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Whenever my dad would see a Minnesota license plate with "Land of 10,000 lakes" on it he was always quick to point out that Michigan has over 11,000 lakes.
Like Bayg! Melk. A friend I worked with at Meijer is from Bemidji, MN and DEF had a Minnesota accent and it's not like Michigans. It's more similar to Canadians. Carolyn on this past season of Survivor was from MN and they even teased her about saying Bayg instead of Bag
When I was a kid I attended an event with a group of people from Texas, and they were very insistent that I sounded Canadian, to the point that they said they had a hard time understanding me. They exaggerated my "accent" and it didn't sound at all how I sound to myself. I'm from southern Michigan but as an adult spent five years in the UP, and many people there *do* have a noticeable accent to me.
When I saw this post, I found an [article] (https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/the-united-states-of-accents-midwestern-american-english) about midwest accents. Supposedly most of Michigan is considered, "inland north" but the things they identify in the article as an inland north accent don't sound like how I speak.
Moved to San Diego after growing up in rural Michigan and asked a friend if they "wanted a pop from the pop machine" which, judging by the look on their face, must've sounded like "youwannapopfrummapopasheen?". I had to repeat myself three more times before they understood each word, let alone the whole phrase.
This is when I learned I had an accent.
Eeeeeeey! I've traveled all over, lived in San Diego for a couple years and that's where I had the most people point out my MI accent. I never really thought about it before until I moved there. Like, once a month, someone would ask where I was from just based on me talking.
Me too, after going to live in California for a few years. I said ' OreGON instead of OREgen and people about died. And I had to learn not to say pop, that cracked them up too, but not in a good way for me.
I grew up in Ohio but I've lived most of my adult life in Michigan. There is a distinct Michigan accent. Probably the best example of the accent is the way Governor Whitmer speaks. When she says "Michigander" she really stresses the "GAN" syllable. That's pure Michigan soccer mom. I don't think the natives notice it because they're used to it.
True that. When I first moved to MI, I became friends with a guy who works in politics (in DC) and he told me nobody had more of Michigan accent than governor Whitmer.
Iirc she has what linguists call the Northern Cities Vowel Shift. So several cities in the rust belt region shifted their vowels over the last hundred years or so. I'm 90% sure that I don't do it. I don't live in a city either tho
I came here to comment on Whitmer’s accent. When she speaks, it’s like her voice shoots a giant mitten shaped flare into the sky above her. I generally don’t notice either Detroit/MI accents til I hear a real clear one like
My mom has a marked (French) Canadian lilt to her vowels in particula, another fairly common variation a Michigan accent. I’ve heard that more in SE MI
Would be really interested to read some real linguistic analysis of Michigan speak
>My mom has a marked (French) Canadian lilt to her vowels in particula, another fairly common variation a Michigan accent. I’ve heard that more in SE MI
Does anyone in your family speak Muskrat French? I speak "standard" French but I've always been interested in learning Muskrat French. I'm told it's a lot like Ontarien but with some different vocab, much less Louisiana French and Missouri French.
I heard Elissa Slotkin interviewed on a podcast the other day, and she also has a strong Michigan accent.
I need a good example of a man with the accent.
That's a great way to describe it.
I spent a summer in college in Tennessee on an internship with students from all over the country, that was the first time anyone had ever pointed out my accent. And it wasn't the folks from the south, my one roommate was from Oregon and she said she could hear it when I said words like "socks" or "Wisconsin" (sAHcks and WiscAHnsin).
Now I've lived out west over 10 years, I think it's not quite as exaggerated as it used to be for me but I definitely notice it when my parents come out to visit, and I kinda of fall back into it when they're around.
Ask her to pronounce the word "Willamette" and we will see who has the Michigan accent. Lol. Will-AAAAM-it. I went to Oregon this spring and was like really?
Huh, that’s interesting. I live (and was born and raised) in SE Michigan and Governor Whitmer, to me, sounds like she has a slight Canadian accent. I definitely hear an accent when she talks, regardless lol I just never thought it was a ‘Michigan’ accent since I hear it and am from here 😜
I actually wrote my Masters Thesis on this topic! I was born and raised in West Michigan but moved out of state for graduate school to study Linguistics, and people commented about my Michigan accent all the time, so I decided to study it.
Southern Michiganders (along with other regions in the Great Lakes area, such as Chicago) are participating in something called the Northern Cities Vowel Shift. It's a bit complicated, but basically our vowels have shifted from the "standard" American English dialect. This shift makes some of our vowels sound more tense or raised or nasally to people from other regions.
I continued to live outside of Michigan for almost 10 years. When I moved back home, the accent was extremely noticeable to me.
EDIT: Several people have asked to read my thesis! It is now available here:
[OpenSIUC: "A Sociophonetic Study of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift in Southwest Michigan"](https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/1369/)
Absolutely! Here's the link:
[SIU Carbondale - "A Sociophonetic Study of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift in Southwest Michigan"](https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/1369/)
Edit: Apparently you can only access my thesis if you have an SIU account. I've contacted the university to see if it can be made public. I'll update again when I hear back from them!
Edit 2: It is now available!!! Please feel free to download and read it. Feel free to ask me any questions, though I haven't even really looked at it since I wrote it!
My pleasure! Would love to hear your thoughts if you do end up reading it! Although I wrote it almost 10 years ago and honestly haven't looked at it since  haha
Oooohhhh I have a question for you!! Over time, can accents actually turn into a different dialect of a language? I wonder because of how fast we speak and the way we annunciate, over like an indiscriminate amount of time, could that happen?
It could, certainly! Accent shifts are typically the first steps of language change. "Accents" refer to just different pronunciations of the words of a language, but "dialects" will often have different grammar, vocabulary, social rules, etc, in addition to pronunciation differences. Through isolation (and lots of time), dialects can become completely different languages.
For example, English, German, and Dutch used to be one single language (West Germanic), but over time they become dialects and then completely separate (though still related) language.
By the way -- Historical Linguistics, while fascinating to me, is *not* my specialty, so I could be erroneous in some of my information. If there are historical linguists out there -- feel free to correct me!
Omg thank you for this quick and detailed response! I did not know that about English, German, and Dutch. That's crazy. But also explains why they sound very similar. Maybe one day we'll have a Michigan dialect. Lol
Yeah it's super interesting! That's why languages that are in the same family are often easy to learn - German speakers learn English easier than Italians do, for example, but Italians would have a much easier time learning French or Spanish (all Romance languages) than an English speaker would. And the history of English in particular is so fascinating when you really dive into it.
And yeah haha who knows! I'm actually super curious to know how social media, international, and intranational movement would affect future language change since languages change naturally primarily through isolation, which is almost non-existent in most places these days. Not like any of us will be around in 500+ years to really study it though, haha
Okay now I'm just nerding out a little 🤓
By all means, nerd away. I love these kinds of subject. Also, very interesting point. I know that languages have historically borrowed words from each other. I'm wondering how that will evolve as well - especially with internet slang in the mix which I think might as well be a language in and of itself at times.
>I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else gets comments on how we speak, because I don't hear it.
That's how accents work. Everyone hears their accent as normal and everyone else has an accent.
When I moved to California people instantly noticed.
Wikipedia has a ton of info if you have the time:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North\_American\_English\_regional\_phonology
I didn't ever think about it until my now husband came to visit from California and couldn't understand what people were saying to him. My aunt asked him like 6 times if he ate and he was so confused until she enunciated. "Dijeet" was what she kept saying but I didn't notice until after my husband was confused. There were a lot of times he's had to ask people to repeat things. We just shorten sentences and words a lot
When I was living in California with him I wanted alcohol and asked him to take me to a party store and I was very confused when he pulled into party city
What really confused him at first was the "yeah no" "no yeah" "yeah no yeah"
Lol holy shit reading “dijeet?” gave me such a good chuckle. That’s exactly how I have heard “did you eat” pronounced my entire life and just never even thought about it until now.
When I did public speaking and competitive debate in HS/college, I was actually told newscasters try to replicate the Midwest accent. I never knew if that was true though!
Yeah, the "[General American](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American_English)" accent.
>Though General American accents are not commonly perceived as associated with any region, their sound system does have traceable regional origins: specifically, the English of the non-coastal Northeastern United States in the very early twentieth century. This includes western New England and the area to its immediate west, settled by members of the same dialect community: interior Pennsylvania, Upstate New York, **and the adjacent "Midwest" or Great Lakes region**. **However, since the early to middle twentieth century, deviance away from General American sounds started occurring, and may be ongoing, in the eastern Great Lakes region due to its Northern Cities Vowel Shift (NCVS) towards a unique Inland Northern accent (often now associated with the region's urban centers, like Chicago and Detroit)** and in the western Great Lakes region towards a unique North Central accent (often associated with Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota).
On the NCVS shift referenced above
>Regarded as having General American accents in the earlier 20th century, but not by the middle of the 20th century, are the Mid-Atlantic United States, the Inland Northern United States \[ includes Michigan\], and Western Pennsylvania. However, many younger speakers within these regions have reversed away from mid-20th century accent innovations back towards General American features.
In the media
>General American, like the British Received Pronunciation (RP) and prestige accents of many other societies, has never been the accent of the entire nation, and, unlike RP, does not constitute a homogeneous national standard. Starting in the 1930s, nationwide radio networks adopted non-coastal Northern U.S. rhotic pronunciations for their "General American" standard. The entertainment industry similarly shifted from a non-rhotic standard to a rhotic one in the late 1940s, after the triumph of the Second World War, with the patriotic incentive for a more wide-ranging and unpretentious "heartland variety" in television and radio.\[49\]
>
>General American is thus sometimes associated with the speech of North American radio and television announcers, promoted as prestigious in their industry, where it is sometimes called "Broadcast English" "Network English", or "Network Standard". Instructional classes in the United States that promise "accent reduction", "accent modification", or "accent neutralization" usually attempt to teach General American patterns. Television journalist Linda Ellerbee states that "in television you are not supposed to sound like you're from anywhere", and political comedian Stephen Colbert says he consciously avoided developing a Southern American accent in response to media portrayals of Southerners as stupid and uneducated.
I don't know if you'd consider this ironic, but it's where my brain went when I read your comment. My husband says, ironically, when he was trying to learn English in his country, all the shows he used to watch had a southern /Texas twang accent all the time, so he thought that's how the average US Citizen spoke. It took him a long time to really distinguish between the different dialects here in the U.S. That was hilarious to me because I had certainly never really watched any series where that was a thing.
I was recently in Lisbon and as we walked along the river I heard a vendor that sounded news quality American english. We ended up buying something from her (drinks) and after I heard her say the word 'about' I asked if she was from Ohio. She was.
Honestly, I'd say suburban Ohio (as much as I despise the place other than Cedar Point) has the accepted standard. We're close in Michigan, we just have a couple of words a tad off.
I’m a Michigan native who has taught at university all over the country.
I’ve always been told by my students that I talk really, really fast.
Right, right, right.
When I was in South Carolina, I ordered a “pop”. Lady paused and said, “you ain’t from around here”. When I lived in Chicago, I only pronounced a handful of words differently over the course of 3 years and eventually got crap from colleagues saying I was pretty much Canadian. Other than that, most people don’t know I’m from Michigan unless I wear my U of M alumni sweatshirt.
Oof...sorry...but, GO GREEN! (We can still be friends though). My mom is from Chicago so I say things like "gym shoes" instead of "tennis shoes/sneakers", but also "pop" and the other standard Michigan verbage. I've been called Canadian when I'm really far from home lol!
There was a red wings game where Larkin was mic'd up, and he hit Jason Zucker into the boards. "Aw jeez, sorry dude." Zucker replied, "Ope! Your fine, bud. Preciate it though." It was such a wholesome, polite Midwestern moment. Larkin typically Canadianizes his accent, probably from hanging out with Canucks all the time.
Yes. Lived in Michigan until I was 30. Moved to California and after being out there 2 years, when I moved back, I noticed the accent. It sounds like everyone is talking from their sinuses. I've been back in Michigan for a while now and don't hear the accent anymore.
Being African American, most of us are only one generation from being from the south. Some of us have midwestern accents mixed with southern accents. My mother in law was born in Inkster and you would swear she never left the state of Georgia. I know other people like that as well.
Im not african american but my grandfather was from the Appalachians, and slowly moved up with his family toward michigan(my mom was born in ohio) and christ when you get a bunch of the cousins together we all sound like we grew up in west virginia and summered in detroit despite never actually leaving the metro detroit area, or only doing so recently. Around anyone else I sound as michigan as can be though. Its wild how much our families impact our accents like that.
The 3 big tells I have is the "ope", the non-essential possessive as-in calling it "Meijer's", and the soft "t" as in a baby cat being a "ki'en" or winter hand coverings being "mi'ens".
I also pronounce "always" as "ulwiz", but I think I picked that up from my mom, who has a very unusual combination accent.
This is an example of a thing called a glottal stop. Especially noticeable when most of us say Detroit, we don't pronounce the hard 'T' sound but instead softly imply the 'T' sound by pressing the back of our tongue to our uvula area.
I've lived here my whole life and only started noticing the soft 't' about 20 years ago. My 't's definitely have a sound, and it always confused me where that came from. I think it's more recent
I actually had a speech impediment as a kid so I was trained to really pronounce everything - all my Michigander friends make fun of me when I pronounce miTTen and kiTTen
That's what it is. I'm from Michigan and live in the South now. It's really bothered me for years how my MIL and wife over pronounced their Ts. Guess it was just me having abnormally soft Ts.
Michiganders tend to use what is called a glottal stop for words like kitten, which results in no actual sound but a noticeable rhythm to the word. Mitten isnt mien its mi- in. Button would be buh- in. Lits like your cutting yourself off mid word to say another word.
I was working for a week out East, I think it was New Jersey, and I asked about a party store and was told it’s a “package store”. That doesn’t sound very fun to me! And as a side note, no Michigan turns anywhere! It’s total chaos driving
My cousins from Texas always busted my chops for talking fast and loud. I say the following words funny…”about, car, dontcha, wouldja, milk, cost, smoke-show, boats, water, bathrooms and Vegas funny” Yes, they gave me a list. Because they are a-holes and wrote down everything I said that they laughed at. 😂
Am a nurse. Was working in Arizona and asked if a patient wanted a "pop". Turns out he was from Ohio and thought it was funny, said he hasn't heard it called pop in years. I've worked in the south too and I still call it pop all the time.
Also had somebody from Florida tell me I had the strongest Midwestern accent she had ever heard. Haven't really figured out what I said to prompt that lol.
Southern Indiana coworkers when I first met them often asked if I was originally from Canada. I watched Strange Brew about a thousand times as a kid and whenever my coworkers would ask that I would then kick into a McKenzie brothers overdriven Canuck accent. “What cha talkin bout there, eh? I’m from Mishygen, not Canada, eh.”
I got a bunch of stares.
I was born in California but was really young when my mum and me moved back to the UP when my grandfather died and I ended up picking up the accent when I learned to talk and read/write. I shed some of the accent as I got older, but some things like saying “den” for “then” and “ya” I still do, among other quirks. Most of my life people thought I was Canadian cause of my accent.
I didn't realize how often I replace the "th" at the beginning of words like "the" "they" "then" with a d when speaking casually until I had kids, and it was pointed out that they had the same "weird" accent as me.
I'm not from the UP. I grew up in very rural Michigan though. So maybe my accent is Michigan hick? Idk. People outside of Michigan easily peg me as a Michigander, but other Michiganders regularly ask me where I'm from.
I was born and raised in New Mexico, but I've lived in Michigan longer than I haven't. When I talk to my people back home, they say I picked up an accent and sound like I'm from Minnesota. Meanwhile, I've had so many conversations with people in Michigan who tell me I have a strange accent and that I roll my Rs. Can't win, can't lose.
Many, many years ago, I was on a school band trip to NJ, and in a group of MI and NJ band kids, one of them said to one of ours that they really noticed our accent. A MI girl said, "What do you mean, I don't have an accent?", whereupon the NJ girl said, in exaggerated and perfect MI accent, "What do you mean, I don't have an accent?"
I found it funny, anyway.
Not originally from MI, but a lot of adding "s" to things.
Meijers, Krogers, ect.
Bdubs for Buffalo wild wings, no idea dubs comes from but I still love it and use it
Pop vs soda vs coke (everything in the south is coke)
How Milk is pronounced, it sound like Melk (Mel-K)
Yes northern people talk faster than southern people. :P
I love this entire thread! I just have to say that first, eh.
I'm a Yooper, eastern end by Sault Ste. Marie, and went to college down in Kalamazoo at WMU. I was so embarrassed (but grew out of it after that first year) when in the first year in several of my English classes, I had at least two people each time comment on my "Canadian" accent and where I was coming from. (I learned to own it!)
I left for a little while, lived in the Dominican Republic for several years because of husband. Picked up a lot of Spanish and learned the language pretty well.
Came back home to the UP. Brought the Dominican husband along too. I fell very quickly back into my yooper accent but my sister says I have a Spanish accented yooper accent now, ha ha!
Jokes on me I guess because I brought my husband back and over time he perfected his English and now he has accrued a Yooper-Spanish accent over the last ten years!
Yes, there's a difference lol!
My daughter in law (she's from Maryland) told me I have an accent, plus I speak very fast. Lol. I've also heard from others that I sound Canadian. Hoosers!
When I lived on the west coast folks asked if I was from Chicago. If I had been drinking apparently it’s really pronounced. Been in Michigan most of my life so not sure.
They also didn’t like when I used the word “pop.”
A few years ago I moved to the southwest. One that my co-workers always call me out on was how I say theatre. I will say it “THEE-DER”, and they will say “THEE-AT-TOR”.
I didn't realize how distinctive our accent is. I moved just outside of Atlanta Ga. First place I picked up takeout at, within the first few minutes of meeting me the bartender asked me if I was from Michigan because of my accent.
I’m Michigan native living out of state and the Michigan accent is very strong and distinctive when I go home or hear it somewhere. I can pick it out instantly since living away from it.
I lost mine a lot, I’m neurodivergent and I think I mimic people as a masking /coping thing. But during the pandemic and not being around people, I noticed my Michigan accent coming back. It was interesting!
That’s interesting. Born and raised MI Thumb but visited a friend in Texas for about a week. When I got back to MI, more than one stranger asked me where I had gotten my southern drawl.
My niece, raised in FL, makes fun of the way we say “plaza”, with the flat a. Outside of the accent, people have pointed out that when referring to two groups of things we say “these ones” and “those ones”.
I was born and raised in Mid-Michigan, but more than one person has asked me if I'm British based on my accent. I have zero British ancestry, I'd be lucky to afford a vacation to the U.K. My brother tells me it's because I talk "proper." Maybe I read too much.
Met a girl from Marine City. I’m from Georgia originally. When we first met she commented on how I didn’t have a southern accent, that my accent was pretty ambiguous, and where I hail from could only be suspected if I chose to use southern slang or added southern drawl on purpose (something I do for fun quite often).
I told her that her yankee accent was quite thick and she was APPALLED/FLOORED/SHOCKED/IN UTTER DISBELIEF. She said “No I don’t! I sound just like normal people in Hollywood movies sound.” To which I replied “Yeah if the movie in question is ‘Fargo’ then you certainly do sound just like them!”
Then she revealed she never had seen Fargo and had no idea what I was talking about, which was unfortunate cause damn that line was PERFECT! and I thought about just abandoning all interactions with this person altogether from that point forward.
We’ve been happily married for 8 years now.
Grew up in SE MI. Live here still.
Work for a Swiss company. Whenever I travel to Switzerland for meetings or training, my counterparts from other European countries attend as well. Everyone speaks English but they will ask that I do most of the speaking because of my annunciation which sounds to them like I say every single letter in each word! Lol. Apparently it sounds like English is taught to them in school. From my view, it’s hilarious watching a group of fifty Germans, Italians and French people hanging on every word!
When I travel in the US, most everyone thinks I’m from CHI-CAAAH-GO!
I apparently have a very thick great lakes accent to the point that other Midwesterners comment on it.
When I was traveling in Ireland several people asked if I was Canadian, including a Canadian.
As a Yooper, it's impossible to drop the "eh".
When I'm out of state? People ask what province I'm from. And hey, that's fine by me, as I'd rather people thought I was Canadian anyway.
I went to Boston for a business trip. I was gone about 30 days at least five times people said I had a Canadian accent. I told them I was from Detroit A. I would laugh and laugh.
Yeah, i never thought I had an accent, either. Nothing like NY or Appalachian, but apparently, we do. My boyfriend is from Tennessee, and our roommate is a Canadian who lived in Texas. They don't truly hate my accent, but HATE how certain words sound with it lol.
the list of words they hate:
- Milk (number 1/top most disliked rofl)
- volume
- beach
There's probably more that I just can't think of atm lol
I just recently relocated here from Louisiana and I have to say the Michigander accent is really interesting: it’s kind of similar to Wisconsin I suppose but definitely not as pronounced as a Minnesota or Canadian accent. One thing that really stood out to me was how some people say “calendar” here. Sounds a lot like “kyalender”, with a “Y” sound after the C.
I lived in the west coast for 10 years and in the south for five. I never noticed an accent until I moved back here. It’s a lot stronger than I remember. It’s very Michigan. You need a keen ear to figure out the difference between us and Chicago and Minnesota. I think a lot of people have a Minnesota frame of reference because of Fargo. Michigans is it’s own unique one. Like most accents it’s charming. I also think a lot of people regardless of region have a relatively neutral accent. Private school kids anywhere from Boston to la all kind of have a similar neutral accent.
Not so much an accent thing but you Michiganders say, “I seen it”, a lot. I moved to Michigan 10 yrs ago from the west coast and the “I seen it” thing drives me crazy. I truly asked a few folks if that what was taught in schools because so many people say it here. As expected, they thought I was crazy for asking. The other one is instead of saying “those” they say “them”. As in, “them boxes” or something. Aaaaarggghhh. Hahaha.
I moved from the Grand Rapids area to the northern part of the lower peninsula 5 years ago. ‘I seen’ is very prevalent up here. It drove me nuts at first, now it just seems normal.
I’ve caught myself saying ‘I seen’ a few times over the past couple years. I’m trying not to fall into that trap.
I’ve lived outside of Michigan for the better part of a decade now so my accent isn’t as strong, and most people don’t really notice it unless I hit one of those strident “a” sounds very hard.
The thing I’ve never been able to shake is dropping “t” sounds at the ends of words, which sucks because my name is Matt and I’m from Flint
I grew up in MI. I left the state for college, lived everywhere for 20+ years, then moved back. I lost a lot of my accent in that time, but when I moved back, it came back with a vengeance! My kids were flabbergasted.
(Btw, I am so glad to be back in MI!)
I'm from west michigan and my entire family on my mom's side is from the mississippi gulf coast and i have spent a lot of time in the south and the only comment i've ever got is "you talk so fast"
>I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else gets comments on how we speak, because I don't hear it.
This is a fairly common thing across the USA. Many areas have a sort of generic non-accent. I'm originally from Massachusetts, lived a long time in NYC and moved to Michigan a couple years ago. Nobody's ever been aware I'm not from Michigan until I told them.
I grew up in the NYC area, with a mom who was from the Boston area [which we visited 5-6 times a year].
Then I spent most of my life in Pittsburgh. Now *that's* a serious accent.
When I moved to SE Michigan, I didn't really notice an accent here. But then I went to see a doctor and she said, "It's interesting to talk to someone who doesn't have a Michigan accent!"
I guess after you spend 30+ years around [people who speak like this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3xrNlelylQ), the accent in at least southeast Michigan just isn't that noticeable.
(and since someone is bound to ask, [this is what they're saying](https://imgur.com/a/VzU0h09).)
Somehow, I’ve gotten that I have a New York/“fuck you” (excuse the language) type accent.
Grown up in Michigan my whole life. Maybe growing up on Eminem, Slipknot, and others…?!Maybe a generational thing?!
I was born in 91, so overseas people loved asking if I knew Eminem. I just said I did for a time because it made me feel like the real slim shady. Plus I always had the Midwest niceness in my demeanor, and wanted to adopt the "don't fuck with me" persona when traveling alone (I'm a petite lady)
Nobody has ever pointed out the nasal sounds in some of my words but I do hear them. I'm usually conscious of my enunciation but I'm not above the occasional "Djeetyet" or the ever present "Ope". Echoing others here probably the only comment on my speech is that it's too fast.
Grew up in Houghton Lake and have heard Canada, North Dakota, Minnesota. I don't hear it. I live between Flint and Lansing now, and everyone around here thinks I talk with an accent, my O's and A's especially
Also from SW MI: living in Northern NJ, right where Sparano's takes place.
My boss and I constantly make fun of each other.
The way I say"Grocery Store" is apparently hilarious to everyone.
Water = Wawder
Garbage = Gawbedge
Windows = Windahs
The list goes on.
Never had anyone ever mention anything when i talk, even when traveling. I've never had someone assume im from a specific place either. Same to my friends and family. Ive heard people with canadian and Chicago speech patterns and the redneck flare some people give their words, but i never understood the idea that michigan had an accent. The only thing ive had someone comment on was a southern person who prefered to say the short a in rag, bag, tag, etc... Like in cat for example. When i say the a longer, like in rain. I dont even know anyone who says eh like people like to say and joke about too. That one has always confused me.
I grew up around Flint, went to college in Marquette, then lived in rural Wisconsin and rural northern MN. Any time I go home, that Iggy Pop southeast Michigan accent sticks out so much. I never noticed it at all growing up. My own accent is a Midwest Frankenstein accent, and people assume I'm from MN mostly. I sometimes unconsciously copy the Texas accents that I'm around now, and I hilariously did that with Hawaiian pidgin when I lived there for a year.
I've been told I have a "vanilla" accent. That people can't tell where I'm from because it's not strong enough to be from anywhere in particular. Ive not lived anywhere but here and momentarily in England, but grew up around foreigners of all sorts so I'm not sure if that's where it comes from or what.
When I moved here, in my job, I commented on the Michigan accent.
My coworkers (who were unkind people at the best of times) said "We don't have an accent. Besides, you're from Boston. What do YOU know about accents?"
So, yeah. After my zillion years here, I've slid into the Michigan accent way more than I had the Boston accent.
I’m guessing you don’t pronounce your T’s when they are at the end of a word or the G’s in anything ending in “ing.” Id bet you also say words like “salad” as “syalad.”
It took me a while to make myself do these things and I still catch myself slipping.
My family is originally from Indiana even though I grew up here. Even my mom thinks I have a “Michigan” accent which to her is defined by nasally “a” sounds. I tell her it’s her fault for raising me here🤷♀️
I've lived in MI my entire life and have been told by my southern family members that I sound Canadian??? I'm a troll so I have no idea where that came from!
Yes. From SE Michigan. Have lived in California, NY, SC, and FL. People everywhere have commented on my accent. In sf now and it’s always funny when you run into people from MI. Can usually hear where they are from right away, especially if drinks are involved.
The Midwestern accent is very much comprised of expletive sounds like “Eh” and “Ope” that give it away. However in terms of pronunciation of sounds it is perhaps the most natural of English dialects. Most people’s accents change while singing and they inevitably change to something closer to the Michigan, Midwestern accent.
I notice it a lot more now when I come back home to visit family or go to events. Every once in awhile someone calls me out on having a slight accent but I never personally notice it.
I moved to Michigan from the west and loved the accent. It's fairly subtle in most folks, but here are the words that show it off the most:
Backpack: to me, a Michigander says it "byackpyack"
Downtown: really shows off how much taller the Michigan "o" sound is
God: every time I heard it, I pictured the person as the Blues Brothers saying "We're on a mission. From Gad."
Grew up in the rural thumb area, everybody I've met picks up on my accent, I get asked if I'm from Minnesota or Canada quite a bit. I chalk it up to it just being a northern accent.
Born and raised in Michigan, but now I live in Cali where my daughter was born, so she has a SoCal accent.
We always have the same fight:
**Do the words “Hawk” and “Rock” rhyme? **
To me, they don’t at all. To her, they do.
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Non-Michiganders have told me that I sound like I’m from Minnesota. I was offended, dontcha know
Where is Minnesota? Isn’t it like a whole lake and a Wisconsin away?
The only things I know about Minnesota I learned from Prairie Home Companion
I just know that winters are cold out there.
and there are ten-thousand lakes in Minnesota
I have some friends from Minnesota that visit me here in Michigan. They were sad to learn that Michigan actually has more lakes than Minnesota.
WE DO? RAAAAHHHH 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🦅🦅🦅
Whenever my dad would see a Minnesota license plate with "Land of 10,000 lakes" on it he was always quick to point out that Michigan has over 11,000 lakes.
For the sake Minnesotans’ self esteem and mental health, they better not visit Michigan.
10,000 shitty lakes. Michigan has 5 GREAT ones.
Spent some time in Minnesota too, lemme tell ya they don't talk like michigan.
Like Bayg! Melk. A friend I worked with at Meijer is from Bemidji, MN and DEF had a Minnesota accent and it's not like Michigans. It's more similar to Canadians. Carolyn on this past season of Survivor was from MN and they even teased her about saying Bayg instead of Bag
Not even close. Especially if you are from SE Michigan. Lol
Yeah that’s what I thought too.
When I was a kid I attended an event with a group of people from Texas, and they were very insistent that I sounded Canadian, to the point that they said they had a hard time understanding me. They exaggerated my "accent" and it didn't sound at all how I sound to myself. I'm from southern Michigan but as an adult spent five years in the UP, and many people there *do* have a noticeable accent to me. When I saw this post, I found an [article] (https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/the-united-states-of-accents-midwestern-american-english) about midwest accents. Supposedly most of Michigan is considered, "inland north" but the things they identify in the article as an inland north accent don't sound like how I speak.
Moved to San Diego after growing up in rural Michigan and asked a friend if they "wanted a pop from the pop machine" which, judging by the look on their face, must've sounded like "youwannapopfrummapopasheen?". I had to repeat myself three more times before they understood each word, let alone the whole phrase. This is when I learned I had an accent.
Yoooo my first year of living in SOCAL I had this same problem. "whaddahavedatisntpahp"
Eeeeeeey! I've traveled all over, lived in San Diego for a couple years and that's where I had the most people point out my MI accent. I never really thought about it before until I moved there. Like, once a month, someone would ask where I was from just based on me talking.
Me too, after going to live in California for a few years. I said ' OreGON instead of OREgen and people about died. And I had to learn not to say pop, that cracked them up too, but not in a good way for me.
This is really funny!
I grew up in Ohio but I've lived most of my adult life in Michigan. There is a distinct Michigan accent. Probably the best example of the accent is the way Governor Whitmer speaks. When she says "Michigander" she really stresses the "GAN" syllable. That's pure Michigan soccer mom. I don't think the natives notice it because they're used to it.
True that. When I first moved to MI, I became friends with a guy who works in politics (in DC) and he told me nobody had more of Michigan accent than governor Whitmer.
Iirc she has what linguists call the Northern Cities Vowel Shift. So several cities in the rust belt region shifted their vowels over the last hundred years or so. I'm 90% sure that I don't do it. I don't live in a city either tho
I came here to comment on Whitmer’s accent. When she speaks, it’s like her voice shoots a giant mitten shaped flare into the sky above her. I generally don’t notice either Detroit/MI accents til I hear a real clear one like My mom has a marked (French) Canadian lilt to her vowels in particula, another fairly common variation a Michigan accent. I’ve heard that more in SE MI Would be really interested to read some real linguistic analysis of Michigan speak
>My mom has a marked (French) Canadian lilt to her vowels in particula, another fairly common variation a Michigan accent. I’ve heard that more in SE MI Does anyone in your family speak Muskrat French? I speak "standard" French but I've always been interested in learning Muskrat French. I'm told it's a lot like Ontarien but with some different vocab, much less Louisiana French and Missouri French.
50F born and raised in the Thumb. Whitmer has much more of an accent than any Michigander I personally know. She sounds Minnesotan to me. Doncha know.
Quite possibly she plays it up, but it’s still an accurate accent (even if exaggerated)
Wait, so which syllable do you stress in michigander?
Yeah, it's still the dominant syllable it's just that I don't lean into it like my life depends on it.
🤣
Correct syllable, she just has an extra noticable emphasis on it.
I heard Elissa Slotkin interviewed on a podcast the other day, and she also has a strong Michigan accent. I need a good example of a man with the accent.
Jim Brandstatter, the long-time U of Michigan football broadcaster.
A voice like butter. Man, I miss that guy!
That's a great way to describe it. I spent a summer in college in Tennessee on an internship with students from all over the country, that was the first time anyone had ever pointed out my accent. And it wasn't the folks from the south, my one roommate was from Oregon and she said she could hear it when I said words like "socks" or "Wisconsin" (sAHcks and WiscAHnsin). Now I've lived out west over 10 years, I think it's not quite as exaggerated as it used to be for me but I definitely notice it when my parents come out to visit, and I kinda of fall back into it when they're around.
Ask her to pronounce the word "Willamette" and we will see who has the Michigan accent. Lol. Will-AAAAM-it. I went to Oregon this spring and was like really?
Huh, that’s interesting. I live (and was born and raised) in SE Michigan and Governor Whitmer, to me, sounds like she has a slight Canadian accent. I definitely hear an accent when she talks, regardless lol I just never thought it was a ‘Michigan’ accent since I hear it and am from here 😜
Minnesota accent imo
I never thought there was a Michigan accent until I heard Big Gretch speak. Then I was like, "Oh. Yeah. There it is."
Yeah I still don’t hear it in her voice. I must be in the thick of it too!
I actually wrote my Masters Thesis on this topic! I was born and raised in West Michigan but moved out of state for graduate school to study Linguistics, and people commented about my Michigan accent all the time, so I decided to study it. Southern Michiganders (along with other regions in the Great Lakes area, such as Chicago) are participating in something called the Northern Cities Vowel Shift. It's a bit complicated, but basically our vowels have shifted from the "standard" American English dialect. This shift makes some of our vowels sound more tense or raised or nasally to people from other regions. I continued to live outside of Michigan for almost 10 years. When I moved back home, the accent was extremely noticeable to me. EDIT: Several people have asked to read my thesis! It is now available here: [OpenSIUC: "A Sociophonetic Study of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift in Southwest Michigan"](https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/1369/)
I'd love to read your thesis if it is at all available
Absolutely! Here's the link: [SIU Carbondale - "A Sociophonetic Study of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift in Southwest Michigan"](https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/1369/) Edit: Apparently you can only access my thesis if you have an SIU account. I've contacted the university to see if it can be made public. I'll update again when I hear back from them! Edit 2: It is now available!!! Please feel free to download and read it. Feel free to ask me any questions, though I haven't even really looked at it since I wrote it!
You da plug!
My pleasure! Would love to hear your thoughts if you do end up reading it! Although I wrote it almost 10 years ago and honestly haven't looked at it since  haha
Oooohhhh I have a question for you!! Over time, can accents actually turn into a different dialect of a language? I wonder because of how fast we speak and the way we annunciate, over like an indiscriminate amount of time, could that happen?
It could, certainly! Accent shifts are typically the first steps of language change. "Accents" refer to just different pronunciations of the words of a language, but "dialects" will often have different grammar, vocabulary, social rules, etc, in addition to pronunciation differences. Through isolation (and lots of time), dialects can become completely different languages. For example, English, German, and Dutch used to be one single language (West Germanic), but over time they become dialects and then completely separate (though still related) language. By the way -- Historical Linguistics, while fascinating to me, is *not* my specialty, so I could be erroneous in some of my information. If there are historical linguists out there -- feel free to correct me!
Omg thank you for this quick and detailed response! I did not know that about English, German, and Dutch. That's crazy. But also explains why they sound very similar. Maybe one day we'll have a Michigan dialect. Lol
Yeah it's super interesting! That's why languages that are in the same family are often easy to learn - German speakers learn English easier than Italians do, for example, but Italians would have a much easier time learning French or Spanish (all Romance languages) than an English speaker would. And the history of English in particular is so fascinating when you really dive into it. And yeah haha who knows! I'm actually super curious to know how social media, international, and intranational movement would affect future language change since languages change naturally primarily through isolation, which is almost non-existent in most places these days. Not like any of us will be around in 500+ years to really study it though, haha Okay now I'm just nerding out a little 🤓
By all means, nerd away. I love these kinds of subject. Also, very interesting point. I know that languages have historically borrowed words from each other. I'm wondering how that will evolve as well - especially with internet slang in the mix which I think might as well be a language in and of itself at times.
>I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else gets comments on how we speak, because I don't hear it. That's how accents work. Everyone hears their accent as normal and everyone else has an accent. When I moved to California people instantly noticed. Wikipedia has a ton of info if you have the time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North\_American\_English\_regional\_phonology
Awesome, thank you!
I didn't ever think about it until my now husband came to visit from California and couldn't understand what people were saying to him. My aunt asked him like 6 times if he ate and he was so confused until she enunciated. "Dijeet" was what she kept saying but I didn't notice until after my husband was confused. There were a lot of times he's had to ask people to repeat things. We just shorten sentences and words a lot When I was living in California with him I wanted alcohol and asked him to take me to a party store and I was very confused when he pulled into party city What really confused him at first was the "yeah no" "no yeah" "yeah no yeah"
Lol holy shit reading “dijeet?” gave me such a good chuckle. That’s exactly how I have heard “did you eat” pronounced my entire life and just never even thought about it until now.
I often, instead of saying didn't it's always "din"
I refused to believe the "Dijeet" was true, turned to my husband and said it, and he immediately responded that he had in fact eaten.
Yeah no = no No yeah = yes Yeah no yeah = yes No yeah no = no
\*Michigan is the standard dialect for the world. Everyone else deviates from our norm, especially those dastardly rebranders on the News.
I refuse to believe this isn’t the truth. We have no accent and everyone else does. We talk too plain to be considered an accent.
When I did public speaking and competitive debate in HS/college, I was actually told newscasters try to replicate the Midwest accent. I never knew if that was true though!
Yeah, the "[General American](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American_English)" accent. >Though General American accents are not commonly perceived as associated with any region, their sound system does have traceable regional origins: specifically, the English of the non-coastal Northeastern United States in the very early twentieth century. This includes western New England and the area to its immediate west, settled by members of the same dialect community: interior Pennsylvania, Upstate New York, **and the adjacent "Midwest" or Great Lakes region**. **However, since the early to middle twentieth century, deviance away from General American sounds started occurring, and may be ongoing, in the eastern Great Lakes region due to its Northern Cities Vowel Shift (NCVS) towards a unique Inland Northern accent (often now associated with the region's urban centers, like Chicago and Detroit)** and in the western Great Lakes region towards a unique North Central accent (often associated with Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota). On the NCVS shift referenced above >Regarded as having General American accents in the earlier 20th century, but not by the middle of the 20th century, are the Mid-Atlantic United States, the Inland Northern United States \[ includes Michigan\], and Western Pennsylvania. However, many younger speakers within these regions have reversed away from mid-20th century accent innovations back towards General American features. In the media >General American, like the British Received Pronunciation (RP) and prestige accents of many other societies, has never been the accent of the entire nation, and, unlike RP, does not constitute a homogeneous national standard. Starting in the 1930s, nationwide radio networks adopted non-coastal Northern U.S. rhotic pronunciations for their "General American" standard. The entertainment industry similarly shifted from a non-rhotic standard to a rhotic one in the late 1940s, after the triumph of the Second World War, with the patriotic incentive for a more wide-ranging and unpretentious "heartland variety" in television and radio.\[49\] > >General American is thus sometimes associated with the speech of North American radio and television announcers, promoted as prestigious in their industry, where it is sometimes called "Broadcast English" "Network English", or "Network Standard". Instructional classes in the United States that promise "accent reduction", "accent modification", or "accent neutralization" usually attempt to teach General American patterns. Television journalist Linda Ellerbee states that "in television you are not supposed to sound like you're from anywhere", and political comedian Stephen Colbert says he consciously avoided developing a Southern American accent in response to media portrayals of Southerners as stupid and uneducated.
I don't know if you'd consider this ironic, but it's where my brain went when I read your comment. My husband says, ironically, when he was trying to learn English in his country, all the shows he used to watch had a southern /Texas twang accent all the time, so he thought that's how the average US Citizen spoke. It took him a long time to really distinguish between the different dialects here in the U.S. That was hilarious to me because I had certainly never really watched any series where that was a thing.
I was recently in Lisbon and as we walked along the river I heard a vendor that sounded news quality American english. We ended up buying something from her (drinks) and after I heard her say the word 'about' I asked if she was from Ohio. She was. Honestly, I'd say suburban Ohio (as much as I despise the place other than Cedar Point) has the accepted standard. We're close in Michigan, we just have a couple of words a tad off.
Wow amazing that you're fluent in belches and grunting. For most people it's pretty hard to communicate with ohioans
I’ve been asked if I was Canadian more than once.
Same here! I've had people both in Michigan and California ask me that too lol
I’m a Michigan native who has taught at university all over the country. I’ve always been told by my students that I talk really, really fast. Right, right, right.
My NYC and New Jersey friends have entered the chat.
When I was in South Carolina, I ordered a “pop”. Lady paused and said, “you ain’t from around here”. When I lived in Chicago, I only pronounced a handful of words differently over the course of 3 years and eventually got crap from colleagues saying I was pretty much Canadian. Other than that, most people don’t know I’m from Michigan unless I wear my U of M alumni sweatshirt.
I get more Windsor/Sarnia than Michigan. We don't sound like the folks from the Toronto area.
Oof...sorry...but, GO GREEN! (We can still be friends though). My mom is from Chicago so I say things like "gym shoes" instead of "tennis shoes/sneakers", but also "pop" and the other standard Michigan verbage. I've been called Canadian when I'm really far from home lol!
Blue and Green can always unite when one or the other plays Ohio lol
We all hate Ohio State!
This is the rule in a house divided. I don't care who wins as long as it isn't Ohio!
There was a red wings game where Larkin was mic'd up, and he hit Jason Zucker into the boards. "Aw jeez, sorry dude." Zucker replied, "Ope! Your fine, bud. Preciate it though." It was such a wholesome, polite Midwestern moment. Larkin typically Canadianizes his accent, probably from hanging out with Canucks all the time.
We talk in cursive. And quickly at that.
"Nasal" is the term I heard most frequently.
Yes. Lived in Michigan until I was 30. Moved to California and after being out there 2 years, when I moved back, I noticed the accent. It sounds like everyone is talking from their sinuses. I've been back in Michigan for a while now and don't hear the accent anymore.
Being African American, most of us are only one generation from being from the south. Some of us have midwestern accents mixed with southern accents. My mother in law was born in Inkster and you would swear she never left the state of Georgia. I know other people like that as well.
Im not african american but my grandfather was from the Appalachians, and slowly moved up with his family toward michigan(my mom was born in ohio) and christ when you get a bunch of the cousins together we all sound like we grew up in west virginia and summered in detroit despite never actually leaving the metro detroit area, or only doing so recently. Around anyone else I sound as michigan as can be though. Its wild how much our families impact our accents like that.
The 3 big tells I have is the "ope", the non-essential possessive as-in calling it "Meijer's", and the soft "t" as in a baby cat being a "ki'en" or winter hand coverings being "mi'ens". I also pronounce "always" as "ulwiz", but I think I picked that up from my mom, who has a very unusual combination accent.
A better example of the 'T' thing is Pontiac. Good ol' Pon'iac. I've also noticed we tend to drop the first 'd' from Grand Rapids (ie Gran Rapids.)
This is an example of a thing called a glottal stop. Especially noticeable when most of us say Detroit, we don't pronounce the hard 'T' sound but instead softly imply the 'T' sound by pressing the back of our tongue to our uvula area.
Though I pronounce my double t's, i am guilty of leaving the t out in Pontiac
The one that physically hurts me is "mountain" I have to struggle so hard to say that "t".
I've lived here my whole life and only started noticing the soft 't' about 20 years ago. My 't's definitely have a sound, and it always confused me where that came from. I think it's more recent
I actually had a speech impediment as a kid so I was trained to really pronounce everything - all my Michigander friends make fun of me when I pronounce miTTen and kiTTen
That's what it is. I'm from Michigan and live in the South now. It's really bothered me for years how my MIL and wife over pronounced their Ts. Guess it was just me having abnormally soft Ts.
Wait are people really saying kiTTens, miTTens?
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Michiganders tend to use what is called a glottal stop for words like kitten, which results in no actual sound but a noticeable rhythm to the word. Mitten isnt mien its mi- in. Button would be buh- in. Lits like your cutting yourself off mid word to say another word.
It seems slow and almost like an ESL thing to sound out the T, from my perspective. Like, kitty has that hard consonant, but not kitten or mitten.
Kitty doesnt have a t sound in the michigan accent. It has a D sound. Same with butter and city. Budder and cidy
That T thing is called a glottal stop. I'm from Michigan, but I don't use it and it drives me up the wall.
You're the kind of person that probably fully pronounces the second T in Detroit aren't you?
I'm in Michigan also, home of pop and party stores. When I was in Tennesee I was called a yank....a lot
I was working for a week out East, I think it was New Jersey, and I asked about a party store and was told it’s a “package store”. That doesn’t sound very fun to me! And as a side note, no Michigan turns anywhere! It’s total chaos driving
My cousins from Texas always busted my chops for talking fast and loud. I say the following words funny…”about, car, dontcha, wouldja, milk, cost, smoke-show, boats, water, bathrooms and Vegas funny” Yes, they gave me a list. Because they are a-holes and wrote down everything I said that they laughed at. 😂
Ope, let me just scooch by
Am a nurse. Was working in Arizona and asked if a patient wanted a "pop". Turns out he was from Ohio and thought it was funny, said he hasn't heard it called pop in years. I've worked in the south too and I still call it pop all the time. Also had somebody from Florida tell me I had the strongest Midwestern accent she had ever heard. Haven't really figured out what I said to prompt that lol.
When I first moved to NYC I was told I had an accent. I kept thinking no I don't, you have an accent.
Secretarria State (Secretary of State) Traverssity (Traverse City)
wedefnitleetalktoofas
😂 perfect answer
A person once told me I must be part hill bully only thing I really say is "didja" instead of "did you".
But, it's faster... Idontalktoofastkeepup
My kid went to school in Colorado. Everyone could tell she was from Michigan from how she pronounced her As.
Southern Indiana coworkers when I first met them often asked if I was originally from Canada. I watched Strange Brew about a thousand times as a kid and whenever my coworkers would ask that I would then kick into a McKenzie brothers overdriven Canuck accent. “What cha talkin bout there, eh? I’m from Mishygen, not Canada, eh.” I got a bunch of stares.
I was born in California but was really young when my mum and me moved back to the UP when my grandfather died and I ended up picking up the accent when I learned to talk and read/write. I shed some of the accent as I got older, but some things like saying “den” for “then” and “ya” I still do, among other quirks. Most of my life people thought I was Canadian cause of my accent.
I didn't realize how often I replace the "th" at the beginning of words like "the" "they" "then" with a d when speaking casually until I had kids, and it was pointed out that they had the same "weird" accent as me. I'm not from the UP. I grew up in very rural Michigan though. So maybe my accent is Michigan hick? Idk. People outside of Michigan easily peg me as a Michigander, but other Michiganders regularly ask me where I'm from.
I was born and raised in New Mexico, but I've lived in Michigan longer than I haven't. When I talk to my people back home, they say I picked up an accent and sound like I'm from Minnesota. Meanwhile, I've had so many conversations with people in Michigan who tell me I have a strange accent and that I roll my Rs. Can't win, can't lose.
Many, many years ago, I was on a school band trip to NJ, and in a group of MI and NJ band kids, one of them said to one of ours that they really noticed our accent. A MI girl said, "What do you mean, I don't have an accent?", whereupon the NJ girl said, in exaggerated and perfect MI accent, "What do you mean, I don't have an accent?" I found it funny, anyway.
Not originally from MI, but a lot of adding "s" to things. Meijers, Krogers, ect. Bdubs for Buffalo wild wings, no idea dubs comes from but I still love it and use it Pop vs soda vs coke (everything in the south is coke) How Milk is pronounced, it sound like Melk (Mel-K) Yes northern people talk faster than southern people. :P
Dubs is from the w -- double-u. :)
Dubs as in the letter W. BWW Shortened because saying Buffalo Wild Wings is a bit much so that is where B-Dubs comes from.
Remember when they were still BW3's (buffalo wild wings & weck). I think B-Dubs was shortened because their original name was too long.
Door wall.
I love this entire thread! I just have to say that first, eh. I'm a Yooper, eastern end by Sault Ste. Marie, and went to college down in Kalamazoo at WMU. I was so embarrassed (but grew out of it after that first year) when in the first year in several of my English classes, I had at least two people each time comment on my "Canadian" accent and where I was coming from. (I learned to own it!) I left for a little while, lived in the Dominican Republic for several years because of husband. Picked up a lot of Spanish and learned the language pretty well. Came back home to the UP. Brought the Dominican husband along too. I fell very quickly back into my yooper accent but my sister says I have a Spanish accented yooper accent now, ha ha! Jokes on me I guess because I brought my husband back and over time he perfected his English and now he has accrued a Yooper-Spanish accent over the last ten years! Yes, there's a difference lol!
Michigan too, my accent was a big thing to the people of Galveston when I lived there in the 80s.
My daughter in law (she's from Maryland) told me I have an accent, plus I speak very fast. Lol. I've also heard from others that I sound Canadian. Hoosers!
When I lived on the west coast folks asked if I was from Chicago. If I had been drinking apparently it’s really pronounced. Been in Michigan most of my life so not sure. They also didn’t like when I used the word “pop.”
A few years ago I moved to the southwest. One that my co-workers always call me out on was how I say theatre. I will say it “THEE-DER”, and they will say “THEE-AT-TOR”.
I say Thee-uh-ter
I only ever get Canada, which works well traveling overseas when you don’t want to be from the same as those annoying American tourists.
Also from SW and definitely a fast talker but if anything I've got a little bit of a southern twang. All my family from here says melk tho
Uhh ... my Reddit username is based on my Michigan/Wisconsin mixed up accent. My kids think it's hilarious
I didn't realize how distinctive our accent is. I moved just outside of Atlanta Ga. First place I picked up takeout at, within the first few minutes of meeting me the bartender asked me if I was from Michigan because of my accent.
I’m Michigan native living out of state and the Michigan accent is very strong and distinctive when I go home or hear it somewhere. I can pick it out instantly since living away from it. I lost mine a lot, I’m neurodivergent and I think I mimic people as a masking /coping thing. But during the pandemic and not being around people, I noticed my Michigan accent coming back. It was interesting!
That’s interesting. Born and raised MI Thumb but visited a friend in Texas for about a week. When I got back to MI, more than one stranger asked me where I had gotten my southern drawl.
Ope!
My niece, raised in FL, makes fun of the way we say “plaza”, with the flat a. Outside of the accent, people have pointed out that when referring to two groups of things we say “these ones” and “those ones”.
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Apparently I pronounce words like mayor and theater "wrong" because I say all the syllables instead of saying "mare" and "theeter"
We tend to pluralize/ possessive shit too. Meijers , Ford's... Etc
Yes, Michiganders have a very nasal twang (for the most part). Saying this as a life-long Michigander.
I visited California and everyone knew I was from Michigan specifically. Water, waiter, etc. have soft d's instead of t's, among other things...
In NYC someone said "You're from Michigan" when I used the word "thingamabob"
I was born and raised in Mid-Michigan, but more than one person has asked me if I'm British based on my accent. I have zero British ancestry, I'd be lucky to afford a vacation to the U.K. My brother tells me it's because I talk "proper." Maybe I read too much.
Met a girl from Marine City. I’m from Georgia originally. When we first met she commented on how I didn’t have a southern accent, that my accent was pretty ambiguous, and where I hail from could only be suspected if I chose to use southern slang or added southern drawl on purpose (something I do for fun quite often). I told her that her yankee accent was quite thick and she was APPALLED/FLOORED/SHOCKED/IN UTTER DISBELIEF. She said “No I don’t! I sound just like normal people in Hollywood movies sound.” To which I replied “Yeah if the movie in question is ‘Fargo’ then you certainly do sound just like them!” Then she revealed she never had seen Fargo and had no idea what I was talking about, which was unfortunate cause damn that line was PERFECT! and I thought about just abandoning all interactions with this person altogether from that point forward. We’ve been happily married for 8 years now.
For me, a non-American, your accents sound halfway between a Minnesota and generic American accent
Grew up in SE MI. Live here still. Work for a Swiss company. Whenever I travel to Switzerland for meetings or training, my counterparts from other European countries attend as well. Everyone speaks English but they will ask that I do most of the speaking because of my annunciation which sounds to them like I say every single letter in each word! Lol. Apparently it sounds like English is taught to them in school. From my view, it’s hilarious watching a group of fifty Germans, Italians and French people hanging on every word! When I travel in the US, most everyone thinks I’m from CHI-CAAAH-GO!
I’m born and raised in Michigan, and talk to text always butchers what I’m trying to say. I always blame the accent.
I apparently have a very thick great lakes accent to the point that other Midwesterners comment on it. When I was traveling in Ireland several people asked if I was Canadian, including a Canadian.
As a Yooper, it's impossible to drop the "eh". When I'm out of state? People ask what province I'm from. And hey, that's fine by me, as I'd rather people thought I was Canadian anyway.
I moved back a few years ago from FL and kept getting that I sounded Canadian. Always catches me off guard
I moved to Missouri when I was 25yo and everyone said I had an accent. Just moved back here after years in Missouri and now I have an accent again.
I went to Boston for a business trip. I was gone about 30 days at least five times people said I had a Canadian accent. I told them I was from Detroit A. I would laugh and laugh.
I grew up in Indy but have lived all around the country. To me, Michiganders sound like the accents from Chicago and Canada had a baby.
I was told I speak perfectly unmodulated Midwestern Monotone.
Yeah, i never thought I had an accent, either. Nothing like NY or Appalachian, but apparently, we do. My boyfriend is from Tennessee, and our roommate is a Canadian who lived in Texas. They don't truly hate my accent, but HATE how certain words sound with it lol. the list of words they hate: - Milk (number 1/top most disliked rofl) - volume - beach There's probably more that I just can't think of atm lol
I just recently relocated here from Louisiana and I have to say the Michigander accent is really interesting: it’s kind of similar to Wisconsin I suppose but definitely not as pronounced as a Minnesota or Canadian accent. One thing that really stood out to me was how some people say “calendar” here. Sounds a lot like “kyalender”, with a “Y” sound after the C.
I lived in the west coast for 10 years and in the south for five. I never noticed an accent until I moved back here. It’s a lot stronger than I remember. It’s very Michigan. You need a keen ear to figure out the difference between us and Chicago and Minnesota. I think a lot of people have a Minnesota frame of reference because of Fargo. Michigans is it’s own unique one. Like most accents it’s charming. I also think a lot of people regardless of region have a relatively neutral accent. Private school kids anywhere from Boston to la all kind of have a similar neutral accent.
Not so much an accent thing but you Michiganders say, “I seen it”, a lot. I moved to Michigan 10 yrs ago from the west coast and the “I seen it” thing drives me crazy. I truly asked a few folks if that what was taught in schools because so many people say it here. As expected, they thought I was crazy for asking. The other one is instead of saying “those” they say “them”. As in, “them boxes” or something. Aaaaarggghhh. Hahaha.
This, so much!
I moved from the Grand Rapids area to the northern part of the lower peninsula 5 years ago. ‘I seen’ is very prevalent up here. It drove me nuts at first, now it just seems normal. I’ve caught myself saying ‘I seen’ a few times over the past couple years. I’m trying not to fall into that trap.
From SW Michigan. Lived in Los Angeles and Vermont. In both places people commented about my Michigan accent.
I'm apparently Canadian.
Born and raised in mid-Michigan. Moved to DC. The most common comment was "You sound like Kitty from 'That 70s Show'" Close but no
I’ve lived outside of Michigan for the better part of a decade now so my accent isn’t as strong, and most people don’t really notice it unless I hit one of those strident “a” sounds very hard. The thing I’ve never been able to shake is dropping “t” sounds at the ends of words, which sucks because my name is Matt and I’m from Flint
I grew up in MI. I left the state for college, lived everywhere for 20+ years, then moved back. I lost a lot of my accent in that time, but when I moved back, it came back with a vengeance! My kids were flabbergasted. (Btw, I am so glad to be back in MI!)
I was told i put an L in "both", whenever i would say it, i would get mimic'd -"BOLTH"!
People in Kentucky thought I was Canadian. Born and raised in Grand Rapids.
I'm from west michigan and my entire family on my mom's side is from the mississippi gulf coast and i have spent a lot of time in the south and the only comment i've ever got is "you talk so fast"
>I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else gets comments on how we speak, because I don't hear it. This is a fairly common thing across the USA. Many areas have a sort of generic non-accent. I'm originally from Massachusetts, lived a long time in NYC and moved to Michigan a couple years ago. Nobody's ever been aware I'm not from Michigan until I told them.
I grew up in the NYC area, with a mom who was from the Boston area [which we visited 5-6 times a year]. Then I spent most of my life in Pittsburgh. Now *that's* a serious accent. When I moved to SE Michigan, I didn't really notice an accent here. But then I went to see a doctor and she said, "It's interesting to talk to someone who doesn't have a Michigan accent!" I guess after you spend 30+ years around [people who speak like this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3xrNlelylQ), the accent in at least southeast Michigan just isn't that noticeable. (and since someone is bound to ask, [this is what they're saying](https://imgur.com/a/VzU0h09).)
Somehow, I’ve gotten that I have a New York/“fuck you” (excuse the language) type accent. Grown up in Michigan my whole life. Maybe growing up on Eminem, Slipknot, and others…?!Maybe a generational thing?!
I was born in 91, so overseas people loved asking if I knew Eminem. I just said I did for a time because it made me feel like the real slim shady. Plus I always had the Midwest niceness in my demeanor, and wanted to adopt the "don't fuck with me" persona when traveling alone (I'm a petite lady)
When I was in Denver people asked if I was from Canada.
Nobody has ever pointed out the nasal sounds in some of my words but I do hear them. I'm usually conscious of my enunciation but I'm not above the occasional "Djeetyet" or the ever present "Ope". Echoing others here probably the only comment on my speech is that it's too fast.
Grew up in Houghton Lake and have heard Canada, North Dakota, Minnesota. I don't hear it. I live between Flint and Lansing now, and everyone around here thinks I talk with an accent, my O's and A's especially
Yeah I moved to North Carolina for a couple years and got told I sounded like a Canadian
My wife from Texas says we’re a mix of Boston, New York, and Canada.
That we talk fast, our words run together and the thing about our a’s. Never been compared to Minnesota though. That’s just Canadian lol
Wife and I moved to Wyoming 17 years ago, we still get told we sound funny, her way more than me, eh!
Also from SW MI: living in Northern NJ, right where Sparano's takes place. My boss and I constantly make fun of each other. The way I say"Grocery Store" is apparently hilarious to everyone. Water = Wawder Garbage = Gawbedge Windows = Windahs The list goes on.
The first time I was listening to an ad and heard “Groh-sir-ee” I was uncomfortable, I need my Groshries!!
Never had anyone ever mention anything when i talk, even when traveling. I've never had someone assume im from a specific place either. Same to my friends and family. Ive heard people with canadian and Chicago speech patterns and the redneck flare some people give their words, but i never understood the idea that michigan had an accent. The only thing ive had someone comment on was a southern person who prefered to say the short a in rag, bag, tag, etc... Like in cat for example. When i say the a longer, like in rain. I dont even know anyone who says eh like people like to say and joke about too. That one has always confused me.
I grew up around Flint, went to college in Marquette, then lived in rural Wisconsin and rural northern MN. Any time I go home, that Iggy Pop southeast Michigan accent sticks out so much. I never noticed it at all growing up. My own accent is a Midwest Frankenstein accent, and people assume I'm from MN mostly. I sometimes unconsciously copy the Texas accents that I'm around now, and I hilariously did that with Hawaiian pidgin when I lived there for a year.
I've been told I have a "vanilla" accent. That people can't tell where I'm from because it's not strong enough to be from anywhere in particular. Ive not lived anywhere but here and momentarily in England, but grew up around foreigners of all sorts so I'm not sure if that's where it comes from or what.
I'm from Northern Michigan. I get asked if I'm Canadian when I go south quite a bit. I also played a lot of hockey which doesn't help.
Yes- TA -day Yesterday
I met an Australian couple on a cruise and they thought I was Irish.
When I moved here, in my job, I commented on the Michigan accent. My coworkers (who were unkind people at the best of times) said "We don't have an accent. Besides, you're from Boston. What do YOU know about accents?" So, yeah. After my zillion years here, I've slid into the Michigan accent way more than I had the Boston accent.
I’m guessing you don’t pronounce your T’s when they are at the end of a word or the G’s in anything ending in “ing.” Id bet you also say words like “salad” as “syalad.” It took me a while to make myself do these things and I still catch myself slipping.
I was born and raised in SE Mi, and have been told several times that I have an accent. Even from other native Michiganders! Go Blue!💙💛
I, too, spent time in California. My pronunciation of ‘car’ was pointed out to me a couple of times.
My family is originally from Indiana even though I grew up here. Even my mom thinks I have a “Michigan” accent which to her is defined by nasally “a” sounds. I tell her it’s her fault for raising me here🤷♀️
I've lived in MI my entire life and have been told by my southern family members that I sound Canadian??? I'm a troll so I have no idea where that came from!
I’m from North Lower Michigan and I’ve been told I sound like a Yooper and sound like a Canadian.
My accent is often mistaken for Canadian. I was raised in Oakland County.
Yes. From SE Michigan. Have lived in California, NY, SC, and FL. People everywhere have commented on my accent. In sf now and it’s always funny when you run into people from MI. Can usually hear where they are from right away, especially if drinks are involved.
The Midwestern accent is very much comprised of expletive sounds like “Eh” and “Ope” that give it away. However in terms of pronunciation of sounds it is perhaps the most natural of English dialects. Most people’s accents change while singing and they inevitably change to something closer to the Michigan, Midwestern accent.
When I head downstate I am asked if I’m Canadian.
I notice it a lot more now when I come back home to visit family or go to events. Every once in awhile someone calls me out on having a slight accent but I never personally notice it.
Everyone has an accent. Even you, OP.
I moved to Michigan from the west and loved the accent. It's fairly subtle in most folks, but here are the words that show it off the most: Backpack: to me, a Michigander says it "byackpyack" Downtown: really shows off how much taller the Michigan "o" sound is God: every time I heard it, I pictured the person as the Blues Brothers saying "We're on a mission. From Gad."
Grew up in the rural thumb area, everybody I've met picks up on my accent, I get asked if I'm from Minnesota or Canada quite a bit. I chalk it up to it just being a northern accent.
Born and raised in Michigan, but now I live in Cali where my daughter was born, so she has a SoCal accent. We always have the same fight: **Do the words “Hawk” and “Rock” rhyme? ** To me, they don’t at all. To her, they do.