>So six is a key locating word for a Kiwi, and dance is (or was) for an ozzie..
According to Max, I'm wrong on which way round it is for "six", see his post.
>Here in US, Roof and Water are supposed to be key words.. to define east coast from west, and even mid west..
but what other words can be used, & for what other groups.. how do you identify a a South african? or inside canada, how do you tell someone from atlantic provence's from a some one who hails from BC? What other words are Key words?
So how do they say "roof" and "water"? I assume that the "r" is significant. Is it the long a in "water" that makes a difference?
Isn't "park the car" a good way to spot a New Englander? I think they would say "pahk the cah" as would someone from England (we've already discussed the letter "r" in another thread).
In Britain words like "grass" would show you up as broadly North or South (short vowels in the North).
A world like "farmyard" would help identify someone from the South West of England.
A word like "gone" would help identify a parts of London and the South - it would sound like "gorn" in a strip from South London to Brighton and parts of East London, Kent and Essex.
"South" to a South Londoner is pronounced a bit like "sarth". To identify the better off, you would need a word like "girl" which becomes "gall" or "pound" which becomes "poind" - think of Prince Charles.
In the world "Scotland", Scots would have the emphasis on the "o" giving a long "short" "o" - think of saying dot and lingering on the "o" without making it a "oo" sound, whereas the English give more equal emphasis to both syllables.
We discussed some time ago the idea that dialects within Australia, despite the huge distances, vary relatively little. It is thought that this is because Australia's major population expansion took place after a time when mass communication was something that could be heard as well as seen, ie radio rather than only newspapers.
I think that same might be true of South Africa. "South" said by a South African tends to sound like "seuth".
