Thanks for the post I enjoyed that. I hear some similarity there with people from small isolated towns in Newfoundland, used to be quite a community of them where I grew up. Makes sense both groups mainly came from Ireland mainly two or three centuries ago.
My routes are from Virginia and West Va... right on the state line. I'm 17th generation in the US.
When I get around another southerner, or If I don't think about it.... by wife and son, say I immediately am talking like I'm back home. My son said my accent changed as soon as I crossed the Virginia state line. He was looking at me and said, who in the hell are you and what did you do with my dad?
I've spent quite a bit of time in the Maritimes in Canada, both there and in far Northern Maine, you can still hear the common thread or roots in both to the western part of VA or West Va. It was settled primarily by English, Scottish and Irish.. A lot of the home cooked food in rural Canada is exactly like we ate growing up. It has to do with the same common roots.
The mountains didn't have a lot of influx of other nationalities, to bring accents that would influence changes.
I use to be able to tell ya what state someone was from down south, by the way they said certain words.
Flat land people had influence in their language from black slaves, which the mountain folks didn't.
you can also travel to different places in Appalachia that are not too far apart, but they have had different influence to the way they Talk. There can be big differences in speech from southern WVa and SW Va., versus NE Tennessee and then from Eastern Kentucky, to western North Carolina.
VA mountain folks have a strong influence from Scottish and Irish. When I lived in England and traveled up to Scotland and to Ireland, I felt right at home.. like it was the homeland... Especially Scotland the speech patterns were pretty much the same.. to include certain sayings people had.. Yet noticed the same in Northern Maine, which is isolated by miles of woods from the south and surrounded by the French, to the north, and east in Canada.
In the Video, what they called a boomer... from our locale, that is called a FairyDiddle instead.
I grew up with you put a Lawg on the Far,,,, and you changed a Flat Tar, with a Tar Arn. A lot of that is disappearing nowadays tho. Accents are fading away, which is sad in my book.
When in college, I had a GF from Metro Boston, who had a harsh Boston Accent. I took her down to West VA with me several times.. Between her and my relatives, I pretty much was translating two different languages back and forth... because they could not understand each other. Yet it was funny watching them write down certain words, wanting the other to pronounce it, and then laughing. My GF and Relatives really enjoyed doing that for each other.
My first wife from MN, in our travels to New England, we had a break down in eastern Maine... the two guys that came out in the tow truck talking to each other... my wife, asked me were we still in Canada.. she thought they were speaking French, like in Quebec.
We were at Disneyland with the kids, once and this lady comes up to ask me If I knew where something was.... she was Jewish and had a real thick NY Jewish accent....I told her how to get where she was going, and then when she left, my wife immediately asks me... I didn't know you spoke Spanish.. I told her I didn't.. she didn't believe me... to her, the NY Jewish Lady sounded exactly like Puerto Ricans and Cubans to her.
She thought I was messing with her when I said I didn't speak Spanish..... then I finally told her, I didn't answer her in Spanish did I? She said No, so I told her the NY Jewish lady understood me just fine in English.
In college I use to study different accents from around the country, based on the people who settled there.
and other outside influences. Georgia for instance, I hear a lot of Black slave in their accent... yet north Georgia you didn't... no slave or plantations around there. Same in Eastern, vs Western N.C., or East Tenn vs West Tenn. Heck I use to be able to tell the difference between North Carolina and South Carolina.
Fun stuff, but I'm a Mountain VA boy when I'm around southern accents. If I don't think about it, I go right back into it.... I naturally do not say BEfore... I'll say A'fer....or I'd better be A'Goin.....that is the old Scottish influence... and everything is "Down the road apiece...." That could mean a mile or 100 miles....
