it's not the way my mother talks, it's not the people that she mocks
So a hugely disproportionate number of my friends out here are from Southern California. Only a third of the kids at my school are native Californians, but within my group of friends it's like, basically all of them. And for whatever reason, the past few days have had the common theme of, "Let's tell me everything I am doing strangely (i.e. WRONG) that immediately identifies me as not a native of Southern California." Not, like, in a mean way, but damn am I becoming familiar with that look of, "What the hell is-- Oh, never mind, she's from Virginia."
So, because I am curious, a poll behind the cut! Make sure to do the thing that comes before the poll first, okay?
*
First, say the words for these two objects out loud:
Now answer the poll:
Poll out of curiosity
I know there are other examples of this stuff, but I'm having a terrible time coming up with them at the moment. Anyway, it's still kind of funny to me how very rapidly you can give yourself away as a non-native of a place, even if you don't really have a strong accent. I still remember the chewing out one of my friends gave me freshman year of college when I called the 10 Freeway "I-10." "It's not I-10, it's not 10, and it's never a highway or an interstate. It's 'the 10 Freeway'. It is a set phrase!"
I also pronounce pen and pin so that they rhyme. Both are 'pin'. Anything that has 'en' in it sounds exactly the same as 'in': men, entrust and send are 'min', 'intrust' and 'sind', when I say them. From a linguistic standpoint, perfectly valid; from a "my friends are from Southern California" standpoint, WRONG WRONG WRONG.
Not that I don't totally love my native Southern Californian friends, because I do. Even after Ash and Crystal pulled the, "What the hell is an HOV lane?" thing on me the other day. WHATEVER, on Thursday I'm flying back home, and I will ride in the HOV lane of Interstate 64 with the min in my family, and I will be 100% right.
So, because I am curious, a poll behind the cut! Make sure to do the thing that comes before the poll first, okay?
*
First, say the words for these two objects out loud:
Now answer the poll:
Poll out of curiosity
I know there are other examples of this stuff, but I'm having a terrible time coming up with them at the moment. Anyway, it's still kind of funny to me how very rapidly you can give yourself away as a non-native of a place, even if you don't really have a strong accent. I still remember the chewing out one of my friends gave me freshman year of college when I called the 10 Freeway "I-10." "It's not I-10, it's not 10, and it's never a highway or an interstate. It's 'the 10 Freeway'. It is a set phrase!"
I also pronounce pen and pin so that they rhyme. Both are 'pin'. Anything that has 'en' in it sounds exactly the same as 'in': men, entrust and send are 'min', 'intrust' and 'sind', when I say them. From a linguistic standpoint, perfectly valid; from a "my friends are from Southern California" standpoint, WRONG WRONG WRONG.
Not that I don't totally love my native Southern Californian friends, because I do. Even after Ash and Crystal pulled the, "What the hell is an HOV lane?" thing on me the other day. WHATEVER, on Thursday I'm flying back home, and I will ride in the HOV lane of Interstate 64 with the min in my family, and I will be 100% right.