Baltimore Accent

The language spoken on the streets of Baltimore is one that has been refined over the last 30 years. It's a largely homegrown accent, and it's one that's mainly confined to the city and its black suburbs. A person from Baltimore never pronounces the T. It's more like Ball-di-more, or usually just B-More. Yo often, unnecessarily, begins AND ends many sentences. -Switching Vowels- Words like red, bed, and dead are pronounced with Is: red=rid, bed=bid, dead=did. Chair sounds more like "cheer" in Baltimore. Orange sounds more like "oinch"! -Adding Consonants- It's hard to explain what happens to words like too, blue, or do. It comes out with an added r somewhere, and the actual sound can't be accurately spelled. -New Words- In the late 90s, young Baltimoreans could be heard calling "Ay yerp" in all corners of the city. In context it sounds more like yerp=yo -Altered Definitions- Many definition changes are related to crime. For example, the movie "Blow" brought national recognition to a nickname of cocaine. However, ask for "blow" in Baltimore, and you'll get served heroin. Drug cops are "knockers". To get "plucked" is to be punched. Sneakers are always tennis shoes, or just "tennis" for short. Braids are almost always "plaits". A whore in Baltimore is not a prostitute, he or she is a coward. Even Baltimorean children have slang. Cut or budge in line and you'll be told not to "rude in line".