Philidolphia

[bunomatic]

I once met a janitor that told me he was going to Buffaloo?

[inkman]

Driving through it.

Chy-lie it is. Weird, stupid ######....

[nobody]

My wife, who writes movie-related stories for a national newspaper, was born and raised in Buffalo. Yet when she talks to film folks -- many of whom have an ear for dialect and accents -- they often ask if she's from Chicago. They usually mention her flat "A"s and nasal tones. Apparently, Buffalo speech patterns are similar to those of other parts of the "midwest". Don't know if that's a reflection of the Eastern European heritage of Buffalo and WNY or not. Personally, I've never noticed that she has an "accent." Must be because I grew up there and am used to hearing folks from WNY.

 

 

Buffalo does fall into what used to be known as the standard Midwestern accent - which also used to be the classic American accent. Buffalo isn't known as the gateway to the west just because of those grain elevators.

[samothyev]

My wife, who writes movie-related stories for a national newspaper, was born and raised in Buffalo. Yet when she talks to film folks -- many of whom have an ear for dialect and accents -- they often ask if she's from Chicago. They usually mention her flat "A"s and nasal tones. Apparently, Buffalo speech patterns are similar to those of other parts of the "midwest". Don't know if that's a reflection of the Eastern European heritage of Buffalo and WNY or not. Personally, I've never noticed that she has an "accent." Must be because I grew up there and am used to hearing folks from WNY.

 

I am from the Buffalo area(45 yrs worth). In my younger years of working as a Customer Service Representative I was asked several times if I was Canadian. Not too sure about the "Midwest" thing...

[JoDo]

What do people pronounce Philadelphia this way? Discuss.

 

Growing up in Hamburg, I remember pronouncing Philadelphia that way and hearing Kevin Sylvester do it always brings me back. We moved to CA when I was in high school and due to heavy teasing, most of my accent has been broken. Although I notice Kevin saying it, I didn't think much of it because I figured it was common back there. I'll have to listen to my family back there next time we're on the phone. Of course they'll wonder why I keep making them repeat "Philadelphia"

[SwampD]

Buffalo does fall into what used to be known as the standard Midwestern accent - which also used to be the classic American accent. Buffalo isn't known as the gateway to the west just because of those grain elevators.

Being the gateway to the west would be cool. Unfortunately, Buffalo is more like the gateway to the mid-west.

 

I am from the Buffalo area(45 yrs worth). In my younger years of working as a Customer Service Representative I was asked several times if I was Canadian. Not too sure about the "Midwest" thing...

I've had Canadians down here ask me if I was Canadian.

[darksabre]

Being the gateway to the west would be cool. Unfortunately, Buffalo is more like the gateway to the mid-west.

 

 

I've had Canadians down here ask me if I was Canadian.

 

I get asked a lot about the Canadian thing too. And it just gets worse when I'm hanging out with Canadians. I would definitely describe the Buffalo accent as a mix between Canadian and Midwestern. We're like North Dakota Lite.

 

Also, according to the audio clip on dictionary.com, we all say Rochester correctly. Rah-chest-er isn't really that much different than their pronunciation of Roch-es-ter.

 

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rochester

 

If anything, the weirdest one is when you get people from Long Island saying Rochester as Raw-chest-a.