I have always thought for a little island like the UK there are so many different dialects. From Cornish, Welsh, Scottish, Liverpool, Manchester, Saath (South) London, Yorkshire, Newcastle and so on. I think this was the first time that I was actually aware of different accents in the USA.

Staying at the bed and breakfast in North Conway meant that my path was crossed with visitors from Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota and New Jersey. All these areas had their distinct dialects but it was definitely the Maine accent that struck me most and this was amplified by the temporary electronic road signs on the highways.

The signs were warning Not to Speed but amusingly was teasing the Maine accent.

 

I started seeing the strange spelling of er and the end of words on many different things. It is great that the area can be amused by it’s accent. I did notice a few words that were pronounced with the emphasis at the end. An example being car,  being pronounced caah and so Lobster is heard as Lobstah and so on.

The guy I was sat next to on the flight over told me that folks from Massachusetts are known as Massholes and Mainiacs from Maine, I never learnt if there is nickname for New Hamphire, Vermont or Rhode Island. Let me know if there are. I also was told that Peabody (in MA) was pronounced as Pibiddy and that Faneuil Hall in Boston is said like it should be Faniel (rhyming with Daniel) . I guess that what I heard was probably the closest to ‘olde worlde English’ as that was imported from Blighty all those years ago.