The Utah accent strikes again
I just discovered this news item from Salt Lake City in April. It seems a would-be robber walked into Cafe Trio, held out a bag to the cashier, and said “fill the bag.” Alas, the cashier thought the crook’s request had been to feel the bag — “feel” and “fill” are often pronounced identically in Utah — and so proceeded to reach out and feel the bag. The crook reportedly said, “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” and stormed away empty-handed.
I feel bad for the criminal here. Apart from the attempted robbery, he did nothing wrong. “Fill the bag” is a reasonable thing to say, and he said it correctly. It’s not his fault people around him are used to hearing “fill” as a mispronunciation of “feel.” Let this be a lesson to those of you considering a career in crime. You must beware of regional homophones.
(P.S. Despite KSL’s assertion to the contrary, the restaurant is spelled Cafe Trio, not Cafe Treo. It’s an Italian place and the food is quite delicious.)
July 24th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Wouldn’t the robber then have said “You’ve gotta be keed-ing me”?
July 24th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Maybe the robber is the one who speaks like a normal person and the fault was in the interpretation by the cashier.
July 24th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Kevith: That’s a pretty good summary of what I said in my post.
July 24th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
That’s what happens when you try to still from a bank.
July 24th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Shoot. I mean, from Cafe Trio. Dangit! I’m a failure.
July 24th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Well, Jessie, you made me laugh. I hope that mitigates your failure somewhat.
July 24th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
My accent used to be like that. I particularly remember that I would always pronounce “hill” the same as “heal.” Don’t even get me started on U-bonics grammar errors.
July 24th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I’m from Utah and I live in the SL Valley. Once I saw a sign painted in a back window of a neighbor’s car that said “For Sell”.
PS: Happy Pioneer Day, Eric! (I spent it 4-willing in the fillds acrost the highway from Solitude.)
July 24th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
purplemonkey… that’s not bad. At the car lot that used to be down the street from me in Provo before I moved their sign said “Buy, Trade, Sale”. Since that usually is just short for “We buy, trade and sell cars”, I can only assume that they are ignernt and should go back to the mount’ns they came from.
It should also be noted that I do not buy merchandise from stores that have words that are not spelled correctly on their professionally made signs.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
My sister, who has lived away from Utah for most of her life, still says things like “They sent him to gel” and “That was a great fairytell.” Seriously, even my roommates from Georgia and Tennessee lost good chunks of their thick Southern accents after a semester or two in Provo. How is it that the Utah accent can be so indelibly impressed in the ol’ gray matter? If only I could remember my German as well as my sister can speak Utahn!
July 24th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
I think the majority of Craigslist posts here in Provo/Orem say “for sell”. However, my favorite local misspelling is the Linden Nursery in Lindon. I suppose it could be the last name of the owner, but what fun would it be to find out for sure?
July 24th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Or perhaps it refers to the tree, in which case “linden” is the correct spelling.
July 24th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
My cousin Jill from Illinois once had to give us all a tutorial on correctly pronouncing her name. I could swear I wasn’t saying Jeel, though.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:00 am
Yeah - too many homophones over here. When will people understand that just because it’s an alternative lifestyle doesn’t mean. . . oh, never mind.
July 25th, 2008 at 6:31 am
While working as a substitute teacher in Nebo district, I was once placed with elementary students who, supposedly, were having severe spelling and language difficulties. I discovered the real problem when one of the children defined a “Well” as “Like a big fish.”
July 25th, 2008 at 6:45 am
It also took me about four years before I realized that that Totally Awesome Computers guy was actually named Dale. I thought he was just somehow associated with Dell computers. Then I found out that, yes, it was his name, but no, they had screwed up the spelling and his name actually was Dell. So now, I’m not sure whether to blame the stupid Utah accent or the stupid Utah habit of intentionally misspelling names (Jaysen, Ammalee, etc)
July 25th, 2008 at 7:06 am
I had one girl talk about “sex appell.” I had no clue what she was talking about.
July 25th, 2008 at 8:57 am
I saw a sign for a “Yard Sell” a few years ago and couldn’t believe it. I’m a native Utahn, but growing up in SLC I didn’t encounter the Utah accent as frequently as I do now that I live in Utah County. There are definitely varying degrees of mispronunciation throughout the state. Having very well-educated, articulate parents helped me avoid the curse myself, I think. Then again, I’ve noticed education doesn’t necessarily prevent the perpetuation of the accent–I know plenty of educated folks who still have it. Former Governor Leavitt’s wife, Jackie, had one of the strongest Utah accents I’ve ever heard.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Here at work, I often can’t tell the difference between “sale” and “cell” the way they pronounce it.
What I don’t understand is why I don’t have a Southern accent - practically all the members of my family do. (And it’s particularly strong in my sister.)
July 25th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
I worked at a Wendy’s in Orem during high school. I’ll never forget this exchange I had with a girl in drive-thru:
Her: I’d like [sandwich] and a mill.
Me: A milk?
Her: No, a mill.
It took her a couple tries, then finally she said, “You know, a MILL, with fries and a drink?!”
Me: Ohhhh. A MEAL.
Her: Yes, a MILL!
Maybe I should put that on notalwaysright.com . . .
July 25th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I recently had a conversation about that very thing with the head of the Quality Growth Commission here in Utah. He told me the city of Mantua was pronounced Man-away, and many people from Manti pronounced it Man-eye, but if you tried to say it the way they did, they would correct you (and say it the same way you did immitating them). Weird.
July 25th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
The funniest accent story I have is when I was a teenager, & my best friend’s mom sent us to Smith’s to get some lard for her. We didn’t know where to find it, so we asked an employee. She kind of looked at us funny & said “Well, I usually find him in church.” It took us a minute to realize what she thought we were saying & I just started laughing like a crazy person!! My friend said “No, the cooking lard!” The lady said “Oh….why didn’t you say that in the first place?” Whenever I hear someone say “Dear Lard” I start laughing, thinking about it…..not very appropriate in Sacrament Meeting though…..;)
I didn’t think I had a Utah accent until I moved back east. Someone asked me my name & when I said my last name, the lady just looked at me shocked. I was slightly confused, & she said “Your last name is Hell? What kind of joke is that?” Apparently I pronnounce “Hill” as “Hell”…..who knew? No one ever mistook it for that before! After that, I went out of my way to make sure that it sounded like “Hell”!! Of course, I still say “Layt-en” & “moun-en”, just so I am not shunned by my fellow Utahans!
July 25th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
My husband and I were both raised in Utah, but haven’t lived there for 10 years. We make a point, though, of having “Proper” Pronunciation lessons. They go something like this: “Hey kids, if I were in Utah, how would I pronounce the name of the town we just passed?” Then they all yell out, “Prunedell!” Or: “Hey kids, give me a sentence in correct Utahn!” Different answers are accepted as long as they have the right sound to them, such as, “Let’s go see if we got any mell from Aunt Camill.” Extra points are given if we get a rendition of “Chris-miss is a Filling.”
We feel it’s important to make sure they are raised true to their heritage.
July 26th, 2008 at 10:11 am
My family has a cabin near Fairview, Utah and one of the lots near by is for sale. Or, according to the sign, fer sell.
July 26th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
I love this story!
Everyone uses regional usage. It is not necessarily a sign that someone isn’t educated or intelligent. Few people if anyone speak standard English all the time. A regional dialect simply indicates where you from and who you have been hanging around.
Anyone that took Don Norton’s Modern American Usage class at BYU knows that those who are very self-conscience of their usage and who correct others are social climbers. Personally I like listening to different regional dialects. I don’t look down on those that have them, but I do get very annoyed at those who rudely “correct” others.
July 26th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Many a year ago, there was a car by the side of the highway with this sign in the window: Fore Sail.