11 ms·

The US island that speaks Elizabethan English

271 points by pseudolus 2y ago

hollywood_court 2y ago
What about the accent found on Smith Island? I believe it also has a great deal of Elizabethan English influence. Relevant video about Smith Island and the 'High Tider' accent used by many of its inhabitants: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-ojAez_BUc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-ojAez_BUc
- alistairSH 2y ago
  Similar for Tangier. Basically any of the small islands along the Eastern seaboard - they were historically remote and isolated.
  - mosburger 2y ago
    Yeah, similarly I've heard people say that the Maine accent, particularly "down east" islanders, is similar to an English accent in some ways - I think specifically some region of England, like Yorkshire maybe??
- rayiner 2y ago
  What a lovely accent.
  - hollywood_court 2y ago
    It really is a nice accent. I spent my most formative years in the Caribbean, and I still have a bit of an islander accent when I'm around others who have one. There's a gentleman who works at a Publix near me who is from Trinidad. The first time I met him, I only caught a slight hint of his accent. I asked him about it, and when he told me where he was from, we both immediately started speaking in full-blown island accents. I also had two friends during my time in the Caribbean who were originally from the Outer Banks. I don't remember which island exactly, but they both had noticeable accents that were unlike anything I had ever heard at the time. Watching videos about the various Outer Banks accents definitely reminds me of them.
alistairSH 2y ago
Funny story... we've visited Ocracoke on and off for many years now. The first time we planned a trip, we wanted to book a fishing charter. My wife called one of the local captains (Ronnie O'Neal) and couldn't understand half what he said. Ended up politely ending the call (and wondering out loud what she just heard). 15 minutes later, she gets a call back from the same number and it's the fisherman's son (Ryan). We'd never heard of the Ocracoke accent, but that's what it was... Ronnie was in his late 50s or 60s and had always lived on the island. Ryan was late-20s or early 30s at the time and attended to college on the mainland and spent some winters working inland as well, so his brogue was much less noticeable. Anyways, we booked a trip with them several years in a row. Good times. Look them up if you find yourself down that direction and fancy a day of fishing.
- dfawcus 2y ago
  What is the problem? Listening to the piece, the accent itself is quite understandable. Just sounds like they're from the West Country. The only awkward one was where the bloke was talking about fishing in the bright light, I had to watch the 4 or 5 times before I got the hang of it. Maybe being English helps? For non Brits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Country
  - alistairSH 2y ago
    Start at 1:40 to 1:50... https://youtu.be/x7MvtQp2-UA?si=YgyWjA01BdExfolp&t=100 https://youtu.be/x7MvtQp2-UA?si=YgyWjA01BdExfolp&t=100 Thick accent, poor cell phone connection. Much easier to understand when you're face to face (or video) and have context. It was probably 50% shock - she was expecting a "normal" east NC accent. FWIW, I bet being English does help - I'm Scottish and don't struggle with accents anywhere near as much as some of my friends. I once had a roommate ask to turn on captions for Trainspotting - and those accents weren't even that thick (IMO)!
    - dfawcus 2y ago
      Yeah - no problem with that section, nor with the rest of the video. As to Trainspotting, I found the subtitles a daft idea. Totally unnecessary, but then I'm from NE England. Added: Apparently some folks had difficulty comprehending "Derry Girls".
js2 2y ago
It's Okracoke, NC. The Okracoke Brogue (1997, 20 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uuzr_gl4Oo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uuzr_gl4Oo From the mountains to the sea, NC has quite a range of accents ("Voices of NC"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAGG3LnEVvI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAGG3LnEVvI Previously the BBC covered Tangier, VA with nearly the same headline ("The tiny US island with a British accent"): https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20180206-the-tiny-us-island-with-a-british-accent https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20180206-the-tiny-us-isla... Short documentary on Tangier Island: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upKqzxuJ5L4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upKqzxuJ5L4 Newscast from the 1970s about Tangier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96sHf5YDZj4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96sHf5YDZj4
- rootbear 2y ago
  Before clicking on the link, I thought it would be and article about Tangier. A friend flew my sister and me down there many years ago. The accent was definitely unique, but calling it Elizabethan seems a bit of a stretch. We did have some of the best crab I ever ate there. Sadly, the island is disappearing, due to sea level rise.
rayiner 2y ago
What's interesting is that the accent is so different from the accent in the rest of eastern Maryland, which is a Mid Atlantic accent more similar to the one in Delaware and even New Jersey: https://youtu.be/-QgvQqg9q6Q?si=G6iGRQQuI-ZGwx8C https://youtu.be/-QgvQqg9q6Q?si=G6iGRQQuI-ZGwx8C. The accept is pretty mild in Annapolis where I am, but I have a neighbor who is from New Jersey and once I processed her accent, I could hear the same structure in how locals say words like "water" and "coffee."
treve 2y ago
When watching the video and hear people speak, it mostly reminds me of Dale from King of the Hill. Makes me wonder if the person who inspired Dale was from there.
- spacemule 2y ago
  Are you thinking of Boomhauer?
  - treve 2y ago
    Yes I was!
- edm0nd 2y ago
  Dale speaks normally.
gwbas1c 2y ago
There's a similar thing in Marath's Vineyard, an island south of Massachusetts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha%27s_Vineyard_Sign_Language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha%27s_Vineyard_Sign_Langu... In this case, it's a unique sign language because Martha's Vineyard used to have a large population of deaf people.
dbl000 2y ago
Somewhat related was this article from ~2013 in TheAtavist [0] about Tangier Island in Virginia where they also still speak in an Elizabethan accent. It's about a director going to try to convince the locals to record lines from Romeo and Juliet so he can recreate it with vocal coaches and make a "authentically sounding" production. It's an interesting read, about 25 mins. IIRC there's also a community in Maryland with the same (or similar) accent. [0] https://magazine.atavist.com/finding-shakespeare/ https://magazine.atavist.com/finding-shakespeare/
dmayle 2y ago
One of the starting points of this article is that the current president has signed an executive order "making English the country's official language". I think it's important to remind people what executive orders can and can't do. An executive order is an instruction sent to the government itself. It instructs government workers how to perform their job. It is not directed at the American public (though it can and does have an effect on the American public by way of government policy). As such, this current executive order effectively does nothing. We've attempted to pass laws that make English the national language, but have consistently failed to do so. And personally, I'm for having English be the national language of America (as a bilingual American myself), but this executive order does not make that so.
- wasabi991011 2y ago
  Reading the executive order[1], the only change is to revoke Clinton's executive order 13166 ("Improving Access to Services for Persons With Limited English Proficiency")[2]. There are no specific instructions of what it implies to revoke this order. My interpretation is that federal agencies will stop providing non-English services, unless these are already happening at 0 cost. (For example, not instructing agents to speak only English, but no longer considering second language proficiency in future hiring.) IANAL, but there may be legal complications, as order 13166's stated goal is to prevent title VI discrimination on the basis of national origin. However, the revocation explicitly states it should implemented consistently with applicable laws. [1] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/designating-english-as-the-official-language-of-the-united-states/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/desi... [2] https://www.transportation.gov/civil-rights/civil-rights-awareness-enforcement/executive-order-13166 https://www.transportation.gov/civil-rights/civil-rights-awa...
  - prawn 2y ago
    Shouldn't second language proficiency be an advantage if you were genuinely about hiring on merit alone, or am I misunderstanding the situation?
- VWWHFSfQ 2y ago
dang 2y ago
Related: On Ocracoke Island, the only American dialect that is not identified as American - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20262253 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20262253 - June 2019 (73 comments) I'm pretty sure there have been other threads about this and related topics (for example Tangier Island)...anyone?
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
cytocync 2y ago
[dead]
brudgers 2y ago
You can't drive there as there are no bridges To the same degree you can’t “drive there” with respect to any other island. Ocracoke has had auto-carrying ferry service since at least the 1960’s from Hatteras and Cedar Island. https://www.ncdot.gov/travel-maps/ferry-tickets-services/routes/Pages/default.aspx https://www.ncdot.gov/travel-maps/ferry-tickets-services/rou...
tstrimple 2y ago
If folks find accents interesting, I loved this video which does a tour of US accents. Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1KP4ztKK0A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1KP4ztKK0A (Okracoke Island is at 13:40) Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsE_8j5RL3k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsE_8j5RL3k
sevensor 2y ago
Lovely place, great campground managed by the National Park Service, if you don’t mind latrines and cold water. Right over the dunes from the beach. Spectacular views of the night sky.
farrelle25 2y ago
I heard somewhere that we speak a mild 'Elizabethan' English in the West of Ireland... no idea if this is true really. Although my parents use some archaic words: "Pass me yon cup please." (Yon as in yonder = that cup) "It's a bully old day." (bully = good, grand) "That's a quare setup." (quare = strange) "Oh aye... that's right." (aye* = yes) *common in Northern Ireland / Scotland too We use "woe" a lot. (woe = misery) Em... that's it really I suppose.
- pablobaz 2y ago
  Some of the west of Ireland accent also reflects pronunciation prior to the Great Vowel Shift. For example pronouncing "tea" as "tay" and "meat" as "mate" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
mutatio 2y ago
As a Brit it's really quite amazing how strong the West Country accent has been retained, almost like a comedic caricature. As a segue I'll recommend "Time Team", if you listen to Phil Harding (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Harding_(archaeologist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Harding_(archaeologist)) you can hear the similarities.
bloak 2y ago
Every time I see a link to a video about some dialect or accent that I might be interested in I am disappointed -- angry, in fact -- to find that it's just someone talking about that dialect or accent in some other dialect or accent that I am not at all interested in. What a waste. After that I avoid all video/audio for a month or so until -- fool that I am -- I get tricked again. Is there some secret place on the Internet where an interested person can listen to ten uninterrupted minutes of conversation in a rare dialect, or do I need to become an enthusiastic traveller (unlikely)?
mattmaroon 2y ago
I have a friend who has a house on Okracoke and I've spent a bit of time there and never even heard this accent. Which may be a function of the fact that most of the people on the island at any given time aren't from there, but I've met several who are. Maybe they just know how to turn it off?

271 points by pseudolus 2y ago

What about the accent found on Smith Island? I believe it also has a great deal of Elizabethan English influence. Relevant video about Smith Island and the 'High Tider' accent used by many of its inhabitants: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-ojAez_BUc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-ojAez_BUc

alistairSH 2y ago
Similar for Tangier. Basically any of the small islands along the Eastern seaboard - they were historically remote and isolated.
- mosburger 2y ago
  Yeah, similarly I've heard people say that the Maine accent, particularly "down east" islanders, is similar to an English accent in some ways - I think specifically some region of England, like Yorkshire maybe??
rayiner 2y ago
What a lovely accent.
- hollywood_court 2y ago
  It really is a nice accent. I spent my most formative years in the Caribbean, and I still have a bit of an islander accent when I'm around others who have one. There's a gentleman who works at a Publix near me who is from Trinidad. The first time I met him, I only caught a slight hint of his accent. I asked him about it, and when he told me where he was from, we both immediately started speaking in full-blown island accents. I also had two friends during my time in the Caribbean who were originally from the Outer Banks. I don't remember which island exactly, but they both had noticeable accents that were unlike anything I had ever heard at the time. Watching videos about the various Outer Banks accents definitely reminds me of them.

alistairSH 2y ago

Funny story... we've visited Ocracoke on and off for many years now. The first time we planned a trip, we wanted to book a fishing charter. My wife called one of the local captains (Ronnie O'Neal) and couldn't understand half what he said. Ended up politely ending the call (and wondering out loud what she just heard). 15 minutes later, she gets a call back from the same number and it's the fisherman's son (Ryan). We'd never heard of the Ocracoke accent, but that's what it was... Ronnie was in his late 50s or 60s and had always lived on the island. Ryan was late-20s or early 30s at the time and attended to college on the mainland and spent some winters working inland as well, so his brogue was much less noticeable. Anyways, we booked a trip with them several years in a row. Good times. Look them up if you find yourself down that direction and fancy a day of fishing.

dfawcus 2y ago
What is the problem? Listening to the piece, the accent itself is quite understandable. Just sounds like they're from the West Country. The only awkward one was where the bloke was talking about fishing in the bright light, I had to watch the 4 or 5 times before I got the hang of it. Maybe being English helps? For non Brits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Country
- alistairSH 2y ago
  Start at 1:40 to 1:50... https://youtu.be/x7MvtQp2-UA?si=YgyWjA01BdExfolp&t=100 https://youtu.be/x7MvtQp2-UA?si=YgyWjA01BdExfolp&t=100 Thick accent, poor cell phone connection. Much easier to understand when you're face to face (or video) and have context. It was probably 50% shock - she was expecting a "normal" east NC accent. FWIW, I bet being English does help - I'm Scottish and don't struggle with accents anywhere near as much as some of my friends. I once had a roommate ask to turn on captions for Trainspotting - and those accents weren't even that thick (IMO)!
  - dfawcus 2y ago
    Yeah - no problem with that section, nor with the rest of the video. As to Trainspotting, I found the subtitles a daft idea. Totally unnecessary, but then I'm from NE England. Added: Apparently some folks had difficulty comprehending "Derry Girls".

js2 2y ago

It's Okracoke, NC. The Okracoke Brogue (1997, 20 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uuzr_gl4Oo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uuzr_gl4Oo From the mountains to the sea, NC has quite a range of accents ("Voices of NC"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAGG3LnEVvI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAGG3LnEVvI Previously the BBC covered Tangier, VA with nearly the same headline ("The tiny US island with a British accent"): https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20180206-the-tiny-us-island-with-a-british-accent https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20180206-the-tiny-us-isla... Short documentary on Tangier Island: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upKqzxuJ5L4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upKqzxuJ5L4 Newscast from the 1970s about Tangier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96sHf5YDZj4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96sHf5YDZj4

rootbear 2y ago
Before clicking on the link, I thought it would be and article about Tangier. A friend flew my sister and me down there many years ago. The accent was definitely unique, but calling it Elizabethan seems a bit of a stretch. We did have some of the best crab I ever ate there. Sadly, the island is disappearing, due to sea level rise.

rayiner 2y ago

What's interesting is that the accent is so different from the accent in the rest of eastern Maryland, which is a Mid Atlantic accent more similar to the one in Delaware and even New Jersey: https://youtu.be/-QgvQqg9q6Q?si=G6iGRQQuI-ZGwx8C https://youtu.be/-QgvQqg9q6Q?si=G6iGRQQuI-ZGwx8C. The accept is pretty mild in Annapolis where I am, but I have a neighbor who is from New Jersey and once I processed her accent, I could hear the same structure in how locals say words like "water" and "coffee."

treve 2y ago

When watching the video and hear people speak, it mostly reminds me of Dale from King of the Hill. Makes me wonder if the person who inspired Dale was from there.

spacemule 2y ago
Are you thinking of Boomhauer?
- treve 2y ago
  Yes I was!
edm0nd 2y ago
Dale speaks normally.

gwbas1c 2y ago

There's a similar thing in Marath's Vineyard, an island south of Massachusetts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha%27s_Vineyard_Sign_Language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha%27s_Vineyard_Sign_Langu... In this case, it's a unique sign language because Martha's Vineyard used to have a large population of deaf people.

dbl000 2y ago

Somewhat related was this article from ~2013 in TheAtavist [0] about Tangier Island in Virginia where they also still speak in an Elizabethan accent. It's about a director going to try to convince the locals to record lines from Romeo and Juliet so he can recreate it with vocal coaches and make a "authentically sounding" production. It's an interesting read, about 25 mins. IIRC there's also a community in Maryland with the same (or similar) accent. [0] https://magazine.atavist.com/finding-shakespeare/ https://magazine.atavist.com/finding-shakespeare/

dmayle 2y ago

One of the starting points of this article is that the current president has signed an executive order "making English the country's official language". I think it's important to remind people what executive orders can and can't do. An executive order is an instruction sent to the government itself. It instructs government workers how to perform their job. It is not directed at the American public (though it can and does have an effect on the American public by way of government policy). As such, this current executive order effectively does nothing. We've attempted to pass laws that make English the national language, but have consistently failed to do so. And personally, I'm for having English be the national language of America (as a bilingual American myself), but this executive order does not make that so.

wasabi991011 2y ago
Reading the executive order[1], the only change is to revoke Clinton's executive order 13166 ("Improving Access to Services for Persons With Limited English Proficiency")[2]. There are no specific instructions of what it implies to revoke this order. My interpretation is that federal agencies will stop providing non-English services, unless these are already happening at 0 cost. (For example, not instructing agents to speak only English, but no longer considering second language proficiency in future hiring.) IANAL, but there may be legal complications, as order 13166's stated goal is to prevent title VI discrimination on the basis of national origin. However, the revocation explicitly states it should implemented consistently with applicable laws. [1] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/designating-english-as-the-official-language-of-the-united-states/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/desi... [2] https://www.transportation.gov/civil-rights/civil-rights-awareness-enforcement/executive-order-13166 https://www.transportation.gov/civil-rights/civil-rights-awa...
- prawn 2y ago
  Shouldn't second language proficiency be an advantage if you were genuinely about hiring on merit alone, or am I misunderstanding the situation?
VWWHFSfQ 2y ago

dang 2y ago

Related: On Ocracoke Island, the only American dialect that is not identified as American - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20262253 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20262253 - June 2019 (73 comments) I'm pretty sure there have been other threads about this and related topics (for example Tangier Island)...anyone?

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

cytocync 2y ago

[dead]

brudgers 2y ago

You can't drive there as there are no bridges To the same degree you can’t “drive there” with respect to any other island. Ocracoke has had auto-carrying ferry service since at least the 1960’s from Hatteras and Cedar Island. https://www.ncdot.gov/travel-maps/ferry-tickets-services/routes/Pages/default.aspx https://www.ncdot.gov/travel-maps/ferry-tickets-services/rou...

tstrimple 2y ago

If folks find accents interesting, I loved this video which does a tour of US accents. Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1KP4ztKK0A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1KP4ztKK0A (Okracoke Island is at 13:40) Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsE_8j5RL3k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsE_8j5RL3k

sevensor 2y ago

Lovely place, great campground managed by the National Park Service, if you don’t mind latrines and cold water. Right over the dunes from the beach. Spectacular views of the night sky.

farrelle25 2y ago

I heard somewhere that we speak a mild 'Elizabethan' English in the West of Ireland... no idea if this is true really. Although my parents use some archaic words: "Pass me yon cup please." (Yon as in yonder = that cup) "It's a bully old day." (bully = good, grand) "That's a quare setup." (quare = strange) "Oh aye... that's right." (aye* = yes) *common in Northern Ireland / Scotland too We use "woe" a lot. (woe = misery) Em... that's it really I suppose.

pablobaz 2y ago
Some of the west of Ireland accent also reflects pronunciation prior to the Great Vowel Shift. For example pronouncing "tea" as "tay" and "meat" as "mate" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

mutatio 2y ago

As a Brit it's really quite amazing how strong the West Country accent has been retained, almost like a comedic caricature. As a segue I'll recommend "Time Team", if you listen to Phil Harding (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Harding_(archaeologist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Harding_(archaeologist)) you can hear the similarities.

bloak 2y ago

Every time I see a link to a video about some dialect or accent that I might be interested in I am disappointed -- angry, in fact -- to find that it's just someone talking about that dialect or accent in some other dialect or accent that I am not at all interested in. What a waste. After that I avoid all video/audio for a month or so until -- fool that I am -- I get tricked again. Is there some secret place on the Internet where an interested person can listen to ten uninterrupted minutes of conversation in a rare dialect, or do I need to become an enthusiastic traveller (unlikely)?

mattmaroon 2y ago

I have a friend who has a house on Okracoke and I've spent a bit of time there and never even heard this accent. Which may be a function of the fact that most of the people on the island at any given time aren't from there, but I've met several who are. Maybe they just know how to turn it off?