Monday, October 27, 2014

NH Accent

I had the opportunity to ride with a man of about my age to the Upper Valley today.  That's the Hanover/Lebanon/White River Junction region, for those not from 'round heah. I have a few Scots-Irish ancestors from that region, but it goes back to the mid-19th.

He had a fine NH accent - put the "r" in strongly in lawrenforcement, calling poplar trees "popples" and the space between northbound and southbound on the highway as the medium strip. Most fascinating to me was his natural use of the subtle "I weren't," which is entirely correct, even though "I were" isn't.

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