Does anybody remember Idaho?

[Auron225]

Of course we know Idaho - it's that green one with the potatoes and the leprechauns and the clovers, right?

I went there once for a holiday; beautiful place with lovely friendly people. I'm not surprised it's not in the news much: the news is filled with depressing things like murder and scandal. Take it as a compliment that you're not in the news - you're probably doing it right.

 

[Eddie the head]

Of course we know Idaho - it's that green one with the potatoes and the leprechauns and the clovers, right?

I went there once for a holiday; beautiful place with lovely friendly people. I'm not surprised it's not in the news much: the news is filled with depressing things like murder and scandal. Take it as a compliment that you're not in the news - you're probably doing it right.

What part of Idaho? Because to me the south of Idaho is just boring. I'm form north Idaho so I'm bias though.

 

[Drake the Dragonheart]

OP, I know how you feel. Here in Wyoming, it is a running joke that if you tell someone from the east coast you are from Wyoming, you will get a response like "What country is that in?" or "Which state is that in?"

But don't feel too bad. Idaho was mentioned in a Weird Al song. Although that song was "Addicted to Spuds" and the line was "you plan a trip to Idaho, just to watch potatoes grow."

 

[Kyrian007]

At one time (I'm not sure if this is still true) Idaho was considered the most "accent neutral" U.S. English spoken state. People learning English that wanted "no" accent listened to Idaho English. U.S. English speakers with a heavy accent (Bostonian, Minnesota, Georgia, Louisana, Texas, Valley Girl... whatever) would train in Idaho English to "get rid of" the accent.

It's been at least 10 years since I knew that was the case. This could have changed since.

As someone who speaks the Queen's with a neutral accent, I can confirm that someone from Idaho has an American accent...

Exactly, an American accent. Not a New York accent, or a Boston accent, or a southern accent... but an American one. It's (or it was) a neutral American accent. Even as an American I can identify the difference between the Queen's English and a cockney speaker. I can generally tell apart say a Liverpudlian from a Londoner. And on the other side of the coin I'm pretty sure most English folk could tell the difference between a Texan and a Californian. But even being an American... it's kind of hard to tell where in the U.S. someone from Idaho is from based upon their accent (or lack of one as it were.) Is there someplace in the UK like that?

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Exactly, an American accent. Not a New York accent, or a Boston accent, or a southern accent... but an American one. It's (or it was) a neutral American accent. Even as an American I can identify the difference between the Queen's English and a cockney speaker. I can generally tell apart say a Liverpudlian from a Londoner. And on the other side of the coin I'm pretty sure most English folk could tell the difference between a Texan and a Californian. But even being an American... it's kind of hard to tell where in the U.S. someone from Idaho is from based upon their accent (or lack of one as it were.) Is there someplace in the UK like that?

Sorry chap, I was just joshing with you!

As you ask, however, there are the Home Counties. This is the group of counties that are NW of London, and include Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Berkshire and Hertfordshire, and could even be stretched as far North as Cambridgshre and Northamptonshire, although accents start to creep in then. This area of central England tend to not have a distinct accent and you would be pressed to guess where they originated.

I, myself, grew up in Somerset and Wiltshire in the SW. There the local accent (along with Cornwall, Devon, Bristol, Gloucestershire and parts of Dorset) is that of the Hobbits in LotR.

There is more to accents though. There are colloquialisms and ways you can tell beyond just the way the vowells are pronounced. As a Brit (working for the US) I have been able to tell the difference between somone from Texas and Mississippi without prompting, just by the differences in phrasing and sentence structure... But hell, I would be damned if I could do it again now!

In the SW where I am from it isn't uncommon to hear phrases such as 'Where you to?' instead of 'Where are you', or 'That's gurt lush, that is' in lieu of 'That's very nice'... Even without hearing the difference in the accent, those phrases stand out a mile. Like someone from Yorkshire using t' instead of 'to' or 'the'. Someone from the SW will probably greet you with 'a'rrite me luvver?' where as Yorkshire you are going to get an 'Ey up pet'...

Man... Accents!

 

[Auron225]

Of course we know Idaho - it's that green one with the potatoes and the leprechauns and the clovers, right?

I went there once for a holiday; beautiful place with lovely friendly people. I'm not surprised it's not in the news much: the news is filled with depressing things like murder and scandal. Take it as a compliment that you're not in the news - you're probably doing it right.

What part of Idaho? Because to me the south of Idaho is just boring. I'm form north Idaho so I'm bias though.

Coeur d'Alene, which I just googled and realised it is indeed in the north. Well... the north of Idaho is beautiful then; I can't speak for the South since I don't think we spent much time there.

 

[Kyrian007]

Is there someplace in the UK like that?

Sorry chap, I was just joshing with you!

No, I took no offense. I actually was just curious. My own "American" accent is fairly neutral. Just a touch more southern than the "Idaho neutral." You can usually pick out a Kansan like me with 3 words. "jist" instead of Just, "git" instead of Get, and "purty" instead of Pretty. And I'm from a city within the state. It's a little more pronounced out on the farms. Which is another question, would that be the same there too? Like a rural northerner sounding different than say someone from Blackpool?

It interests me because I had to study how to get rid of what little accent I had for my job (I'm a radio producer, but about 10 years ago was forced to do some live on-air stuff so got a "crash course.")

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Is there someplace in the UK like that?

Sorry chap, I was just joshing with you!

No, I took no offense. I actually was just curious. My own "American" accent is fairly neutral. Just a touch more southern than the "Idaho neutral." You can usually pick out a Kansan like me with 3 words. "jist" instead of Just, "git" instead of Get, and "purty" instead of Pretty. And I'm from a city within the state. It's a little more pronounced out on the farms. Which is another question, would that be the same there too? Like a rural northerner sounding different than say someone from Blackpool?

It interests me because I had to study how to get rid of what little accent I had for my job (I'm a radio producer, but about 10 years ago was forced to do some live on-air stuff so got a "crash course.")

The first problem with that question is what do you mean by urban and rural? I come from a town of 25,000 people, which is a mid sized town. It's out in the countryside though, and there are a lot of accents. Bristol is a larger city, and has a large ammount of pronounced accents. I don't think this changes much in other parts of the country. I mentioned the SW before, and there aren't really any largely urban areas in Cornwall, Dorset, Somerset or Wiltshire.

Liverpool and Manchester have distinct accents in their cities, and so does Birmingham (Manchester and Birmingham are the next 2 biggest cities below London). London doesn't have an accest itself because A. It's frikkin huge, and B. It's packed full of foreigners. There are a couple of localised accents around London (Cockney anyone) but nothing that covers the city. Most accents in London are the same as the counties just outside the boroughs.

I think there is a belief that the accents will be stronger outside of the cities, but I think it's really just the same, it's just there is a poorer ratio of strongly accented people in urban areas.

 

[Dalisclock]

The only thing I only think of when I think of Idaho anymore is the fact that the US military/DoE ran prototype nuclear plants out there, and the Air Force at one time tested a nuclear aircraft engine that spewed contamination around rural Idaho. There was also SL-1.

That and potatoes.

 

[Souplex]

We know you as the people who grow our potatoes.

 

[Souplex]

Of course we do.

Where do you think we get our potatoes?

Wait, Ireland doesn't have a global monopoly on potatoes?

What is this?

Ask, and Google provides!
http://www.fao.org/potato-2008/en/world/index.html
You're not even mentioned among top potato producers.
The UK (Which I believe includes Northern Ireland) is #6 in the world for consumption, and #10 for per-capita consumption.
Granted these numbers are a little old, but I doubt you've turned them around significantly.

 

[God'sFist]

Of course we know Idaho - it's that green one with the potatoes and the leprechauns and the clovers, right?

I went there once for a holiday; beautiful place with lovely friendly people. I'm not surprised it's not in the news much: the news is filled with depressing things like murder and scandal. Take it as a compliment that you're not in the news - you're probably doing it right.

What part of Idaho? Because to me the south of Idaho is just boring. I'm form north Idaho so I'm bias though.

Coeur d'Alene, which I just googled and realised it is indeed in the north. Well... the north of Idaho is beautiful then; I can't speak for the South since I don't think we spent much time there.

so you guys are in the north eh, well I'm down here in Caldwell and its mostly hills and brush, the mountains are pretty though.

 

[Little Woodsman]

Hi I live in Idaho and I started thinking, does anybody know that our state exists outside of ourselves? I mean you never hear about us in any national news and when you do it's something so inane as to be looked over because California or Washington or hell Oregon.

Hey, don't draw attention to your state!
You guys are supposed to be laying low so that when the aliens invade they will never expect a counter-attack from you!

 

[Pickled]

Hi I live in Idaho and I started thinking, does anybody know that our state exists outside of ourselves? I mean you never hear about us in any national news and when you do it's something so inane as to be looked over because California or Washington or hell Oregon.

I currently live in Idaho, except I have renamed it from my personal experiences and because of the politicians here, "Idahell".

 

[Pickled]

Of course we know Idaho - it's that green one with the potatoes and the leprechauns and the clovers, right?

I went there once for a holiday; beautiful place with lovely friendly people. I'm not surprised it's not in the news much: the news is filled with depressing things like murder and scandal. Take it as a compliment that you're not in the news - you're probably doing it right.

Idaho doesn't do much of anything right. It's surprising to me that it doesn't completely crumble.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Do you mean Duncan? Everyone should remember Duncan Idaho. Dude was a badass.

All the points for getting this reference.

 

[God'sFist]

Hi I live in Idaho and I started thinking, does anybody know that our state exists outside of ourselves? I mean you never hear about us in any national news and when you do it's something so inane as to be looked over because California or Washington or hell Oregon.

I currently live in Idaho, except I have renamed it from my personal experiences and because of the politicians here, "Idahell".

yeah I know what you mean, I tend to read one of the newspapers here and I saw someone writing in the news paper's opinion section how allowing the "gay agenda" to go through and teaching kids evolution was makeing our society crumble into an immoral state. I often find myself thinking I should move away from here. But hopefully we as "progressive" people can change the state for the better.

 

[shootthebandit]

In the UK we know of Idaho. Because this skit

"Idaho? No youdaho"

 

[FPLOON]

I seem to only know about Idaho from Supernatural these days...

Yeah... Kinda forgot about the whole potato thing, since I don't personally like potatoes that have not yet been converted into fries...