You say, "Hamburger". I say, "Hambooglah".

Me-I thought the garbage truck came by early?
My daughter-What?
Me-They haven't picked up yet and it is 9am. I thought they came by this "root" like 5:30am?
My daughter-Oh. They have different "roots" I mean routes. You know, the right way to say it. Wink wink giggle giggle.

I have an accent. I lived up north for 43 years of my life. My daughter was 18 months when we moved to the south. She is constantly correcting me. This chat has me thinking about my history.

I have a history as to why I talk the way I do. Partly from being up north and partly from my mother. You see my mom is from Portugal. She moved here with my dad when she was 20. They had only been in this country for 6 years when they had me. The language spoken in my house was mainly Portuguese. I have two older sisters and when they started school, English became the main language spoken in my home. My dad went to school to learn English earlier when he started working. My mom decided to learn when I learned. I can remember reading Dr. Seuss books with her. Now imagine a little girl who has a mom, learning to read with a thick Portuguese accent, teaching her daughter how to read while living in the North.

End result?  I add "ah" when the word should end in an r. I cannot pronounce certain words. I grew up thinking watermelon was pronounced, "Wahtamela". Hamburger was pronounced, "Hambooglah".  My friends would come ova and tell me that my mom sounded funny. I didn't hear her accent then and neva will. It is what she sounds like to me.

Fast forward to the present moment. I am in the south. I have a daughter who learned how to read in the south, with help from her mom, who has a northern accent, who learned from her Portuguese mother.

Is it really no surprise that she would mess up a word or two? Nope, not at all.

We all have a history. All of it forms us. Sometimes, there is nothing we can do about it or we end up changing it.


In my case, I think it makes me who I am and I am totally okay with that.

Now, please, pass the ketchup, for my "Hambooglah." 😉


Until next time,
~It is what it is~


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