Cawfee or Cohfee?

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Accents are funny. My parents are from New Jersey originally. As I was homeschooled from second grade to graduation, I inherited their accent. However, I have lived in Connecticut my whole life.

For example, we say “dawg” and “cawfee” with an “aw” sound. However, we say “frohg” not “frawg”. Thus, frog and dog don’t rhyme with our accent.

It’s sometimes fun asking friends to pronounce words as they would. A person with a Connecticut accent says “dohg”, and “cohfee”. Frog and dog do rhyme in Connecticut.

Any funny accent stories you guys got?
 
Frog and dog are rhyme words when pronounced correctly as per Mr. Webster.
 
the first time i heard the aussie accent was sitting in an airport lounge waiting to fly back to Aus.

my first thought was wow, we do speak in a long drawl

g’day mate !
 
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Funny story! I lost my accent long ago…

You forgot chawklate and dinna, Melodeonist…
Lol.😊
 
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I remember being puzzled as a kid when I first heard bands like the Beatles sing on the radio, sounding more or less American to my young ears, and then heard them talk in interviews, with their thick English accents.
 
christofirst said:
I remember being puzzled as a kid when I first heard bands like the Beatles sing on the radio, sounding more or less American to my young ears, and then heard them talk in interviews, with their thick English accents.
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One of my favorite English accents is the Liverpudlian one.
 
Kaninchen said:
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tomarin:
One of my favorite English accents is the Liverpudlian one.
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better known as a ‘Scouse’ accent which is spoken by ‘Scousers’ 🙂
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Yes, from a kind of soup they used to eat, I think. It didn’t sound like the most palatable soup.
 
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Whaddaya mean funny? Who you callin’ funny? Fuhgeddaboudit!
 
Having grown up in upstate NY; I still have what’s called a clipped Canadian accent.
 
Boston owns the best ‘cawfee’ - there might even be one more diphtong in there somewhere - coiwfee?? not sure. anyway - love it. I have a pretty boring generic West Coast accent I think - cahfee, no accented syllables anywhere to be found.
 
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When I first moved to Texas, I had a spelling bee. I studied so hard for it. I was ready to win!

My first word… “Spell bus.”

I’m thinking, “Uh… that wasn’t a word on the list…” I should have asked for a definition, or to use it in a sentence. Instead, I said, “B-u-s.”

“No.” To the next person, “Spell bus.”

“B-I-A-S.”

“Very good.”
 
That one’s pretty funny.

It reminds of a story I got from kindergarten regarding frog and dog. So my mother was one of the volunteer helpers that could sign up for their kid’s class. The teacher must have been going over rhyming words. However, as stated in the OP, frog and dog don’t rhyme with a NJ accent. Let’s just say this lead to some confusion… 😜
 
I speak mostly standard American English with a little mid-Atlantic dialect thrown in; I would never say ‘caww-fee,’ (a la Mike Myers as the host of 'Cawfee Tawlk") it’s always ‘cahfee’ but without a particularly broad ‘a’ there, sounds closer to ‘coh-fee’.

My mother had a strong Boston accent and up to a certain age I was convinced ‘sofa’ was pronounced ‘sofer.’

I find the subtle differences between New York English and Boston English fascinating. From a distance they appear similar (prominent non-rhoticity) yet subtle differences abound in the fine grain.
 
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My little American niece we realised was calling my son Declan …Duckling 🙂
 
I travelled south of the Mason-Dixon line this year for the first time in my life - Charleston / Savannah. I was actually a little disappointed how at much everyone spoke like me - from the Pacific Northwest. Standard Midwest English I think it’s called, something like that. I was looking forward to hearing more accents. Even in more rural areas, I didn’t really notice dialects. I felt surprisingly at home - no culture shock. Maybe a few differences here and there. I wasn’t there long.
 
Wow, I’m surprised. I remember the first time I went to Virginia (I’m from Maryland) as a kid: the difference in dialect was like night and day. I thought I was in a movie or sumpin’.
 
Maybe my mindset was so ready for differences that it was actually anticlimactic - that could be it. I told someone in Savannah I felt so comfortable in the city I could be in Seattle - she frowned at that. I think I was supposed to say something about being disarmed by Southern charm. I meant it as a compliment. 100%. Both Charleston and Savannah were beautiful - I loved them.

I am headed to NOLA soon. Can’t wait. First time.
 
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