Illinois Five - Text
Male, Caucasian (Greek heritage), from Lynwood Illinois on the border with Indiana. Age 18, this full-time student's speech features the very "flat" sound that characterizes the mid-west; similar "flattened" sounds can be heard in other Northern cities, such as Detroit MI and Buffalo NY. Recorded by Eric Armstrong, and edited by Shawn M. Muller. Running time, 00:02:30.
TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH
Uh, when I was, uh, younger, um, we'd go to the family dentist...and our family dentist's name was Dr. Harry Richard Mole...and he's - is a very very jovial man. He had a big belly and he a - he wou - tried to make jokes while he was inspecting my teeth. But h - he had really really bad breath which is bizarre because this is a dentist, you know why would he have bad breath he should know better. And when he would get in close and - and he'd be talking it was - it was almost too much to take because, you know, yuh - you're really breathing out of your nose because he's working with your mouth...and one time when, uh, he was f - fiddling around with something by my throat my gag reflexes reacted and I sm - smelled his breath and ended up throwing up all over his white smock...and, uh, which was insane, pretty crazy and m - my mom thought it was really funny, but, uh, she was embarrassed and we had to switch dentists.
We live in Linwood which is right on the boarder of Munster, Indiana which, uh, h - has caused a deep, hidden resentment for Indiana people. We really don't like the people in Indiana, it's the whole running gag, they say we can't drive we say they can't drive...and, uh, so, um, also, um, we live in kind of a it's - it's not the greatest neighborhood in the world, um, economic-wise...and it's right next to, uh, little - little more better-off town and there's also a little - little resentment towards those people. I don't know if it's because they have it better-off or because of their attitudes towards us, and, you know, uh, maybe a little snobbish, stuck-up.