The odd accent of Tangier VA - American Tongues episode #3

People Like Us - The CNAM Channel · 1.9M views · 2008-02-23 · 2:18

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

A clip from the documentary American Tongues about the isolated Tangier Island, Virginia, whose dialect is among the most unusual in the US. It is often said to resemble speech from centuries ago.

On Hacker News

HN uses it as the standard audio example of the Tangier accent in discussions of archaic or colonial-era English.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2010–2025

Topics

Language & linguistics Documentaries & storytelling

What people said

louhong · 2013-01 · Recommendation
This might be an interesting video ( [VIDEO] ) - its a video of Tangier, VA where they still speak English from when the town was settled in 1600s.
Read the original HN comment ↗

ethbr1 · 2025-03 · Reference
Imho, the Tangier accent is a lot more eclectic: [VIDEO] Barrier islands from Maryland to Georgia are linguistically fascinating. (As someone who spent a lot of time around them as a kid)
Read the original HN comment ↗

js2 · 2021-01 · Reference
Some interesting U.S. accents: [LINK] The oddest is Tangier Island, VA: [VIDEO] Relevant to this submission, a Cajun accent: [LINK] Relevant to HN, tech talk circa 1985: [LINK]
Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by People Like Us - The CNAM Channel, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks

SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources