American Regional English

Seeing a story in the local newspaper about the American Regional English dictionary made me think about the fact that I have lived in Wilmington, North Carolina for 34 years. However, no one would ever mistake me for a native of this region. With only those initial 21 years in Fort Wayne, Indiana, I still at the age of 68 sound like a Hoosier. Believe me, I have tried hard not to sound like I came from Fort Wayne. Early on I tried to erase some of the flagrant mispronunciations like “warshcloth,” “Warshington, DC,” “Illinoise,” or “Massatusess.”

It wasn't until I landed at Purdue University that I found out that things were not “boughten” or ”brand new.” It was a move to Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1968 that taught me that a green bell pepper was not a mango. Imagine being at a GE Wives Club meeting for new MMP's and trying to exchange recipes. I had to ask what a bell pepper was to start with and they didn't understand why I would be putting a mango in a recipe for sloppy joes. Such come-up-pances actually drove me to look up the word mango in an unabridged dictionary. It turns out that the term mango was a colloquial term used in the midwest for “sweet pepper.” I knew that I had seen MANGO written on a produce sign above those green peppers at our local Kroger store when I was growing up.

Fortunately for the last 32 years I have taught along side some kind folks who have tolerated my “Hoosierisms.” You know the regular things like “carmel” verses caramel. However, one of my speech patterns drove a colleague to finally speak up. She could not stand to hear me stick a “t” on the end of the word “across” any longer. It was so ingrained with me that I didn't even hear it. However, when she so sweetly shared with me, I worked very hard to rectify the situation because I used that word a lot within her earshot. It was part of my vernacular for giving letter formation directions to young children. One time a student's parent overheard me correct myself. The parent said that her husband left Fort Wayne, Indiana when he was ten and he still sticks the “t” on the end of “across.”

Even though I still hold on to some of my old speech patterns, I have become comfortable with “cutting “ off the lights and “carrying” my child to dance class. Plus, I know to ask for soda instead of “pop” with my hamburger.