I’ve had a fascination with words for sometime. Word choices, meanings, and pronunciations and how they differ among people and locations.

And having grown up in Roanoke I seem to have developed a variation of my own in speaking certain words. Here are 3 examples of just what I’m talking about:

I write “wash” but say “warsh”

Now, I don’t know where the “r” comes from, I really don’t. But, in normal conversation, or when I forget to catch myself, that’s how I pronounce the word.

And the “r” of course carries to other terms such as when I say “Warshington, D.C.” And this can lead to a couple double takes when socializing with those who wonder if we’ve changed the name of our nation’s capital.

Route, is it “root” or “rout”?

In the Roanoke area, I often hear 2 distinct and different ways to say the word “route”. One way sounds the same as the part of a tree that grows underground, and the other way sounds the same as what happens when a sports team really clobbers it’s opponent.

Well, according to dictionary.com, both pronuniciations seem to be of equally acceptable use. I’ve always known the word to be said as “rout” (rhyming with “about”) and even at my relatively young age that habit doesn’t seem to have much hope in being broken.

Ya’ll come back now, ya hear?

Maybe it’s a combination of watching The Beverly Hillbillies and The Andy Griffith Show growing up that contributed to this one. But, I’m completely content with saying “ya’ll” as basically a contraction of “you all” and I use the word probably more than just occasionally.

I’ve also seen it written as “y’all” so there are even variations of the variation.

Roanoke may be much closer to New York (about 460 miles away) than say Baton Rouge (about 915 miles away) but in some distinct instances like these, I think I may have a bit more in common with some others who live in the Deep South, or perhaps somehow a mix of both areas?

Can anyone else relate or know of any other such unique pronunciations around Roanoke?