Quote Originally Posted by rocscotjoe View Post
I remember reading somewhere years ago that the Ohio accent is the "American" accent people want for newscasters and the like. Apparently Ohio (or Ahia, where I am from in W. Pa.) has the quintessential American sound. one of those kind of sad things when everyone sounds the same and regional accents get lost. BTW, even though I am a "yinzer" by birth, I have worked hard to lose the sound...
Parts of Ohio have a very non quintessential American sound that is very distinctive. For example, the words "roof" and "root" are pronounced with the same "o" sound as the word "wolf."

I am also from W. Pa. which is considered the smallest dialectical region in the US. Lots of remnants of the Scottish accents of early settlers.
I worked hard to lose that accent, with some success. The bad news is that I am slipping back into it as I get older.