Swistle Accent Vlog

FINE. GEEZ!

I wish it had included the words people remark on my pronunciation of: comfortable (which I say as four syllables: com-for-ta-ble, not comf-ter-ble) and always (which I say OH-wees, to Paul’s unceasing amusement).

Here are the notes:

Say the following words:
Aunt, route, wash, oil, theatre, iron, salmon, caramel, fire, water, sure, data, ruin, crayon, toilet, New Orleans, pecan, both, again, probably, spitting image, Alabama, lawyer, coupon, mayonnaise, syrup, pajamas, caught

And answer these questions:
What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that curls into a ball when you touch it?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you use to change the TV channel?

67 thoughts on “Swistle Accent Vlog

  1. Sally

    I am LOVING people’s accent vlogs. Also, I think anyone who marries someone who says “pop” and doesn’t mock them for it forever is a better person than I am.

    Reply
  2. el-e-e

    Eeeee! I’ve been listening to these all morning, and here you are! I don’t know why but I’m LOVING these. Unsure if I’ll be brave enoughl, myself.

    I think you have no accent at all, except “cray-en.” Hee hee. CUTE!

    Reply
  3. Denise V.

    I love these. Before I listened to this, I thought I had a pretty good idea of where you lived…now I’ve changed my mind because you don’t sound like what I expected! You have a very nice voice, by the way.

    Reply
  4. Amanda

    Oooh fun. I haven’t seen this meme yet. I guess I’m reading the wrong blogs.

    I just knew we’d say words the same as I think you currently live where I am originally from.

    Reply
  5. Elizabelle

    Love! You sound like you’re 25! I always imagined your voice to be almost British and kind of gently authoritative. I say almost everything the same except I always say aunt like ont, bc I’m originally from Massachusetts.

    Reply
  6. Beylit

    This is fun. It is interesting to hear how people say different things. I fear that I have had too many years of dialect training to sound like myself or anything in particular. I am highly influenced by anyone I am listening to when I am speaking. For example my husband is from New Orleans, and while I used to say it New Or-lens, I now say it Naw’Lens, because that is how he says it.

    Reply
  7. Slim

    I’m impressed by the people who only have one way of pronouncing “caramel.” I say “carmel popcorn” but “care-a-mel macchiato.”

    My husband used to live in NO, and he pronounces it New Orlee-ins. Does anyone else on the planet do that?

    Reply
  8. Lara

    I love these! I’ve only seen a few but you are the first who says pajamas like I do – everyone else says paJAHmas, I think we say it more like paJAmas. I also notice in all the ones I’ve seen that most American’s (hmm, that’s an over generalization but I’ve only seen them done by Americans – haven’t seen a Canadian one yet)..where was I? Right. Most Americans say mahanaise, whereas I say mayonnaise (which is why I say I don’t HAVE an accent, ha!)

    Also, does NO ONE down there call them running shoes? I don’t say sneakers or gym shoes – we just say running shoes. Now I’m wondering if that’s a Canadian thing too.

    You have less of an accent than I had imagined, which is true of all the videos I’ve watched – interesting!!

    Reply
  9. Lawyerish

    I love this. I also love how you weren’t sure with “pecan.” I am that way about almost all of those words because I have lived in too many disparate places.

    Now I think I may have to do this, too. Dangit.

    Reply
  10. M.Amanda

    I love this kind of stuff. I pronounce nearly everything the same way you do, including switching between ant and awnt depending how the people I’m speaking with say it. I do the same with rowt and root.

    I also pronounce comfortable the same, but I’m the only person I know personally who has done so. Everyone else says comf-ter-ble, which drives me batty.

    Where I live, we get some southern accents mixed in with the midwest accents and it’s not unusual to hear “warsh,” “rune,” “probly,” “sher” or “sody pop.”

    Reply
  11. Caitlin

    SWISTLE!!! I am loving this! You sound both different than I expected and EXACTLY as I might expect. You have such a nice soothing voice.

    I am so glad you did this! SO GLAD!!

    Reply
  12. -R-

    You are the first person who sounded exactly like I thought you would. I love it!

    Before I knew the general area where you live, I always thought you lived in St. Louis. Although I could still be totally wrong about where you live. Who knows. Well, you do. Ok, ending comment… NOW.

    Reply
  13. Misty

    AHHHHHH!!!! Could you be just a little bit more adorable? Love! Love! Love!

    Your speaking voice is identical to the CPA I work with. It is freaking uncanny. This is hella fun. Very very excited.

    Reply
  14. Cayt

    You have an even nicer voice than I was expecting. That’s nice.

    I’m really tempted to do this. Does anyone care how an English girl living in Scotland with lots of American friends says words?

    Reply
  15. Melinda

    You don’t have an accent…you talk exactly like I do! The soda/pop thing is interesting–I now call it soda, but I grew up (here in the Pacific Northwest) calling it pop. Once I went away to school on the east coast, I very quickly learned that pop was NOT the appropriate name and switched to soda. I still say soda, but everyone in my family and my local friends say pop.

    Reply
  16. Jenny

    You should add “sandwich” to your list of words to say. Do people say it sandwich or samwich or sammich? Or grinder or hoagie or horseshoe?

    I love this stuff.

    Reply
  17. Nicole

    You have a great voice, and you show very well on video! Also you have fabulous skin.

    I’ve always called it “pop” – I thought it was a Canadian thing. I never say sneakers, always runners.

    Reply
  18. Carmen

    Oh, it’s fun to hear your voice.

    I’m with you on almost all of those, including pajamas (hey @Lara!) and especially a four-syllable comfortable. But people, it’s “care-ah-mel”. There’s a second ‘a’ in there for a reason! :) I have learned that many many people know & use ‘sun shower’, which I have never heard prior to this vlog going around.

    It’s interesting that no one has sounded quite like I think they do; also, no one really has a accent to my ears either. I do wonder about spitting image. I’m not sure how one would say that differently.

    Reply
  19. Stacie

    This was so fun! I love how you say Crayon like “cran” and not “cray-on”. It has been a constant source of pointing and laughing in my neck of the woods. I say it like you, but I guess we’re in the minority.

    A quick story about the pop vs soda thing…my sister went to college in GA where people ask, “Would you like a Coke?” and when you say yes they ask, “What kind?” Apparently “Coke” is their version of soda or pop. Sis had a hard time getting used to that.

    Reply
  20. Alice

    yay! SO FUN!

    we say a lot of things very similarly (i am also a northerner) but i also double-pronounce a LOT of words, now that i live on the cusp of north & south east coast. so i say both “PEE-can” and “puh-CAHN” depending on who i’m talking to / what i’m talking about (it’s always “PEE-can pie” for example).

    these are so fun!

    Reply
  21. Nik-Nak

    First and foremost you are SO lucky that I already loved you before I heard this because I absolutely cannot be friends with anyone who says “pop”. My grandaddy would be rolling over in his grave if he knew that!!

    Hehehheee just kidding (sort of)

    You sound (forgive me for saying this) so YANKIFIED!

    I really need to figure out how to do a vlog because I feel like ya’ll all need some southern in your lives :)
    LOVED IT!

    Reply
  22. lifeofadoctorswife

    I LOVE THIS SO MUCH! It is so very fun to see all these bloggers I adore in video! How cool!

    You have such a lovely voice, by the way. And I loved the way you read the word while looking straight at the camera. I agree with Nicole, too – you are great on camera.

    I wish “poor” were on the list of words. And “creek.” My husband and I say both words VERY differently. (He says “pooooor” with a long “oo” and I say “pore.” He says “creeeeek” and I say “crick.”)

    Reply
  23. Leah

    I’m from the south, but more of the mid-south as opposed to the deep south if that makes sense. Anyway, since people who lived farther south than us have a thicker southern accent, as a child I wrongly assumed that I didn’t have an accent at all. And then I went to college in Canada. Where I was mocked MERCILIOUSLY for my southern accent. I just chalked it up to the fact that almost any American sounds different than a Canadian. Then I came home for Christmas. I was BLOWN AWAY by the accents here. It was so comical! Like being trapped on the set of Steel Magnolias. Everyone had such cheesy southern accents. I just had no idea. I’ve been back for almost 10 years now and I can’t hear anyone’s accent anymore so I assume my accent is back. But I will never forget hearing all my friends and family’s accents for the first time.

    Reply
  24. Heather R

    I am not sure how long you lived in the mid-west, but I can hear some of that influence in your vowels. You sound a little like you are from Minnesota or Wisconsin:)

    Reply
  25. Gaby

    Swistle! You are the first person I have ever heard pronounce crayon as “cran,” just like I do! Hurray! I get teased quite a bit for this, so I’m happy to know I’m not the only one out there.

    Reply
  26. kate

    I love this! I love these vlogs so much that I did one myself and I hate videos of myself.

    I had no idea until I started watching this but somewhere my brain decided you had a thick Minnesota accent which clearly don’t. I have no idea why I would have thought that.

    Reply
  27. Leeann

    This was fun to watch. I love the way you sound but I like the way you look even better. You have a wonderful presence. I’ve decided in real life I would probably scare you. I’m one of those boisterous laugher types and you seem very calm. :-)

    BTW, you wanna hear something really creepy? My mom was born in Alabama and grew up in Georgia (no, that’s not the creepy part, don’t flame me!) Anyway, when SHE was growing up, if it was sunny and raining they would say “The Devil is Beating His Wife.” Ugh! For real! So she would say it to me when I was growing up and I was always upset about it. “BUT WHY? WHAT DID SHE DO? MAKE HIM STOP!!”

    You’ll be happy to know that I have not said it to MY kids. Well, I TOLD them that was what was said to me and how it freaked me out but yeah, with me that oh-so-lovely Southern spelling has died out.

    PS- like Kate above ^^, I also pictured you having a Minnesotan/Iowan accent. I love that accent!

    Reply
  28. Sarah

    Man, maybe I need to do one of these. I am loving everyone else’s so much. You DO sound less, I don’t know, British-y than I was imagining, though I CANNOT EXPLAIN why I always think of you as being British-y even though I have been reading you for six years and know perfectly well where you’re from.
    Also, is it just me, or does pretty much EVERYONE say certain things the same way? I am not, for example, hearing anyone call long legged spiders anything other than a Daddy Long Legs. Or a remote anything other than a remote. I’ve heard OLDER people call it a “clicker” before, but is that just a generational thing, perhaps, more than regional?

    Reply
  29. Ms. Key

    So awesome! You don’t have an accent for the words you’re supposed to say, and yet you have a slight mid-west/Chicago style accent when you’re speaking normally while answering the questions. You have a lovely speaking voice!

    It’s interesting… I was reading the list thinking of my answers, and hilariously… I went to say “soda” for the “bubbly drink”… but I’m Canadian, and I DEFINITELY say “pop” here…. and sometimes “soda pop”. I found it intriguing that my automatic response was “soda” when I don’t even call it that — like knowing I was reading an American’s blog made me say it.

    I tend to call gym shoes “running shoes” or “runners”… another Canadian thing, I wonder?

    This is so neat! I’d do it, but I’ve made my new blog more anon. and don’t really want to post a video of myself. Maybe I’ll do just a voice post, though… intriguing!!!

    Reply
  30. DomestiKook

    OmEmGee you are two steps beyond adorable. I watched that TWICE. I think the only words I say totally differently are route, crayon and coupon. I pronounce them like rowte, cray-on and coop-on. I’m from Los Angeles. You have a very mixed accent, I like it. I think I hear a Wisconinish in there somewhere. :)

    Reply
  31. Rah

    You do have a beautiful voice, Swistle. And you have a very distinctive accent–to my ears. Michigan? I love hearing accents from different places. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  32. Kathy

    You and Jonniker totally inspired me to do my own accent vlog! It’s loading now!

    This was just so much fun!

    I would really have liked to hear you say ‘OHwees’. One of the professors at the college where I work says ‘OW-uhz’ and I’d never heard ‘always’ pronounced any other way before I met him.

    Reply
  33. Slim

    WHERE IS CAYT’S VLOG? I feel as though she promised to do one. Doesn’t everyone else?

    When people say “running shoes,” I think they’re talking about a special pair of sneakers that they wear only for running. Which is to say, we use the term, but in a specialized sense. (My brother’s a runner, so maybe that’s why?)

    Reply
  34. Lippy

    You are so cute! I couldn’t hear some because Yo Gabba Gabba is so loud. I will listen again during naptime. This is much more interesting to watch than I would have originally thought.

    Reply
  35. Lise

    Two things:

    1.) You don’t have an accent. . . you talk just like me. Heh. And
    2.) You have an incredible air of niceness and friendishness. (Different from friendly, meaning open and outgoing. More that people meeting you would immediately want to be your friend.)

    Reply
  36. Christina

    I thought for sure you were also from Michigan (like me) until you said soda! You said everything the same as we do here, with that one exception!

    Reply
  37. Doing My Best

    You have SUCH a nice voice! (And you are as beautiful as ever!)

    But wait! I thought you were a shy, nervous-in-people-situations person; how are you so CALM and CONFIDENT in your vlog! You don’t look like you are dying of embarassment AT ALL! What’s your secret =)?

    Reply
  38. Mrs. Irritation

    I’m such a dork, I’ve been saving this to watch when no one was around and I could watch as loud as I want, uninterrupted, without someone saying “what’s that??”

    You sound just as adorable as I thought you would. I’ve never even heard of a sun shower until these started. & does anyone say anything other than “tp’ing” a house?

    Reply
  39. may

    Hey! That was fun! How cute are you?? And I’m surprised that we say so many things differently! Maybe it’s because you’re too far south for me. : ) I think you should do vlogs more often. I wanted more commentary. Anyway, good job! : )

    Reply
  40. barb

    does no one else say TENNIS SHOES? actually, we usually shorten i to tennies. Kansas girl born and bred — where the noon meal is DINNER and the evening meal is SUPPER.

    Reply
  41. Monica

    Can’t see the video anymore, but:

    I never realized my entire family said “oh-wees” instead of “always” until I snooped at my younger sister’s diary when she was in first grade. She had written “pello” for “pillow” and “owees” for “always”.

    When I am emphasizing the word, I do say AL-ways, but I’m pretty sure it usually comes out “owees”.

    Reply

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