General American accent regional ethnic social associations

‘General American’ covers many US accents

The term describes accents not strongly linked to a region, ethnic group, or social class. Evidence from the past and present does not support the idea that the United States has one single mainstream accent.

Repeated phrases helped poets improvise the Iliad

The Iliad uses many familiar phrases again and again. During spoken performance, a poet could use one of these ready-made phrases to fill part of a line while creating the rest. Repetition could make live improvisation easier rather than prevent creativity.

A Spanish coin helped set the quarter at 25 cents

The U.S. dollar began at the same value as the Spanish-American silver dollar, a trade coin already used widely across the Americas, Asia, and Europe. Colonists knew its two-real coin, worth a quarter of a peso. That familiarity helped make the U.S. quarter worth 25 cents rather than 20.

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General American accent regional ethnic social associations

‘General American’ covers many US accents

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