisconsin and I used to think people were crazy when they pointed out my accent.

I still say Mil-WAH-kee, Wis-CAH-nson and ya'know.

On edit: Oh and the ever famous "stop-n-golight"

[trof]

2. Lucky you. Mine's in North Carolina.

Two times I've gotten a black woman (same one, I think) who is very nice and knowledgeable and able to help me, but she is VERY difficult to understand.
And I'm a native Alabamian, but the Carolina gullah, or whatever it is, is almost beyond my comprehension.

[conscious evolution]

20. I know Gullah

The African-Americans where I grew up speak that dialect.It is supposedly a combination of olde english,french,and several African languages.Sort of like the patois you hear in Jamaica or other Caribbean Islands.
When I lived in Los Angeles I would automatically speak it to the A-A's I worked with.They would look at me like I was speaking Klingon.They had no clue what I was saying.
It took a while to get out of that habit.

[trof]

21. I exagerated a little bit.

But it's a very distinct accent and she has a very soft voice.
Why they picked her for a job on the telephone all day I don't know.
And it's a telephone company.

[conscious evolution]

23. I bet she was hired when

the calls she took were from the region she is in.Anyone from her region would undrstand her.They probably would even think she doesn't have an accent.
Remember that movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil?That took place in my hometown.The locals all said that you could tell who the local actors were as opposed to the out of town actors by the fact that the locals HAD no accent.

[1gobluedem]

3. But they need to be Wisconsin natives, right?

Because my brother lives there and there is nothing melodious about his voice...:rofl:

[auntAgonist]

12. Hi!

Just wanted to jump in with a :hug:

haven't seen you at the 'other place' lately. We miss you!

aA
:hug:

[conscious evolution]

4. I watched a girl from Wisconson set off a riot

She was vacationing on Tybee Island Ga.during the local HS grad week.Cut as can be she was.She sounded just like Francis McDormett in Fargo.
Three guys from differant high schools had been hitting up on her all week,with no success.
Me and a buddy were hanging on the beach chatting her up when the three local bozo's showed up with their friends.She told them to buzz off,one took offense and said nasty stuff to her.The other bozo's took offence to that and it was on.
Me and my buddt put wisconson girl between us and took on a defensive stance.Not one of the HS kids even approached us even though we were smack dab in the middle of 100 fighting teenagers.They definitely knew not to mess with us though they probably could have kicked our butts.

In case I forgot to mention it me and my buddy were trippin' our faces off.

[AllegroRondo]

5. Francis McDormett in Fargo had a Minnesota accent

BIG difference, if you've ever lived there. And theres a pretty nasty rivalry between the two states. Dont ever tell someone from Wisconsin they have a "Minnesota accent"!!

[conscious evolution]

6. To my ear they sound alike

Then again I betcha southern accents all sound alike to someone from Wisconson or Minnesota.

Regional accents and dialects fascinate me sometimes.

[skygazer]

7. They fascinate me too

And I'd like to learn more about how they evolve. It's interesting to me that you can have places quite close together that develop distinctly different accents.

I like the fact that we don't all sound the same, though.

[conscious evolution]

8. Someone told me once

that in the US a regions dialect is based on where the majority of the original settlers originally came from.
Don't know if that is true though.It kinda makes sense.I can hear Shakespearean english in many southern accents.In addition I can fake a british accent well enough to fool Brits.If I spend much time around Brits I do it without a conscious effort and without realizing I am even doing so.Some people tend to wierd out when it happens.

[zanne]

11. Do you pretend to understand people with thick accents?

Sometimes I do, in order to avoid saying "Pardon"? every five seconds. My mother had a doctor with a really heavy Greek accent. Talking to him on the phone was torture; without seeing his lips and facial expressions, I had no idea what he was talking about. Sometimes I still wonder how many of his suggestions I got wrong. The things I'll do to avoid embarassment.

[conscious evolution]

14. Never

If I don't understand a person I always ask for clarification.It may annoy them but I would rather annoy than piss off.

[Critters2]

17. When I first moved to New England, I simply could not understand Mainers

So, I nodded and smiled a lot.

[CTyankee]

34. I retrained my speech when I was in drama school at Carnegie Mellon

In those days CMU (then Carnegie Institute of Technology)ironed the regional accent out of you. I had a soft, North Texas accent (like Bill Moyers). After college I moved to New York. I completely lost my Texas accent and couldn't do it again if I tried. But I can tell a fake Texas accent in an instant. It's one of many of Bush's annoying aspects to me.

[catmandu57]

37. Regional accents fascinate me

The first time I heard the northern accent was 31 years ago in Albert Lee, I pulled in to get something to eat and had to have the waitress speak again just to hear it. I wonder if the native Americans had a southern drawl way back when.

[CatholicEdHead]

13. No she really did not

You rarely hear that accent around here.

[LaraMN]

24. No kidding!

If she sounds ridiculous to a Minnesotan's ear, then she probably doesn't really sound Minnesotan. Even the Iron Rangers don't speak the way she did.

[Critters2]

16. There really is a distinct difference.

My dad lives in WI, and I lived for 5 years in northern IA, near Minnesota. I can tell the difference between the two accents immediately. I prefer the MN one, for some reason.

[Left Is Write]

26. I agree! In 1994, I was living in Wisconsin and working at a radio station.

I am a native Minnesotan.

I took a working vacation to Nashville. While sitting in a bar waiting for someone, I struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to me. He said, "You're from Minnesota." Obviously he was right, but I said, "I live in Wisconsin." The man responded, "You might live in Wisconsin, but you're from Minnesota!"

There is definitely an accent difference.

[Left Is Write]

25. It's Frances McDormand, and no, she didn't.

I absolutely do not mean to sound snotty, and I really enjoyed Fargo, but that was not a Minnesota accent. It was a non-Minnesotan's impression of a Minnesota accent, and it sounded about as authentic as my British accent.

[conscious evolution]

27. Oops on the name

However the young lady on the night I told of sounded just like her.That was the first thing i thought when I saw Francis McDormand,for the very first time,in Fargo.
And I'm pretty sure the young lady at the beach was from Wisconson because she was wearing a T-shirt that said University of Wisconson.(Trust me.You couldn't miss the shirt.Or should I say it was easy to overlook the shirt.nudgenudgewinkwinkk)But what clinched it for me was when she said she was from Wisconson.
Then again I have never met many people from either state and I damn sure couldn't tell there is a differance.

[mduffy31]

30. Yeah

you tell me that I have a MN accent I might have to kick your ass

[Dinger]

9. Hello Dare, From Northern Wisconsin!

:hi:

[Ariana Celeste]

10. My best friend is from Wisconsin.

I *love* the way he talks. :drools:

[WI_DEM]

15. why thank you!

[RetroLounge]

18. I was told I have "an accent"

But my voice come filtered thru 25 years in Chicago and 20 in Wisconsin...

Told it was sexy, but never melodious... :rofl:

RL

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. We are the nicest, most easy to speak with people in the country.

In my opinion. Next to Hawaiians, Iowans, and Minnesotans.

[Wapsie B]

22. Believe it or not

Iowa has a variety of voice inflections heard amongst the natives here. In the north some will talk like they're on the movie set of Fargo. While in the south you'll hear a number of people sound like they're from the Deep South.

[madrchsod]

28. northern illinois used to be part of wisconsin

but we tricked wisconsin out of the land...i dread the thought that i`d be saying ya hay dare

[u4ic]

31. I know a lady here from Wisconsin

Only been here a couple of years.

She is an absolute peach, but I wouldn't classify her voice as anything other than...ummm...errr...I can't say it's one of my favourite accents. ;-)

[mark414]

32. hey that's me

:hi:

[Connonym]

36. What are you talking about? We don't have accents...

do we?