May everyone in this conversation risk dislocating their favored shoulder by patting themselves on the back in admiration. Good and humored, worthwhile for a linguist and extraordinarily with-it, they have without vituperation brought up wonderful themes.
Can a reader of an Official Guide to the American Railroad......or google map not wonder how to pronounce a place name?
Here an erudite group thrives. Great!
Let us keep this going on.....
Vallejo, Quoque. La Jolla, Amarillo, Cuyahoga, Patchogue,.....
samfp1943 SALfan samfp1943 - Cairo, GA is also pronounced "KAY-ro". None of the kids fresh out of journalism school hired by the local Nitwitness (TV) News can get that thru their thick heads. Liked your phrase for Mississippi ("South of the Magnolia Curtain"). I'll have to remember that one - I try to collect and use vivid descriptive phrases. deggesty- In an earlier post I believe it was you who said the folks from NE North Carolina and SE Virginia had a very unique, almost Elizabethan pronunciation (my apologies to the actual author, if it wasn't you). Whomever said it, they were so right! I once worked with a guy from somewhere in the Tidewater, and he had a pretty good dose of the Old English in the way he pronounced words. In your post above, you make the point that there are many "Southern" accents. Right again! I grew up in SE GA, but my mother had family in SW GA, where they have an accent different enough that it can be easily distinguished from that of SE GA. Back in the days when Phil Gramm was a U.S. Representative from Texas, some reporter on TV made a comment about his "Texas drawl". Hogwash!! Nearly hurt myself laughing at that, because it is obvious to anyone with the right ear that he learned to talk in SW GA. I believe his father was in the Army, but I know Gramm's family was living near Columbus, GA when he was little. When my wife and I (she's a Tallahassee, FL native) lived in Arkansas, we were asked thousands of times "Are you from Texas?" We spoke different enough from the Arkansawyers that it was obvious. And right you are SALFAN ! About the turn of this century, I was thrust into a move to HotLanta ( or for my aviation savvy friends ATL) Taking my Native tongue( born in Memphis,Tn.) to Georgia was a real experience. We did business in Albany, Georgia with a couple of shippers ( the locals pronounce it "ALL BENNY", and are pretty serious about THAT pronunciation, it took me a little while to find out it was not tow places. ) Do not ever think that all Americans speak the English language you grew up with. Out here in fly-over country the Kansans speak their own brand ( adding 'r's, subtracting other letters with abandonment in places most would not exppect We have a 'crick' behind our place; clothes go into the 'Warsh'. Well! you get my drift!
SALfan samfp1943 - Cairo, GA is also pronounced "KAY-ro". None of the kids fresh out of journalism school hired by the local Nitwitness (TV) News can get that thru their thick heads. Liked your phrase for Mississippi ("South of the Magnolia Curtain"). I'll have to remember that one - I try to collect and use vivid descriptive phrases. deggesty- In an earlier post I believe it was you who said the folks from NE North Carolina and SE Virginia had a very unique, almost Elizabethan pronunciation (my apologies to the actual author, if it wasn't you). Whomever said it, they were so right! I once worked with a guy from somewhere in the Tidewater, and he had a pretty good dose of the Old English in the way he pronounced words. In your post above, you make the point that there are many "Southern" accents. Right again! I grew up in SE GA, but my mother had family in SW GA, where they have an accent different enough that it can be easily distinguished from that of SE GA. Back in the days when Phil Gramm was a U.S. Representative from Texas, some reporter on TV made a comment about his "Texas drawl". Hogwash!! Nearly hurt myself laughing at that, because it is obvious to anyone with the right ear that he learned to talk in SW GA. I believe his father was in the Army, but I know Gramm's family was living near Columbus, GA when he was little. When my wife and I (she's a Tallahassee, FL native) lived in Arkansas, we were asked thousands of times "Are you from Texas?" We spoke different enough from the Arkansawyers that it was obvious.
samfp1943 -
Cairo, GA is also pronounced "KAY-ro". None of the kids fresh out of journalism school hired by the local Nitwitness (TV) News can get that thru their thick heads.
Liked your phrase for Mississippi ("South of the Magnolia Curtain"). I'll have to remember that one - I try to collect and use vivid descriptive phrases.
deggesty-
In an earlier post I believe it was you who said the folks from NE North Carolina and SE Virginia had a very unique, almost Elizabethan pronunciation (my apologies to the actual author, if it wasn't you). Whomever said it, they were so right! I once worked with a guy from somewhere in the Tidewater, and he had a pretty good dose of the Old English in the way he pronounced words.
In your post above, you make the point that there are many "Southern" accents. Right again! I grew up in SE GA, but my mother had family in SW GA, where they have an accent different enough that it can be easily distinguished from that of SE GA. Back in the days when Phil Gramm was a U.S. Representative from Texas, some reporter on TV made a comment about his "Texas drawl". Hogwash!! Nearly hurt myself laughing at that, because it is obvious to anyone with the right ear that he learned to talk in SW GA. I believe his father was in the Army, but I know Gramm's family was living near Columbus, GA when he was little. When my wife and I (she's a Tallahassee, FL native) lived in Arkansas, we were asked thousands of times "Are you from Texas?" We spoke different enough from the Arkansawyers that it was obvious.
And right you are SALFAN !
About the turn of this century, I was thrust into a move to HotLanta ( or for my aviation savvy friends ATL) Taking my Native tongue( born in Memphis,Tn.) to Georgia was a real experience. We did business in Albany, Georgia with a couple of shippers ( the locals pronounce it "ALL BENNY", and are pretty serious about THAT pronunciation, it took me a little while to find out it was not tow places. )
Do not ever think that all Americans speak the English language you grew up with. Out here in fly-over country the Kansans speak their own brand ( adding 'r's, subtracting other letters with abandonment in places most would not exppect We have a 'crick' behind our place; clothes go into the 'Warsh'.
Well! you get my drift!
(Laughing out loud) If you know the ALL BENNY pronunciation for Albany, GA, you have definitely been there or talked to someone from there. The folks there are certainly serious about that pronunciation. I'm not a big fan of hers, but if you want to hear a textbook Albany accent (and therefore SW GA accent), listen to Paula Deen on the Food Network. Takes me back to childhood trips to visit my mother's family, south of Albany.
efftenxrfe Here an erudite group thrives. Great! Let us keep this going on..... Vallejo, Quoque. La Jolla, Amarillo, Cuyahoga, Patchogue,.....
Anyone from Illinoyz???
Cairo....is it still pronounced KAY-ro?
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
blownout cylinder Anyone from Illinoyz??? Cairo....is it still pronounced KAY-ro?
Most definitely! Other Illinois pronuniciations: San Jose (San JO-see), Marseilles (Mar-SAY-ells), among others.
My favorite experience in this regard was spending a day at Jamaica NY. Listening to the LIRR station announcer calling out the station stops for each train was something to behold.
In PA, we have Middletown (middle-town)
Then a county or two away, we have a Middletown Township (middle-tun).
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
zugmann In PA, we have Middletown (middle-town) Then a county or two away, we have a Middletown Township (middle-tun).
ZUG: Found this (on Wikipedia)>
Middletown is the name of more than one location in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania:
And having been there looking for one in my Rand-McNalley.. I can say that not one is pronounced the same and you can bet a non-Native will never get it right!
(middle-tun)
Would it then be (middle-tun) "tunship"?
Strange, to me, variant pronunciation.
Many consistent dialects, OK, reasonably consistent, pronounce thesaurus words without changing intonations. F'rinstance, the film "Fargo" left no doubt by intonation who the " homies" were. The Geico gecko spoke Chicago accurately, the Everley brothers "I wonder if I (keer) as much, as I did....
One of Trains' regular writers (Jim Warsher ? Don Phillips ? Conductor Middleton ?) once commented on a conductor somewhere in the deep southern / gulf region of the US who announced as the train was about to depart from each station:
"Oboe shree-poe, oboe shreepoe !"
A while later said writer realized it was, of course: "All aboard, Shreveport !"
- Paul North.
I was at one of my away-from-home terminals (AFHT), when a trainmaster/RFE struck up a conversation. At the end of the conversation, he asked me:
"y'all not from 'round here, are ya?"
I replied: "Nope, I'm from the other end of the line".
His response: "I could tell, 'cause y'all talk funny!"
I just smiled and agreed.
Paul_D_North_Jr One of Trains' regular writers (Jim Warsher ? Don Phillips ? Conductor Middleton ?) once commented on a conductor somewhere in the deep southern / gulf region of the US who announced as the train was about to depart from each station: "Oboe shree-poe, oboe shreepoe !" A while later said writer realized it was, of course: "All aboard, Shreveport !" - Paul North.
You tempt me to re-read The Adventures of William Moedinger, Pullman Conductor, which is my name for the collection of his memoirs that I photocopied from the various issues of Trains. I especially enjoy re-reading the account of how he spent the evening after Christmas Day dinner, 1945, while on the Milwaukee Road in Montana (Trains, October, 1972, p. 43).
Johnny
When CSX centralized their dispatching center in Jacksonville, I fully expected to be overwhelemed by the former SBD & LN people and their varieties of 'Southern' accents. The reality was signifigantly different. While there were some 'southern' elements in their speech patterns, by and large most of their speech patterns were of the 'standardized' flat mid-western pronounciations - that's among the Dispatchers.
Communicating with field personnel on the South end of the railroad was a total trip through the multiplicity of Southern accents - the New Orleans area with it's Cajun emphasis, the Virginia emphasis as opposed to the Carolina's inflections, the mountain 'twang' of the Applachain areas - on and on and on.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
samfp1943 Is it true you went to being an Engineer so you would not have to call the station (Remsen,NY) on the ASR ? ( Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch )
Is it true you went to being an Engineer so you would not have to call the station (Remsen,NY) on the ASR ?
( Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch )
I just call it Remsen.
Even though I'm now an engineer, I still see a fair amount of duty as a conductor. I don't do much on that section of the railroad, though.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
BaltACD When CSX centralized their dispatching center in Jacksonville, I fully expected to be overwhelemed by the former SBD & LN people and their varieties of 'Southern' accents.
When CSX centralized their dispatching center in Jacksonville, I fully expected to be overwhelemed by the former SBD & LN people and their varieties of 'Southern' accents.
One day, however, I heard someone from the power desk (probably in Jax) trying to help a local crew with an engine problem over the radio. And you could tell.
When I visit Michigan, I hear southern accents on the railroad radio, as that's "old" CSX and is dispatched from Jax.
tree68 BaltACD When CSX centralized their dispatching center in Jacksonville, I fully expected to be overwhelemed by the former SBD & LN people and their varieties of 'Southern' accents. CSX dispatching in my area is done from Selkirk, south of Albany (NY), so we don't hear much of the southern accents here. One day, however, I heard someone from the power desk (probably in Jax) trying to help a local crew with an engine problem over the radio. And you could tell. When I visit Michigan, I hear southern accents on the railroad radio, as that's "old" CSX and is dispatched from Jax.
CSX dispatching in my area is done from Selkirk, south of Albany (NY), so we don't hear much of the southern accents here.
Only the Jacksonville Division is still dispatched from Jax. Dispatching was decentrailzed in 2008. What you heard talking to the local about engine problems was the staff on the Mechanical Desk - the so called mechanical experts when it comes to diagnosing and 'fixing' line of road mechanical issues. About 50-60% of the time they are able to talk the engineer through procedures to get the failed locomotive back on line....
When I retired we addressed the UP's mech. group of advisors as "goodwrench" and they were good.
The only unit left of three, run-thru's ran out of fuel, died as we wyed from an east-west line to a north-south line,blocking almost every way to get anywhere in Newark Ca. Dead in the water!
The Conducter said let's reboot. Later, like an echo, so did Goodwrench.
It worked.The engine started and took us to West Oakland.
I'm across the river from Illinoi and it's still pronounced Kay-ro over there. Here in Missouri we call it Care-o We also have a town almost across the river called New Mad-drid..
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