Learning to talk

When I was a child, my family used to vacation in Lewistown, Pennsylvania every year. I remember discussing the thick dialect of the area with my cousin when we were about eight years old. Cousin Bill claimed that his family didn’t have an accent, further postulating that mine did. I thought that was a ridiculous position for him to assert until he challenged me to prove him wrong.

    Billy Barnes blew me away that summer after the third grade with his perspective. I had a certainty that I spoke the correct American English, but lacked an adequate defense to my opinion. This conundrum seemed akin to a great philosophical question that I maybe couldn’t respond to. I was eight for crying oit loud. Then, back in Ohio with people I could understand, I eventually found my rebuttal. People where I lived tended to sound more like people on national television.

    My answer bred more questions. True, the little mountain community on the Susquehanna river seemed to live a bit behind the times, but they had TV. Why didn’t they talk like it? Would everybody someday sound alike once technology and communications brought the mountain people up to date with my ultra modern space age world of Donnelsville Ohio? How long would it take for them to catch up?

    These were pretty heavy concepts for an eight year old. I’ve answered some of my questions. Others, I have fun monkeying with from time to time.

    I don’t so much talk like the TV anymore either, which I hadn’t expected. Truth be told, I speak more like my Pennsylvania cousins, southern neighbors, and backwoods buddies, while they don't speak more like the TV at all. So much for the linguistic theories of my eighth year.

    I’ve traveled quite a bit, mostly to rural areas within the U.S., and I’ve picked up bits of dialect here and there. Some of my linguistic affectations are the result of becoming habituated to particular words or phrases. Others, I have intentionally assumed as a more effective way of communicating.

    I say "heck" a lot more. It's a friendly word. A lot of exclamations and interjections have a decidedly forceful or contrary nature. Heck is a lot more laid back. Its a word you use with friends. It invokes familiarity and amiability.
 Heck yeah it does.
 Why?
 Heck, I don't know.

     Incorporating and assimilating the colloquialisms of other cultures aids in comprehension of their perspective. If language is the means by which we describe our world and our perceptions to ourselves and others, then surely expanding our personal lexicon should expand our understanding of life itself. At eight I was proud to talk like the television. At 47 I'm thankful I don't.
If I ever catch myself saying Westconsin, I'll know I've gone too far.