Whad Ya Saaay?

Over the weekend we rented the movie Fargo. Yes, we may be the last people on the planet to see this movie but we're not big cinema fans. We did enjoy it and thought the heinous tale of a triple homicide, solved by a pregnant woman, worked well when told with humor. The humor was in large part do to the regional dialect of the sheriff and the others in the story. We found to our horror and delight that we had some of the same 'linguistics' in our region. We were not laughing 'at' their accent but at the way the dialect was so much a part of the story. It could have been small town 'anywhere' America.

Stephanie’s post about her first trip to the Southern part of the US was very funny to most of us. Having been to the South several times I understood her confusion. More times than I care to count I have had to say 'Pardon me?' or 'What was that?' so I could understand the word said. Steph was NOT making fun or anyone. If anything she was laughing at HER inability to make words out of some of the Southern tones. Having been in her shoes I understood. She also told how they got a kick out of HER 'local dialect'. It was hilarious.

Last week at Stitch 'n Bitch I asked if anyone had a tape measure. Teri corrected my pronunciation. I asked what I had said and she told me 'MA-zure'*. It should be Me-zure (in her estimation). I was shocked! After being told for years that I didn't SOUND like I was from Utah, here I was….outed, a true Utahan.

*If you look in Merriam Webster dictionary for the pronunciation of measure you will see I was ALSO correct.

Comments

[Tracy]

Try being English and reading some of the pronunciations! (especially English with a Dorset accent)

[Laurie]

Yup, you are the last person on earth. I rented it earlier in the month...enjoyed it also, yup. Go take the quizilla quiz on what is your linguistic profile. Despite having lived most of my life in NE, I'm only 55% Yankee. We all get polluted, eh?

[Wendy]

Fargo is great! I took an investigator skills training class when I came to work at the agency where I . . . uh . . . work. We watched parts of Fargo in class in conjunction with learning how to interview a hostile witness. Great fun!

[Sandy]

I too thought Stephanie's post was hilarious and I live in Atlanta. I have been married for 18 years to a DamnYankee and it has done a lot to flatten my accent. Even having lived here all of my 44+ years, I still find myself saying "huh" to some of the people around here.

We own all of the Coen Brothers films. They are all great, but Fargo is our favorite. If you haven't seen Raising Arizona or O! Brother, those are highly recommended.

[Sandy]

Oh, and my husband says "A Simple Plan" by Sam Ramie. I guess we watch too much "boob tube."

;)

[Cassie]

I find regionalisms fun. We saw Fargo in the theater in NYC years ago and now own it. Jon's whole family is from MN and ND and to us, it was perfect. However, a friend from MN said she "didn't get it" - which I also found pretty funny. ;-)

[michele]

I met Stephanie last night at her stop on her tour...she's even funnier in person if that's possible...I loved hearing her talk. Have a great day!

[Kim]

I loved Fargo when we saw it a number of years ago......you are right, just the right amount of humor, so that the movie isn't totally depressing.

Accents......being a girl from just outside of Boston, Mass, living in NH with a husband from New Jersey, I am constantly being teased about my accent....LOL

[Kathleen]

When I lived up in Alaska, they were ever so disappointed that I didn't have a heavy Brooklyn accident. No earl for oil. No terlet for toilet.

I enjoyed Fargo...although it has been ages since we watched it.

[Teri]

I wish I could bring my grandma from Tennessee to SnB. We'd have to haul a translator along to aid in conversation! :)

[Susan]

I'm so glad that I don't have an accent of any kind. You can imagine how comforting it is to possess perfect pronunciation. ;-)

[Colleen]

Um, yeah, it's MEH-zhur. MA-zur?! I don't think so :-).

[Paula]

Well, I was working when Stephanie was SIX HOURS away. My mama from NC said tape may-zure. I say tape measure. My sister says cuss words in several syllables. My father was born in CT. My Yankee relatives still have trouble understanding me. I now have 4 WIPs, because sleeves are boring.

[Beth S.]

Fargo is one of the greatest films of all time, if you ask me. But I am also partial to The Big Lebowski... and of course the unrivaled O Brother. Great stuff!

[Deb]

Pronunciation is a funny thing, isn't it? I've been teasing my mother for months . . . after years of saying things like "error" and "drawer" correctly (you know, with that final "r" actually pronounced), she's suddenly saying "era" and "draw" . . . it snags on my ear every time, and yet, there's no reason whatsoever for that change! Another aural pet peeve is when people say "Bleshoo" after a sneeze. (Last time I checked, it's two, different words, with no "sh" in sight!)

(Sigh) Like I can talk . . . everyone has an accent, it all depends on where you are!

[Vicki]

Regional differences are a hoot! Stephanie wrote about her experience (the first of many?) in her usual, HUMOROUS way.

I've been teased by members of my own family for the way that I say certain things -- that way northern thing going on with the "ou" sound (and the rest of my family doesn't?) and, when I lived in Oregon, many people thought I was Canadian because of it. ; )

[Miriam]

Actually, I think *I'm* the last person on Earth to see Fargo. Because I still haven't seen it. Perhaps I will rent it this weekend as I make tiny books for the Gardener's Market the next weekend.
M

[Annie]

Hmmm. Sorry Margene, but I have to differ. I don't find it "funny" or "hilarious" to perpetuate stereotypes. I found her post and the commenters "hilarious" comments to be offensive. I wasn't born in the South, but by the grace of God I live here, and I tire very easily with the "jokes" at the expense of an entire region of our country. If you had substituted another country or group of people for Southerners in her post, I don't think people would have found it so amusing. Just go back through the comments, and replace the South or Southerner with "Iraqi" or Iraq and see how hysterical that is.

Every stereotype of the South was mentioned in the post under the disguise of "oh, I'm just laughing at myself". Uh-uh. The rifle in the car? Stereotype. "Confused and dim-witted" Southerner? Stereotype. And on and on, you get the picture.

I'm not necessarily blaming the author or the commenters. Unfortunately, those stereotypes are perpetuated in movies and television. Anytime a Southerner is portrayed, they are red-neck, hillbillies. I find that offensive.

Just my humble opinion.

[Cara]

Ugh. It doesn't happen often, but every now and again someone asks me if I'm from Philadelphia. I know, then, that no matter how I try, I'll never lose that accent completely.

Of course, my mother's the only one who can pronounce my name the "right" way. ;-)

[Jennifer]

lol Southerner here and was not at all offened by the comments, I thought they were really funny.

[Bliss]

I think my mother-in-law (from Tennessee) says measure with THREE syllables....as in me-a-zure. Hee! I have been teased about the way I sound all of my life, and it doesn't bother me in the least. To "northeners" I sound very southern and to deep south "southeners" I sound more like a Yankee. I love being around people from different areas, because dialects are a hoot. To my ear, a Bostonian sounds very foreign (lovely but totally different) and vice versa. I loved the movie Fargo, and the dialect was one of the things that made the movie so enjoyable. America is diverse. We don't, nor ever will, all sound alike. Viva la difference!

[La]

I while traveling in the Air Force I found I had an uncanny knack for picking up accents. I moved from Suffolk, England to Panama City Fl. with a middle-class rural English accent, people couldn't understand me. I then moved from Fl., to Alexandria, LA, where my best friend was Cajun, and upon returning home here to CA, had the worst coon-ass accent. NO ONE, not even my parents understood a word out of my mouth.

My cousins who have immigrated here from South Dakota still crack me up with words like Nnohse and Dahkohtah, dontcha know...

[Donna]

I've never seen Fargo!!

Stephanie's post about Memphis was a hoot! I live in SC and have all my life. Let me tell you, there are different degrees of Southern accent! Someone from TN sounds completely different from someone from GA or SC. I sometimes travel to Canada for work and have trouble understanding their accent. :-)

[Lauren]

It's hard to observe a different culture without sounding critical. That shouldn't scare people into withholding their observations. If someone makes a statement that is ignorant and unfounded, I just roll my eyes and think, "you're a fucking idiot."

[La]

Margene, you AREN'T the last person on earth. I have yet to see it