MOO!

I travel around the country with a diverse group of people. My closest friends are from Georgia, Texas and Oklahoma. I'm a Tennessee native and Hubby is a proud Ohioan. As you might imagine accents vary. Sometimes when we're driving a long stretch of road or it's late at night and we're running on very little sleep, we play a game called HOW DO YOU SAY...?

EX: How do you say the color that's a mixture of red and yellow. The school color of Tennessee and Texas?

Orange. Simple enough, right? Is that pronounced OR-enge? Or is it Arnge? Maybe its AR-enge?

What is the name of the curled pasta that kids eat with cheese? Macaroni.

MAC-a-ro-ni? mac-a-RO-ni?

You get the idea. A group of English farmers believe cows have regional accents, as well. And phonetics experts say the idea is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Human accents develop from familiarity. We tend to take on the speech patterns of those around us. According to experts, accents among cows probably develop in a similar way as among humans, and resulted from spending time with farmers with differing accents. (Read article here.)

I live in a rural community. Cows are part of the landscape here. I never paid much attention to their communications, but now when I see them gathering, I'll wonder. Are they playing a round of HOW DO YOU SAY...?