Play Book Tag discussion

Amy and I recently had a conversation about how our members are from different parts of the United States and even the world for that matter so we all have different accents I am from the south east United States, we have the New England states, out West, Australia, New Zealand and more. (sorry for leaving others out, I can't remember them all) We even speak slightly different as I just read a post about "nicking" a book which I assume is stealing or taking. Also to "post" a book which where I'm from would be to mail a book.

When you read, both books and posts on goodreads, what voice do you use to read? What are some words or phrases that interest you or confuse you. What is your favorite accent you enjoy listening to.

I’m always really conscious of the fact that I retain the u in many words that most of you don’t, such as colour. A friend here in Australia who is here from Baltimore was commenting to me about all of the terms and phrases we use here that she doesn’t understand. I said something had been knocked off and she had no idea what I was talking about!

I am from Indiana, born and raised, so I typically read in that voice. That is especially awkward for characters not midwest white female. When I read a man's voice it tends to be (I am assuming) some male version of my own voice or perhaps a close male relative. I am not very creative when it comes to my internal reading voice.

Supposedly, midwest accent is the standard for news casters, meant to be a generic representation of US speakers, but I find there to be many accents in Indiana that are heavily southern influenced (in small towns especially).

I love accents! Being a hobby linguist I love trying to guess where someone is from based on the accent, under the right circumstances of course. I used to really love a British accent, like many people, but more recently I love a thick southern draw or Northern US & Canadian accent, because it is almost just like American English with the slightest differences. I associate it with nice people because most people I have met from the north (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Canada) have been really cool friendly people :)

I haven't learned any new words or phrases recently, but I remember the first time I heard "titter." Not an uncommon thing to say, or see in books, but I had no clue what it meant. A friend of mine says all kinds of funny phrases (born in TX, migrated to Indiana). I am trying to recall the correct phrasing, but I am pretty sure he says "put er in the wind" when someone leaves or has disappeared (like from a party).

Meli wrote: "I love trying to guess where someone is from based on the accent..."

I am beyond horrible at this. I'll say, you must be from the mid west. They say nope, Pakistan. joke. but I am horrible at picking where people are from bases on language.

I read comments here on good reads in my own voice. The exception is Susie. Sorry Susie, but I hear a female version of Crocodile Dundee. I know that is probably not accurate, but hey....it is what it is.

Since I listen to audiobooks most of time, I hear the accents the narrator takes on. That is why I love John Lee and all his accents. When I'm reading out loud (which I love to do) I do the voices for the characters so I try at accents although I am horrible. Reading silently, I read in my own voice.

Like most American's I love the British accent and also the Australian accent. I like the hear a hard Boston accent. Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, but because its entertaining. I wouldn't want my GPS to be that.

I love phrases that are different from other places and the Southern United States have many. My cousin's wife is from Texas and we were talking about how things are said different in Georgia. Some Examples:
Shopping Cart in Georgia is a Buggy
Breakfast sandwich No matter what kind, is referred to as a biscuit until actually ordering.
Soft drink, Soda, Pop, what ever you call it, In Georgia it is called a Coke. You say, I want a Coke, and then the other person says, "what kind, I got Pepsi, Dr. Pepper and Sprite."
Of course Ya'll.

And speaking of accents, I love the movie My Fair Lady.

Susie wrote: "I said something had been knocked off and she had no idea what I was talking about! ..."

Knocked off, like "the vase was knocked off the table?" I use that.

Meli wrote: ""he's pissed to the wind" when someone leaves or has disappeared (like from a party)..."

Here, that phrase, Piss to the wind or pissing in the wind, means doing something that is futile, a complete waste of time or ineffective. Similar to swimming against the tide.

I think Nicked a book means to have made a mark on it or to scuff it. Like your car fender can get nicked. Related to nickel perhaps?

It is true that a few of the Sunday conversation topics have had some of my influence. I hear Jason as literary, but then I see that southern charm and boyish imp come through. It wasn’t until I was watching American Idol finale and saw Caleb Lee Hutchison return to his home state of Georgia, and realized he must have some kind of an accent. I laughed out loud, and then remembered my conversation a year ago with Susie about the same thing. She reads like British to me, and yet I’m sure she sounds Aussie.

I have heard just one audio in a lifetime, the Stolen Marriage, and I loved the way the author did Henry from Hickory, the African American voices, particularly the Reverend, and the Women. Also the cruel mother in law. But that experience taught me that I hear my own voice narrating when I am reading. And when I am reading you, it’s my imagination. Anita’s voice is sweet and a little higher. Nicole R and D both have lower tones. They are both alto. Rachel Levy appears to me also to be a soft alto. Jolene sounds like a combination of New York and California, whatever that means. Karin’s voice I interpret as musical, no surprise there. Michael - well I find him literary and sophisticated, he sounds like a professor to me. But he grew up around these parts so, I guess you never know. I was born in NYC, grew up in CT. Landed in Boston for college and graduate school and stayed. But none of my friends, neighbors, community, coworkers or patients have a Boston accent. We’re all transplants through the schools. That accent is still alive in some smaller communities I suppose, but it’s not really here in my opinion. As I joked with Jason, car keys are car keys, not khakis. And in the key of A. Definitely Soprano/Second Soprano. I think about our midwestern members as having warm voices. Idit is Israeli, but I hear her in my voice, as I do most everyone. KateNZ must have some kind of accent, but like the others I don’t hear it either. I think that’s why I laughed out loud at the TV show. It had never occurred to me. Maybe those who listen to audio are more attuned. That’s why I found it interesting.

Maybe time for a PBT Youtube page where member can record their reviews in addition to posting here?

I was born and raised just outside Boston so I grew up with that accent. Now living in Texas, I think I have lost most of the Bostonian influence but every now and then something sneaks into my speech. We are notorious for adding an 'R' to the end of words, especially those ending with an "A". Both of my daughters have names that end that way - Rebecca and Jessica- so they sometimes become Rebeccer and Jessicer. Likewise the words forty and shorts which can come out as 'fawty' and 'shots'.
I love listening to British and Australian accents although I have trouble with the Australian one at times. Actually, I love listening to most accents.

Jason wrote: "Meli wrote: ""he's pissed to the wind" when someone leaves or has disappeared (like from a party)..."

Here, that phrase, Piss to the wind or pissing in the wind, means doing something that is futi..."

Edited - "put er in the wind" :)

And meaning of "piss in the wind" is also same here, but I get it mixed up with this other phrase for some reason.

You know nothing too technical or complicated for me, Jason! Print only - lol!

I had forgotten Ellen was from around these parts. And AJ from South Africa. That’s like a mind blow to think it must sound different from how we read it.

My favorite accent is an Irish accent. When my sister and I took our first trip to Ireland last summer we had to ask someone in the airport for help finding our car rental place. After he explained to us how to find it and walked away, my sister and I both turned to each other at the exact same time and said OH MY GOD it's Titanic!! Cuz we're both obsessed with the Titanic and many of the crew on Titanic were Irish. He was the first person Irish person to speak to us once we landed so it was very thrilling. Like--we have arrived!! I also love a British accent and when a Russian female speaks English.

Meli wrote: "Supposedly, midwest accent is the standard for news casters, meant to be a generic representation of US speakers, but I find there to be many accents in Indiana that are heavily southern influenced (in small towns especially). "

Indiana is eastern midwest, and the "general American" accent is more of a central midwest. I have seen several articles and studies that say northeastern Nebraska is the standard. In fact, I believe that network broadcasters used to be trained in Omaha, NE!

I grew up not far from Omaha, but even then I had a bit more of a drawl than those from Omaha. But, Walter Cronkite was born in my hometown and went on to be one of the greats! Coincidence? Maybe not ;) AND, he and I share a birthday! Double coincidence? Probably. lol

Nicole R wrote: "Meli wrote: "Supposedly, midwest accent is the standard for news casters, meant to be a generic representation of US speakers, but I find there to be many accents in Indiana that are heavily southe..."

Thats final. You are the anchor for the PBT Youtube Channel. haha.

Jason wrote: "Thats final. You are the anchor for the PBT Youtube Channel. haha. "

Ha! I do have a very accent neutral way of speaking. Partly because of where I am from and partly from working on getting rid of what little drawl I had.

I still have some things, like I pronounce pen and pin, and ten and tin, the exact same which is not technically correct. In my defense, I seriously cannot hear a different when other people say them "right"!

This question is also funny timing because just yesterday at a BBQ my friends and I all took the NYT dialect quiz. Mine NAILED my accent and said I was from Kansas City and Springfield, Missouri. I grew up less than an hour from KC and went to college in Springfield. Wichita, KS was the third city listed, which is just a couple hours from KC..

Does it guess other people correctly? It had a pretty high success rate among my friends!

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...

I'm with you on pen, pin ten, tin.

I have a southern drawl, I'm sure, but I have worked on cleaning up my pronunciation. I do pronounce poem as poe-em. Everyone tells me its wrong.

I think Google and Siri have helped the world as a whole with pronunciation.

At home, people don't think I'm from the south but can't really say where I'm from, though I have been asked if I'm from the north. But in my visits to NY, and Chicago, they immediately say, you are from the south. haha. WHERE DO I BELONG. haha

One big thing, I grew up next to Albany, GA. Down here, its pronounced Albeny. I pronounce it correctly as in Albany, NY. Maybe thats why they think I'm from the north.

Nicole R wrote: "This question is also funny timing because just yesterday at a BBQ my friends and I all took the NYT dialect quiz. Mine NAILED my accent and said I was from Omaha-Lincoln-Des Moines. All places ext..."

I got me good, The three most likely were Jackson MS, Chattanooga, TN, and Columbus, GA. I was worried for a bit though, because after several questions it was blue for the whole US.

Massachusetts is least similar to how I speak.

Wow! That quiz nailed it exactly! Minneapolis/St. Paul. I was born in Mpls and grew up in the burbs.

When I read, I use my voice for everything...too much trouble otherwise.

I am originally from upstate NY, but have lived in Northern California for 38 years, so my accent and words I use have modified a bit.

Upstate says supper, CA says dinner, upstate pop/CA soda, Upstate sneakers/CA tennis shoes, upstate gym class/CA PE....

These days most people don't notice my accent much, but there are a few tells. The other day I said apricot and someone was surprised by my pronunciation. I use a short a, but here in the Sacramento valley many people pronounce it with a long A with the ape starting the word.

When I first came to CA , I worked as a substitute teacher and some boys came up to me and said (as I heard it) "We brought our sneaks today."
I responded "Oh, you have gym today."

It turns out that they actually brought their snakes, lovely. What I said to them made no sense whatsoever, as they don't call it gym and they wouldn't bring snakes to PE class.

I took the quiz and there was an awful lot of "I never heard of that", or got no word for that. It was nice and red in the northeast and that put me in Yonkers and New Jersey. While I did spend 8.5 hours at a coffeeshop in New Jersey yesterday, that's not quite right. I'm more of a Connecticut gal I think. Whats the deal with pen, pin, ten, and tin, do they sound like en or in?

Nicole R wrote: "This question is also funny timing because just yesterday at a BBQ my friends and I all took the NYT dialect quiz. Mine NAILED my accent and said I was from Kansas City and Springfield, Missouri. I..."

It nailed where I lived now, Michigan. I grew up in California but I've obviously lived here long enough for it to rub off on my speech. I think when I read it's basically in my own voice unless the book is written in a certain dialect.

Amy wrote: "I took the quiz and there was an awful lot of "I never heard of that", or got no word for that. It was nice and red in the northeast and that put me in Yonkers and New Jersey. While I did spend 8.5..."

in for pen,pin ten,tin

Like "I got Tin of these guys" or Pass me the "Pin".

I thought of you guys and this conversation this morning, because we took the kids to breakfast a little hole in the wall place that had just re-opened, and my illiterate 15 year old said, oh the Phantom Gourmet visited here. Only he said Gourmet like I "Met" him yesterday. Let me admit I looked around to make sure no one heard him.

Amy, En and in sound the same to me. And I say them the same.

Without having yet read the other replies...

I'm in Canada. :-)

I'm sure I read using my own "voice"/accent. Unless it's an audio book. I'm listening to Tana French's The Secret Place at the moment, and loving listening to the Irish accents - two narrators for this one.

Susie wrote: "I’m always really conscious of the fact that I retain the u in many words that most of you don’t, such as colour. ..."

I do, too, Susie! And I am usually conscious of it, as well!

Shows me similar to a large triangle of the country from upstate NY to San Diego , to Washington state. Matched me for Sacramento in one response.

I think of more to say as I do read others' replies!

In Canada, the stereotypical accent, I think, is more common in Ontario. I do occasionally here people use "eh?" at the end of a sentence (though not all that often).

Probably the most prominent accents in Canada - the most different from the rest of the country are the Atlantic provinces - Newfoundland being the most obvious!

Speaking of Newfoundland accents, I LOVED listening to Alan Doyle (Great Big Sea) read his memoir recently: Where I Belong. For those of you who read my review, it was especially fun for me, as I had a roommate just out of university, who was from Nfld (closer to where Alan grew up), so it brought back the accent and whole lot of Newfie phrases!

Meli wrote: "Northern US & Canadian accent, because it is almost just like American English with the slightest differences. I associate it with nice people because most people I have met from the north (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Canada)..."

Ah, see!? This goes to show the stereotypical Canadian accent is Ontario-based. Those states are right by Ontario! And one of the people I know who says "eh?" at the end of her her sentences (more than anyone else I know!) currently lives in Montana, but grew up in Michigan.!

Jason wrote: "Meli wrote: "I am beyond horrible at this. I'll say, you must be from the mid west. They say nope, Pakistan. joke. but I am hor..."

LOL! This is probably me, too!

Jason wrote: "Soft drink, Soda, Pop, what ever you call it, In Georgia it is called a Coke. You say, I want a Coke, and then the other person says, "what kind, I got Pepsi, Dr. Pepper and Sprite."..."

I'm currently in Calgary, Alberta (Western Canada, for those who don't know Canadian geography), and as an adult I've called it "pop".

Growing up in a small town in Southern Saskatchewan (one province east of Alberta), though, it was all "Coke" for my family, anyway. I don't recall if that was the case for my friends or not. I don't know why this is...

Tessa (FutureAuthor23) wrote: "My favorite accent is an Irish accent. ..."

So, I mentioned listening to "The Secret Place" right now. One of the narrators is a young female. If any of you have seen the movie "Circle of Friends", oh, I don't remember the character's name, but she sounds just like Benny's best friend (the nice one, the dark-haired one).

Nicole R wrote: "
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2......"

That was fun! US-based, but not surprising to me, it picked out the Northern US (North Dakota and West), heading West as being most like the way I speak. North Dakota and Montana are just south of Saskatchewan, where I grew up. Montana is south of Alberta, where I've lived my adult life.

The three cities it mentions for me are Fresno (the only place a little further south, but still west), Seattle, and Anchorage.

Least like me are south and east: Houston, New Orleans, Philadelphia.

I must be a boring reader. I just read without adding accents or other voices! :) Unless I have seen the movie first....than I use the voice of the actor.

I took the quiz and it gave me Rockford and Aurora Illinois and Madison Wisconsin. I live in northeast Iowa so it's not too far off.

The quiz came close as the third city was Tallahassee, FL and I was raised 4 hours away in Jacksonville, FL. The other duties were Little Rock and Oklahoma City.

Although I was born and mostly raised in the South, we lived in NJ when I was ages 6-12 and I had a lisp when we moved up there so I was placed with a Speech Therapist through the school. Some of the words that I struggled with and learned how to say there, much to my mom’s annoyance, are now said with a Northeast accent or way.

2.5 years ago I moved to WA and I’ve lost a lot of my accent although there are words that pop up here and there to the delight of my co-workers. The most recent one they caught me on is for my forward, Bryan, and Ryan are all one syllable when I say it.

I’ve found now that I pay attention to accents, there are a lot of words that I drop syllables on, except button and cotton, those I learned how to say in speech therapy and I pronounce out each syllable properly. (Like nails on a chalkboard for my mom).

On of my co-workers is Scottish and that is my all time favorite accent. She and I always have conversations about meanings of phrases and half of our conversations is figuring out what the other means. She was the first to make fun of my accent when I first moved to PNW and I was like.. whoa.. Pot! Kettle!

All that being said, when I read a book in my mind’s ear it’s in my voice like I’m reading out loud. IF I’m reading a memoir of someone whose voice I know, I might hear snippets of things in their voice.

Canadian too, from Toronto (Trawna, as natives pronounce it ;))

I’m actually French-Canadian, I learned both languages at the same time, so I had French tainting my English, and vice-versa. Now I’ve moved to Montreal (Muntreal, as anglo natives pronounce it ;)) and my accent when I speak French is gloriously confusing :D

Normally I’ve adopted pretty much the Quebec accent (except for a few things where I retain my anglo-tainted speak), but when people from France hear me speak compared to other Quebecers, I have a definite English accent. A French tourist once complimented me on my French. I was like “uh... thanks?”

And once I was hanging out with friends, and a random lady came up to us and said she’d been listening to us talk and guessed what accents everybody had. She nailed every one of my friends, then she turned to me and went “you, I have no clue.” My dad’s from France, I was raised with English all around me, now I’m in Montreal, but apparently I still have enough bits of random accents to confuse people XD

Fun question, Jason!

I’m sure I mostly retain my own accent (English but laced with a little Kiwi) when I’m reading, though my mental accent can happily lapse into Scots or Irish if the setting requires it. If the book is set in a country where I’m familiar with the language, I probably bring some of that with me too - not by way of an accent, but rather in rhythm and nuance.

I’m responsible for both Jason’s examples (nick = steal; post = mail) - they’re both English, but used here in New Zealand as well. NZ has its own slang and accent though. My son recently had a hilarious evening trying to teach some Hungarians the meaning of “chur”...

We’re even different from Australia - hey, Susie ... “jandal” ... ;)

Right, Nick also means to steal.....

My husband and I are always arguing over the jandal/thongs thing Kate! And chilly bin!! And who owns Crowded House and pavlova!

LOL Jason! Female Crocodile Dundee! I like to think my accent isn’t that harsh, but it probably is. I’m always struck by the Australian accent when we travel and are immersed in another culture, and then I hear it upon returning. It really is very unique and bizarre.

Nicked and knocked off mean the same thing. You could also say racked, pinched, or flogged.

I’m going to try and record my voice and attach it. Let’s see if Goodreads will allow it.

Goodreads is not letting me attach it. :-(

I picked up English in the Southwest, but in an international community. I would say I normally speak a rather neutral American English. But I’m something of a chameleon when it comes to speech patterns. The longer I am immersed in an environment the more I adjust the cadence and sound of how I speak. I love the variety of accents out there.

As for my reading voice, that’s mostly my own, unless the writing clearly suggests different - or if I listened to an audio version of a series book.

Wow that quiz was almost scarily accurate for me! It managed to guess the closest city, only 30 minutes from where I was born. Who knew just the fact that I say crawdad could tell so much?

I'm really surprised reading some of the comments to hear that most people don't imagine what the character sounds like when they're reading. I pretty much always do!

I think accents and languages are such a fascinating thing.

I have dialects in my head.
I lived in Mississippi for a couple of years in the mid-1980s. Long vowels.

I worked as a telemarketer for a company located in California. We were here in South Texas. Yet I quickly picked up on the sounds and the concerns of the people of California. Their voices sounded so Pacific oceanic.

I live in Corpus Christi, Texas, a coastal city partly on and near the Gulf of Mexico. I wondered we here sound Gulf-ic.

Last 2 years I read various 19th-century novels, mostly or all English. One day I spoke with my primary doctor, using some archaic turn of phrase. We both burst out laughing.

I love the English language too much to tie myself to one geographic location or even one century,

Enjoying Language.

Nicole R wrote: "This question is also funny timing because just yesterday at a BBQ my friends and I all took the NYT dialect quiz. Mine NAILED my accent and said I was from Kansas City and Springfield, Missouri. I..."

Not even close .... it picked Louisville KY, Jackson MS, and Columbus GA
I grew up in San Antonio TX, but have lived in Milwaukee WI for 50 years.

Sometimes an author will write a character with a voice SOooo distinct that I can clearly hear the accent.

For me the very best example of this is Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne

But there are others: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God for example.

Fun question. I’m not sure if I hear a voice in my head when reading.

So, I was born in Illinois to parents from Illinois so I started out with a midwestern accent. We moved to New Orleans when I was 13 and then I went to college in Texas. I definitely picked up some southern sayings, but not too much of an accent. I moved to California and kept my “y’alls”, until I moved to France. Because people didn’t understand some of the southern idoims, they got washed out in the three years that I was there.

I worked for an international company and so I got used to lots of accents. While in France, there were 3 “bosses” in our area, one French, one German and one Scottish. My French colleagues were surprised because I had the hardest time understanding the Scottish guy even though we were both native English speakers. While in France, i also dated a South African — love that accent, ut we would have a good laugh at the difference of American English and British English.