Accents? Do they throw you?

[Blaine]

How so? Do tell more.

Haven't driven in Florida in several years, but driving either interstate 10 or 75 was like attending 400 anti-abortion rallies in a row. Seriously. Almost every billboard is "PLEASE DON'T ABORT ME, MOMMY" message.

So, all in all, it felt like the heart of JesusLand. And this is coming from a guy who literally lives at the intersection of Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi.

I thought he had a Cape Cod accent?

Maybe I'm not splitting hairs finely enough. But I've always identified it as the same. As does wikipedia.

Either way, it's not dramatically different to my non-Bostonian ears. And it's certainly thick as hell.

[Darzin]

Has anyone ever heard of a Washingtonian accent? Because as far as regions go in the U.S. I Don't think we have a regional accent just an American one, but I dunno of course my speech sounds normal to me, I have heard it said that we speak the least accented English in the world but that sounds like BS to me because English came form you know England.

[S John]

Haven't driven in Florida in several years, but driving either interstate 10 or 75 was like attending 400 anti-abortion rallies in a row. Seriously. Almost every billboard is "PLEASE DON'T ABORT ME, MOMMY" message.

So, all in all, it felt like the heart of JesusLand. And this is coming from a guy who literally lives at the intersection of Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi.

Florida and North Carolina are probably the two states that I've spent the most time in without having lived there.

I have family in both north and south Florida. It is like two different states. To me, northern Florida is more like an extension of Georgia and Alabama, while from Tampa / Orlando down to Miami is the more cosmopolitan/diverse part of the state with the big Hispanic influence and the northern transplants and retirees. I mean, I've gone floating down a cold spring through a swamp with a 6 pack tethered to my inter-tube in north Florida... and on a dinner cruise on the inter-coastal waterway in South Florida. Very different kinda days, those. But, I like both parts of the state, actually. I could totally live in Florida.

ETA: Virginia is similar to Florida in that there are a couple very distinct regions. The few Virginia counties within commuting range of Washington DC are waaaay different than the more rural counties to the south and west. I've lived in both areas and did much of my growing up in the latter. Its pretty interesting, you really only need to travel down a county or two from the DC area before you start hearing southern accents again and the cultural difference is huge. Anyone that I went to high school with would have considered themselves a Southerner. Most would have had an accent, nobody would bat an eye if you strolled into a party with a chew in, a pick up was the ultimate form of transportation, etc. In northern Virginia, they identify much more with Washington DC than they would with the 'South' or even as 'Virginian'. Lots of little things too, like lacrosse is huge in northern Virginia. I barely knew what lacrosse was before I went to college. In college I also discovered the educational disparity between the Virginia kids who went to school in Nova and those that didn't. Nova has great schools. The rest of the state is pretty meh. I know my high school sucked in comparison.

Has anyone ever heard of a Washingtonian accent? Because as far as regions go in the U.S. I Don't think we have a regional accent just an American one, but I dunno of course my speech sounds normal to me, I have heard it said that we speak the least accented English in the world but that sounds like BS to me because English came form you know England.

I don't know about a 'Washington' accent specifically, but I can usually pick out a west coaster in general. I think its more pattern of speech and certain phrases than accent though.

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

Has anyone ever heard of a Washingtonian accent? Because as far as regions go in the U.S. I Don't think we have a regional accent just an American one, but I dunno of course my speech sounds normal to me, I have heard it said that we speak the least accented English in the world but that sounds like BS to me because English came form you know England.

I've heard of the Pacific Northwest accent.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

S John, Blaine,

I dated a woman who's parents were from Massachusetts right after college for about three years. At that time her parents were living in Citrus County Florida. It's a couple of hours North of Orlando and Tampa not far from Gainsville. I went with her to visit several times. It was a bizarre hybrid. There were quite a few native Floridians, southern accents and all, complemented by transplanted Northerners.

What really blew me away was the people from the Northeast were segregated by neighborhood. For example my then girlfriends parents lived in the neighborhood where Ted Williams lived and was marketed to people from Massachusetts and New England while other's who were from New York lived in a neighborhood marketed to people from NYC. That just seems odd to me.

[Darzin]

I don't know about a 'Washington' accent specifically, but I can usually pick out a west coaster in general. I think its more pattern of speech and certain phrases than accent though.

Yeah I can see this like I just found out that people on the east coast (or maybe just New Jersy)? call Subs Hoagies. weirdos.

[BLU-RAY]

Hoagie is an eastern PA/Southern NJ term. We call 'em subs up here in northern NJ.