Do you say pen and Pin the same? You're a Texan.

[tops]

How about when people can't describe a writing utensil without using an adjective. For example. "Do you have an 'ink pin' I can use?" Why not: "Can I borrow a pen?"

Can I borrow a pen? Sure you can if you can find somebody that will loan one.
May I borrow your pen? Yes you may.

Without using an adjective how would I know the kind of pin or pen you want to borrow? Straight pin, safety pin, felt tip pen, ball point pen, portable stock pen. Ain't life fun? Larry

 

[steelslaver]

Yup, you can always tell a Texan. You just can't tell him much.

I say pin for both, and have had other other little markers in my language. I remember in my teems finding out pop was regional ans it was soda on the east coast. Every region has their little things.

I won't make fun of yours if you don't make fun of mine.

 

[johngalt]

Years ago I when I was a traveling musician, the band(from San Antonio)was playing a lot of dates on the east coast, & many points between. At one point, we were in New Jersey, & we had a day off. I decided to take my uniforms to a dry cleaners. I walked in, went up to the counter & said "I'd like to get these cleaned, please." The little old lady behind the counter stared at me blankly for a moment & then said "What did you say?" I repeated my request, & she says "Don't move an inch! I'll be right back!" I didn't think I had an accent, but she came running back with another little old lady, & said "Now say it again!" When I did, both of them broke out in laughter, asking each other if they'd ever heard anything like that.

That was probably because you said "please".

 

[perryhd]

Well I seem to learn something every time I log on to this forum. I'm 69 and this is the first time I have heard that pen and pin are pronounced differently. Being an Alabama Redneck may have something to do with that. Also seems that a lot of what I learn here is useless information.

 

[walkin jack]

Momanem

Howz yer momanem

 

[chaparrito]

"Payan"..........from my Arkansas half.........

Which is different than "payun", a thing you bowl water in.

 

[DeathGrip]

It's Pin Knifes!

 

[Old TexMex]

Momanem

Howz yer momanem

A common phrase here on the coast upon leaving seems to be "tell your mom!", (it means "tell your mother I said hello.") Generally after "see ya later".

 

[wbraswell]

If you head east from Texas, you can find places that pronounce pen and pan the same. If they don't want to use ink, they use a pancil. I remember watching Paula Deen on TV and realizing that to her oil, all, and awl are homonyms.
I've heard the word jawanna. It's like, " I'm going to the store, jawanna go?

 

[GatorFarmer]

There does exist a writing instrument known as an ink pencil. That can really confuse people. To say nothing of the styptic pencil...

 

[LostintheOzone]

The Dust Bowl must have been pretty bad, for Bakersfield to be a step up!

I spent a week in Bakersfield last Saturday.

I won a two week vacation in Bakersfield as the second prize in a contest. The first prize was a one week vacation.

 

[kwselke]

Pen and pin are pronounced differently... I learn something everyday.

I love it when people ask me where I was originally from. I say Houston and they say you do not sound and talk like you are from Texas. I'll explain to them that I am fourth generation Texan therefore this is what Texans sound like.

I toss in a howdy, ain't, y'all, and then explain how right over yonder there used to be cattle grazin'. Then I tell 'em I can do a South Texas drawl or and East Texas twang, but the way I talk is how this native Texan talks.

 

[johnbeaver]

Well ya'll I'm fixin' to walk to the next office an askt a former damnYankee how they say pin.

 

[Texas Star]

I've lived in far west Texas for almost 50 years. We have an accent, but Texas is big enough that there are regional accents; I can tell when someone is from the Dallas-Ft Worth area, as their accent is different than mine. A good ear could probably locate a lot of regional accents in Texas.

I've told Euro friends on the Net to listen to George W. Bush and Audie Murphy (in his movies) to hear Texas accents. Bush is from West Texas, Murphy was from East Texas. But both have/had fairly soft accents. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has a Texas accent, but harder than some. I don't know when he left Canada (Alberta) but he sounds Texan now. I can usually spot a Canadian in short order, eh?

But I met a guy this week who I thought was Canadian, but he's of Norwegian descent, from northern MN and WI. His GF is Canadian, though, and her accent may have rubbed off on him.

I doubt that I sound particularly Texan. In HS, my Speech teacher tried to get us to have a more cosmopolitan accent that'd take us further in life than if sounding too regional. I met her standard and got on a TV quiz show. But I sure don't sound like a Yankee.

My son has a refined Texas accent, my daughter less so, more general Midwestern.

A well known South African celeb who lives now in NYC was in Dallas for a personal appearance at a store for which she's a spokesperson. She was at the upscale Galleria mall, signing autographs and making a promotional video. She asked one of the tech managers if there'd be any "cowboys." Wanted to hear and meet some. The guy, who was from NYC, told her that everybody who is anyone in Dallas is from somewhere else, often from up North. Said that she needed to go to Ft. Worth to hear "cowboys."

That isn't true, although it may be in his industry. It is true that Dallas is an increasingly international city and we do have many professional and technical people from elsewhere.
SMU is a classy university, and there are other good colleges here, too. We definitely do not have a small southern town atmosphere.

My late father did say that Ft. Worth is where the West begins. The eastern portion of Texas is the South. He said this was even noticeable from the air, where the terrain changes at that point. (He had a pilot's license. As a petroleum geologist, he noted things like geographical features.)

 

[Texas Star]

Well ya'll I'm fixin' to walk to the next office an askt a former damnYankee how they say pin.

If from Boston, it may be "pan", ha!

 

[Texas Star]

Years ago I when I was a traveling musician, the band(from San Antonio)was playing a lot of dates on the east coast, & many points between. At one point, we were in New Jersey, & we had a day off. I decided to take my uniforms to a dry cleaners. I walked in, went up to the counter & said "I'd like to get these cleaned, please." The little old lady behind the counter stared at me blankly for a moment & then said "What did you say?" I repeated my request, & she says "Don't move an inch! I'll be right back!" I didn't think I had an accent, but she came running back with another little old lady, & said "Now say it again!" When I did, both of them broke out in laughter, asking each other if they'd ever heard anything like that.

I understand. I think there are probably many people in NJ who've never before heard the word, "Please."

That's probably what set them off.

 

[Old TexMex]

I just spoke with three native Texans, (all over fifty)and I snuck (sneaked) the words pin and pen into the conversation. (Rapidograph and cattle pen panels)...I listened to them. They all distinctly pronounced pin and pen differently. So do I.

 

[RobertJ.]

I met some folks a while back who had British accents. I asked, hey, are you from the UK? The man said, "I'm deeply offended!"

They were Australian. Oops!

Actually, I'm pretty good with accents, and should have caught it.

 

[Old TexMex]

Australians have very different pronunciations in the different areas, like we do. South Australians say liddewl for little, Melbournians are prone to Pommy accent, and K1W1s are commonly referred to as South Seas Pommies. (How can one entire nation mispronounce nearly everything?)

Since I lived in far north Queensland, everyone else was wrong, or at least...mistaken

 

[the ringo kid]

I've told Euro friends on the Net to listen to George W. Bush and Audie Murphy (in his movies) to hear Texas accents. Bush is from West Texas, Murphy was from East Texas. But both have/had fairly soft accents. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has a Texas accent, but harder than some. I don't know when he left Canada (Alberta) but he sounds Texan now. I can usually spot a Canadian in short order, eh?

But I met a guy this week who I thought was Canadian, but he's of Norwegian descent, from northern MN and WI. His GF is Canadian, though, and her accent may have rubbed off on him.

I doubt that I sound particularly Texan. In HS, my Speech teacher tried to get us to have a more cosmopolitan accent that'd take us further in life than if sounding too regional. I met her standard and got on a TV quiz show. But I sure don't sound like a Yankee.

My son has a refined Texas accent, my daughter less so, more general Midwestern.

A well known South African celeb who lives now in NYC was in Dallas for a personal appearance at a store for which she's a spokesperson. She was at the upscale Galleria mall, signing autographs and making a promotional video. She asked one of the tech managers if there'd be any "cowboys." Wanted to hear and meet some. The guy, who was from NYC, told her that everybody who is anyone in Dallas is from somewhere else, often from up North. Said that she needed to go to Ft. Worth to hear "cowboys."

That isn't true, although it may be in his industry. It is true that Dallas is an increasingly international city and we do have many professional and technical people from elsewhere.
SMU is a classy university, and there are other good colleges here, too. We definitely do not have a small southern town atmosphere.

My late father did say that Ft. Worth is where the West begins. The eastern portion of Texas is the South. He said this was even noticeable from the air, where the terrain changes at that point. (He had a pilot's license. As a petroleum geologist, he noted things like geographical features.)

Mine is more of a combination of Ted's and Willie Nelson's.