DC accent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Murland is definitely part of a Maryland accent and not a Washington accent. It's part of Balmer Murland.

As for WaRshington, that is further west. I've heard many people from the PA-OH-WV tri-state area say that, namely near Warshington, PA (I grew up in Pittsburgh). I think it drifted this way from out there as it is far more common there than here.

ITA with this. I grew up in Alexandria. I had plenty of friends who say "Warshington," but they invariably had family origins in PA, OH and NJ.

Agree with this too. Warshingtom is very much a pittsburgh thing. I haven't heard it was much around DC.

I'm originally from the northeast, have been in DC/VA for 25 years, and there's a subtle southern twang I've either developed or affected. More a general relaxation of a few long vowels.

[Anonymous]

The Maryland accent is very close to the DC accent to most people. The DC accent is very Southern. It difficult to describe, but it is unmistakable.

Do you actually want to have one, OP?

[Anonymous]

It is hard for me to describe but I think there is a distinct accent. It's pretty close to the Maryland/Baltimore one, a weird mix of NJ and Southern. Who else would pronounce Bowie the way we do?

[Anonymous]

R= R-uh
Excuse me is = Qs me

[Anonymous]

There most definitely used to be a white DC accent. But dc is so transient with so many new people from all over the country and world, it has mostly died out by the 80s. For a wile there were retirement communities on the Bay where you could hear it.
I grew up in MoCo (but four generations before me from DC) from the 60s to the 80s and I’m sure I had some sort of accent until I got to my teens and started paying more attention to how I sounded, and then lost most of it. Some older people among my parents friends had distinctive accents. Also a couple aunts.
I don’t know how to describe it, but it was a mid Atlantic accent that sounded different from Baltimore or Philly, but the thing it had in common was it sounded kind of dumb and unsophisticated, which was one reason middle and upper middle class people changed the way they talked as they got older. But because there were so many people from other places, you didn’t know it was just the local accent you were unlearning, you just thought some things sounded dumb and avoided them.
Also, I remember there were a lot of extra r’s, like wershing machine and warder instead of water.
But even the black accent has many influences. Blacks used to be more local from tidewater of Md and Va. After WWII there was a big influx from farther south like from the Carolinas. But also DC blacks have some things in common with black speech in Baltimore and Philly. Like their own version of jawn (joint in Philly dialect)

[Anonymous]

Like a Maryland accent ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is hard for me to describe but I think there is a distinct accent. It's pretty close to the Maryland/Baltimore one, a weird mix of NJ and Southern. Who else would pronounce Bowie the way we do?

Exactly. Some of the local news guys talk this way. The way Marylanders say “on” is pretty unique I’d say.

[Anonymous]

“Collectively, all of my family sounds like Pat Buchanan. What's distinctive about HIS accent? The long "a" sounds in manner, in Pat, in Buchanan -- they all stretch out (oh- out is sometimes said like oat) those a's so it's Paaat Byu cahhh non.”

My parents were similar age and in same catholic schools as him. I’ll have to find a clip of him to see how he sounded.

Also we used to say dint, wuhnt, cuhnt for didn’t, wouldn’t, couldn’t. I’m going to stop with these spelling attempts before auto correct drives me crazy.

[Anonymous]

Just listened to Pat Buchanan and he sounds normal to me. I don’t hear an accent. But I might be numb to it.
But you are right that the short A in cat sounded especially grating. Also there were a lot of unnecessary Y sounds in front of U sounds, like byoodifull.

[Anonymous]

Its a southeast born and bred African American accent. Considered ghetto to some with all the phrases of mo th a f uck a but thats what it is.

[Anonymous]

Meant southeast DC accent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is hard for me to describe but I think there is a distinct accent. It's pretty close to the Maryland/Baltimore one, a weird mix of NJ and Southern. Who else would pronounce Bowie the way we do?

Exactly. Some of the local news guys talk this way. The way Marylanders say “on” is pretty unique I’d say.

Sounds like “ohwn”

Sen Pat Buchanan is a great example of a Washingtonian accent. Even the way he said his name, Paaat Byuu cahhhnnen.
Long A’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is hard for me to describe but I think there is a distinct accent. It's pretty close to the Maryland/Baltimore one, a weird mix of NJ and Southern. Who else would pronounce Bowie the way we do?

Exactly. Some of the local news guys talk this way. The way Marylanders say “on” is pretty unique I’d say.

Sounds like “ohwn”

Sen Pat Buchanan is a great example of a Washingtonian accent. Even the way he said his name, Paaat Byuu cahhhnnen.
Long A’s.

This is for Baltimore accent but they have the “ohwn” in it about halfway through. Great spelling. I could not figure out how to describe it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sa3Tl3t88Mc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The DC accent is a black DC accent. There is no white DC accent for the most part.

THIS.

[Anonymous]

Only noticed it among black folks