The Midwest is filled with many different sounds. Over time they have blended together into a few distinct dialects. Words like “y’all” and “warsh” are commonly used in place of their originals. The feud between soda or pop still continues. Many of these words that are commonly pronounced differently in certain regions have connections dating back to immigrant speech, most notably Scot-Irish. The eventual transformation into what is now American English still leaves a paper trail to our ancestors by way of these words.
According to John Kelly of the Washington Post, the most common of these is the “intrusive r,” a common speaking habit that places an “r” into a word where it doesn’t belong. Words like wash, draw, lawyer, and others are victims, becoming warsh, drawr, and lawryer.
Others take time to overpronunciate to avoid this. Other common mispronunciations are garage, mayonnaise, pecan. Fireflies, or lighting bugs, sub or hoagie. Depending on where you live and your surroundings you may say or prefer certain words differently than others.
A few of AHS’s well spoken students were tested and asked to read off of a list of words.