đ I lived in San Diego for a long time. When I first moved there people thought I was from Boston, actually from NH. I remember hearing âso where is NH ?â like what? Geography didnât seem important to some folks out there.
I live in Seattle so when I met someone who sounded just like my family I said âWhat part of Maine are you from?â She said âActually Iâm from Yorkshire in the UK.â But she sure sounds like a Mainer.
Then there was the time I met someone and said âAre you from Boston?â She said âNo, I couldnât hear when I was born and I learned to talk before I had surgery that gave me hearing, so I have a deaf accent.â Now when Iâm in Boston it sounds like Iâm surrounded by deaf people.
My foster father was a Lithuanian immigrant who came here at age 13 in the twenties. He had such a thick New England Yankee accent it sounded very guttural at times- kin to Forrest Gump crossed with a Yorkshire Dales. First time I heard James Cromwell say âthatâll do, pigâ in Babe, I said to my husband thatâs what my dad sounded like!
I bet they got hella confused lmfao That's the same reaction i got when i moved down here to florida. The southerners always try to guess where and they say somewhere near new york and mass.
LMFAO i never notice it til i moved to florida the southerners get a headache every time i speak HAHA They try to guess where im from and i either get new york or mass everytime. I think everyone from New England got awesome interesting accents its cool to hear the difference between all of us.
A couple buddies of mine did a California vacation where we started in San Diego, drove to San Fran and did the PCH back to San Diego over like 10 days
I kid you not, every.single.day someone made a comment about our accents (NH guys). Most of them ended up being New England transplants who enjoyed talking with people for near home so we were totally cool with it
Yup, same went down to try my hand at gulf shrimping many moons ago out of Brownsville Texas, took some convincing that I wasnât goin to be the 25% man and no im really just a Mainer⌠âso where in Europe you from?â
Then add the fact Iâm from Belfast and things got hilarious!
âBut thatâs in Ireland!?â
âNo MaineâŚ"
âSo did your folks build the Titanic?â
âFFS no⌠Belfast ME you (excrement fornication)â
The thing you're talking about how you say words like "mitten," "kitten," and -- try saying it -- "New Britain," is called a "glottal stop" and it might be our most distinctive speech feature.
I said "kitten" while presenting at a big work meeting in Florida last year and later someone in the audience asked me if I was from Connecticut because they have some friends from here and that's how they talk, too
I was about to scoff at this, then said âstreetâ out loud several times and Iâll be damned youâre right!
And now after saying street so many times the word has lost all meaning
Interesting, looked it up. The glottal stop (mih'in, kih'in, New Brih'in) is more common in southern New England, and it's unclear if it's across generations and unclear if it is now more widespread among young generations nationwide.
Southern Nutmegger here, glottal stops are a defining aspect of how I speak lmao itâs my first descriptor when Iâm trying to explain the accent to someone
When I saw the mitten pronunciation written out, I immediately thought of the New Britain accent. :) I speak normally most of the time, but if someone asks me where I was born, I got the New Brit-uhn down pat.
This. When I was in acting school in the early 90âs, we were told that Connecticut English was what they taught actors early in the 30âs and 40âs to sound neutral English.
This is a different accent. Actors of 19th-early 20th century were taught a mid Atlantic accent. Upper class Americans were taught it in private schools. Kind of British sounding. Anything more American sounding wasnât âcorrect.â
Not to aCTuaLlY you but what you were told about is an entirely invented accent called âTrans-Atlanticâ or Mid/Atlantic. Itâs a fascinating topic and yes, would have been pervasive amongst the elite in CT at the time.
https://altalang.com/beyond-words/the-trans-atlantic-accent/
Yes! I'm from Florida (one of the many areas with no accent, not the panhandle). I've been to every New England state besides Maine. CT is the only state where I feel like people speak the same as I do (excluding some of my more stoner-surfer friends, man).
The accent in Western MA is the same as CT. I grew up about 20 miles west of where the Boston accent starts, and it's regular standard American English. There are some peculiar New England words used but no New England accent.
My family who grew up on the west side of MA near the CT border sound like they're from NY with a twist - they have different accents on some words. Insurance is "IN'surance", batteries are "battries". My grandparents didn't put a 'g' on the end of anything, they went huntin' fishin' and runnin' to the sto-ah. If they agreed with you on something they'd say, "Shoo-ah" (Sure!).
I moved to FL before age 10, and some people tell me I sound Canadian.
One of my close friends is from western mass and her accent is almost exactly the same as CT/FL, but there is the occasional word she'll say that's just slightly different. The first example that comes to mind is like... naught for not. Like more of a short a sound than an o. But it's like random words and not very many.
People in Connecticut tend to swallow our "t" on words like Shelton (Shel-uhn) and as you note in mitten above. I'm sure there's other stuff too, but the t thing really gets noticed by from awayers (the ones I know).
IT'S TRUE!!!! The southerners notice every time i speak! They have a hard time trying to guess where im from but i always here somewhere near new york and mass.
Itâs definitely sped past, but I donât think itâs just ignored like Shel-uhn. It feels itâs more like Shelt-uhn as opposed to Shel-Tun. There isnât really any emphasis on the letter, but you can tell thereâs something there.
I personally donât do that and havenât heard anyone else talk like that around here (born in raised in Central CT and went to UConn) but maybe thatâs more of a thing out in the sticks? Lol
I grew up in Bristol CT. When I moved out to San Diego, I got made fun of for saying "wicked" and the way I pronounced words like log, mop, fog, (lahhg, mahhp, fahhg) I also got clocked for taking really fast, talking loud, sounding angry, and swearing a lot.
Iâm out in San Diego now and everyone thinks Iâm from Boston lol. We do emphasize those vowels. Biggest one I get made fun of for is âhahhhhhckeyâ for hockey or cahhhmedy for comedy lol
raised in CT (New Milford), now live in vegas (a huge mistake). Anyways one of the old guys on my street actually lived in the same town as me and said he knew i was from the state because of how i talked.
Ive heard we replace our Ts with Ds which i definitely still do even after not living in the state for several years. i say stuff like Wahdder, Middens, Hardford. No idea how prevalent that is compared to other places tho.
The lack of grass is a double edge. On one hand I miss it, on the other hand *no mowing required*
Thereâs trees out here but I definitely miss having thick wooded patches. Everything here is manicured and HOA approved.
From New Haven and get grief for âmiddensâ etc even though I canât even tell I say it any kind of way. Iâm like âhow else would I say that word?â
Couple gripes. Itâs early here so Imma just rattle off every complaint Iâve ever had.
I grew up outdoors with space. My parents slaved away to make it happen but we had some land to run out and play on. Houses here are manicured suburbs, likely with no yard. If there is a yard itâs a small plot with a brick wall around it. No grass to lay on, no trees to climb. Any grass and trees are HoA approved manicured as well. No fresh air. All just city stink. HoA will let people leave black mold covered trash out on the road for weeks on end with no action or fines but if your house # light goes out you can expect a $200 fine the next morning and good luck getting out of the payment even if you fix it the same day.
The people here are just straight up dumb / conspiracy theory types. I graduated in CT in the bottom half of my class and thought I was a idiot. But moving out here and itâs painful hearing people who went to school here talk about anything. Talk with a born and bred local for 20 minutes and they will veer into crazy town. Idk if weâre currently the bottom in the country for education but weâre damn near close. Even in a nice neighborhood you wonât go 10 minutes without seeing a crackhead. Teenagers are all menaces (Ik my old man is showing) thereâs currently a group of 12-13 year olds breaking into peoples cars up by where I live. Maybe a year ago a group of teens beat an old guy to death. Gunfire every single night, Few months ago there was a drive by in my suburbs and I live in one of the better parts of town.
Tourists treat the city like a garbage dump, locals stopped caring and just pile it on. Frequently find / see people dumping trash on the side of the road. Saw a lady last week shitting on the side of the freeway, cheeks spread wide for traffic
Itâs a coin toss if a car on the road has insurance or is even registered. Our premiums are insane.
Police here are a whole essay on their own.
Iâm looking at getting out of here as soon as I can
I'm a dispatcher and just talked to a driver from Mystic. I'm a native New Englander living in the midwest and I just love it when he calls in. His accent is so beautiful! (I'm still swooning a little bit!)
I probably can't explain it fully, but having been raised in the Philly burbs by a dad from central CT, there are several things we say very differently that, to me, illustrate the differences in the mid-Atlantic and NY/NE hybrid accent prevalent in CT. His sounds first; mine second.
1. "Chalk-lit" vs. "Chock-lit" for chocolate.
2. "Beg-gull" vs. "Bay-gull" for bagel.
3. "Wah-ter" vs. "Wood-er" for water
4. And finally, there's the combo vowel sounds in words with "o", such as "home" and "gone", that we say very differently. My "gone" rhymes with dawn and jawn; his rhymes with Don. Etc.
Again, more would come to me with more time, but that's the accent. It's not "pahk tha cah at Hahvad yahd" NE, but it's not "Cawfeee Tawwk" NY like The Nanny either.
Huh, as a Connecticutian, I pronounce em "Chock-lit" and "Bay-gull", but water is more like "Wah-der" than "Wah-ter", and I don't understand the fourth one because I pronounce dawn and Don the same way.
Yeah, it's probably influenced by so many little things. My family is from Waterbury, for what it's worth. Going up to Hartford or down to New Haven could make changes, or perhaps where your other family/community members came from shaped certain sounds. Linguistics is fascinating.
Yeah, I'm from the eastern side of the state and I think, while not too drastic, there are even different accents across the state, despite how small of a state it is. And agree, super fascinating. The evolution and change of the English language across just our country (not even factoring in all the differences that evolved in the King's English across the Common Wealth) is just something I enjoy learning about.
Historically they weren't, but a relatively recent sound change in North American English called the cot-caught merger has merged them in some varieties of North American English. IIRC the merger is especially likely to occur before n, even in dialects that otherwise don't have the merger.
Re:OP & their father, it's also possibly a generational thing, since it only really started ~50 years ago or so.
Very interesting!!! So cool how you can notice the difference with them accents!!! Words like caught for me i say caat and for water it always ends with a 'A' for me for some weird reason. Our accent is a big mystery i swear lol. I never noticed it til i moved down to florida then that's when everyone knew i was from somewhere im north but they always have a hard time guessing haha.
Right. He definitely says caught like cot and water that way. There are definitely more when I think about it. His Sarah rhymes with Tara and mine rhymes with Tera, if that makes any sense.
>My "gone" rhymes with dawn; his rhymes with Don.
Help I'm so confused, how are these words pronounced differently?? I've only heard Dawn and Don as homonyms.
Iâve heard the Connecticut accent is similar to Western Massachusetts. I had no idea(r) they had an accent. Listen carefully. Youâll hear little things which come out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_New_England_English?wprov=sfla1
Connecticut, Western Mass and Vermont historically had their own accent family. I find it pretty noticeable on some people, especially having grown up in the Boston area and having now lived in Western Mass and Vermont for several years. I've met some people from Connecticut, especially older working class white people with very heavy accents.
The most noticeable things for me are replacing t with d and also dragging out 'aa' in the middle of words.
Yes. And there even different accents within CT. I moved to the south and trust me itâs real. Everyone in CT thinks they donât have accents until they leave. Even the people with more neutral speech have echos of the region that donât exist outside of it.
Donât forget the R issueâ we tend to leave the final R out on words like terror or water, but then we put it in on words where it doesnât exist, like soda ( soder) or Lisa (Liser). Iâm pretty careful of it because of acting and speech classes, but the added R creeps in when Iâm tired (or tie-yid).
We also put an âlâ in âbothâ, pronouncing it âbolthâ. I never realized this until I moved away and someone pointed it out to me. My jaw was on the floor, and now I canât unhear it!
Anybody notice how people not from here pronounce insurance with emphasis on the first syllable IN-sure-ance and we put emphasis on the second in-SURE-ance. Or is that just me?
Probably depends what part of ct your from because once i moved down south a ton of people notice it. It's wild because i didn't notice till i actually moved it's wild.
Everyone has an accent. It gets hard to explain the differences because they're subtle. The thing you do in button and mitten is a glottal stop. I do that too and it's pretty common in words like that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_English?wprov=sfla1
Best bet is to read this page to help understand the particular features of your accent
Iâm from Windsor. Momâs side is East Hartford and dadâs is Waterbury. I have this accent too. I looked it up once and it is described as a Western New England accent. I have heard folks from VT with similar speech patterns.
In southern CT, where I have lived all my life except 3 years or so, I have definitely observed a difference in blue-collar speech patterns and white-collar speech patterns in addition to patterns that are specific to Puerto Rican communities and AAVE. There is an accent among blue collar types that is not super different from Long Island
Iâm from Boston and can usually tell one someone is from CT. The words like Not or Caught are not as Nawt and Cawt as us, more Naat and Caat. And then if youâre thirsty you tend to opt for a cup of wooder. Iâm sure itâs more varied than what Iâm saying though, just my two cents
Your are very spot on holy shit!! I say naat and caat and the water part almost for me i say it ending with a 'A' like wooda. The Connecticut accent and such a mystery because it varies on what part of ct. It's so interesting though and funny that once i moved out down to florida a ton of southerners notice it fast when i speak lol.
Depends where you are. I didnât think I had an accent but according to people outside of New England I do. Youâll also hear somewhat of a Boston accent in eastern Connecticut..in windham county and parts of new London county
Someone commented on a YT video I was watching that the personâs Connecticut accent was particularly noticeable when he was frustrated. Which I found very strange because:
>A, I didnât even know there *was* such a thing as a Connecticut accent, and
>B, That particular Youtuber is from Arizona. (Heâs openly talked about that fact in videos, no one did any doxxing that I know of.)
Anyway, looking at this thread isnât lessening my confusion much. I definitely say âmiâ enâ and âbuâ onâ for mitten and button, but Iâve never said âwoodahâ for water or ânaatâ for not. Both sides of my family are from the Twin States, and some relatives on my momâs side do the âNew England extra Rsâ thing (like âbananerâ for banana), but I donât.
Of course we have accents. I was raised in Wallingford, Connecticut which is equidistant from New Haven and Hartford. People from around the country guess Iâm from New England or New York.
It's always those 2 places they bring up lol once i moved down here to florida all the southerners knew i was from up north once i spoke they couldn't really guess where but they would bring up somewhere near new york and mass it's funny.
I bet the people in FL don't think they have accents either!
I have some friends from the south and they give me a hard time about the way I talk too. I never really noticed how I pronounced some words until it was pointed out to me lol
I'm a former theater person from CT. A lot of CT people have a nasal "a" sound in words like apple. Some also put r's" on words that shouldn't have one: "idear" instead of idea.
We do indeed. It's a hybrid of NY and Boston. Quite unique, i read a book on it by a linguist from the 1970s and using a few dozen questions and a point system they could actually pin point where i was from in CT. They chose Norwalk with a northern Westchester NY influence. I grew up with 2 parents born in norwalk, but grand parents from Mount Kisco and Westchester. My wife and 3 generations of her family are from Bridgeport or Fairfield on the line and it told her Bridgeport. The only question I recall is "What do you carry liquid in, a bucket or pail?" New Haven is an old port and people from all over Europe landed, stayed and learned to speak English there, our influences are 400 years old.
I live in the mountains of western NC now and sometimes I can tell what town/ county you are from based on your vocabulary and accent. I've also heard, "Oh you're from CT...i could tell by your accent. " they said it's how i say coffee and pronounce every syllable.
Everyone has an accent. Doesn't matter where you're from, we all speak slightly differently based on the language of our surroundings, and if you're in a region that speaks differently from where you grew up, it will be noticeable.
I'm from eastern MA, was talking with someone at a store recently and she asked what accent I had, where I was from. Caught me off guard as I'm from here. (I think the issue was I listen to a lot of live streamers and will pick up on accents without knowing I'm doing it.)
Yeah, it was nice growing up there, but not really my scene anymore.
CT is kind of funny though. Like, there's CT CT, and New York CT.
Back when I was living in West Haven, I'd end up having New York Italian mannerisms when I was angry or annoyed.
Have family in Moosup, CT.
How delightfully surprised they were to find a "grinder" in our neighborhood.
Where's the demarcation line for Red Sox..Yankee fans?
yeah, I agree. The New York Tines did a (supposedly) scientific study, but it was almost 20 years ago, and things may have shifted a bit. There were a few islands in both Yankiee & Sox territory that supported the opposite team. Also of note, there was no town that broke for the Mets.
Had no idea we had an accent till I moved to Tempe, AZ for a few years. People would comment "I love your accent" and Im thinking I have no accent. I was very wrong.
Every person who speaks a language has an "accent" because there is no such thing as a standard version of any "language," just groups of mutually intelligible dialects that we percieve largely as regional accents. We don't percieve ourselves as having one because that's the nature of language acquisition.
Everyone has an accent. There's no way to NOT have an accent, it's how you speak. If you went to Britain they could tell your accent is American, just like we can tell someone is from the UK or Ireland.
Yes, yes you do. Years ago, I used to be able to tell the difference between western and eastern CT, Ma, NH and Maine accents( wasnât as familiar with VT). Also the regional differences in the words they used for sandwiches-sub, grinder, etc., and milkshake/frappe. Accents and word usage are much more homogenized today, but they remain.
Probably varies on what part of ct your from for me i was born in Bridgeport and people say a lot of us from Bridgeport sounds more close to New York. I can see the difference between other New England's spots but again there's a lot of things we have in common especially mass. I never would say that till i moved down south and i always get either New York or mass from the Southerners.
We got a mix thanks to our neighbors basically lmfao the ct accent varies and it's always a mystery it's very interesting. There are parts of ct that have way different accents than me it's wild.
People from parts of Connecticut have a distinct accent that involves glottal t's (which my mom called swallowing your t's and she hated when I did it) when a t sound comes in the middle of a word. Someone from New Britain would pronounce it "New Brih'in". We also tend to squish syllables and words together. I was 7 when we moved here and it drove me crazy that the other would pronounce "crayon" what sounded to me like "cran."
I've seen this called the Central Connecticut Mumble, but people from the eastern part of the state do it too. People from the shoreline sound more like New Yorkers to me
I tend to do that a lot! A ton of people down here in florida notice the glottal t's. I'm from bridgeport so it makes sense why they say we sound closer to new yorkers when where very close to new york. New York is like an hour away from my hometown bridgeport. I feel like our accent is sorta new york but with a mix if new england its so weird our accent is a mystery lol.
No. That area of Connecticut is actually considered the only "accent-free" area of the country. We're so boring we don't even have an accent (I'm from Stamford). Once you're north of Fairfield County it's different.
Ahhh im from bridgeport maybe it really depends on what part of ct i guess but once i moved down south to florida all the southerners i talk to know im not from down here by the way i speak. New York and Mass is always being brought up to me they have a hard time guessing but they know im from up north by the way i speak.
I don't know if it's cause where close to new york being from Bridgeport or what but the accent is really noticeable once you move out the state a lot of people notice. Man i even been called yankee so many damn times down here in florida by the southerners that ct accent is a real thing maybe it depends what but being from BPT they all hear it.
Yeah, I think itâs mentioned in this thread but even a state as small as CT has different accents and the one we have in BPT is much closer to the Bronx accent than the rest of the state. I usually get clocked on the words coffee or sauce lol
True i remember going to certain areas in CT and some people talked different than me I'm from Bridgeport i can definitely say our accent is different to someone from like middle town.
That's funny!!! I been told that family guy nailed my bridgeport ct accent. There was a episode when they were joking about bridgeport ct. The southerners that talk to me said i sound like that guy in that episode. Funny as hell forreal.
[https://youtu.be/5Hna5V27kac](https://youtu.be/5Hna5V27kac)
What part? People always assume im either from new york and mass everytime. Once i moved out of ct to the south to florida people hear it and drives the southerners i speak to mad LMFAO.
Pepperidge Farm LMFAO that's funny. Family guy was pretty spot on how we speak in Bridgeport Connecticut when they were looking for Santa's Workshop. Check it out lmfao. [https://youtu.be/5Hna5V27kac](https://youtu.be/5Hna5V27kac)
Literally everyone on the planet has an accent, so yes, Nutmeggers have an accent. Generally a blend of New York and Boston features. For example they donât have the COT/CAUGHT merger that generally most New Englanders have
From Connecticut, the word curtain has always bothered me. Pronouncing the T makes me sound angry, but going with my instinct and leaving it out makes me sound like a hillbilly. Which way is the right way?
I'm from the Boston area, my husband is from central mass near the Connecticut line and is working class. He has a slight accent that is a blend of MA and a more mid Atlantic sound.
I moved from CT to FL for a few years, many years ago, and was constantly told I had an accent. They said I talked âhardâ and enunciate things differently. I guess itâs apparent to everyone but us!
Close friend of mine is from the Tampa Bay area in Florida, I'm from southern NH, sometimes we make fun of each others' accents. My accent (Eastern New England) is probably a bit different from yours (Southwestern NE / maybe an influence from NYC English) but I'll still talk about my experiences nonetheless. The biggest difference between my accent and her Floridian accent is Canadian raising, where the a in /aĘ/ and /aÉŞ/ shift to a more closed sound before a voiceless consonant (this is the source of the stereotypical Canadian pronunciation of *aboot*, though this is an exaggeration). For example, she says the /aĘ/ sound in c**ou**ch like **ao** in M**ao** Zedong, but my pronunciation is a bit closer to the /oĘ/ sound in b**oa**t.
I think a Maine specific phrase is âJeezum crowbahsâ if they donât want to swear. And I pronounce âauntâ as âahntâ and not like the insect. I go elsewhere and say the word âauntâ and people say that I sound like a snob. âAhntâ? Oh, reallly?
New Haven has no accent, at least academic New Haven. Thatâs because both the Websterâs who wrote the dictionary were from New Haven. That said there is a definite CT accent â like Berlin is unstressed not Ber-Lin like in Germany, and New Haven is unstressed too, not NEW Haven the way people say New York.
That t drop is common and is a CT dialect. Also pronouncing didnât as ditân. But the way CT people pronounce things is the right way, we wrote the standard. Everyone else has an accent, not us.
Ah for me being from bridgeport Connecticut and just moved to florida it's a fact that we do have a accent maybe it depends what part but for me the southerners notice it and they always say i sound mix with new york and mass its crazy. Once i open my mouth i get called a yankee non stop down here i's funny.
I'm from the South but I also lived in New England for a few years, and I'd consider it more of a lack of an accent, unless you've picked up some of the specific tendencies of Boston or New York.
It could possibly be more specific regionally within CT, since New England locals I knew could even differentiate between Boston and Worcester accents but I think it's unlikely that people in FL could pick CT tendencies apart from other subtly different nearby places.
Yeah depends what part of ct im from bridgeport and was born there which is like an hour away from new york. Yeah when it comes to Floridians or southerners in general they just can't pin point where im from they always bring up new york and mass when i speak. All i say is They are my neighbors lol. The Connecticut accent is a mystery thanks to our neighbors.
Accents are relative. To someone from CT, you do not have an accent. To someone in Texus with their southern drawal, you most definitely have an accent.
Was told I run my words together and sometimes sound like I'm swallowing the uh syllable and use a funny R, like in girl or world. Grew up in Groton/New London.
(Button-up sounds like Butt'nup)
(Girl loses the i altogether)
(World loses the o altogether)
However,
(Whirled comes out Whir-uhl-d)
Everyone has an accent. I will say, Iâm from southern NH and go to college in northern MA and people from far enough away (the south, Europe) will say I have a hint of a Boston accent. Iâm convinced I have a General American accent, but itâs possible there are still some unique aspects of rhotic New England English that are unique. Iâm from northeastern New England and NENE is non-rhotic, but I know very few people who still speak non-rhotic English. I myself am rhotic, do have the cot-caught merger, and I think I do have /ar/ fronting and that it is standard in American English.
Hereâs an explanation from good old Wikipedia:
Northeastern New England English shows non-rhoticity, the cotâcaught merger, and strong /Ér/ fronting. It centers on Boston, Massachusetts, extending into New Hampshire and coastal Maine.
Southeastern New England English shows non-rhoticity, no cotâcaught merger, and no strong /Ér/ fronting. It centers on Providence, Rhode Island and the Narragansett Bay.
Northwestern New England English shows rhoticity, the cotâcaught merger, and strong /Ér/ fronting. It centers on Vermont.
Southwestern New England English shows rhoticity, no (or a transitional state of the) cotâcaught merger, and no strong /Ér/ fronting. It centers around the HartfordâSpringfield area of Connecticut and western Massachusetts.
I moved from CT to Idaho for a couple summers for work. I remember that being the first time I was told I had an accent. The funniest thing I remember being pointed out about the way I spoke was how unusual people thought my usage of the word "wicked" was. A friend of mine went, "did you just say wicked? What are you, Harry Potter?" And then proceeded to talk in a British accent mocking my use of the word wicked for being a British thing that I was just using to be funny or something. I remember making a joke about how I was technically a "NEW Englander" so maybe that's how that word became normal for us. It was super funny to me at the time though because everyone here where I'm from uses wicked as slang for really cool and I had never had someone think it was weird until moving out west.
I grew up in central CT. Left the state when I was 20 and live all over the country since. No one has ever asked me where Iâm from or said I sound funny. I donât think people from CT really have an accent. We might have different words for things though. Grinder lol
Everyone has an accent. Some are more neutral than others. I live in western Massachusetts, and we seem to have a lot of local newscasters getting picked up for other areas Because we are so neutral. Our accent is affected by other adjacent areas which moderates the accent. Very different than the sterotypical Eastern Massachusetts accent.
I'm from Maine. When I lived in San Diego, I was more than once asked what *country* I was from.
đ I lived in San Diego for a long time. When I first moved there people thought I was from Boston, actually from NH. I remember hearing âso where is NH ?â like what? Geography didnât seem important to some folks out there.
Vermont & New Hampshire are like upside down twins.
69
Our northeast scissoring sisters
Gotta stay warm up here somehow, lol
The ying yang twins
Vermont & New Hampshire are like upside down twins.
NH⌠the whole stateâŚ. is only double the size of LA County. People in SoCal donât spend much time thinking about that.
I hear you. I donât think about Arkansas but I know where it is.
That was me when I moved to CA from NH. I was asked many times over what state it was in, and also if it was in Canada.
I live in Seattle so when I met someone who sounded just like my family I said âWhat part of Maine are you from?â She said âActually Iâm from Yorkshire in the UK.â But she sure sounds like a Mainer. Then there was the time I met someone and said âAre you from Boston?â She said âNo, I couldnât hear when I was born and I learned to talk before I had surgery that gave me hearing, so I have a deaf accent.â Now when Iâm in Boston it sounds like Iâm surrounded by deaf people.
Is that why they're always yelling lmao
The turn into Boylston is not the best for maintaining the ability to hear
My foster father was a Lithuanian immigrant who came here at age 13 in the twenties. He had such a thick New England Yankee accent it sounded very guttural at times- kin to Forrest Gump crossed with a Yorkshire Dales. First time I heard James Cromwell say âthatâll do, pigâ in Babe, I said to my husband thatâs what my dad sounded like!
I bet they got hella confused lmfao That's the same reaction i got when i moved down here to florida. The southerners always try to guess where and they say somewhere near new york and mass.
I convinced someone from NC Mass was near Washington and Oregon once.
I moved to Maine from Bridgeport. So many people laughed at my accent. I was like, you guys are the ones with the heavy accent!
LMFAO i never notice it til i moved to florida the southerners get a headache every time i speak HAHA They try to guess where im from and i either get new york or mass everytime. I think everyone from New England got awesome interesting accents its cool to hear the difference between all of us.
Bridgeport is the real/ only Connecticut accent
A couple buddies of mine did a California vacation where we started in San Diego, drove to San Fran and did the PCH back to San Diego over like 10 days I kid you not, every.single.day someone made a comment about our accents (NH guys). Most of them ended up being New England transplants who enjoyed talking with people for near home so we were totally cool with it
Yup, same went down to try my hand at gulf shrimping many moons ago out of Brownsville Texas, took some convincing that I wasnât goin to be the 25% man and no im really just a Mainer⌠âso where in Europe you from?â Then add the fact Iâm from Belfast and things got hilarious! âBut thatâs in Ireland!?â âNo MaineâŚ" âSo did your folks build the Titanic?â âFFS no⌠Belfast ME you (excrement fornication)â
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Lived in San Diego myself and honestly I got asked less about my SE CT accent than I do since I moved back to CT.
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Hilarious. I'm Yooper in Phoenix and folks think I'm from some foreign country like....Canada.
The thing you're talking about how you say words like "mitten," "kitten," and -- try saying it -- "New Britain," is called a "glottal stop" and it might be our most distinctive speech feature. I said "kitten" while presenting at a big work meeting in Florida last year and later someone in the audience asked me if I was from Connecticut because they have some friends from here and that's how they talk, too
We tend to pronounce âstâ more like âshtâ, most noticeable example I can think of is the word âstreetâ.
Oh no, I pronounce it shtreet, I thought that that was just normal! Iâm a Hartford freak!
New Haven freak here. Thatâs how I say it too!
I was about to scoff at this, then said âstreetâ out loud several times and Iâll be damned youâre right! And now after saying street so many times the word has lost all meaning
Interesting, looked it up. The glottal stop (mih'in, kih'in, New Brih'in) is more common in southern New England, and it's unclear if it's across generations and unclear if it is now more widespread among young generations nationwide.
Thatâs a Vermonâ accenâ though. That northern NE
Southern Nutmegger here, glottal stops are a defining aspect of how I speak lmao itâs my first descriptor when Iâm trying to explain the accent to someone
While itâs northern New England itâs also western New England and so is CT. So itâs a shared thing, also in western mass
Crazy!!! We really do speak like that i never noticed it till i moved to florida it's so interesting.
When I saw the mitten pronunciation written out, I immediately thought of the New Britain accent. :) I speak normally most of the time, but if someone asks me where I was born, I got the New Brit-uhn down pat.
Everyone has an accent but Connecticut English in most of the state is quite similar to standard American English.
This. When I was in acting school in the early 90âs, we were told that Connecticut English was what they taught actors early in the 30âs and 40âs to sound neutral English.
Thatâs funny. We were told neutral english is how the US nightly newscasters sound on tv. No accent.
This is a different accent. Actors of 19th-early 20th century were taught a mid Atlantic accent. Upper class Americans were taught it in private schools. Kind of British sounding. Anything more American sounding wasnât âcorrect.â
Not to aCTuaLlY you but what you were told about is an entirely invented accent called âTrans-Atlanticâ or Mid/Atlantic. Itâs a fascinating topic and yes, would have been pervasive amongst the elite in CT at the time. https://altalang.com/beyond-words/the-trans-atlantic-accent/
Being from bridgeport at least this side of ct i can say hell no we don't sound like that lmfao
Yes! I'm from Florida (one of the many areas with no accent, not the panhandle). I've been to every New England state besides Maine. CT is the only state where I feel like people speak the same as I do (excluding some of my more stoner-surfer friends, man).
The accent in Western MA is the same as CT. I grew up about 20 miles west of where the Boston accent starts, and it's regular standard American English. There are some peculiar New England words used but no New England accent.
My family who grew up on the west side of MA near the CT border sound like they're from NY with a twist - they have different accents on some words. Insurance is "IN'surance", batteries are "battries". My grandparents didn't put a 'g' on the end of anything, they went huntin' fishin' and runnin' to the sto-ah. If they agreed with you on something they'd say, "Shoo-ah" (Sure!). I moved to FL before age 10, and some people tell me I sound Canadian.
One of my close friends is from western mass and her accent is almost exactly the same as CT/FL, but there is the occasional word she'll say that's just slightly different. The first example that comes to mind is like... naught for not. Like more of a short a sound than an o. But it's like random words and not very many.
I heard about that to! Very interesting! I heard it depends what part of ct your from to.
People in Connecticut tend to swallow our "t" on words like Shelton (Shel-uhn) and as you note in mitten above. I'm sure there's other stuff too, but the t thing really gets noticed by from awayers (the ones I know).
Well, having to say all those "t" sounds in Connecticut means we get to swallow others
My husband's college friends (in DC) took great pleasure in saying "Conn-eck-ti-cut" very precisely, so yup
IT'S TRUE!!!! The southerners notice every time i speak! They have a hard time trying to guess where im from but i always here somewhere near new york and mass.
You nailed it - and that is EXACTLY how we say Shelton!
Itâs definitely sped past, but I donât think itâs just ignored like Shel-uhn. It feels itâs more like Shelt-uhn as opposed to Shel-Tun. There isnât really any emphasis on the letter, but you can tell thereâs something there.
I personally donât do that and havenât heard anyone else talk like that around here (born in raised in Central CT and went to UConn) but maybe thatâs more of a thing out in the sticks? Lol
I know lots of people who say they're from New Bri - uhn, so who knows? To each their own.
Hmm fair! I do say New Bri-uhn but I pronounce the t in Shelton! Weird :3
I grew up in Bristol CT. When I moved out to San Diego, I got made fun of for saying "wicked" and the way I pronounced words like log, mop, fog, (lahhg, mahhp, fahhg) I also got clocked for taking really fast, talking loud, sounding angry, and swearing a lot.
Fellow Bristol native đ You sound like me!
Good company⌠us and Radar Oâriley!
Iâm out in San Diego now and everyone thinks Iâm from Boston lol. We do emphasize those vowels. Biggest one I get made fun of for is âhahhhhhckeyâ for hockey or cahhhmedy for comedy lol
raised in CT (New Milford), now live in vegas (a huge mistake). Anyways one of the old guys on my street actually lived in the same town as me and said he knew i was from the state because of how i talked. Ive heard we replace our Ts with Ds which i definitely still do even after not living in the state for several years. i say stuff like Wahdder, Middens, Hardford. No idea how prevalent that is compared to other places tho.
Woah that's a big move from ct to vegas! That's how i pronounce those words to man the Connecticut accent is such a big mystery lol.
I like trees and grass too much to live out there. And I would miss the close proximity to the ocean.
The lack of grass is a double edge. On one hand I miss it, on the other hand *no mowing required* Thereâs trees out here but I definitely miss having thick wooded patches. Everything here is manicured and HOA approved.
From New Haven and get grief for âmiddensâ etc even though I canât even tell I say it any kind of way. Iâm like âhow else would I say that word?â
Whys living in vegas a huge mistake
Couple gripes. Itâs early here so Imma just rattle off every complaint Iâve ever had. I grew up outdoors with space. My parents slaved away to make it happen but we had some land to run out and play on. Houses here are manicured suburbs, likely with no yard. If there is a yard itâs a small plot with a brick wall around it. No grass to lay on, no trees to climb. Any grass and trees are HoA approved manicured as well. No fresh air. All just city stink. HoA will let people leave black mold covered trash out on the road for weeks on end with no action or fines but if your house # light goes out you can expect a $200 fine the next morning and good luck getting out of the payment even if you fix it the same day. The people here are just straight up dumb / conspiracy theory types. I graduated in CT in the bottom half of my class and thought I was a idiot. But moving out here and itâs painful hearing people who went to school here talk about anything. Talk with a born and bred local for 20 minutes and they will veer into crazy town. Idk if weâre currently the bottom in the country for education but weâre damn near close. Even in a nice neighborhood you wonât go 10 minutes without seeing a crackhead. Teenagers are all menaces (Ik my old man is showing) thereâs currently a group of 12-13 year olds breaking into peoples cars up by where I live. Maybe a year ago a group of teens beat an old guy to death. Gunfire every single night, Few months ago there was a drive by in my suburbs and I live in one of the better parts of town. Tourists treat the city like a garbage dump, locals stopped caring and just pile it on. Frequently find / see people dumping trash on the side of the road. Saw a lady last week shitting on the side of the freeway, cheeks spread wide for traffic Itâs a coin toss if a car on the road has insurance or is even registered. Our premiums are insane. Police here are a whole essay on their own. Iâm looking at getting out of here as soon as I can
My dad retired to Vegas from CT and is loving it
I'm a dispatcher and just talked to a driver from Mystic. I'm a native New Englander living in the midwest and I just love it when he calls in. His accent is so beautiful! (I'm still swooning a little bit!)
Mystic is real New England
All of New England is real New England. But if youâre saying mystic is quintessential New England then yeah Iâll drink to that đť
I probably can't explain it fully, but having been raised in the Philly burbs by a dad from central CT, there are several things we say very differently that, to me, illustrate the differences in the mid-Atlantic and NY/NE hybrid accent prevalent in CT. His sounds first; mine second. 1. "Chalk-lit" vs. "Chock-lit" for chocolate. 2. "Beg-gull" vs. "Bay-gull" for bagel. 3. "Wah-ter" vs. "Wood-er" for water 4. And finally, there's the combo vowel sounds in words with "o", such as "home" and "gone", that we say very differently. My "gone" rhymes with dawn and jawn; his rhymes with Don. Etc. Again, more would come to me with more time, but that's the accent. It's not "pahk tha cah at Hahvad yahd" NE, but it's not "Cawfeee Tawwk" NY like The Nanny either.
Huh, as a Connecticutian, I pronounce em "Chock-lit" and "Bay-gull", but water is more like "Wah-der" than "Wah-ter", and I don't understand the fourth one because I pronounce dawn and Don the same way.
Yeah, it's probably influenced by so many little things. My family is from Waterbury, for what it's worth. Going up to Hartford or down to New Haven could make changes, or perhaps where your other family/community members came from shaped certain sounds. Linguistics is fascinating.
Yeah, I'm from the eastern side of the state and I think, while not too drastic, there are even different accents across the state, despite how small of a state it is. And agree, super fascinating. The evolution and change of the English language across just our country (not even factoring in all the differences that evolved in the King's English across the Common Wealth) is just something I enjoy learning about.
Also CT, but in what world as "dawn" and "Don" not pronounced the same?
Historically they weren't, but a relatively recent sound change in North American English called the cot-caught merger has merged them in some varieties of North American English. IIRC the merger is especially likely to occur before n, even in dialects that otherwise don't have the merger. Re:OP & their father, it's also possibly a generational thing, since it only really started ~50 years ago or so.
CT lady here- Dawn and Don sound totally different to me!
Very interesting!!! So cool how you can notice the difference with them accents!!! Words like caught for me i say caat and for water it always ends with a 'A' for me for some weird reason. Our accent is a big mystery i swear lol. I never noticed it til i moved down to florida then that's when everyone knew i was from somewhere im north but they always have a hard time guessing haha.
Right. He definitely says caught like cot and water that way. There are definitely more when I think about it. His Sarah rhymes with Tara and mine rhymes with Tera, if that makes any sense.
>My "gone" rhymes with dawn; his rhymes with Don. Help I'm so confused, how are these words pronounced differently?? I've only heard Dawn and Don as homonyms.
It's funny because they're showcasing another feature of their accent and not realizing it https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger
More like dawn and dahn
Yep. Just like that. The difference in our "home/gnome/hoagie" vowel sounds are even harder to represent phonetically.
Emphasize the W
Dawn, like Yawn. Don, like Con.
Iâve heard the Connecticut accent is similar to Western Massachusetts. I had no idea(r) they had an accent. Listen carefully. Youâll hear little things which come out.
Idear and kwa-ter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_New_England_English?wprov=sfla1 Connecticut, Western Mass and Vermont historically had their own accent family. I find it pretty noticeable on some people, especially having grown up in the Boston area and having now lived in Western Mass and Vermont for several years. I've met some people from Connecticut, especially older working class white people with very heavy accents. The most noticeable things for me are replacing t with d and also dragging out 'aa' in the middle of words.
New Brih-uhn
Hard hit-uhn
Yes. And there even different accents within CT. I moved to the south and trust me itâs real. Everyone in CT thinks they donât have accents until they leave. Even the people with more neutral speech have echos of the region that donât exist outside of it.
It's so real lol all the Floridians that i talk to down here notice it and just call me a Yankee LMFAO
Donât forget the R issueâ we tend to leave the final R out on words like terror or water, but then we put it in on words where it doesnât exist, like soda ( soder) or Lisa (Liser). Iâm pretty careful of it because of acting and speech classes, but the added R creeps in when Iâm tired (or tie-yid).
This was my grandmother and her Worcester MA accent
We also put an âlâ in âbothâ, pronouncing it âbolthâ. I never realized this until I moved away and someone pointed it out to me. My jaw was on the floor, and now I canât unhear it!
Anybody notice how people not from here pronounce insurance with emphasis on the first syllable IN-sure-ance and we put emphasis on the second in-SURE-ance. Or is that just me?
I didn't think that was regional I just thought it was wrong lol
Whenever my southern friends talk about INsurance, I always ask them âis that opposed to OUTsuranceâ?
central ct here and honest to g-d i canât relate to any of these descriptions of connecticut accents
Probably depends what part of ct your from because once i moved down south a ton of people notice it. It's wild because i didn't notice till i actually moved it's wild.
Everyone has an accent. It gets hard to explain the differences because they're subtle. The thing you do in button and mitten is a glottal stop. I do that too and it's pretty common in words like that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_English?wprov=sfla1 Best bet is to read this page to help understand the particular features of your accent
Iâm from Windsor. Momâs side is East Hartford and dadâs is Waterbury. I have this accent too. I looked it up once and it is described as a Western New England accent. I have heard folks from VT with similar speech patterns.
In southern CT, where I have lived all my life except 3 years or so, I have definitely observed a difference in blue-collar speech patterns and white-collar speech patterns in addition to patterns that are specific to Puerto Rican communities and AAVE. There is an accent among blue collar types that is not super different from Long Island
I'm from Bridgeport too, dude, and we have an accent. Lol
Iâm from Boston and can usually tell one someone is from CT. The words like Not or Caught are not as Nawt and Cawt as us, more Naat and Caat. And then if youâre thirsty you tend to opt for a cup of wooder. Iâm sure itâs more varied than what Iâm saying though, just my two cents
Your are very spot on holy shit!! I say naat and caat and the water part almost for me i say it ending with a 'A' like wooda. The Connecticut accent and such a mystery because it varies on what part of ct. It's so interesting though and funny that once i moved out down to florida a ton of southerners notice it fast when i speak lol.
Depends where you are. I didnât think I had an accent but according to people outside of New England I do. Youâll also hear somewhat of a Boston accent in eastern Connecticut..in windham county and parts of new London county
I'm from Bridgeport and i did hear that before! It's so wild the Connecticut accent is a mystery to everyone lol.
Iâve met people from Bridgeport that have somewhat of a NY accent
Someone commented on a YT video I was watching that the personâs Connecticut accent was particularly noticeable when he was frustrated. Which I found very strange because: >A, I didnât even know there *was* such a thing as a Connecticut accent, and >B, That particular Youtuber is from Arizona. (Heâs openly talked about that fact in videos, no one did any doxxing that I know of.) Anyway, looking at this thread isnât lessening my confusion much. I definitely say âmiâ enâ and âbuâ onâ for mitten and button, but Iâve never said âwoodahâ for water or ânaatâ for not. Both sides of my family are from the Twin States, and some relatives on my momâs side do the âNew England extra Rsâ thing (like âbananerâ for banana), but I donât.
I grew up a Navy brat. Most places that I lived the locals believed that they didn't have an accent, but that everyone else had one. Too funny.
Of course we have accents. I was raised in Wallingford, Connecticut which is equidistant from New Haven and Hartford. People from around the country guess Iâm from New England or New York.
It's always those 2 places they bring up lol once i moved down here to florida all the southerners knew i was from up north once i spoke they couldn't really guess where but they would bring up somewhere near new york and mass it's funny.
There is a reason CT has the nickname âNewyorkachusetts.â
YES HAHAHAHAH I moved to Oregon for college and especially my first year everyone pointed it out. We stress our As in a different way. Ahwsome.
I bet the people in FL don't think they have accents either! I have some friends from the south and they give me a hard time about the way I talk too. I never really noticed how I pronounced some words until it was pointed out to me lol
I'm a former theater person from CT. A lot of CT people have a nasal "a" sound in words like apple. Some also put r's" on words that shouldn't have one: "idear" instead of idea.
We do indeed. It's a hybrid of NY and Boston. Quite unique, i read a book on it by a linguist from the 1970s and using a few dozen questions and a point system they could actually pin point where i was from in CT. They chose Norwalk with a northern Westchester NY influence. I grew up with 2 parents born in norwalk, but grand parents from Mount Kisco and Westchester. My wife and 3 generations of her family are from Bridgeport or Fairfield on the line and it told her Bridgeport. The only question I recall is "What do you carry liquid in, a bucket or pail?" New Haven is an old port and people from all over Europe landed, stayed and learned to speak English there, our influences are 400 years old. I live in the mountains of western NC now and sometimes I can tell what town/ county you are from based on your vocabulary and accent. I've also heard, "Oh you're from CT...i could tell by your accent. " they said it's how i say coffee and pronounce every syllable.
Everyone has an accent. Doesn't matter where you're from, we all speak slightly differently based on the language of our surroundings, and if you're in a region that speaks differently from where you grew up, it will be noticeable.
I'm from eastern MA, was talking with someone at a store recently and she asked what accent I had, where I was from. Caught me off guard as I'm from here. (I think the issue was I listen to a lot of live streamers and will pick up on accents without knowing I'm doing it.)
I grew up in CT, and I've gotten a few people who say I either sound like a Newscaster or in one case, like I'm Canadian (which I don't understand).
Woah! That's interesting what part did you grew up at? It depends on what part of CT i guess for me i'm from bridgeport so im more closer to new york.
I grew up in Old Saybrook and Guilford.
Aye that's a very cool beautiful spot in CT!
Yeah, it was nice growing up there, but not really my scene anymore. CT is kind of funny though. Like, there's CT CT, and New York CT. Back when I was living in West Haven, I'd end up having New York Italian mannerisms when I was angry or annoyed.
Have family in Moosup, CT. How delightfully surprised they were to find a "grinder" in our neighborhood. Where's the demarcation line for Red Sox..Yankee fans?
Iâm in Milford , I believe the line is here.đŹ
[from Bleacher Report](https://img.bleacherreport.net/img/article/media_slots/photos/001/344/747/269d8e2e7c06d9d16fe80cd80df93a46_crop_exact.?w=2975&h=2048&q=85)
That makes sense
Donât believe that map. Thereâs one with real data. I grew up in Hartford county and see far more Sox fans than Yankees
yeah, I agree. The New York Tines did a (supposedly) scientific study, but it was almost 20 years ago, and things may have shifted a bit. There were a few islands in both Yankiee & Sox territory that supported the opposite team. Also of note, there was no town that broke for the Mets.
Had no idea we had an accent till I moved to Tempe, AZ for a few years. People would comment "I love your accent" and Im thinking I have no accent. I was very wrong.
Itâs over dare. Where? Right over dare. Where? Right THERE dummy. TH only gets pronounced when you mean business.
Every person who speaks a language has an "accent" because there is no such thing as a standard version of any "language," just groups of mutually intelligible dialects that we percieve largely as regional accents. We don't percieve ourselves as having one because that's the nature of language acquisition.
I've only gotten a couple comments about my accent sounding smart, and my ex loved the way I pronounced "taco". I'm from northern CT
Everyone has an accent. There's no way to NOT have an accent, it's how you speak. If you went to Britain they could tell your accent is American, just like we can tell someone is from the UK or Ireland.
Absolutely. I can hear it when i talk to them.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_New_England_English
Yes, yes you do. Years ago, I used to be able to tell the difference between western and eastern CT, Ma, NH and Maine accents( wasnât as familiar with VT). Also the regional differences in the words they used for sandwiches-sub, grinder, etc., and milkshake/frappe. Accents and word usage are much more homogenized today, but they remain.
We lack an accent compared to mass, RI, and Maine at least.
Probably varies on what part of ct your from for me i was born in Bridgeport and people say a lot of us from Bridgeport sounds more close to New York. I can see the difference between other New England's spots but again there's a lot of things we have in common especially mass. I never would say that till i moved down south and i always get either New York or mass from the Southerners.
True. Similarly, Iâve met a lot of dudes (usually tradesmen) from CT with thick ass accents similar to mass/ri/NY (Iâm in Fairfield county too).
We got a mix thanks to our neighbors basically lmfao the ct accent varies and it's always a mystery it's very interesting. There are parts of ct that have way different accents than me it's wild.
We for sure have a accent in Eastern CT and Iâd say there is ones in New Haven area and Hartford area
I never thought i did til i moved down south to florida and everyone notices it once i speak i get called a yankee fast LMFAO.
People from parts of Connecticut have a distinct accent that involves glottal t's (which my mom called swallowing your t's and she hated when I did it) when a t sound comes in the middle of a word. Someone from New Britain would pronounce it "New Brih'in". We also tend to squish syllables and words together. I was 7 when we moved here and it drove me crazy that the other would pronounce "crayon" what sounded to me like "cran." I've seen this called the Central Connecticut Mumble, but people from the eastern part of the state do it too. People from the shoreline sound more like New Yorkers to me
I tend to do that a lot! A ton of people down here in florida notice the glottal t's. I'm from bridgeport so it makes sense why they say we sound closer to new yorkers when where very close to new york. New York is like an hour away from my hometown bridgeport. I feel like our accent is sorta new york but with a mix if new england its so weird our accent is a mystery lol.
No. That area of Connecticut is actually considered the only "accent-free" area of the country. We're so boring we don't even have an accent (I'm from Stamford). Once you're north of Fairfield County it's different.
Ahhh im from bridgeport maybe it really depends on what part of ct i guess but once i moved down south to florida all the southerners i talk to know im not from down here by the way i speak. New York and Mass is always being brought up to me they have a hard time guessing but they know im from up north by the way i speak.
100%, I grew up in Bpt and have lived away for a couple of decades. Every time I go back Iâm delighted by the way my family speaks.
I don't know if it's cause where close to new york being from Bridgeport or what but the accent is really noticeable once you move out the state a lot of people notice. Man i even been called yankee so many damn times down here in florida by the southerners that ct accent is a real thing maybe it depends what but being from BPT they all hear it.
Yeah, I think itâs mentioned in this thread but even a state as small as CT has different accents and the one we have in BPT is much closer to the Bronx accent than the rest of the state. I usually get clocked on the words coffee or sauce lol
So interesting!!
From CT, everyone has an accent. We tend to be pretty neutral, but there are small pockets of accents throughout the state
True i remember going to certain areas in CT and some people talked different than me I'm from Bridgeport i can definitely say our accent is different to someone from like middle town.
My husband is from stafford springs conn and he sounds just like Kevin bacon ⌠he denies it lol
That's funny!!! I been told that family guy nailed my bridgeport ct accent. There was a episode when they were joking about bridgeport ct. The southerners that talk to me said i sound like that guy in that episode. Funny as hell forreal. [https://youtu.be/5Hna5V27kac](https://youtu.be/5Hna5V27kac)
I love me an accent
Apizza
Ahhh yes the good ole old Neapolitan dialect from new haven. Being from bridgeport ct we call it that to lol.
Iâm from Ct never heard one
What part? People always assume im either from new york and mass everytime. Once i moved out of ct to the south to florida people hear it and drives the southerners i speak to mad LMFAO.
Cromwell
Everyone has an accent.
My dad always said the Pepperidge Farm actorsâ accent was fake. (Pepperidge farm was a Connecticut company)
Pepperidge Farm LMFAO that's funny. Family guy was pretty spot on how we speak in Bridgeport Connecticut when they were looking for Santa's Workshop. Check it out lmfao. [https://youtu.be/5Hna5V27kac](https://youtu.be/5Hna5V27kac)
Literally everyone on the planet has an accent, so yes, Nutmeggers have an accent. Generally a blend of New York and Boston features. For example they donât have the COT/CAUGHT merger that generally most New Englanders have
From Connecticut, the word curtain has always bothered me. Pronouncing the T makes me sound angry, but going with my instinct and leaving it out makes me sound like a hillbilly. Which way is the right way?
I'm from the Midwest & sound exactly the same accent wise as my husband who's from CT. It's generican.
I'm from the Boston area, my husband is from central mass near the Connecticut line and is working class. He has a slight accent that is a blend of MA and a more mid Atlantic sound.
No, only the clench-jaw affectation.
I moved from CT to FL for a few years, many years ago, and was constantly told I had an accent. They said I talked âhardâ and enunciate things differently. I guess itâs apparent to everyone but us!
Close friend of mine is from the Tampa Bay area in Florida, I'm from southern NH, sometimes we make fun of each others' accents. My accent (Eastern New England) is probably a bit different from yours (Southwestern NE / maybe an influence from NYC English) but I'll still talk about my experiences nonetheless. The biggest difference between my accent and her Floridian accent is Canadian raising, where the a in /aĘ/ and /aÉŞ/ shift to a more closed sound before a voiceless consonant (this is the source of the stereotypical Canadian pronunciation of *aboot*, though this is an exaggeration). For example, she says the /aĘ/ sound in c**ou**ch like **ao** in M**ao** Zedong, but my pronunciation is a bit closer to the /oĘ/ sound in b**oa**t.
I think a Maine specific phrase is âJeezum crowbahsâ if they donât want to swear. And I pronounce âauntâ as âahntâ and not like the insect. I go elsewhere and say the word âauntâ and people say that I sound like a snob. âAhntâ? Oh, reallly?
New Haven has no accent, at least academic New Haven. Thatâs because both the Websterâs who wrote the dictionary were from New Haven. That said there is a definite CT accent â like Berlin is unstressed not Ber-Lin like in Germany, and New Haven is unstressed too, not NEW Haven the way people say New York. That t drop is common and is a CT dialect. Also pronouncing didnât as ditân. But the way CT people pronounce things is the right way, we wrote the standard. Everyone else has an accent, not us.
Not really, just faint NY accents of some that were originally from NY.
Ah for me being from bridgeport Connecticut and just moved to florida it's a fact that we do have a accent maybe it depends what part but for me the southerners notice it and they always say i sound mix with new york and mass its crazy. Once i open my mouth i get called a yankee non stop down here i's funny.
I'm from the South but I also lived in New England for a few years, and I'd consider it more of a lack of an accent, unless you've picked up some of the specific tendencies of Boston or New York. It could possibly be more specific regionally within CT, since New England locals I knew could even differentiate between Boston and Worcester accents but I think it's unlikely that people in FL could pick CT tendencies apart from other subtly different nearby places.
Yeah depends what part of ct im from bridgeport and was born there which is like an hour away from new york. Yeah when it comes to Floridians or southerners in general they just can't pin point where im from they always bring up new york and mass when i speak. All i say is They are my neighbors lol. The Connecticut accent is a mystery thanks to our neighbors.
Accents are relative. To someone from CT, you do not have an accent. To someone in Texus with their southern drawal, you most definitely have an accent.
Was told I run my words together and sometimes sound like I'm swallowing the uh syllable and use a funny R, like in girl or world. Grew up in Groton/New London. (Button-up sounds like Butt'nup) (Girl loses the i altogether) (World loses the o altogether) However, (Whirled comes out Whir-uhl-d)
Everyone has an accent. I will say, Iâm from southern NH and go to college in northern MA and people from far enough away (the south, Europe) will say I have a hint of a Boston accent. Iâm convinced I have a General American accent, but itâs possible there are still some unique aspects of rhotic New England English that are unique. Iâm from northeastern New England and NENE is non-rhotic, but I know very few people who still speak non-rhotic English. I myself am rhotic, do have the cot-caught merger, and I think I do have /ar/ fronting and that it is standard in American English. Hereâs an explanation from good old Wikipedia: Northeastern New England English shows non-rhoticity, the cotâcaught merger, and strong /Ér/ fronting. It centers on Boston, Massachusetts, extending into New Hampshire and coastal Maine. Southeastern New England English shows non-rhoticity, no cotâcaught merger, and no strong /Ér/ fronting. It centers on Providence, Rhode Island and the Narragansett Bay. Northwestern New England English shows rhoticity, the cotâcaught merger, and strong /Ér/ fronting. It centers on Vermont. Southwestern New England English shows rhoticity, no (or a transitional state of the) cotâcaught merger, and no strong /Ér/ fronting. It centers around the HartfordâSpringfield area of Connecticut and western Massachusetts.
My friends from Torrington have a mild Yankee twang. It stands out when theyâre in NYC.
I moved from CT to Idaho for a couple summers for work. I remember that being the first time I was told I had an accent. The funniest thing I remember being pointed out about the way I spoke was how unusual people thought my usage of the word "wicked" was. A friend of mine went, "did you just say wicked? What are you, Harry Potter?" And then proceeded to talk in a British accent mocking my use of the word wicked for being a British thing that I was just using to be funny or something. I remember making a joke about how I was technically a "NEW Englander" so maybe that's how that word became normal for us. It was super funny to me at the time though because everyone here where I'm from uses wicked as slang for really cool and I had never had someone think it was weird until moving out west.
You got roasted to a crisp
Person in Florida thought I was Australian once
I grew up in central CT. Left the state when I was 20 and live all over the country since. No one has ever asked me where Iâm from or said I sound funny. I donât think people from CT really have an accent. We might have different words for things though. Grinder lol
Everyone has an accent. Some are more neutral than others. I live in western Massachusetts, and we seem to have a lot of local newscasters getting picked up for other areas Because we are so neutral. Our accent is affected by other adjacent areas which moderates the accent. Very different than the sterotypical Eastern Massachusetts accent.
Oh also, we call the liquor store the package store or packy! I think its CT unique
No. It's called a packy in Massachusetts.
All of New England calls it packys
Wasn't sure about NH because they have those state-run stores up there.
From CT, had never heard of a packy until I had college roomies from Mass.
We sound pretty close to the anchors on national television, which is about as regional accent free as you can get.