How do you pronounce "garage"? (live, dental)

[Mark S.]

One of the guys I work with says "Guh-RARJ," and it's starting to make me a little crazy. There's only 1 freakin' L in that word!

Is this a Maineah thing?

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Mark S.

One of the guys I work with says "Guh-RARJ," and it's starting to make me a little crazy. There's only 1 freakin' L in that word!

Is this a Maineah thing?

Gotta say, that when I look at 'garage' I see a limited number of 'L's in it too.

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

Gotta say, that when I look at 'garage' I see a limited number of 'L's in it too.

I meant R.

See! That's how crazy it's making me. I can't even remember the alphabet!

[Three Wolves In Snow]

Something I've noticed about people who have lived here either their entire lives or most of their lives is that they sometimes talk like the English. They may not have the English accent but they throw Rs at the end of some words.

Instead of:

"I saw it"

they say:

"I sawr it"

Doesn't drive me crazy but sure is different.

[Verseau]

I'm guessing you meant 1 "R."

This is a phenomenon called "intrusive R" which exists throughout eastern New England.

Basically, it has to do with that "ah" vowel in the second syllable of "garage." In the traditional eastern New England accent, that vowel exists in two types of words: 1) [ar] words like far, car, yard, etc. and 2) words like father, palm, spa, garage, aunt, etc.

Traditionally, people in eastern New England didn't pronounce [r] after vowels, like the words in category one. This is still heard today. However, many people make an effort to pronounce their Rs (probably because of the unnecessary social stigma attached to "dropping your Rs").

The problem is that category one contains a lot more words than category two, so most people associate that "ah" sound with [ar] words in their heads. This means that sometimes people will accidentally insert an [r] in the category two words where it doesn't belong. So "spa" might sound like "spar" and "aunt" might sound like "aren't."

This all happens below the level of consciousness. It has nothing to do with intelligence or how articulate someone is; it's just one of those fascinating quirks of human language. I was a graduate student in linguistics and this is the kind of stuff that intrigued me.

This phenomenon doesn't exist for most people under 30 because they have lost the older "ah" sound altogether. Instead, it has merged with the "aw" sound, so that the words "father" and "bother" rhyme (this isn't the case for most older people in Maine).

[Verseau]

Originally Posted by Three Wolves In Snow

Something I've noticed about people who have lived here either their entire lives or most of their lives is that they sometimes talk like the English. They may not have the English accent but they throw Rs at the end of some words.

Instead of:

"I saw it"

they say:

"I sawr it"

Doesn't drive me crazy but sure is different.

Yep, that's the same idea. In this case it's specifically called a "linking R." You'll hear the same thing in most R-dropping accents across the globe, including English, Australian, and New Zealand accents.

[Mark S.]

Good info, Versau. Thanks!

I love accents, and generally I've found most Maine accents very charming. But for some reason whenever the guy talks about his garawrge, it's like nails on a chalkboard for me.

[American girl]

My mate is from Ohio where they warsh everything! We leave r out and they put r in

[Submariner]

My mother always 'warshed' things. She was from Oklahoma.

[mainebrokerman]

Garage is pronounced gar-rarge

route as in route 1 , is pronounced root

scallops is pronounced scall-lops (all as in all) not scal-lops (al as in al the name)