Warsh?

A forum for discussing US dialects (accents).
AdoAnnie
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Postby AdoAnnie » Wed Apr 12, 2006 8:15 am

"to here my parents"

OMG!! I really meant, 'to HEAR my parents'. :oops:
The neighbors said that they knew the man who'd been shot for years.

meme2198
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Warsh/Worsh

Postby meme2198 » Wed Apr 12, 2006 9:27 pm

Holy Moly!I thought my dad was the only one who pronounced "wash" like that. He grew up in Oregon. Does any one else from OR say it like that? I grew up in tx and I pronounced it wash.
On the tx topic does anyone else pronounce "light" like "lat"? I have the worst time with that long "i" sound. My husband is from NYC and just laughs at me. :P
Thanks for this great group, btw!

REDFL
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Worsh --mytheory

Postby REDFL » Thu Apr 13, 2006 8:52 am

I was born in Iowa, in a predominately German settled farming area. My family and everyone around us said WORSH for "wash". My grandfather actually said it more like "woish".

My theory is that there's some type of Germanic influence from when they switched gradually from speaking German to English.

I taught myself as an adult to only say "WASH". I remember the first time it was brought to my attention was in the 6th grade--our teacher--an out-of-area guy was arguing to the death with some of us bullheaded Germanic kids and finally we accepted that there was no "R" in the middle of the word.

BTW, after almost 25 years living south of the Mason-Dixon line, I still scored only 34% Dixie--definitely a Yankee. Yea me! ;-)
REDFL
Midwesterner by birth
Southerner by circumstance
"throw the baby down a diaper"

Brazilian dude
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Postby Brazilian dude » Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:19 am

My theory is that there's some type of Germanic influence from when they switched gradually from speaking German to English.
Well, there's no r in German waschen, Dutsch wassen, Swedish tvätta or Danish vaske.

Brazilian dude
Languages rule!

REDFL
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Postby REDFL » Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:24 am

<<<there's no r in German waschen, Dutsch wassen, Swedish tvätta or Danish vaske>>>
W

my theory may be falling apart ... how about the low German or Plattdeutsch translation of wash? (I don't know it...?) My forefathers were from Northern Germany.
REDFL
Midwesterner by birth
Southerner by circumstance
"throw the baby down a diaper"

kerilee
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Location: Covington, Washington

Wash or Worsch

Postby kerilee » Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:50 am

I was born on Bainbridge Isle, raised in Alaska and moved back to Washington state 28 years ago. Growing up I pronounced Wash "Warsh". When I moved back to Washington I tried hard for years to pronounce wash without the "r" and then I just gave in. It's kind of like two languages for me .. when it counts I do make an effort to prounounce WASH the way "everyone" else seems too.

I agree a bit with REDFL regarding Iowa/German accents - my mom was born in Oregon and raised in Iowa and I know I got my Worsch from her. Her family is from German ancestory but I couldn't really say it is from that because then it would make the prounounciation a genetic thing wouldn't it. Maybe it is and Iowa accent? LOL

My kids do give me a bad time about my Alaskan "accent" though - I do speak several words that don't seem to be in anyone's dictionary! :shock:

Brazilian dude
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Postby Brazilian dude » Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:59 am

how about the low German or Plattdeutsch translation of wash?
I don't know, but I would doubt there's an r there either.

Brazilian dude
Languages rule!

mamawsandy
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Another lefty

Postby mamawsandy » Thu Apr 13, 2006 3:05 pm

:P When I tell my husband to turn right, and I point with my hand, he always asks, "Which right?" I am left handed and almost totally right brained, and to me what is right is my left. I had troubles with some letters such as b and d in school.
Now, as for pronunciation, I want to see who can pronounce the name of my town correctly. When I am on the phone with people and they come to the name of my town, there is always that pause that tells me they don't want to sound stupid. So, I pronounce it for them. Our town is an Indian name for Muddy Water, but all our water is nice, clear rivers and lakes :wink: . Try this in phonetics.
ETOWAH.
As for the warsh, people around here use it all the time. I have to be careful not to use the warsh. When all the aunts and people around use the warsh, it is very catchy.
Words use like this are simply from the heritage that existed when the early settlers came into these parts. Their dialect was different in many ways. I like to be correct, but I must admit that often I just get lazy.
By the way, will someone please tell me where the spell checker is on this site?
mamawsandy
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REDFL
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Postby REDFL » Thu Apr 13, 2006 3:12 pm

As for the warsh, people around here use it all the time. I have to be careful not to use the warsh. When all the aunts and people around use the warsh, it is very catchy.
**********
My family laughed out loud at me a few years ago. I was staying with my parents for a couple of weeks to help out after my dad had surgery (mom has a debilitating illness). They kept me running like a chicken with my head cut off! Anyway, I was headed to the basement to make a mad dash thru the laundry process. One of them bellowed at me to find out where I was going.

I bellowed back: "I'M GOING TO DO THE WARSH!!"

I knew at that moment, it was time to go back to my real job where I'd trained myself to say "wash".
REDFL
Midwesterner by birth
Southerner by circumstance
"throw the baby down a diaper"

mamawsandy
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No Takers?

Postby mamawsandy » Thu Apr 13, 2006 4:02 pm

How about some tries on my town-
Etowah?

I would like to see who gets it right.
mamawsandy
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Like a lady

Brazilian dude
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Postby Brazilian dude » Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:27 pm

Eh-toh-wah
By the way, will someone please tell me where the spell checker is on this site?
I don't think there's one. Besides, what would your merit be if you just ran that thing?

Brazilian dude
Languages rule!

mamawsandy
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Hooray Dude

Postby mamawsandy » Thu Apr 13, 2006 9:40 pm

I don't know what you used to find this pronunciation, but it is correct. We have had some duzzies. I am glad to see that someone can either just pronounce it or find the pronunciation. By the way, did you use some source to find it??? Hummm?

And my merit would be that there would be less misspelled words in my typing. I am a terrible speller, but a very fast typist, so twix the two, I make mistakes.
mamawsandy
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Like a lady

Brazilian dude
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Postby Brazilian dude » Thu Apr 13, 2006 9:52 pm

No, I read at as anybody whose language was not English would read it. English spelling/pronunciation is too erratic.

So, what do you think of the dichotomy between fewer and less?

Brazilian dude
Languages rule!

AdoAnnie
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Postby AdoAnnie » Fri Apr 14, 2006 2:52 pm

My guess would have been EH doe wah, but then my dad came from a town called Juaquin and you just have to be from around there or Hispanic to pronounce it correctly.

Fewer or less? There 'is less', there 'are fewer' so I think the different usage would depend on the singular or plural subject where this is applied. This, of course, has NOTHING to do with spoken English, not here in the South anyway. :wink:
The neighbors said that they knew the man who'd been shot for years.

Perry
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Re: No Takers?

Postby Perry » Sat Apr 15, 2006 12:12 am

How about some tries on my town-
Etowah?

I would like to see who gets it right.
As far as I know, it's etta wah.

What about Estatoe (a bit Northeast of your Etowah)?
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