An Accent Of Sorts

Did you know I grew up in Wisconsin?  I did.  I spent my first 18 years of life there and I never knew there was such a thing as the Wisconsin accent.  I knew the big ones, Southern accent, Texan, New Yorker, Boston, Chicago, and California.  But in Wisconsin there was no accent.  I never heard anyone comment on the accent, probably because everyone sounded alike.  Who moves to Wisconsin?  Not too many.  You're pretty much born and raised there and don't ever leave.  Well, some do.  I did.  Still. it was like a thing that we would not speak of.  The accent.  

Then I moved to Arizona.  So many new people to meet.  I would introduce myself and then inevitably it would come up that I recently moved there.

Where are you from?

Wisconsin.

Oh, Wis-kaaawwnn-son. {enter extremely nasally drawn out "a" sound}

Umm, excuse me?

Cheese!

Cheese?  Yes, we do like cheese.  

I could just tell you were from Wis-kaawwnn-son, because of your accent.

What accent?


That's how it goes.  This was all new to me.  Being mocked for the way I said Wisconsin.  That is the way you are suppose to say it.  It's the only way to say it.  Wait, I have an accent.  It was all very confusing.

Every new person I met, it was the same thing.  They would repeat Wisconsin back to me in such an exaggerated way.  It got old fast and it still happens.  Without fail.

I say Wisconsin.

You say Wis-kaaawwnn-son.

And repeat.

Oh and there was that time when we were in London and met this British guy.  The subject of accents came up.  Of course, British accents.  Swoon.  Something was mentioned about how cute the British accent is.

Do you like our accents?

No. {Translation: They're dumb.}

To which I answer: You're dumb!  Rude.

Although, you can't really ever argue the British accent versus the American accent.  British accent will always win.  Then it will have a cup of tea and crumpets chuckling at our American accent while it drowns it's feelings in soda and ice cream.  Ooh, root beer float anyone.  Why can't we have a proper accent like the British do?

When visiting Wisconsin {Wis-kaawwnn-son.  Annoying, isn't it?}, I can hear the accents around me.  Only after being distanced from it for so long, only now can I hear it.  Even though, I don't feel extremely attached to people or things in Wisconsin anymore, going back there with the familiarity of how people talk is actually comforting.

I'll never move back there, but I am from there.  I have something that I will carry with me wherever I might go.  It's that accent that I didn't even know existed.  Yes, I'm from Wis-kaawwn-son.