English as a Backbone
English can be interpreted in many different ways. The way that I see English to be interpreted is that the way we speak and the way we use words can describe us as people. This type of English can also describe and help people determine where others come from. In different parts of the world or even just 600 miles away, people use their own forms of English with different words and pronunciations. These personal forms of English distinguish how people were brought up from their families and backgrounds. I am from Pennsylvania and when living there, everything sounded completely normal to me and nothing seemed weird. English itself isn't a language, it is merely a backbone to a culturally developed way of speaking.
When I first came up to Maine, I still thought that a Pennsylvania accent was not in existence. It came to me about a month into living here that someone told me that I spoke funny. I didn’t really understand this until I asked her what so peculiar to her. She proceeded to tell me that when I spoke my “o”s were extremely elongated. This was the first time that I have ever heard this and thought deeply about how I spoke and pronounced every word. It was now to my attention that I had an accent. Upon thinking about these things, I remembered that many people that live in Pennsylvania say things such as “warsh” instead of wash and “crick” instead of creek. 600 miles away from Pennsylvania up in Maine these words have never been heard of and it is a totally new thing to people that are from the New England area.
There are many sayings and words that I have still not been able to pick up on or even know the slightest meaning of. Since I have been here in Maine I have learned so many new things that apply to the English language. It is almost like learning a whole new language to its entirety. This brought to my attention that not only is English taken differently in different countries but it is most changed...