24 Words That Buffalo Transplants Absolutely BOTCH

If you are a Western New Yorker born and raised, you may not even realize how strong your Buffalo accent is.

When you’re a Buffalo transplant, the accent is a bit more noticeable, and there’s a few words that tend to give it away.

The Buffalo accent has strong traces of European dialects, including Polish and German, but also Italian/Scilian. One language professor identified a handful of attributes from the Buffalo accent, including:

• the “flat a”
• “hard a” 
• other variations in our speech, including the drop-down of central vowels 
  • For example, “bed” may sound like “bad.”

There have even been some traces of a “valley girl” accent in Buffalo, too, but that is more of an intonation thing.

One thing is for certain, though: there are 24 words that will indicate where you are from, and if you are truly from Buffalo (born and raised).

As a proud Buffalo transplant, I feel like I can speak to this matter, because even though I have lived here for a year and a half now, there are still words that I say wrong or mix up (but I guess nobody’s perfect). 

Try saying these 24 words and tell me if you can hear a Buffalo accent…..or something else! 

Now, I’ve lived in Buffalo for a year and a half, so I’m not as bad as I used to be…

There’s a TikTok challenge that really tests your accent, and you can see it below.

Believe me, I know that was painful to watch. Granted, I don’t say it that way anymore, but you can see it’s quite an adjustment for Buffalo transplants to make! 

If someone slips up and messes up a word, kindly correct them. They’re probably trying their best! 

If you want to try the TikTok challenge for yourself, here’s the passage: 

“I woke up this morning and I was craving a PACZKI so I got in my car and hopped on I-90. I ended up passing Cheektowaga Central Elementary School and I noticed it was a little FOGGY. And I thought, let me stop and get an EGGNOG latte with MILK from (coffee place of choice), and thankfully there was one just past WEHRLE Drive. Then I headed towards BLASDELL to pick up my PACZKI and would (Y’ALL / YOU / YOUSE / YOU GUYS) believe it? I had to do a little hop over a CREEK to get there. Thankfully I had a BAG so I didn’t drop anything. And I was able to finish it before my daily walk by CANISIUS College, which may not be a SUNY school, but it’s still one of my favorites.”

Good luck! Make sure you tag us if you give it a try @1065wyrk.