Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 16:46:19 -0700

From: Peter McGraw pmcgraw[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CALVIN.LINFIELD.EDU

Subject: Re: Great Lakes Whine (was Pinning Down A Region)



This is a rather late reply to the message below, but I'm still

intrigued. Grant, could you tell us more about what you mean by the

"Great Lakes whine"?



Peter McGraw

Linfield College

McMinnville, OR





On Wed, 24 Jul 1996, Grant Barrett wrote:



Just spent six months in the Virgin Islands managing a small retail store. One of my favorite

pastimes was to try to figure out where people off the cruise ships were from without telling me.

There was an enormous amount of traffic so I had plenty of practice.



What I learned:



-- There seems to be a Great Lakes whine. Syracuse, Lansing, Madison, Chicago and plenty of towns

in between have it. They dont admit it, and there're plenty of differences, but still.



-- Canadians DO say eh. The next best clue of their origin is that they complain about the look and

feel of American paper money. Also, try to get them to say "holiday" or "bottle".



-- East Texas and non-Cajun Lousiana sound a lot a like. Almost made a lifetime enemy by calling a

La. woman a Texan.



-- The Boston accent, like all accents, is strong in the older generations. I don't know if the kids will

pick them up later, but they sure don't have the accents now.



-- Hawaiians have an accent. I can't quantify it, but I'm working on it. May have to do field research.

Still wondering why a Hawaiian would take a Caribbean cruise.



-- Southern Missouri and Arkansas share a lot in common, speech-wise, but it wasn't until I was

away for a while that I was able to tell the difference. More Texas influence in Ark., flatter in

Missouri.



-- The Bowery boys accent may be near-dead in New York, but there's a new replacement: umpteenth

generation Puerto Rican English. Vey different from the English as a second language accent, and a

good distance from Spanglish.



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