"American" accent

[Moneo]

I know this is probably sort of a silly question, but I've always wondered, what does an "American" accent sound like to people who don't hear it much?

When you say 'hot dog' we hear 'hart darg'
'Marry merry Mary' sounds like 'Mary Mary Mary'......

The "marry merry Mary" is true. About 90% of Americans will say "mary mary mary". However, in New York, you can clearly distinguish the pronunciation of these 3 words, and a few other places.

BTW, the above 3 words are only a part of list of about 20 words which can pinpoint Americans to within 50 miles of where they're from. The list comes from a old book called "The Story of Language" by Mario Pei. If you can get a copy, I really recommend it. I'll look up the list of words and post it soon.
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