Young St. Louisans: Hold On to the Traditional STL Dialect

I have been noticing for quite some time that younger St. Louisans are losing the unique accent that most think of their grandparents or parents having. Let's keep the St. Louis dialect alive.

I must admit, my dialect has become quite homogenized, but my St. Louis accent does come out on occasion. St. Louis dialect is unique. With St. Louis being smack-dab in the middle of the country, there are many influences on our accent: upper Midwest, the south, some hints of the East Coast.

While going to school in Springfield, MO, Ozark/Hillbilly country, I was told I sound like I'm from Boston or New York, which really is absurd. While spending a summer on Cape Cod, 100 miles from Boston, it was definitely clear that I didn't have any thing close to a Boston accent. Most my coworkers at the Captain's Table said I spoke pretty much normal, like how newscasters talk, except saying "saalad" (the "aa" sound, as in the a sound in "that") instead of "solid." One gal said I had a bit of a Southern drawl, which I can agree with, but it's more of a country drawl as opposed to Southern.

I will now provide a brief list of words-- with the proper St. Louis dialect, to encourage young St. Louisans to keep our dialect alive and less homogenized:

Forty- Farty
Wash- Warsh
Sink-Zink
For- Far
Order- Arder
Gravois- Gravoiz
Morgan Ford- Margen Fard
Brewery- Brury
Hot-fudge sundae- Hot-Fudge sunda.
Quarter- Carter

This is by no means a comprehensive list, and I encourage you to leave comments with more "St. Louisisms."

Young people, let's embrace the St. Louis accent before it dies out with the older generation.