I-DE-A, Howard, I-DE-A. Not I-DEER, I-DE-A n/t

[burythehatchet]

[NYCGirl]

1. Give Howard a break, he's been living in Vermont for a long time.

Even though he's a native New Yorker.

[Raster]

20. Vermont... New York... He's a YANKEE!

[DoYouEverWonder]

38. I'm a native New Yorker

and I didn't know there wasn't an 'r' at the end idea until I was about 18.

I still can't say that word properly unless I really try.

[JerseygirlCT]

42. I've heard it plenty in No. Jersey - Hudson cty anyway.

My g'mother even added it internally ("terlet" for toilet, etc.). Next generation seems to add it only to the end ("paster", not pasta).

I've never figured out where exactly it orignated.

[CatWoman]

49. same here

I find it endearing :D

[JerseygirlCT]

53. We tease a lot about it, but yeah... it is nt

[Cha]

63. I do too..I've heard him say it and

it didn't bug me. I let people speak how their surroundings teach them to say words. I like accents.

There was this guy from Maine on the Island of Kauai when I was there and we loved how he said "Gaaaden Burger" and "Caaaa"!

"To each his own and to thine ownself be true"..

We don't need to freakin' sound like everyone else!

"IDEAR"!! :patriot: At least Dean has some!

[bloom]

75. "IDEAR"!! At least Dean has some!"

That's a good point.

I rather like accents, also.

[Logansquare]

61. Better an real Yankee accent than a fake Texas twang

How do real Texans feel about Shrub's impersonation efforts?

[Cha]

64. I'm sure the repugs lap it

up.. It probably grates on the nerves of the Real Texans!

[Crazy Guggenheim]

2. It's a New England accent.

[GreenPartyVoter]

69. Nothing wrong with a New England accent. :^D

[whodiedandmadeUSgod]

3. Kerry said it that way also. I thought the same thing until I heard it

was a NE accent.

[FreedomAngel82]

22. Right

I always thought it was weird. But I figured it was because of the accent. :shrug: At least he can say nuclear.

[ginnyinWI]

77. The Brits also do this.

They add R's even more than New Englanders do. But it depends on the word's context in a sentence. Dean and Kerry both will say it the "proper" way, sometimes. There is some "rule" but I don't know what it is.

[Spider Jerusalem]

86. See #7 for explanation. (n/t)

[illini]

4. We say "warsh" for wash in my neck of the woods.

I'm going to give Howard a break on this one.

[burythehatchet]

10. Agreed, its kinda cute like

:)

[FreedomAngel82]

23. LOL

Yes we do. That's always made me laugh. ;) I remember being a kid and visiting my grandparents church and they would sing "Washed in the Blood" and they would always say it "warshed." LOL.

[Cha]

65. I was talking about my

"warsh" the other day, Again! I learned it growing up in Colorado..that's the only thing I can think of why I say that.

I've conciously tried to say "waaash" but when I'm not thinking I say "I'm going to warsh my clothes"..:)

[LeftyMom]

98. My late grandmother did that

I have no idea why, she was from Oakland. :shrug:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

5. Ignorance of regional differences can be embarrassing.

[zanne]

40. Micro-dialects.

I'm a NH Yankee, but I don't sound very "New Englandish", if you know what I mean. (I sound more like Dan Rather than John Kerry). My husband, who was born and raised in a town ten miles away from my hometown, sounds like he's from a different part of the country. It's not just where you live--it's your family and where they came from, and it's your social status, too. (We do have distinct classes in this country). So, region does have alot to do with dialect, but so do other things. It would take a Linguistics genius to accurately label dialect.

[gaia_gardener]

6. It's a regional accent, but it does sound

very uneducated to me. Probably because in OK, the people who say "ideer" are the same people who say "ain't" and "cain't".

[OKDem08]

8. I cringed when I heard that, too

but I still admire Howard

[burythehatchet]

11. Its part of his charm. He's a genuine package

[Guaranteed]

30. Think of it as a counter to Bush

with actual intelligence behind it.

[burythehatchet]

9. It sounds very Archie Bunker to me, but I sure do prefer it to the Georgia

drawl.

[Radio_Lady]

28. Hey, I married a New Englander --

Here's the phrase that trips him up continually --

"A sawhorse on Hawthorne Street"

Puts the "r's" in the wrong place when he says it.

It's kinda cute.

But for 33 years, I've had to endure:

ID-E-R (for idea)

CUE-BER (for Cuba)

LIN-DER (for Linda, my daughter)

CAH (for CAR, dropping the "r" completely)

HAH-VAD (for Harvard, same as above)

and other additional "r's" and missing "r's" -- the original Bostonian accent is disappearing -- it's from either the original English (from England) or Irish (from Ireland) -- I forget which -- but sometimes hear it in international speech, also.

Ted, John, and Robert Kennedy all had it.

John Kerry, also.

It's a recognized regionalism, and hard to conquer, I hear.

[Spider Jerusalem]

7. JFK said it the same way...

that's what's referred to as a "non-rhotic accent". There's a "linking R" inserted at the end of words that end with a vowel sound if the next word also begins with a vowel (examples of non-rhotic accents: British "Received Pronunciation", New England, stereotypical "Brooklyn" accent).

[burythehatchet]

see, told ya

that word comes straight from 704 Houser St.

[Radio_Lady]

29. Interesting. I've never heard that expression "non-rhotic accent"

and always wondered why Brooklyn and Boston sounded somewhat alike, but somewhat different.

Thanks for the explanation.

[jfxgillis]

12. Don't be so rude about it ...

... axe nicely.

[burythehatchet]

13. WHen I'm working and posting past midnight

things get a little testy:silly:

I belong in the lounge.

[jfxgillis]

15. Just joshin' ....

... I "mispronounced" "ask."

[burythehatchet]

17. me too

:)

[Spider Jerusalem]

21. Not really.

Fun fact: the pronunciation "aks" for "ask" actually comes from Old English "acsian" (and appears in Chaucer); "ask" comes from the variant form "ascian". The differences are regional, and found today in England and in parts of America settled by immigrants from parts of England where "aks" was the dominant variant.

[jfxgillis]

67. That's funny, I heard a very different explanation, at least ...

... as it concerned the patois of West African/Colonial-era slave speech.

As I understood it, there are no double consonants in West African dialects, hence, early slave contracted "ask" to a single consonant and it's carried forward since.

But I like your explanation, too!!!

[Wetzelbill]

14. I'm a MT hick from an Indian reservation......

I make myself cringe when I say "fer" instead of "For."

I'll use words like "auto-didactic" and "watchew dewin'" in the same sentence.

I even say "new-kew-ler" just like Chimpy, NO!!!!!!!

[burythehatchet]

16. I give people a break on the nukular because is seems to be an impediment

for too many people.

[Wetzelbill]

19. I almost have it beat. I make myself pronounce it properly now

[Davis_X_Machina]

18. Here I am thinking...

...during the 2004 primaries 'no matter who -- Kerry or Dean -- wins, at last a politician that doesn't sound funny, like Gore or Clinton'.

Didn't know I was wrong.

Everyone I know up heah sounds like that.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

24. What do you call a deer with no eyes?

No I-deer

What do you call with no eyes or legs?
Still No I-deer

okay, I'll go to bed now.

[burythehatchet]

25. tap tap tap..is this thing workin??

[WLKjr]

26. try the veal......

[burythehatchet]

35. and don't forget to tip your waiter

[NashVegas]

70. And What Do You Call a Deer With No Eyes, No Legs,

and no dick?

Still no fucking i-deer.

[berni_mccoy]

27. You have NO I-DEER what your TALKING ABOUT DO YA?

Just kidding... I live in New England... I hear it all the time..

LOL!

[PuraVidaDreamin]

32. this be my poor attempt at telling a silly 4th grade NE joke

Living in New England as I do, I'm on to you.

[WLKjr]

57. some tend to forget about democraphics and how the english language

is bent in those areas. Accents, different words for different things.......


I spend a lot of time in E. KY and NW Ohio, and both places have accents.

[LSK]

31. i could have sworn i saw Kerry doing that too

Anyone notice that from Kerry on tuesdays speeches?? Or was it some other word?

[progressivebydesign]

33. If it was good enough for JFK, it's good enough for me! n/t

[Individualist]

66. Same here

(remembering JFK's pronunciation of Cuba). :toast:

[WatchWhatISay]

34. This Southerner thinks its endearing

So much more refreshing than a drawl

[burythehatchet]

36. No kidding. I am a transplanted New Yorker living

in Atlanta. I have an I-deer that Howard's accent is way more pleasant.

[GeekMonkey]

55. I live in Atlanta, which isnt as affected as outside Atlanta

by southern accents, being an international melting pot that Atlanta is. But I do have to work outside the city a lot and it gets hard to understand those people, and I'm a fourth generation native!

[tenshi816]

73. I was born and raised in Atlanta

and always had what I guess you would consider an Atlanta accent, as opposed to what you get once you get very far out of the city.

The rest of my family, including my parents, were from NE Georgia (Madison and Oglethorpe Counties) originally, and my dad moved back there a long time ago.

I've lived in England for many years now and my accent is a weird and noticeable mix of American and British, but whenever I go back and visit my family, I automatically (and consciously) lapse into a really, really strong southern accent, because if I don't, they can't understand me.

Regarding Howard Dean and his pronounciation of i-deer, the only reason I was surprised he said it that way was because I didn't know it was a New England thing. The members of my family who grew up in northeast Georgia all say it that way too, but none of them came from New England. I've learned something new and find it very interesting.

[burythehatchet]

82. I find the yankee I-deer to be different than the southern version

The yankee version has a distinct "I", while in the South it seems to be more of an "Ah" with a little twang at the "deer"

[tenshi816]

90. My mother used to pronounce it "EYE-deer"

Maybe it was just my family. Drove me nuts.

[peekaloo]

39. Same here. I have friends who are New Englanders and their

pronunciations make me smile.

Now hearing Bill Moyers say Warshington makes me nuts.

[bicentennial_baby]

48. Ahhhhhh! Me Too!

War-shington!!!! My ears!!

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

37. Damned shame about regional accents....

The homogenizing effect of the mass media has (some) kids in the Alabama sounding like they're from Chicago and kids from New England sounding like they grew up in Kansas. Regional dialects are rapidly fading into memory.

This is probably Wal-Mart's fault.

[DoYouEverWonder]

43. You rarely hear a southern accent

in Atlanta anymore. Eventually everyone will have the same accent. How boring.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

44. Of course with Atlanta it's not just media...

Enough Yankees pouring into Atlanta these days to make General Sherman look like a nuisance by comparison. Seems like everybody you meet from Atlanta isn't "from" Atlanta.

[burythehatchet]

45. true, but drive 12 miles north and you've got the

political birthplace of Newt and Bob Barr, and Ralph Reed. Sick place

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

56. Geez. Talk about your axis of evil...

[GeekMonkey]

60. That's why I try not to leave the city limits

Atlanta is a very cool, decently liberal place.

It's surrounded by the most backwards-assed hillbillies on the planet, though.

This is from a 4th generation native Atlantan.

[tenshi816]

74. I've responded to another of your posts on this thread

and here I am again to say that you are so absolutely right! I love going back home to visit Atlanta, but omigod how much I hate venturing outside it when I'm there.

Other than Atlanta, I'm fine when I'm in Athens, that other blue oasis in the state, but isn't it astonishing how quickly things change when you're even a few miles outside the city limits of either place? It's like two alien cultures existing in the same space, sometimes overlapping, but generally with each mostly trying to pretend the other one doesn't exist.

[burythehatchet]

85. so funny you mention that

I live near Decatur and love to play golf at UGA so I drive to Athens. But to get there I have to get through Gwinnett County!!. Yikes. Close the windows and don't speed.

[tenshi816]

89. I know - I graduated from high school in Gwinnett County

Moved there from Atlanta with my parents just before my junior year. Huge adjustment necessary, and even then just learned to make the right noises to fit in. Fortunately I connected with the very few people who were non-redneck (one of whom was a gifted art student, now a homicide detective with the DeKalb Co. PD, and a thoroughly nice guy - he helped make me aware that living in a bad crazy place didn't mean I had to be bad crazy myself). I graduated when I was still 16 and got out.

I'm pretty sure the sheriff in the "runaway bride" case is related to someone I know. (Whoa, give me some air time on TV to talk about it...!!!)

You're right though, I have the drill down pat: once I start heading north on I-85 or Hwy. 316, I turn the music down a bit and start watching my speedometer like a hawk, because I know that if I get more than 5 mph over the speed limit, I'm fair game. I'm especially paranoid because I have an American passport and a British driving license, and the average rural GA cop wouldn't be able to cope with that.

[derby378]

41. If * can say "nucular," let Howard get away with "i-deer"

I've heard some British pronounce it that way, too.

[ElectroPrincess]

46. I can change my husband from making the same

pronunciation MISTAKE. However, in like New England, many folks in Naw'Orleans consider that it is properly understood to be "I-deer."

I can't fault him since I haven't broke off with my Midwestern mispronunciation of Worsh-ing-ton. LOL

Just as embarrassing ... well not. :-)

[Karmadillo]

47. It's i-deer in Virginia.

Well, it's i-deer when I say it, anyway. Somebody "corrected" my pronunciation when I was in college and I changed it, but then decided to change it back on grounds of resisting cultural imperialism. You should hear me say theater.

Have to go now. Time for a swim in the cement pond.

[Glenda]

50. I thought it was CUTE when Howard said it on TDS

So there! You go Howard! :woohoo:

[CatWoman]

51. and what of "terra"?

what's Bush's excuse?

I don't recall people in Texas pronouncing terror that way.

[dogday]

52. I say it the wrong way

hope the speech police does not show up at my door.

[mainer]

54. Well, the Brits say "Indear" instead of "India"

And we think it sounds so darn high brow.

[demokatgurrl]

58. Personally I'd enjoy hearing a northern accent on a

daily basis - getting tired of Texas accents. No offense to Texans- I actually LIKE the Texas accent, but Bush's phony one is sickening.
And I really DO think we need to elect a President from another part of the country- say Illinois, New England, New York, Northern California...

[Danmel]

59. Is Howard from the Bronx?

My father in law says Florider and Ronkonokamer. He also leaves them off where they should be like Oyster Bay becomes Oysta Bay. Hard to figure.

[NYCGirl]

62. Nope. A Manhattanite.

It's those years in Vermont that's given him the accent, I think.

[CatWoman]

68. I've been living in the deep south for about 10 years now

and have yet to lose my northern accent.

[Blue_In_AK]

71. It reminds me of the way John Kennedy used to say

"Cuber."

[Larkspur]

72. I live in CT and New Englanders have a habit of putting an 'r' at the end

of words, like "idea."

I'm from Illinois and noticied this trait the first day I moved to CT.

[JVS]

76. My friend from NJ says Idee

[lojasmo]

78. Hells bells....

get a life. :eyes:

[burythehatchet]

84. Only if you show me how. I hear your's is truly enviable.

:)

[lojasmo]

88. Mpph...Never said I had one......

But I certainly don't get ferklempt about how folks pronounce their words.

Perhaps we should write Kennedy and Kerry to see how that's pronounced.

[stevedeshazer]

79. We all have accents

'Pends on where yer frum.

[XemaSab]

80. I heart Howard

I think it's quirky and charming.

Sure a helluva lot better that Shrub's drunken, phoney drawl. Do you think he affects a drawl because it makes it less evident that he's shitfaced drunk?

"We'reunna WIN this warron TERRA! Yesh, the mennanwimmin in the military, they're working hard to PROTECT US! God blesh Ammerica!"

I thought he has slurring a bit the other night, frankly...

[burythehatchet]

87. LIstening to Howard is as comfortable as soft silk

compared to the moron's slurring drawl. btw, your mennanwimmin cracked me up. My favorite is maamminnishtrashun.

[Patiod]

81. Some folks can't pronounce a word that ends in a vowel

if the next word starts with a vowel. They HAVE to put an "R" in between. That's why our neighbor from Boston used to call my parents "Ritar and Charlie", but call my mom "Rita"

(Spider Jerusalem explained this more technically, above)

I've neve understood the root of this one. I'm assuming people in the midlands of England, whose people settled the MidAtlantic, don't have this speech pattern, unlike those from the south of England, who settle NY.

[helderheid]

83. Kerry says it the same way

[blogslut]

91. Accents don't bother me

I'm more upset with deliberate mispronunciations like, oh, I don't know, maybe...

NUKULER!!!!

[LiberalForEver]

92. Unlike Shrub, he at least has them even if he can't say it your way!

[spanone]

93. I live in TN and under 'Bell' in the phone book it says also see 'Bale'.

I kid you not.

[burythehatchet]

94. No. Way.

[Individualist]

96. Way

I'm also in Tennessee, and to some Tennesseeans, bell is a two syllable word (bayull).

[burythehatchet]

97. I worked in East TN for 2 years so I can hear you say it

but the phone book thing is too bizarre.
The only place where "now" is a three syllable word.

[Zomby Woof]

95. Although I am no fan of Dean...

I prefer criticizing the idea(r)s which come out of his mouth, not the way he pronounces words.

Dialect is normal, and I will not criticize Dean for speaking in his regional dialect.

[burythehatchet]

99. you should be able to glean from the other comments that the thread is

somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

:tongue-in-cheek smilie: