The dialect heard in the state of Utah includes lexical items such as the hotdish casserole called funeral potatoes, as well as the mayo-ketchup condiment called fry sauce, and a particular type of scone, also called fry bread. Utah is also known for its dirty sodas, which contain multiple ingredients such as syrup or fruit. In the Mountain West, you’ll hear talk about fourteeners, “mountains that stand at least 14,000 feet” and powder days, referring to great skiing conditions after a good snow, and red rock, or red sandstone. In addition, the speech of many Utahans features a vowel merger in which heal and hill sound similar, and the word barn sounds like “born” and born sounds like “barn.” The difference between Anglophone and Hispanophone settlement patterns are reflected in the different terms butte and mesa. Then there’s the Latter-Day Saints’ influence in the use of ward for a local congregation. This is part of a complete episode.
The so-called “lifestyle influencer accent” you hear in videos on TikTok and YouTube, where someone speaks with rising tones at the end of sentences and phrases, suggesting that they’re about to say something important, is a form of what linguists...
Meg in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, gets why the state highway department encourages drivers to use their blinkers when changing lanes, but placing a digital sign at the Sagamore Bridge that reads Use Ya Blinkah is, well, a lexical bridge too far. Meg’s...
Subscribe to the fantastic A Way with Words newsletter!
Martha and Grant send occasional messages with language headlines, event announcements, linguistic tidbits, and episode reminders. It’s a great way to stay in touch with what’s happening with the show.
