h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am having quite a restful day, thanks. Doing some research for my (hopefully) next Guide Entry!

d'E, I would argue that while people out east, with your very small states, consider themselves "American", people in the west are much, much more likely to identify themselves as a Californian, Montanan, Oregonian, etc. In California, that may have to do with being a) the 5th largest economy in the world, b) desperately trying to separate themselves from *ahem* certain political parties and leaders and c) just plain ego.

I mean, there isn't a "Virginia Roll" sushi!

But I think it has something to do with the size of the states out west. It is easy to see yourself as belonging to the state, rather than the nation, when it's bigger than most countries in Europe. I remember as a kid wondering why there wasn't a box for "Montana Citizen" as opposed to "US Citizen."

The fire on Catalina is now over 4000 acres. Send good thoughts for no wind!

Good point, MR. Native Texans definitely consider themselves as Texans, first. Of course Texas was an independent nation for a while. Not long, but still there is a certain mystique about it. Take the old Lone Star advertisements...the ~national~ beer of Texas. That sort of thing.

Missouri isn't nearly as large as the western states but we still have a statewide identity. To tell the truth, when someone asked me where I was from during my recent vacation, I always answered Missouri.

There's one thing about native Estonains. The country has been everyones doormat for centuries, so quite like USians most of us can name different nationalities in our family tree. Most common would be German, Swedish, Danish, but also Finnish, Russian. My grandfather was Turkish. (Long and weird story.) Yet I am very Estonian, exactly that much Estonain that I am very concerned about the future of nation. The only thing that has made it possible to survive as a nation is the language, cultural heritage. And if any other language will stand next to ours officially then ours will die. That's a fact. No wonder we fight as hard as possible against that.
Big smile is indeed not something too common here. The same goes with hugging and all that - we don't touch each other when greeting. The weirdest thing here would be a gospel choir as we just are so calm and quiet. Our ancestors lived in forests, in caves, not on the fields. So that's who we are. Most of other eastern countries are from the fields though.

You have no idea how many times I'm told that I don't "sound like a Montanan". (I work with the public. A lot of public.) I had no idea Montanans have an accent, let alone whether or not I do, and let's face it, I grew up in California so I don't have one anyway. I've got the perfect non-accented American newscaster voice. Anyway, I'm glad to see d'E's map. It validates my belief that native-born Americans in the Western states don't have distinct regional accents. I've yet to pinpoint a Nevadan or an Oregonian on the telephone.

Texas, now. That's a whole other country.

I'm constantly told I have an accent when I go east of the Mississippi, but I can't imagine I have one. Now Bostonians, on the other hand. Really, is the letter "r" completely missing from their grade school alphabet?!

My mother-in-law, F's step-mother, (from New Hampshire ) used to say she just loved my southern accent. Anyone who has ever heard me speak knows I definitely don't have a southern accent. It used to really offend me. Now she did have a very distinctive accent, so I figured she didn't recognize normal speech when she heard it.

Okies have a certain twang in their speech that I can usually identify. And there is a difference between the accents in St. Louis and Kansas City. I probably sound more like Kansas City.

i believe i am accent free however i am full of regionalism sayings - big clues as to where i was born and raised.

I can only ask the salonistas who have met me what kind of an accent I have. Probably one hati-accent.

And I notice that, in these parts, anything east of the Mississippi river is called "back east." Not just east.

I hear the Texas accent a lot, and also Hispanic and Apache (which is fun to try to imitate).

One accent I HATE is what I hear in television commercials more and more. I call it "grinning valley girl." It's nasal. It's flat. It's, like, so knowing. Short 'e's turn into short 'a's. It's UGLY!

Jumping the shark -- that's the moment where suspension of disbelief disappears in a movie or play. Some decades ago there was a sitcom called Happy Days starring a character called Fonz. It seems to have happened mostly when I was out of the country, but I thought the character was funny in the few episodes I saw.

Anyhow, apparently there was an episode that took place at the beach. Fonzie went water-skiing and, in the course of this encountered a shark. And jumped it. And thereupon people suddenly stopped laughing and said, "Wait, that would never happen!"

Obviously, comedy is full of improbability and the improbability had been acceptable up to then (i.e., disbelief was willingly suspended). But the writers went too far with the shark-jumping idea.

So the phrase is a relative of "over the top" except that it suggests that precise moment when you lose the willing cooperation or acquiescence of those around you.

A long explanation for a simple meme, except I always find it fascinating to watch the growth -- or degeneration -- of a turn of phrase in the language.

Thanks for the accents link, d'Elaphant and dogs

Glad to see PWM raise his head above the dunes a few posts ago.

We do worry about you, PWM

Has anyone heard from eatsmice recently? I worry about him too.

Re the national identity stuff: I find it quite interesting that, having moved to Englandshire a few years ago, I now see myself as Scots, British, European. Previously, it was Scots, European, British.

On the topic of smiling: Hati has a smile which lights up the room.

I'm in Utah, we don't have accents hence the large number of call centers here.

I remember Happy Days! It used to be on here when I was young(er). Thanks for the explanation!

> I'm not sure what 'jumping the shark' means, but that's probably just me and not Brits in general

A distinctly American reference - it's so apropos that it gets used almost internationally. For those of you who were born in the early 70's, Happy Days was one of the few shows you were allowed to watch on television. One of the last episodes featured Fonzie making a motorcycle jump (with his black leather jacket and helmet, and a pair of light blue shorts) over a leaping shark. It was incredibly ridiculous. Many of the viewers had stopped watching at that point (including me) and the rest left after that episode. Now 'jumping the shark' is used to mean something has exceeded the bounds of believability. Or popularity.

> The pain was a bit weird, to be honest!

LP, it sounds like a side stitch gone wrong! Glad to hear you're feeling better, and it was nothing serious.

> Native Texans definitely consider themselves as Texans, first

Too true. Texas as a region is very different from the rest of the United States, just as the Arizona/New Mexico/Colorado region is, or Washington/Oregon etc... You could probably divide the US up into about six culturally distinct regions. My accent, however, is not Texan - it has a bit of Cajun in it from my childhood in southeast Texas, but it's mostly plain ol' Midwest.

Lentilla - yes it was a bit stitch like - just a lot worse and longer lasting! I like the idea of a stitch gone wrong, though!

[-B4-]
{Gone for the weekend to attend two (count 'em--TWO!) college graduations, for both of our boys...er...young men}

Dear Teuchter, thanks for the concern, I have a very thick habit of the latest unobtainium and look twice before I cross the road! I have been out and about with some little chums - its good to get dust in the sandals every now and again - keeps everything real - I have missed a bit of a chunk of blog for which I apologise but I hope that all are well.

one of the best moments on the canceled tv show "arrested development" was when a character played my henry winkler (the fonz from happy days) jumped over a shark on a fishing pier.

Having worked in a number of parts of Canada, and with folks from many parts of the world, I seem to have accrued a blend of accents and such. Now, most folks hear my voice as a generic "radio" or "TV" thing ... mostly void of regional accent. I'm not sure if this is a good thing, or not.