30 miles north of Pittsburgh. You’d know it.

There is a big difference between North New Jersey than south New Jersey. Then there is a different "Piney" ascent in South Jersey

Being raised in FLA., I have recognized the FLA accent , or the old local one, from Georgian, Carolinian, and Bamma. Also , I know a Texan accent every time. Those cowboys are in a real of their own.

Being away from the south for years, I still retain a soft Belle accent in certain words I use. Northerners especially notice it.

Definitely a few in Florida as well. Sadly the inland cracker native is fading fast if not gone.

Warrior, not many left there. I mean the original FLA generations with that special soft accent.

Few know the proper way to say Miami...when I say it, I've had many tell me they've never heard Miami pronounced that way. I tell them it is the original Floridian way of pronunciation.

Even my editor and his graphic producer of FFG expressed surprise when I told them. When Mitch's producer tried to look it up, he couldn't find anything in his search, and almost didn't believe me.
I told him, don't believe me, then. Mitch knew better. He admitted they never even visited FLA, much less grown up there.

Growing up exploring the glades and Cyprus swamps with my father, who built and drove airboats and swampbuggys, I've seen plenty of the original locals.

Heck sometimes we can tell you what town or area in the state of WI you are from

Spent three years as a kid, 73-76, in Groveland. Dad ran sixty head of mostly cracker cattle. I recall some of that older generation. It's definitely a totally different Florida from what is seen along the coasts and I hope it survives but I'm afraid it'll all eventually get subdivided paved over and turned into a theme park.

Sharon, please refresh my memory on Miami. I'm recalling something that I'm not sure is right. Something like a me-uh-me.

When you think about the fact most people are near neighbors and those that speak similarly, the changing of accents as you cross the country seems like it must be incrementally occuring one neighborhood/person at at a time.

Things like rivers, mountains, deserts, etc that used to seperate people are no longer such a formidable barrier...Then throw in the historic migrations of east to west, north & south swapping living locations, etc. & it becomes even more complicated.

Sometimes even 1,000 miles apart will find you with similar speaking folks...Remember going to W. Texas on a hunting trip years back and noticing our accents were indentical. After talking with the locals it turns out that region was settled by people from W. Kentucky, and some of their town names are even the same.

Black folks accents are interesting to me, in that they seem the same regardless of where I go in the U.S. (except Louisiana) and they are much different in the Carribean.

Yes. Isolated pockets of folk in the Ozarks and Appalachia have language that is close to old Shakespearean English.
Anglo Saxons left England to America,moved to Appalachia and stayed there. Or moved on to the Ozarks.
Listen to this U Tube of Shakespeares iambic pentameter with a hillbilly twang. Worth a listen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC9jc-X9upY

Wow, learned something today...Thanks for that video.

Many years ago.......a lady was dumped out at Midway truck stop west of Columbia. She had been thru some kind of trauma and didn't know who she was or where she was from....no ID, no nothing but clothes on her back Linguist from university went to visit her in hospital........after talking to her for a bit concluded she was from northern Maryland / PA area. They posted her picture on news outlets from that area, and yes somebody did recognize her. He got it right to within 50 miles.

Used to know a couple guys.....one from Dublin GA, the other from CT. They had a running joke they needed to communicate with each other thru an interpreter.

ma-am-ah

ma-as in how youd say Mom- or Ma
am- just how you see it...as in "I am"...the word.
ah- also just how you see it.

It is a subtle roll off the tongue. No harsh or sharp vowels at all.

Years ago I worked for a guy whose youngest son had some success at college football......when he graduated, he interviewed to become a sports journalist......announcer. He was told he would be sent to a class to train any accent right out of him. If you notice, most national TV announcers of any kind do not have a pronounced accent. Mostly just sound "normal".

I find the Northern part of the country interesting. I do quite a bit in western NODAK and have gotten where I can pick out the eastern Montana vs. North Dakotan vs. Minnesotan accents. I also do a lot of work in Alberta. The Canadian accents are interesting too.

As for Okies and how us lifers butcher the English language, it's kind of unique. Not Texan, but similar. Not southern.

I can spot (hear) a Californian a mile away. They are all over Northern New Mexico and are now invading Oklahoma. I guess Texas filled up.

Ok....where is the phrase..." Well bless his heart "..from ?

A guy I know in Philadelphia is married to a gal from South Carolina. She told him (and he told me) that when said with the right tone by a woman in South Carolina to or about another woman it means _____ you!

But that's not in my Okie lexicon. We just use the actual phrase so I don't actually know. Just third hand reporting of what I heard from a Jewish dude from Philly who drops F bombs every other word--in a weird accent.

Not sure I've been around too many Oklahomans so can't compare but we use youns, momma, and all them country slang. When I was little I would visit new mexico and my cousin from Texas would come up as well, but all their friends couldn't get over my accent, all they would say is your accent and give me strange looks. I said I don't have one youns do.. and all the new Mexicans I know talk the same.

Took a couple trips down to Branson year's ago and drove down into northern Arkansas sight seeing . Had a lot of people ask if I was from Ireland or Canada with my Northern Minnesota brogue

yes church lady speak for go $%^&*( yourself

inthe midwest you might hear it in a little less known version , "well isn't that special." Or " well isn't he special"