What Folks Are Saying

The following are but a selection of the many comments received from individuals attending Wisconsin Englishes presentations.

• I am a transplant from central Iowa. All sorts of what I used to think of as strange constructions I hear here in Northern Wisconsin, but after 15 years here, hardly notice now.
  (attended WEP Ashland)
  
  
• [As a physician who is not from around here, I sometimes have difficulties communicating with my patients] [This presentation] clarified why and will facilitate my ability to better do so.
  (attended WEP Stevens Point, local physician)
  
  
• I thought people are careless about using English grammar. Now I feel less critical about others' “speech problems.” Very interesting! Thank you!
  (attended WEP Stevens Point)
  
  
• Please publish a book on this type of research!
  (attended WEP Stevens Point)
  
  
• Fascinating! Now that I see how old immigrant languages influenced our speech, I'd like to know more of changes you might be seeing in terms of new immigrant populations.
  (attended WEP Wausau)
  
  
• Growing up near Milwaukee, we ridiculed Northerners and their speech. I grew up in a German community, but our teachers worked hard—they didn't want us to grow up “regional.”
  (attended WEP Wausau)
  
  
• I used to be happy when I met someone new, this person did not know immediately that I was from Sheboygan. I like to think of myself as more cosmopolitan or sophisticated. Now I realize that I should not be disowning my German heritage, especially since my sister's children no longer say “Gesundheit.”
  (attended WEP Sheboygan)
  
  
• We speak clearly—in comparison to other areas we don't have an accent. We have a Midwestern speech pattern many think are used by radio and TV personalities. After hearing your presentation I have a better understanding of how we speak! (attended WEP Kenosha)
  
  
• I never thought of differences in speech patterns + words as regional. I notice “old people vs. young people speech.” We don't think about the ancestors and their language and how they have influenced us.
  (attended WEP Kenosha)
  
  
• When I have traveled, I am identified as a Midwesterner. I can never figure out why. What makes my speech so different? (attended WEP Kenosha)
  
  
• What interested me most? Pronunciation—vowel shift; talking about what we in the room say. Here in SW Wisconsin we combine both Cornish and German sounds and sometimes Irish sounds.
  (attended WEP Mineral Point)
  
  
• Absolutely fascinating! At my school we are ready to put big $$ into our phonics program—I am wondering if it is worth it.
  (attended WEP Mineral Point)
  
  
• I hope you will continue to study small areas of the state to gather very detailed information. A few years ago, I visited Cassville, WI, with a foreign student friend, who was fluent in English. We visited the historic sites there and the town. Neither of us was able to understand what the natives were saying—and I grew up in WI! It was one of the strangest experiences I've ever had. It would be worth a visit for you.
  (attended WEP Madison)
  
  
• Please keep this up!! And how to work this into school curricula?
  (attended WEP Madison)
  
  
• My extended family is scattered throughout the country and they always manage to come "home" to Wisconsin for family reunions. Invariably, someone comments to we Wisconsinites about our "accent."  So, yes, there is a difference in how we speak and in the idioms we use. 
  (email/resident of Tomah, WI )
  
  
• In 1958, our parents noticed and commented on the change in language from the Irma, WI, area to Marathon, WI, when we moved south just the 25 or 30 miles.  There were phrases like "out back of At'ens"  (Athens),  "innso" (aint so; isn't that so), and "come by us once yet."  In the 1970's my husband enjoyed listening to his "Polack" construction co-workers:  "There's a fly on the refrigerator walking."  Those men hailed from the "Shantytown" area southeast of Wausau and northeast of Stevens Point
  (email)