It's always pretty strange listening to an individual from another part of the country or an entirely different nation speak and hear a completely different accent from our own.

And the crazy part about it is that it is entirely normal to them. To us, their accent is strange and irregular but in their perspective, they are probably the ones speaking normally and we are the ones with the weird accent.

And then that got me thinking. If the residents of Amarillo have an accent, how would we describe it to others if this is our normal way of speaking?

Well, user Unlikely-Chard8496 asked a similar question to r/amarillo, asking users if the Amarillo/Panhandle area has its own accent and if so, how would they describe it? The post got some pretty good answers that had me speaking out loud, trying to figure out if I really do talk this way.

Some Possible Answers

The words "pin" and "pen" sound identical when said by native speakers; they both make the short "i" sound. I had a college professor point this out one time, and it blew my mind.

-REVDR

I listened to an NPR program on our accent once. The most uniquely panhandle part of the accent was our vowel replacement - we replace a's and o's with short u's. In the most iconic example, Amarillo becomes Amuhrilluh.They noted that this accent is actually disappearing over time, and that they could tell the age of a speaker largely on how many vowels they replaced.
-isprobablyatwork
the older generation here has a thicker southern accent than most
-sitmebackdown
People from the Texas panhandle speak much more slowly and save all of their vowel pronunciation for the last consequential word in a sentence where they can stuff them all in for emphasis:
-overthoughtamus
Someone once told me that the Panhandle accent is demonstrated best by Ricky Bobby’s son Texas Ranger in Talladega Nights.
-FantasticDayforPBJ
Okay that last one might be an over exaggeration
Reading through these actually opened my eyes to the slight fluctuations in language that we have in the Amarillo area. Until reading about the NPR program mentioned above, I never really noticed the shift in accents from older generations to younger generations.

When listening to younger people speaking and comparing them to the way that older folks speak, I definitely can hear a slight difference in accents and the pronunciation of vowels.

As to why the younger generations are losing the accent that older generations have, I honestly don't know, but I am genuinely curious to see where the Amarillo/Panhandle accent will go in the future.

Say Youre From Amarillo Without Saying Youre From Amarillo

Amarillo is a pretty quirky place. We've got the Big Texan, the weird signs, and (obviously) the famed Cadillac Ranch. But more than that, there's a distinct culture of close-knit community, eccentrics, a thriving arts scene, and much more.

The point is, living in Amarillo is a unique experience. Because of that, it's really pretty easy to tell who's a native or a long-time resident. And I can prove it.

Here's a couple of ways you can say you're from Amarillo.....without saying you're from Amarillo.

Google Answers the Top 10 Questions About Amarillo

I love Google. It can literally answer ANYTHING you need it to answer. Whether it's right or wrong is a totally different question.

Recently, I found myself wondering about something and went to Google. And that's when I started noticing the "people also asked..." section and BOY...Some of them made perfect sense, some of them were interesting, and one of them was downright baffling...and it was a top 10 question which is even more absurd.

So let's see what we've got. Here's the top 10 questions as asked to Google about Amarillo.

25 Songs that Mention Amarillo

Even though Amarillo is a small city, it is a city that is used in many songs, and through many genres.

It's always fun to hear your city in a song.

Here are a list of songs that include Amarillo in the lyrics.

 

More From NewsTalk 940 AM