Ahmad
Is the English language one or the same over all the USA ?
Apr 24, 2014 3:09 AM
Comments · 10
1

There is only one standard English and it is the same throughout the. USA. The problem with most of the responses is a cultural one, and it has to do with the word "accent". 

English speakers use the word "accent" to mean minor vowel changes. When an Arabic speaker uses tge word "accent" they refer to major changes in usage, grammar, and vocabulary. They use "accent" where an English speaker would use "dialect" or "patois". 

Hollywood movies often do not use standard English and this is a major source of confusion. Movies are often in dialects of English spoken only by characters in movies. This is not the language of most of the actors. 

April 24, 2014
1

Shawn, you could not be more wrong about the south calling soda "pop". We hate it. We do however often refer to all sodas as coke. For example "do you want a coke?" "sure, could you grab me a Dr. Pepper". I always associate "soda pop" with Minnesota to be honest. West Virginia is, well, West Virginia, so "down the holler" also isn't used in the south (or not in Texas at least).

阿利, the US uses both "trash" and "garbage", but you're right, we don't use the word "rubbish".

April 24, 2014
1

Yes, English is spoken the same around American. I am from the South part of American in Tennessee. People would say that I have country accent by the way I speak fast and sort of slur my words. I've seen many people who study the English language as a second language have more cleaner spoken English than most southern spoken people. North accents have the clear tone of voice I'm telling you about. Once you chat with a few indivduals from the USA, you will see that people from the North, West, South, and East America all structure their worda differently as well. 

April 24, 2014
1

Yes it is basically the same. There are just a few vocabulary differences. For example, where I live many people in the rural areas of my state call a mango a "green pepper." I have no idea why. However, it is mostly like older country people. There are also many accent variation throughout the United States such as accents from the south, accents from Chicago, accents from New York, etc. 

April 24, 2014
1
Yeah, roughly speaking it is. As Susan mentioned, there are regional accents and minor grammatical differences. There are also regional words as well. So for instance, we call a carbonated beverage "soda" in the north and my mother's family who lives in the south (West Virginia to be exact) call it "pop". I am pretty sure that most southern states call it "pop" instead. So as an example, my friends up here would ask "Would you like a soda?" and my cousins down south would ask "Would you like a pop?" There are also adverbs of place/phrases that they use in West Virginia which we do not use in the north. For instance, whenever my mother would visit her family down south, they would say someone was "down the holler". I had to ask her what the hell "the holler" was because I had never heard it before and we never use it in the north. Plus she never speaks like this when she is up north. Anyhow, urbandictionary.com defines "holler" like this: In the south east mountains of the United States, this word is used instead of hollow; a small rising valley region between two hills or mountains; often containing a creek. West Virginia is indeed full of valleys, hills, and mountains so I could see why it would be used there. Listening to her use it though, I really got the sense that the northern counterpart of "down the holler" could maybe be "down the road" if you had to assign one. So I think the sentence "He is down the holler." would best be rendered in the north as "He is down the road."
April 24, 2014
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