Toboggan.
This one word has two separate meanings: in the Southern United States, it refers to a hat. But in the Northeastern region, a toboggan is a sled.
Thus, the meaning behind the words people speak can sometimes become lost in translation.
However, bad communication does not just refer to a difference in word meaning — it is also when one’s speech doesn’t match his or her context and purpose, Jeffery Reaser, an associate professor in English and linguistics, said.
For example, he said, someone might get laughed out of a party if he approached his friends and said “Good evening; how might you ladies and gentlemen be doing?”
But it is the linguistic diversity that results from the regional difference between grammatically proper and generally accepted speech that makes North Carolina unique, Reaser said.
“Regions here are very distinct because of people settling in different areas at different times and parts of that population being isolated,” he said.
Jason Santiago, a senior in political science and mathematics, had lived in California for eight years before moving to North Carolina.
“When I moved here accents were tough to get around,” he said. “‘Yall’ and ‘yonder’ were new words to me. There are also a few slang words that, when used in the wrong context, can sound horrible.”
According to Reaser, one misconception about accents has to do with people’s prior expectations about what they are hearing.
He pointed out a study in which one group of students listened to a speaker and were told he was a native English speaker — a different group of students listened to the same speaker, but were told he was a non-native English speaker.
When experimenters compared the two groups’ comprehension levels, the latter group had a lower score.
Elina Bouloubasis, a junior in communication, recalled an encounter she had with an exchange student from Australia during her freshman year.
“He mentioned the word ‘beanie’ several times, and I finally had to stop him and ask him what he was talking about,” Bouloubasis said. “After he explained it I realized that he meant toboggan.”
According to Reaser, a sub sandwich may also be referred to as a “hoagie,” a “grinder” or a “torpedo” — and he said there are thousands of examples of this in the English language.
Bouloubasis said she always referred to her shoes as “sneakers,” but noticed many of the people in Raleigh call them “tennis shoes.”
“My mom was born and raised in New Jersey,” she said. “I get certain words that I use from her.”
Although people use different words to express the same meaning, or the same word to express two different meanings, according to Reaser it doesn’t necessarily have to lead to miscommunication.
“A single word or a pronunciation doesnt throw people off because of the context the word is being used in,” Reaser said. “People don’t have as much of a problem communicating as most tend to think.”
