Utahisms - The way we speak

This is a news story delving into the reason why people have differences in language and speech in different parts of the country.

[stephaniegreenwood]

“Oh my heck, nuh uh.” Oh my gosh, that one made me choke laughing. That is probably the most “Utah, ” phrase on this whole video.

[frederickd.provoncha]

As a transplant from New York, I have been keenly aware of how Utahns speak differently from other Americans. There are a lot of expressions you hear here that you rarely hear elsewhere, such as "Oh my heck", "For reals", "ornery", etc. There are differences in pronunciation too. For example, "ornery" here is pronounced more like "ahnry". "For reals" is pronounced more like "Fer rills". In fact, commonly here an "eel" or "eal" ending to a word is pronounced with a short 'i' sound. So "real, feel, deal" all become "rill, fill, and dill" here. I'd say this tendency is pretty strong here, and I think this is the biggest characteristic of the Utah accent.

A lot of people mention how Utahns use a glottal stop instead of a hard "t" sound, such as in "mountain" becoming "moun'n". But that is actually a very widespread practice and can be found in many parts of the country. I'd say it's even a characteristic of the "American" accent, if there is such a thing, that Europeans often talk about.

[mikesprague]

I was 38 when I found out I had an accent, which was a huge surprise to me because I was four years old when we moved from Salt Lake to Seattle. I guess I picked it up from my dad? One day I was on the phone with someone and they asked me if I was from Utah. I was blown away.

[MiMi_MoMo]

What about our famous word “sluff”? It wasn’t until I went to college that I learned this word was only used in Utah. I remember saying to some friends: “I sluffed class yesterday.” and they had no idea what I was talking about lol. 😂

We also conjugate this word in many ways:
Sluff
Sluffed
Sluffing
Will sluff
Sluffer (a person who sluffs)

I am proud of this word as a native of Utah!

[charlesbradshaw]

As a Utahn, I theorize that some of the pronunciations in Utah like hurricane being pronounced “hurrikin” is because of all the British immigrants that moved to Utah during the 1800s.
Im originally from Utah but I’ve lived in southern California for about 12 years so I have both Utah and California accents.

[busterknott]

I grew up in Spanish Fork (Utah County) and left in the '80's when I joined the USAF.
This video made me snort more than once and it didn't even begin to touch on all the weird verbiage used in the state!

[MikeP]

I've worked in tourism my whole life, from St. George to Salt Lake City, and became fascinated with accents over the years. I worked in a shop at SLC Int. Airport for 14 years and loved guessing people's accents. Anyhow, my boss and some of the airport ops/maintenance guys had very strong Utah accents that always made me chuckle a bit. It baffled my boss whenever I brought it up because he had no concept of a Utah accent, and I'm unable to imitate it effectively. I'm sure I have some version of a Utah accent, but not in the way those old-timers from ops had. HOO-WEE, some of theirs were wild! It's such a strange blend of what I would describe as a "typical" American accent and a slightly southern accent. This video is the only thing I've been able to find on YouTube with even a tiny bit of specificity regarding it. But even the host's accent isn't **that** pronounced.
I'm hell-bent on getting a linguist to come analyze it. (I suppose it could be called a Utah/Idaho or Intermountain accent as well.) I can hear it in my head perfectly, but I can't mimic it worth a crap.

And nobody pronounces the T in Mountain.

[Yasminhoneychurchh]

Watching this as an actor is so inneressn

[maam-yjph]

I am surprised "measure" as meh-zure was not mentioned.

[goldenandesite]

Not a mention of creek vs crick and “seen it”

[katurdaaylikesaturdaay]

I was born in Provo Utah and it’s basically in my blood since I lived there til I was almost 2 so it’s just the way we speak

[tylermuss]

this is pretty spot on with a Canadian accent

[syro]

It's interesting, I feel like a lot of this has changed, at least among younger people. Some things are still spot on, like the mou'n pronunciation, quarter and corder being the same or really close, and the use of fake swear words, but I almost never hear some of these things, at least among younger people. (In particular, used to could is something I've never heard here despite living here all my life. Also the dropping of vowels in all those words except probably isn't really a thing I do or hear.) Oh, and I think "you guyses" has been replaced by just "you guys", though you can say like "you guys's books" as a possessive.

It's so interesting how things can change a lot pretty quickly when it comes to language, though! I think there might be more influence from California in more recent years, which might affect some of these things.

[lmh]

I don’t know what’s wrong with the way they say quarter or mountain 🤷🏻‍♀️

[lisapassarella]

Utah is the weirdest place I’ve ever lived. The way people speak here is comical. I’m from California and have lived in Utah for ten years. It’s almost like the teachers have not been educated enough to teach their students how to speak proper English. It feels like the early 1900’s 😂

[TheUtahKid]

I love this state, but we do talk kind of funny.

[dylanmurphy]

1:45 the only person who can speak properly

[Wagner-pe]

Them Utah-unz might have an ak•sint... but duh guys all got 6 or more wives!❤