Bob's accent


I had never really noticed that Bob (Hartley or Newhart) had any accent other than American until we watched one episode where he very plainly pronounced "wash" as "woish." That's a fairly unusual accent, and happens to be the one I grew up with. After that, I kept an ear on him, but he consistently said "worsh" (though a fairly mild version). Both are midwestern pronunciations, common here in central Indiana, but I had never thought they were used as far north as Chicago.

I think it's been well established on the show that Bob Harley is from the Chicago area -- for example, the house he grew up in is within easy driving distance of his apartment. Bob Newhart himself was born in Oak Park, immediately west of Chicago, and attended grade school there, then attended St. Ignatius prep school in western Chicago. followed by Loyola University in Chicago. So yeah, I'd say he's a local boy.

Anyone here who can shed more light on west-Chicago accents?

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