Midwest US "Grandparents" Dialect

I'm hoping someone on this forum will be able to help me with a question...

I grew up in Central Ohio. My grandparents, who were also from Central Ohio, had a way of pronouncing certain words that I have never heard anywhere else or read about. They were native English speakers and their parents were also from the same area. So there should not have been any "foreign" influence in their vowels. They pronounced the following words or vowels in an odd way:

Fish: They pronounced the "i" as "ee" like in "beet, sheet or sleet" So 'fish" was pronounced "feesh".
Push, bush, etc: They pronounced this vowel the same as most people would pronounce the "oo" sound in "stoop", loop, shoot". So it came out as "poosh".
They called a couch or sofa a "davenport"
Instead of saying "leave him alone" they said, "leave him be" or "let him be".

Has anyone else heard this kind of accent? No one I know in Central Ohio speaks this way today.

I am from Southwest Pennsylvania and my grandparents also spoke with these peculiarities. I remember my grandmother saying "Throw that in the garbeej please" for instance (garbeej=garbage). A lot of older people in this area are known to speak that way. My grandparents didn't say "davenport", though; they used "couch".

Yes, I do remember "garbeej".

<<They called a couch or sofa a "davenport"
Instead of saying "leave him alone" they said, "leave him be" or "let him be". >>

I've definitely heard of couches or sofas referred to as davenports, before. I seem to recall people saying "leave him be" also.

I guess "davenport" is in the same class of words as "Kleenex", "Reynolds Wrap", "IBM PC", "Scotch Tape", etc.

-Instead of saying "leave him alone" they said, "leave him be" or "let him be".

All 3 are still used.

I have heard "leave him be" or "let him be". I have heard "davenport" and knew what it meant, but we don't use it in my family. I didn't know that it was a brand.

I have heard an Ohioan say "Whoosh" for "wash".

>>Instead of saying "leave him alone" they said, "leave him be" or "let him be".<<

Some of my husband's family members (in their 20s!) STILL say this.


>>I have heard an Ohioan say "Whoosh" for "wash".<<

A lot of the older generation in my area say "warsh" instead of "wash". *shudders*


My grandmother called a couch a davenport, also!

>>>>Instead of saying "leave him alone" they said, "leave him be" or "let him be".<<

Some of my husband's family members (in their 20s!) STILL say this.<<

*I* say that myself, for that matter - heh.

<<Fish: They pronounced the "i" as "ee" like in "beet, sheet or sleet" So 'fish" was pronounced "feesh".
>>

Near where I live in Eastern North Carolina, there is a dialect spoken around Harker's Island that shows this feature. They pronounce 'fish' exactly the same way, as 'feesh'. Also extends to other words with an 'i', like Christian ("Chreestian"). All in all, people from Harker's Island sound English rather than American, and definitely not Southern American.

I'm not saying that this has anything to do with your grandparents speech, but that it's not an isolated incidence.

"A lot of the older generation in my area say "warsh" instead of "wash". *shudders*"

I've heard "warsh" from many people from Ohio and other areas, so I'm not sure what areas insert that "r". I'm trying to think of the youngest person I've heard who says that-perhaps someone in their forties. I dislike this pronunciation as well.

<<I've heard "warsh" from many people from Ohio and other areas, so I'm not sure what areas insert that "r". I'm trying to think of the youngest person I've heard who says that-perhaps someone in their forties. I dislike this pronunciation as well. >>

I associate this with Appalachia: specifically East & South-East Tennessee, Norhtern Ga, Eastern Ky, Northern Alabama, etc

cont.

...you know, Mountain folk

"I associate this with Appalachia: specifically East & South-East Tennessee, Norhtern Ga, Eastern Ky, Northern Alabama, etc"

You hear this quite a bit in older speakers of the Rocky Mountain Dialect. To hear this dialect, listen to natives of Idaho, rural Nevada, rural Utah, and rural Colorado.

The "warsh" pronunciation is pretty common also in rural areas of Oregon and Washington, especially the areas east of the Cascade Mountains.