Midwestern Folk

Isn't it funny how the smallest occurrances or most off-handed comments make us stop to think? For instance, today (my 2nd-to-last day at Starbucks) I was requesting a plain bagel toasted for a customer in the drive-thru. Granted, it was early in the morning, but the person who retrieved it for me returned and asked me if I was from Wisconsin. It took me by surprise, and I answered, "No, I'm from Iowa." She then requested that I repeat my request. I, again, asked for a bagel (with a long "a"--sounds like ba-gel). She said, "Oh, it's a bagel." (with a short "a" sound--sounds like bag-el) Then, my assistant manager turned around and offered his two cents: "No, its a bagel". (with an "ah"--sounds like boggle). The 10-second conversation left me wondering--what's the real pronunciation?

I had a momentary mental crisis (Really?! Did she just correct me on word pronunciation?! Am I wrong? Is she wrong? Is he wrong?) and filed the conversation away in my brain. When I got home, I called my sister (okay, so I took a nap first, checked my email, and then called her). Being the resourceful and curious person that she is, she looked up the word "bagel" in the dictionary. Though it turns out that the correct pronunciation is "ba-gel" (with a long "a" sound), the thing that made me take note is how annoyed I was that someone had the audacity to think that I pronounced a word wrong...and then I practiced self-talk. I thought: 'Janelle, you need to get a grip on yourself. Its just a word pronunciation...yeah, you were right, but that's not the point--its not something to get all up in arms about and, really, as long as we all know the item in question, who cares whether we say it with a long "a" sound, a short "a" sound, or an "ah" sound?' I realized that I really just need to accept the difference, and stop being so prideful about growing up in the Midwest--the land of no accents (or so I thought!). And for tomorrow...well, I think I'll just start requesting "bread shaped like a donut". :)