10 Strange American Accents You May NEVER Hear Again

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⏱ TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 American accents are disappearing
0:14 Accent #1
2:31 Accent # 2
4:29 Accent # 3
6:05 Accent # 4
7:48 Accent # 5
10:07 Accent # 6
12:22 Accent # 7
14:47 Accent # 8
16:45 Accent # 9
18:55 Accent # 10

🎬 Video Clips:

[jeffd]

I hate that we’re losing our regional accents in the US. When I was a kid and we would travel, listening to and talking to the people who lived in our destinations made me feel like I’d gone someplace new and different. Now, wherever you go, you feel like you never left home.

[collinkelly]

Born and raised in Appalachia. Used to hate when my accent would come out, but in recent years, I've embraced it

[FelonFitness]

I lived in Pittsburgh from 2018-2023. The accent isn’t as prevalent as it once was but it is still alive and well in born-and-raised Yinzers.

[jessmullinsfullen]

Born and raised Appalachian. A lot and I mean a TON of folks are doing the work to reclaim our accent and pushing back against the stigma. It’s ourn and ain’t goin nowhere ❤

[Dirtypretzleman]

Being a truck driver and a having a weird interest in American accents I can assure you that the yinzer accent drifts west from Pburgh across the panhandle of West Virginia and into the east side of Ohio in the Steubenville Ohio area. In my area of Columbus Ohio I can hear bits of the yinzer accent from people born and raised there. Specifically in the word “going”. They pronounce it “gowin”. Accents are awesome!

[reneeward]

I’m from WV and I use to hate my accent. I had speech therapy as a child and I worked so hard to try to enunciate my words to not have such a thick accent. Now I embrace it. It’s part of who I am.

[shaolinotter]

another interesting one is the "yooper" accent. basically finnish immigrants that got trapped in the upper peninsula of michigan by themselves. the longest running talk show in television history was actually run by them, have in english and half in finnish

[joelcagwin]

Having grown up in da ‘Burgh, but now living overseas I notice when I go back that the accent is alive. It definitely exists in some classic Pittsburgh locales such as going to the amusement parks in tawn.

[JDBryantFamily]

I grew up I Louisiana. I have add a video of my dad reading night before Christmas with his S Louisiana accent for my kids. I love his soft Cajun accent. It is so comforting to me. And the use of “Me I” to refer back to the speaker is also comforting.

[basantidevi]

I worked in a call center 5 years ago that took calls nationally. Yes those accents still exist. I wish we still had the accents from the 40’s And 50’s.

[coreywiley]

A good way to hear people's natural, un-selfconscious speaking patterns is in local news clip interviews of citizens when the news is reporting on real time accidents, fires, robberies, or public events like festivals, fairs, and carnivals, or job fairs. Usually, the people won't be thinking about how they are talking and will just speak authentically in the moment, unlike when doing dialect tests, where people become self-observing.

[astridvelasquez]

I'm from Chicago and didn't realize I had an accent until I moved downstate. After being asked where I'm from so often, I started hearing my own accent. It's a weird feeling, and what's even weirder is that I can't tell you how many people ask me if I'm from Sweden. Seriously. I get it all the time.

[patrickwells]

The Charleston (SC) accent is almost totally gone too. Only ever heard it in Silent Generation ladies who lived “south of Broad St.” Truly beautiful

[dondek]

My mom, from Dormont, PA (northwestern PA), always said “gum band” for rubber band and “redd up” for straightening up or declutterring the house (or a room). We stand in line or wait in line; standing on, or waiting on line is totally a New York thing.

[theandrew]

Yinzer and Appalachian basically blur together, I grew up a north of the Burgh but everyone spoke with both sets of words. Jumbo, gumband, crick, buggy, rid up, yinz, pop/ sody-pop, britches, fixin, allow, tater, winder… all those were quite common in throughout most of western PA.

Also, love the Myron Cope clip at the beginning of the Pittsburgh section. A true legend of the city.

[queentara]

Alabama gal here, there are so many different southern accents that ‘experts’ seem to have glanced over. Just my daughter’s accent is so much more country than mine, despite being raised 15 miles away.

[Narnia]

In deep Appalachia, we still have our accents. I can code-switch quite well, though.

[sammonicuslux]

I used to hate my northern RI (Worcester corridor) accent. Then I went to high school in Honolulu and fell in love with pidgin. Mixed that in with my native accent, got back home to RI after graduation...and none of my friends could understand me. I LOVE ALL accents now and I do not want a single one to die. It is part of who we are. Been back in New England for ever...and I watch Andy Bumatai on youtube just to hear the beloved pidgin.

[KarleeCalamity]

I live in central PA, and before you revealed it was the Philly accent I was like “where… is the accent? What am I missing?”
I have a mix of Philly, Pittsburg, & PA Dutch more so in grammar than speech. Never really noticed until the military when a few people pointed it out.

[richellechristian]

As a Virginia Appalachian I can confirm we still sound like that and we’re damn proud of it.