Travolta said the 7-year-old loved the movie and he suspects many girls will. “I think Edna is going to be more popular than I am. People like her,” he said.

John Travolta was cast as Edna Turnblad, the main character’s mother, in the 2007 remake of “Hairspray” because the role has always been played by a man in drag, starting with the original 1988 film, in which the role was played by famed drag queen Divine. He doesn’t wear those clothes when he’s not making a movie.

The actor says he has regrets over not taking the part, but the producers successfully convinced him to sing and dance again as a fat woman from Baltimore. “Hairspray” is originally based on the 1988 John Waters comedy.

The musical version of “Hairspray” has John Travolta using an incredibly exaggerated Baltimore accent, but the rest of the cast sound like they could be from anywhere BUT Baltimore.

Baltimore accent

In Baltimore accents, sounds around /r/ are often “smoothed” or elided. For example, a word like bureau is commonly pronounced /ˈbɪəroʊ/ (e.g., Federal Beer-o of Investigation) and mirror is commonly pronounced “mere”; the related mare–mayor merger also exists.

Here are a few signs you know someone is from Maryland.

1. 1) They wear flip flops with jeans or sweatshirts with shorts.
2. 2) They put Old Bay on everything.
3. 3) They’re experts at weaving in and out of traffic.
4. 4) They’re shouting “O!” during the National Anthem.
5. 5) They’re experts at cornhole.
6. 6) They own a Cal Ripken Jr.

Linguist Kara Becker points out that Bates’s accent sounds weird because she’s not a native speaker: “So she’s using the ‘right’ features, but she’s not a native speaker. Like most people who are not native speakers, when they put on accents, it’s not going to sound exactly right.”

Maryland from what I’ve read and noticed is a land of 3 accents: the Baltimore/Glen Burnie Accent, the eastern shore/western shore tidewater zones, and the northern areas. The Baltimore/Glen Burnie accent is easily researchable on YouTube, just look up Barbra Mikulski or Baltimore accent.

This design comes from the coat of arms of George Calvert, also known as the first Lord Baltimore. It alternated his father’s black and gold striped pattern, with the red and white checkered cross pattern from the coat of arms of his mother’s family, the Crosslands, much like the Maryland flag does today.

But overall, you all/y’all is used in Maryland. Just not as much as in the deep south, but far more than any state to our north.

Baltimore City has the highest poverty rate in Maryland, at 21.8% of its population, while Calvert County has the lowest, at 5.1%. The areas with the highest rates of poverty are Baltimore City and Somerset and Allegany counties.

Hancock, Maryland

The Mason-Dixon Line was drawn in two parts. An 83-mile (133.5km) north-south divide between Maryland and Delaware and the more recognised 233-mile (375km) west to east divide between Pennsylvania and Maryland, stretching from just south of Philadelphia to what is now West Virginia.

Maryland is about 250 miles long and about 100 miles wide at its greatest extremities. However, at one point it narrows to less than two miles where it forms its western panhandle. This is due to one natural geographic feature and one artificial line determined by men.