Apparently, I have an accent.
Funny thing is, I never knew it until I moved to Texas.
For the first few months, I noticed a lot of odd looks when I spoke – and found I had to repeat myself a lot. I didn’t think too much of it. Thought maybe I had taken to mumbling.
Then one evening, hubby and I were sitting in a restaurant. He said,
“Can I have unsweetened iced tea please?”
Seven words. That’s all. From that sentence, our waitress picked up his “accent”.
“Where are you from?”
“Michigan”
“Oh, I could tell you have an accent, but I thought maybe you were from another country.”
Whaaa? Did I hear her right? Another country?
Most folks from Texas don’t have a discernable accent. To my ears, they sound just like me. That’s what’s so disturbing. They sound “normal” to me, and I sound weird to them.
I thought perhaps the restaurant incident was a fluke. Then a few weeks later, hubby ordered takeout.
Or tried to.
We were ordering a fajita dinner. We thought it odd when the man on the phone handed us over to another employee after asking hubby to repeat himself twelve or so times.
Hmmm…maybe he’s new to the country. No biggie.
The second employee took our order fine. Except when we went to pick up the food, instead of “a fajita dinner” we had “eight fajita dinners”. No kidding.
I had fun teasing hubbs all night. What a yankee…
But yesterday it was my turn. After speaking with one of his coworkers by phone, I learned the truth about all those blank stares and “beg your pardon’s” I’ve been getting for the past six months. Hubby’s friend told him talking to me was like watching Fargo.
Imagine if you will, having a strong accent and not even knowing that it existed! It’s a twilight zone-ish kinda feeling.
Curious, I began watching YouTube and googling “Michigan accent” to find out exactly what I sound like. The best site I found was HERE. Written from a Michigan native who has traveled the world, the author describes it as follows:
“…a little bit Fargo, a little bit Nasal Chicago and a little bit Canadian…the resulting mix is similar to a pirate from Kentucky with a head cold.”
After reading his descriptions, I guess I’m guilty as charged:
Ciddy – City. Which ciddy in Michigin are ya from?
Cranz – Crayons. Her aent gaver some crans for her birthday.
Cloze – Clothes.
Fi-yerr – Fire. Say it in two full syllables.
Groshries – Groceries. Wouldjamind goin’ to the groshry store?
Melk – Milk.
Meer – Mirror.
Samwich – Sandwich. Somethin’ ya might have with melk.
Geez-o-pete! - Related: “Geez-Louise!” A Michigan expletive for polite company – am I really the only one who says this?
You guys – No, not “youse guys”, and yes, it refers to women as well.
Help me you guys. How am I spoze ta pronounce cloze anyway. That’s the way ya say it. Geez-o-Peet.
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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
My mom-in-law is from middle Ohio, and with me being a St Pete, FL, native, learning to understand her 'accent' (that she doesn't have, if you ask her), plus the words she uses, was a real challenge in the beginning. She would talk about 'pop' and I learned she meant soda. She would talk about the 'warsh' and I learned she meant the laundry. She would have me 'red up' the table, and I learned she meant to clear off the dinner dishes. Same country, but boy, what a difference in the language!
Don't worry about the accent!!! I am from VA and when I go to GA/FL to visit relatives they all think I'm "SO Northern" but when I'm in NY they think I'm a "Southern Belle." Of course, they're ALL WRONG as everyone knows folks from VA don't have accents!
Love the new look of the site!
I'm laughing because I'm from Chicago and all the words are just like I say them!
Course, I did live in Michigan for a few years!
I have this horrible thing that Clair calls "chameleon" where I pick up any accent I'm around. A few hours with her, and I sound like I'm from England.
It's ok as long as people don't think I'm mocking them. It's just like my head adjusts for whatever location I'm in.
Sorry I can't help you!
Jaycie
I forgot to add…do you guys ever say, "My bad" meaning, "Sorry, my fault."
I went somewhere out of town and they looked at me like…What??
(And I just realized that I typed you guys….see! I talk like you!)
My bad…yeah. All the time. Waitress said the phrase "all set?" was a Michigan term too…
Yeah, apparentely I have an accent that I never knew about either. I went to school in Colorado and most of the people there had never met a "South Dakotan" I thought it was funny. They thought I was a complete redneck.lol
I guess I talk funny then too, because I'm from northern Ohio and Michigan people sound "normal" to me. "Cloze" and "Groshry" are proper pronounciations!! I would never think to say them any other way! I'm now in Missouri, where people don't even know how to pronounce their own state ("Mah-zur-ah"). But I have converted to calling pop "soda".
Try a thick, deep-Southern accent in Canada! That's me!
I am originally from SC, lived in TX for 14 years, then moved to Canada. I'm constantly asked where I'm from, even after living here for 5 years. It's so thick that sometimes I'm very self-conscious about it (ok, most of the time!), especially when talking to someone from the Pacific Northwest who says, "You know what people think of people with a Southern accent, don't you? Uneducated and ignorant!" Well, thanks so much! 
Too funny! I'm from Michigan as well and laughed so hard as I heard myself in much of this. My husband, from Colorado, is forever giving me funny looks…now I have an idea as to why!
::::peeking in and raising hand:::: I have an accent. I was born and lived the first 18 years in the south. Then it was California, Hawaii, Maryland, Texas, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Texas again, overseas for 2 years and then Virginia and on and on.
I do NOT say…
worsh rag for wash cloth
I reckon so for I guess so
Yes-tur-dee for yesterday
Okay so you get that I don't have all the southern slang, just the southern accent. But you let me be around my family for 5 minutes and my husband says I revert to speaking like them and that my accent gets heavier.
So when I asked for change in California and specifically requested dimes they asked me to say it like 5 times. Apparently I sounded like Flo on the old Alice TV series to them. ROFL
I don't care what your accent is Lori, I'll listen to you any time. BTW, "all set" is not unique. I use it all the time. As in …
I am all set to go put the grand kids to bed so I can have some down time tonight!
Don't worry, when you go back to Michigan, they'll tell you that you sound like a southern hick. Ya just can't win.
LOL to this post – I live most of my life in MI and now I live in NJ. When I go back to visit family I can hear the accent now – of course I never thought I had one when I lived there.
This is killing me! I am from Texas.
Anytime anyone says MELK for Milk, it is a dead giveaway! Super funny!
LOVED this!!! I'm actually born and raised in Florida. Moved up here to Michigan recently. The only way people know I'm not from here is because I say "ya'll", but otherwise I sound normal to them. But everyone sounds funny to me!
Oh this is hilarious! I live in Alabama, and I really didn't think I sounded THAT hick and redneck until I spoke to someone from another Southern state (TX incidentally) who laughed their heads off at me because my accent is so thick. I guess that explains why I hate the sound of my own voice
My cousin is from Michigan and I never really thought too much about her accent (she's got one I guess). It does make me feel really weird, though, when I'm around someone from the Northern part of the US because I'm afraid I do sound really bad.
This is great! I'm grew up in Michigan and now live in OH. I'm right there with ya! I think we sound just fine
I'm from Kentucky. I'll have to be on the look out for a pirate with a head cold so I know how you sound.
Once I traveled to Indy for work. When I went out to eat a random person heard me talking while waiting for a table and asked where I was from. I guess I sounded strange to him. I was like 90 miles south of here. I really wanted to ask if this was his first 'hillbilly' encounter.
Hey now, CJ, not all of us from MO say Missourah! It's mostly the southern part of the state.
I am an army brat, when I was 5 had such a thick NY accent and started kindergarten in New Mexico, boy oh boy did I get some stares. They put me in speech therapy to 'train' it out of me. I've spent the past 14 years in Missouri and when I am here among other Missourians, you can hear that hint of midwestern twang. I went to college in Pennsylvania (Bryn Mawr, no less) so one of the fun games in my dorm was 'listen to one of Kristin's boyfriends voicemails and see how many words you can actually understand.' Yes, they actually made it into a game.
I tried to show them the latitude lines for my town and Philadelphia but to no avail, I was their token southerner. Oh well.
I know what the above poster means about a chameleon accent. My mom's family is all from WI and whenever we go to visit, she goes from her typical non-accent to WI-ese as if she were a native. Don'tcha know?
I'm a transplanted Michigander as well. I can hear my accent when I say "about"! LOL
Nope Cloze is how I say it too, and I was born and raise in Oregon (Ore-e-gun not Oregone). My dad was born and raised in New Zealand. People were always telling me what a lovely accent he had… Accent?? What accent?
All set… so funny you mentioned that because when we used that in South Africa they would stare at us blankly. We really noticed the Michigan accent when we were away from it for a while (living in South Africa). We'd talk to our family on the phone and think, "do we really sound like that?!?"
Love this post! I am from Maryland and recently moved to Texas. But while I lived in Maryland I would have people ask me where I am from because of my accent they claim I have… I meet a girlfriend of mine here in Texas and she knew the Sec. I started talking that I wasn't from Texas, she is not either but thought I came from New York and thats where she is from. I also had a mechanic back in 2004 say I sound like I came from West Virginia. Also not to long ago I went in to a gas station and the clerk thought I came from another country due to my skin tone and face structure. I am German from both-sides of my family and part Greek from only my moms side.
The biggest tip off to me is soda or pop. It’s ALL Coke. Yes even Pepsi(although ew) or Sprite or orange soda. “Do you want a coke? Yes please. What kind?” Very normal conversation.
Okay, someone explain to me-how exactly are we (michiganders) supposed to say “fire”? Lol. I have been sitting here trying -to no avail-to say it in one syllable WITHOUT using a southern accent (I.e.-”farr”) lol.
And Brie-that drives me crazy about theCoke thing. Haha. Last time I was down south, I asked for a hamburger and a Coke. The waitress asked if I wanted cheese. Umm, nope- if i did, I would have asked for a CHEESEburger (although at this point I may have ended up with a grilled cheese samwich
instead) then came the Coke conversation. “umm, what kind of coke do you have? ” I almost died when I was offered pepsi products. Lol. For the next few months( even when I made it back home) people teased me because every time I ordered, I would say (I’ll have a coca-cola classic, please) lol. At least it helped me to avoid the “orange coke” conversation. 
Oh man is this true or what! When we moved from California to Michigan I thought everyone talked SO fast! They said I talk SO slow and I had a surfer dude kind of vibe, haha!
Oh man is this true or what! When we moved from California to Michigan I thought everyone talked SO fast! They said I talk SO slow and I had a surfer dude kind of vibe, haha!
This cracks me up! Im from Texas.. my husband is from Michigan and we lived there for a few years together. It is all so true. When I first moved up there people would look at me strange when I said “ya’ll”.. now that we are back in Texas people say I sound like Im from Wisconsin. Go figure. Thanks for the link, my hubby will get a good laugh out of it too!
I live in FL, but grew up in NY. When people ask “are you from NY?” , it sometimes comes with a look of disgust! One of my co-workers said, “Kathy, I’m surprised that you are from NY. You don’t act like it.” Sheesh!
I think I just found my new best friend, YOU!!! LOL! I am from Michigan and I am a transplant to other foreign lands (Texas, California, and now Ohio) and it is interesting to hear how all others speak. And you know, I think Texans have an accent…. so???? It’s so funny. And I refuse to say Soda or Coke, it is POP and will always be!