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

Entry: American Regional Dialects Project Index Page - A30551672
Author: Jordan - Write with élan - U201497

Jo(r)dan's fantastic Uni project for your pleasure. As ever, I'll add links as we go along.

It really is fantastic. I hope I'll find the time to give it the attention and feedback it deserves. I should have taken notes when I first read it (I made it to Boston then.)

I'll be back.

Looks great.


I haven't read it all yet, but the New England section ......

Stephen King a famous inhabitant of Maine sets his books in and around fictional towns in New England - as a consequence he does quite a bit of writing phonetically to let the reader try the accent themselves. I'd be inclined to mention that.

Also ... I think the examples of Worcester and Goucester are pronounced correctly - except for the final r - so maybe these two aren't the best examples or I'm not getting it.


Very interesting stuff - can't wait to read the rest.

Gloucester and Worcester are definitely pronounced distinctively in a good New England accent. There are variations. I've seen Gloo-stah and Glah-stah for Gloucester. And of course, if you're a New Englander without a New England accent, who knows how you'll pronounce it? What makes you think otherwise?

A mention of Stephen King is a good idea, sure. The second para in the opening would be a good place for that. To be perfectly honest, I don't read King, I don't have a stomach for horror or suspense or whatever it is he writes. So I'll just take your word for it.
How about, at the end of the second para-

"Author Stephen King, himself a native New Englander, sets many of his novels in New England, and much of his dialogue is phonetically written with a New England accent."

I'm assuming he only spells phonetically in dialogue?

As far as I'm aware the correct pronunciation of Gloucester and Worcester is Glawster and Wooster - If you're happy so am I.

If you've never read the Shawshank Redemption, Dolores Claiborne or the Green Mile you've missed a treat - but you may have seen the movies - Tom Hanks plays his part in Green Mile with a New England accent as does Kathy Bates in Dolores I believe.

Yes he does the dialogue phonetically.

If you only wanted reviews from some Peers you should perhaps have asked Rich to make that plain.

Sorry, I misunderstood your original post. When you said, "I think the examples of Worcester and Goucester are pronounced correctly" I thought you meant that it was your impression that New Englanders pronounce all consonants in the word. Maybe I should have admitted confusion.

However, I freely admit I have no idea what you mean by "If you only wanted reviews from some Peers you should perhaps have asked Rich to make that plain."

I might well be back with comments about the entries at some point over the weekend, but for now, I just want to say that plans are still afoot for AViating this project, so for those I failed to hunt down already:

Any PeerReviewers (I guess thats just Peers huh?) with american regional accents who would be interested in helping with the audio side of the clip, and all PeerReviewers who might happen to have some simple visual (thats photos, drawings, even animations) material relating to the regions in question, please mosey on down to Jordan's journal at F113808?thread=4926973&latest=1 after you have finished reading and commenting on these fine articles.

Its been a bit quiet there recently, but I expect it will get a busier there soon.

Is that it?

Final call for suggestions. I'll give it a couple more days, just in case.

Sorry, I completely missed this. I know there were a few things I meant to ask when I first read the entries a long while ago, before this was in PR - I should have made notes straight away.
I don't recall there being any major things, though, maybe a few for *my* understanding, and probably a few other small things - none of which I recall clearly.
I do recall very clearly, though, that I enjoyed reading this project very much, and that I think it's brilliant.
Hope that helps.

Hi Jordan,

It seems I owe you an apology and since I got all uppity in public, I'll apologise in public ..... I'm sorry

I don't want to excuse myself but the humpy post I made above was one of the last things I did before going awol due to illness ..... sicknote in the post Rich.


for being a pain and transposing my humpy head onto your quite reasonable response.


Other than that ......... I like it.

Thanks, guys - I've just asked for this to go in-house

Thanks B'el and no worries (as they say)
B'el - one of the big problems I have in writing for h2g2 is writing from my own perspective too much. You've just got to whack me with a ruler when that happens

Thanks Rich

No problem. I'm a little disappointed with the amount of reviewing it got, but the public gets what the public wants, eh?

There was quite a bit of reviewing in my journal entry. I sort of figured that many of the people who were really interested in the topic would make their points there, and the PR thread would be quiet. That thread was quite useful in polishing up the entries, really.

True. Your journal was a little too good, in fact