These videos crack me up. Not every dialect oddity applies to me since I grew up closer to Chicago, but it is pretty stereotypical for the rest of Indiana:
…I do this all the time. I always have to edit “anyways” down to “anyway” when I’m blogging. Mumble “prolly” instead of “probably.” And I learned from this video that it’s Meijer, not Meijer’s. Dammit.
Pop is the correct way, not soda. … and I have to try really, really hard not to pronounce “milk” as “melk.” I’ve given up pronouncing eggs correctly – they will forever be aygs for me.
Damn youuuuu Indiana!
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Anon
September 9, 2011 at 2:48 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
My last name is Meyer (pronounced MY-er). WHY DO YOU PEOPLE INSIST ON ADDING THE S?! D:*ahem*
Anne Sauer
September 9, 2011 at 2:50 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
From St. Louis, MO, not Indiana–but I didn’t realize “aygs” wasn’t the correct pronunciation until college.
R G Altizer
September 9, 2011 at 2:57 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I love the “all the ___-er” construction. I almost want to go to Indiana just to hear people use it.
bitguru
September 9, 2011 at 2:58 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Are yous’s the guys’s that pronounce Illinois as “Ellenoy”?(There’s a faction that inexplicably does that, and I don’t know who they are.)
Liz Muia Frost
September 9, 2011 at 3:00 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Lesson 3 didn’t really apply to me (I’ve always hated the “this needs put away” construction), but lesson 4 had me cracking up. I’ve never heard of calling peppers “mangoes”, though.
Mike Brownstein
September 9, 2011 at 3:11 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Corn is not my favorite food…good thing I’m leaving in less than 330 days
Madison Burnett
September 9, 2011 at 3:33 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
psh screw what they say. soda is correct. pop just sounds silly lol
Jen
September 9, 2011 at 3:36 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
But…isn’t….that how it’s pronounced? … …………
Rbray18
September 9, 2011 at 3:42 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
makes me wonder if there’s a how to speak okie,though probably not.since we’re close in how we say words with texas and the other surrounding states,least to my ears.like using ya’ll as both you and all of you.and i’ve heard both pop and soda used,and coke too.though on the videos,the 1st one sounded like they were trying to talk in parsletounge to me.
Caliguy7281
September 9, 2011 at 3:59 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
It was fine until they said “pop”. Then I raged.
Chris Kalil
September 9, 2011 at 4:26 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Wait, anyways isn’t correct? Down in Miami, that’s pretty much all you hear nowadays
Hugin
September 9, 2011 at 4:53 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
It’s COKE. Just like Band-aids and Kleenex. The brand leader has become the generic name. Y’all that talk about “soda-pop” are just crazy.
Rob U
September 9, 2011 at 5:20 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I don’t know, I kind of like this instruction manual better:http://www.execulink.com/~bobn…Now that winter’s coming to the Great White North next week I’m gonna go put some snow chains on my tires, pop down to the Tim’s for a six pack of crillers, and then go hit the beer store for my 24 metric beers; don’t forget that when converting from imperial to metric you double it and add forty eh.Oh yeah, don’t drink the Elsinore beer eh, it makes you go all crazy and want to play hockey and talk like Darth Vader and stuff.Pete…Awww, Strange Brew (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt00…, an awesomely hilarious film that is so under appreciated.
Grant Gordon
September 9, 2011 at 7:00 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
People call peppers mangoes? What do they call mangoes?Also, is the ‘s a contraction or is it indicating possession? Do people write like that?Incidentally Jen, melk is the Afrikaans’ word for milk. Speaking of Afrikaans, as a useless bit of knowledge, mielies is the word for corn, pronounced mee-lees.
Katie
September 9, 2011 at 7:07 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Holy crap, I think my parents are secretly from Indiana. They use the extraneous “at” and go acrosst town to shop at Aldi’s. (Then again, we’re from Northeast Ohio, so I don’t think there’s going to be a huge accent drift one state away.)
Katie
September 9, 2011 at 7:20 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Even the non-cola flavored ones, like Dr. Pepper or Sprite?
Rbray18
September 9, 2011 at 7:40 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
yep.coke can be used to refer to all pop,even Pepsi. and sprite and Dr. pepper
Grant Gordon
September 9, 2011 at 8:06 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
That must get confusing. If you go to a restaurant and ask for a coke, do they ask what type of coke you want and then list sprite and fanta as an option? Cause I’d just bring the person a coke.
Rbray18
September 9, 2011 at 8:32 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
it all depends on what you are use to call soft drinks as. in Oklahoma I’ve heard all 3 use,soda pop and coke so it doesn’t bother me as much no matter what term is used.
Thomas Everett Haynes
September 9, 2011 at 8:33 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I say “sodapop.” Troll to win. :-|
Grant Gordon
September 9, 2011 at 9:23 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
It’s not that it would bother me, it’s just that I wouldn’t know that they wanted something other than Coca Cola. Soda here usually refers to Soda Water, and we don’t use pop at all, although being a generic term, I wouldn’t confuse it with anything else :) Soft drinks are usually just called cold drinks usually pronounced cole drinks or cool drinks.
Neal
September 9, 2011 at 10:31 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
(1) Lebanon is “Leb-nin”, not “Leb-uh-non.”(2) My grandparents are from rural southern Indiana: * Roof = “Ruff,” * Oil = “Arl,” * Towel = “Tile,”etc.My dad was in middle school before someone convinced him that wash didn’t have an r in it.(3) I don’t think I’m capable of pronouncing eggs or milk “correctly.”
Svlad Cjelli
September 9, 2011 at 10:42 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
ilinwa
Noru
September 9, 2011 at 10:42 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I knew it was not In-dee-anna-polis, but I didn’t realize it was In’n'out-polis.
Svlad Cjelli
September 9, 2011 at 10:47 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I know that swedish has -s to indicate pertainance.
Svlad Cjelli
September 9, 2011 at 10:50 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Mmm, refreshing cocaine.
Svlad Cjelli
September 9, 2011 at 10:52 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
If you said “correctly” I would know you were talking about eggs and milk, anyways.
Svlad Cjelli
September 9, 2011 at 10:54 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
*If you said “correctly” I wouldn’t know you were talking about eggs and milk anyways.Damnit. Y no u editing?
Neal
September 9, 2011 at 11:19 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
It’s more like “In-dya-NA-plis.”
Neal
September 9, 2011 at 11:20 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Touche, sir.
GrahamMartin_Royle
September 9, 2011 at 11:52 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I know it’s wrong to take the mickey out of someone’s accent but when they said “Versailles” I just cracked up.
Pitchni
September 9, 2011 at 12:16 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
To be fair the early Meijer stores were Meijer’s Supermarkets. But I don’t think they were in Indiana yet at that time. So that excuse only works for us from West Michigan.
Rev. Ouabache
September 9, 2011 at 12:34 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
They need an episode on who to correctly say my user name. ;)
Nicholas
September 9, 2011 at 12:51 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Wah-bash?
Rev. Ouabache
September 9, 2011 at 1:04 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Well done. I’m impressed. Most people mangle it.
Gregory Marshall
September 9, 2011 at 1:40 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Everyone from the Midwest knows “pop” is correct, soda is just pretentious. I bet you call tennis shoes, sneakers too?!
Bradder
September 9, 2011 at 2:14 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Yay! Thanks for watching my “How to Speak Hoosier” videos – and thanks for realizing they are tongue-in-cheek and meant for fun… seems like a lot of the random viewers on YouTube don’t quite get that part! :) The “mangoes” thing (and “davenport” too, really) is mostly used by the older generation. I first heart it used when I was visiting my great aunt June near French Lick. She told me to go look at the mangoes in her garden. I was really confused… I mean, I knew she had a green thumb, but tropical fruit in southern Indiana?! Then I saw a bunch of beautiful bell peppers, which my mom whispered were the “mangoes”. Then I noticed some other folks using the same name for peppers. I read online somewhere that it may have to do with the original way mangoes became popular in the US – pickled. Then people started using “to mango” for pickling in general – then started referring to such pickles (which were often peppers) as mangoes! Or something like that!
Julie Lada
September 9, 2011 at 2:27 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I don’t know of any Hoosiers that say “aygs” or “melk” and I’ve lived in Indiana all my life. *scratches head*
Greg23
September 9, 2011 at 3:44 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
The other rule for city names is: It can’t be pronounced like the more well known city or country.Versailles is VersalesPeru is PayruEdinburgh is EdinburgBrazil – BraizelRussiaville is RooshavilleI think Mexico and Richmond got a pass.Then, of course, there’s the old joke – South Bend is in northern Indiana, North Vernon is in southern Indiana and French Lick isn’t where you think it should be either.Remember Woody (who was from Hanover) dissin’ French Lick on Cheers? I bet most people thought those were made up.
Rbray18
September 9, 2011 at 4:11 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
yeah,you say cold drink here in Oklahoma and you’ll get handed a beer. :D
Jen
September 9, 2011 at 5:38 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I’ve been mentally reading it as O-bahk this whole time. Mind blown.
Three Ninjas
September 9, 2011 at 6:55 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
“How’s come?”"Sort of chunky.”
Annie
September 9, 2011 at 7:10 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Yep. I grew up in the Chicagoland area. A conversation would go like this:”You want a coke?”"Sure.”"What kind?”"Orange Fanta.”
MichiganColt
September 9, 2011 at 8:35 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Pop is right!! (says the wannabe Michigander born out of place in California)
Derek
September 9, 2011 at 8:58 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
As a student of linguistics, I feel bound to call into question this notion of correctness of language that everyone’s going on about. And damn right I ended that sentence with a preposition.
Madison Burnett
September 9, 2011 at 9:34 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
haha yeah where i live it’s definitely coke. even the waitresses ask what flavor of coke you’d prefer
Jim Baerg
September 9, 2011 at 9:51 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
The part about Versailles reminded me of a story my aunt, who grew up in Ottawa & Montreal, tells about working as a telephone operator in Saskatchewan. (This would have been about 1950)A customer calls up and asks to be connected to ‘Bean Fate’. She is puzzled about where that might be and eventually asks him to spell it.Then she says ‘Oh you mean Bienfait’.'No I mean Bean Fate.’
Carlie
September 9, 2011 at 10:33 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
YES. YES IT IS.
Carlie
September 9, 2011 at 10:35 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Descriptivist. :p
Carlie
September 9, 2011 at 10:37 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
…and Illinois natives will give the stink-eye to anyone who tries to pronounce the “s” at the end.
William Cooper
September 9, 2011 at 11:44 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
no No NO! Ugh. I’m so mad at you right now : (“ I’ve given up pronouncing eggs correctly – they will forever be aygs for me.”I read this and then thought, “hmm… I don’t say aygs like that. Wait.. aygs. AYGS!! Crap.”I get “Meijer” and “anyway” wrong all the time as well. Sigh.
Beth Z
September 10, 2011 at 12:44 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Hm. I’m not sure how we spent childhood together and you ended up with a stronger accent than I did. My roommate says ‘melk’ and ‘pellow’ and we tease her about it all the time. There is an i in those words, not an e. I only watched the first part of the initial video, but most of those things sounded more Southern than Hoosier to me. Also, I don’t care how our state pronounces it, it will always be “versai” to me, not “ver-sail-es.” D: That is even worse than the people in Louisville who pronounce it “lullvlle.” However, I must admit that since moving to Indianapolis I have switched to saying ‘soda’ instead of ‘pop’, and ‘interstate’ instead of ‘expressway.’ I was also momentarily confused because people used ‘pitch-in’ instead of ‘potluck’.
Derek
September 10, 2011 at 1:40 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
That’s me!
Julie Lada
September 10, 2011 at 1:45 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
“I only watched the first part of the initial video, but most of those things sounded more Southern than Hoosier to me.”Yes! While I’ve definitely heard people saying “Meijer’s” and I’m guilty of “anyways”, I’ve always pronounced Peru “purroo” and Versailles “versai” and eggs and milk appropriately. I’ve never heard a lot of these except in Kentucky, so maybe they’re talking about southern Indiana closer to the border. But then my grandma lived in North Vernon for several years and I spent a lot of time down there and never heard “aygs” there, either.
Dan
September 10, 2011 at 6:30 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
With the exception of pop and adding esses (though nowhere near the extent of the video) most of those differences seem like they’re rural vs. city, and have very little to do with a Midwest/Indiana accent.All that being said, I’m from Michigan, over by South Bend.
Yellow Hatguy
September 11, 2011 at 5:10 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Watching this makes me realize never at any time at Purdue was I made fun of for speaking Coonsish, the dialect spoken only my me and my late father — an unholy union of Yiddish and Pittsburghese.
Kelly
September 11, 2011 at 3:38 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I find all the tiny differences in accent to be pretty funny. In Minnesota, a lot of us apparently pronounce bagel “wrong”, and it drives some of my Michigan and East Coast friends crazy. And it’s pop, people… :)
Megan R
September 11, 2011 at 11:40 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I’m from western Canada. Many people here (including me) say “melk” and I for one refuse to apologize for it.
Daniel Schealler
September 12, 2011 at 5:13 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Never mind.Nothing’s as bad as Kiwis that go to Awe-stray-yah for their holidays.*shudders*
JM
September 12, 2011 at 5:50 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Tennessee and Alabama, too.
Bridget Marie Blodgett
September 13, 2011 at 11:54 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Do you schlep y’er bag upstairs to red up your room or something?
Bridget Marie Blodgett
September 13, 2011 at 11:58 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
The s is slightly over the top but not uncommon today because the midwest accent is heard in so many types of broadcasts. I also wasn’t aware that Meijer’s wasnt with an s at the end. When I was in Grand Rapids everyone used the s anyway.Although with the pop/soda debate I remember getting really confused when I saw a sign in Michigan for a lunch special “$5.99 weekdays + pop” I had to ask a buddy what the hell pop was. He laughed at this Philly native and her soda :) Although he did find my concept of wooder delightful and my mangling of adverbs enraging.
Daniel Schealler
September 14, 2011 at 12:06 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Damn.I was thinking oh-bah-ché.Not even close.
Cameron Brown
September 14, 2011 at 1:58 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Get outta my head! I still use anyways and can’t avoid prolly. ACK! Also though, I’ve spent my life predominately in the midwest so…
Edwin Perello
September 14, 2011 at 3:55 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
New Yorker come to Indiana by way of falling in love, here. This. Is. Hilarious. LOLThey need to make a few more, highlighting the lovely Hoosier linguistic majesty of “duh what?” as a response to everything.
Edwin Perello
September 14, 2011 at 3:57 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I live near Versailles.There’s also Milan, which is pronounced mai-len.
Dereks
September 16, 2011 at 1:37 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
All these comments are great, but this one made me burst out laughing. ;) Brad, these films are brilliant.And up here in Canada, it’s always ‘pop’, not ‘soda’… but never ‘diet pop’. :)
Neeroc
September 16, 2011 at 3:19 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Why not alls the farther? I love asking my husband to say cow, it ends up as ‘kew’ So Illinois to me is ‘Ill in oy’ – damn you crazy Americans for your made up pronunciations! Why not stick to either the way they are spelled or their french (usually) pronunciation? Then again we pronounce Gloucester ‘Glosster’ and the Dalhousie in Ottawa is pronounced ‘Dal-how-see’ but the university in Nova Scotia is Dal-whose-ey…never mind.and I’m guessing my use of soda-pop would just end up ticking everyone off now wouldn’t it?
Joe Fogey
September 21, 2011 at 1:11 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Where’s that at? Every Janner knows that should be “Where’s that to, my handsome?”
SQB
September 21, 2011 at 7:49 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
‘Melk’ is also the Dutch word for milk. But then again, Afrikaans is a Dutch dialect :)
How does that Hoosier S work on places that already have an S? Do you’se guys go to McDonalds’s?
Stephanie Richards
August 19, 2012 at 10:10 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
protonix vs aciphex…
ortopedia
May 14, 2012 at 4:25 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
ortopedia…
[...]How to speak Hoosier | Blag Hag[...]…
ortopedia online
May 14, 2012 at 4:37 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
ortopedia online…
[...]How to speak Hoosier | Blag Hag[...]…