Accents

I'm screwed.

I was born in London (Richmond-upon-Thames for the other Brits here).  Moved to the West country, grew up in Yorkshire, went to Uni in Sunderland/Newcastle area then lived and worked on the South coast (Worthing) until I moved to the States aged 25 in 1994.  Even before I moved to the States no one was quite sure what my accent was from.

Once I got here I made an effort to have a 'correct' British accent for the first year before I came to the conclusion that I was just being an ass.

Since then my accent has faded.  Most people think i still have a strong English accent although many ask if I'm from Australia, that's even happened when visiting the UK.  When asked if I'm from Australia I feign offense and say 'We were doing so well, then you go and call me a Convict!'  That was a great line before being married BTW 

I have other Ex-Pat Brit friends and certainly I sound more 'Americanized' than they do, but then I've embraced being an American more than they have.  I can switch on a true British accent whenever I want, either a perfect Southern accent or a broad Yorkshire accent which is great for reading books to the kids (now grand kid)

To the Floridians here, I swear there are more British accents in Florida than even Latin accents whenever i visit. 

I worked in a large factory just outside Toronto for 10 years. There weren't many accents that weren't represented, but the worst were two Trini guys that worked for me. I understood them very easily. Until they started speaking to each other. You wouldn't even know it was english.

Ian F said:

Stampie said:

mazdeuce - Seth said:

My favorite is combined accents. The girl I met in college who was raised in Vietnam and learned British English in London and then moved to Canada. Or occasionally you meet a native Spanish speaker who learned English in Cajun shipyards in Louisiana, that's a fun one to try and listen to.

I love ones like the Korean ethnicity guy I meet that grew up in country Georgia. Almost had to choose my eyes to understand him cause the visual didn't go with the accent.

I once worked with a guy who was Indian, but grew up and essentially learned English in Brooklyn.  Visual-aural confusion x10.  But these days I know quite a few second and third generation Indians who barely know any Indian dialects. Despite appearances, they're 100% American. 

My own accent is a strange thing.  I was born in Georgia, but have lived in PA since 1980.  Other than the occasional "y'all" my accent is dormant.  But if I'm around other southerners it comes back quickly.  This used to annoy my ex- to no end.

I had an Indian friend in college who spoke, perfect, proper British English, with the accent and all. Lived his whole life up until that point in India and had very dark skin and complexion. Every once in a while you could catch a bit of a typical Indian accent, Ws and Vs in particular would get funky sometimes, but overall not at all what you would expect from looking at him. 

I've lived most of my life in south central PA and we've got a pretty weird accent here, almost sounds southern to someone who doesn't know any better, but definitely distinct. I can only describe it as PA redneck. We're in relatively close proximity to a number of very distinct regional dialects and I think it borrows from all of them a bit - Philly, Pittsburgh, the Maryland tidewater thing, little bit of Southern, PA Dutch - which is literally a whole different, bizarre language unto itself, basically bastardized German. You can pick out bits and pieces of each.  I never thought I had much of an accent, and made an active effort not to pick it up, until I left the area for college. Every once in a while it would come out a bit and someone would call me on it. 

I just remembered this one- I lived in southeastern BC in about 1980, in coal mining country.  There were lots of Brits there, and some of the kids (All had been in country for roughly the same amount of time) had no appreciable accent while others said things like, "Oh, Mummy, I need new wellies." Attitude, I guess.

Also- nobody is harder to understand on a telephone than a Scottish woman.

I was thinking we were going to be talking about this

I grew up in Virginia and had a noticeable southern accent when we moved to NY. Dad was from Long Island until 17 and mom is from northern PA. Get me South and my accent is back. If I visit Massachusetts I start affecting a Boston accent after a day. There is something special about profanity and a Boston accent.

It is really fun with my wife’s family. My MIL is from Queens and Rockland. It is fun to hear her revert when visiting. Even better is my wife. I don’t think she has spent more than a few days at a time down there, and never farther than Orange County and she picks it up after a few hours. “Qwaffee”

I grew up in the very southern end of NJ. To this day, I still get asked where I am from. My accent is a combination of this area, my Grandmother's oxford English, and my mother' Oxford english/Yooper dialect.

I some how managed to avoid my father's philadelphian accent.

My accent more fits in with the Annapolis area of MD than it does the southern part of NJ.. figure that one out

My screen name lists a handful of the many states in which I've lived. For my first 25 years in Wadsworth (Northeast) and Oxford (SW) Ohio I swore that I was accent free, but after a few years each in SC, RI, FL, CT and now GA... I can discern an Ohio accent when I visit. So much for accent free.

My language definitely assimilates. I start to talk like the people I communicate with daily. My northern friends called me out on picking up a southern accent, and by the time I moved to New England the folks there thought I was southern. But soon I picked up some New England. Then I moved to FL and it became a Heinz 57 blend.

My personal favorite mind berkeley accent is southern Californians of Hispanic ancestry who speak "surf bro". Kinda Cheech and Chong.

Two particularly funny accent related observations:

At a Patriots game in Foxborough, I was asked where I'm from. So I explained. Then.. from a man with a very thick Boston accent I was asked... "how can you stand that Rhode Island accent". LOL is what I did.

More interesting is the Charleston, SC "south of broad" accent. The common SC southern accent (somehow) is non existent and it's practically British. That blew my mind.

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Bob the REAL oil guy. said:

pinchvalve said:

I have always thought that the Accent would make a decent little hot-hatch on a budget.  Hyundai needs a TRD-like arm to offer a turbo and a suspension. 

this is my fave accent:

I like a little swedish in my accent

 

Also- nobody is harder to understand on a telephone than a Scottish woman.

Guess it's in where you're from.  East Tennessee, when my straight outta Robert Burns' land Scottish aunt visited, (along with her broad Midlands UK-accented husband) everyone understood her brogue just fine.  He was speaking English, and she was speaking Scottish, and the locals here had to ask her what he just said!

I've been told I talk funny.  When I was about 19 I went to North Carolina to visit a friend.  His girlfriend would come home about 3am and they'd argue and I'd wake up and excuse myself to the local truck stop diner. A couple days of sitting by myself reading the paper and the waitress asked if I killed anyone.  I said not today and she brought the sheriff down to make sure I wasn't wanted.

In reply to OHSCrifle :

I think there's only three of us here that know what South of Broad means. 

Stampie said:

In reply to OHSCrifle :

I think there's only three of us here that know what South of Broad means. 

I was told it's ova theyyyuuhh.

"It's 'Ride, Sally, Ride,' not 'Roid, Sally ,Roid.'"

mad_machine said:

I grew up in the very southern end of NJ. To this day, I still get asked where I am from. My accent is a combination of this area, my Grandmother's oxford English, and my mother' Oxford english/Yooper dialect.

I some how managed to avoid my father's philadelphian accent.

My accent more fits in with the Annapolis area of MD than it does the southern part of NJ.. figure that one out

Because I think accents have a lot to do with where you grew up as well as your parents.  My ex- grew up in Northern NJ but has zero NNJ accent.  Her mother apparently made a conscious effort to make sure her kids grew up with no discernable accent.

Southern accents have a reputation for being very addictive.  It seems someone can move to the south and pick up the accent without noticing.  This probably one reason why mine comes back so easily if I'm around it.

Sometimes familiarity helps as well.  After some 3-plus decades of watching British sit-coms on TV, I generally have no trouble understanding most accents on the British Isles and likewise when I converse with then in real life.

In reply to Ian F :

Fun fact- your southern accent emerges the moment you start talking about how much you want a General Lee-esque Charger 

Does anybody assign accents to GRM posts in their head?  I know what a number of you sound like, but thanks to the overall demographics at the challenge and other events the rest are assigned randomized midwestern or southern accents because it seems like a coin toss between the two most of the time. 

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

Guilty.  

Just your local Convict checking in.

I have conversed with people from all corners and in between of the county and never have I really paid attention to accents.    Conversing with an Alabama born young lady was enjoyable.

With the mingling of people moving all over the country ,you may run into an accent from Boston in Biloxi.    Being in the service creates a lot of that.

Oh well, we have to have something to talk about.

I grew up in Maryland and west Virginia. According to people in Ohio I have an accent, I just can't hear it lol.

Streetwiseguy said:

Do British people wonder why American singers have English accents?

Question prompted by listening to a Brit singer who, like almost all Brit singers, sounds American when singing but very British when speaking.

I think about this sometimes, and I think it is down to American English's general cadence.  Except for them folk up in New England, we tend to give all syllables their due, and don't drop consonants or add extraneous ones.  All things that are bad juju for lyrics.

Interestingly, non-English speakers say American English sounds like singing.  Hmm.

Keith Tanner said:

I don't have an accent, but somehow people still guess I'm from Canada even after nearly two decades in Colorado. I have no idea what they're talking aboot.

Ha!

Until a few years ago, the most stereotypically "Canadian" accents I had ever heard were from some people from Minnesota who I'd met at Sno*Drift in 2011.  All of the Canadian born/raised friends and acquaintances sounded... well...  "normal" would be an insult to everyone Not From Here, so maybe "unremarkable"?

Until we got one of said friends ripping runk at a 2 day a couple years ago.   it was like he was channeling Bob and Doug, AND Terence & Phillip.

1988RedT2 said:

My qualifications:

I once dated a classically-trained vocalist.

 

When a singer learns the lyrics to a song, they learn them in whatever language or with whatever accent is appropriate.  My friend would regularly sing lyrics in French or German, yet had thorough knowledge of neither language.  Her pronunciation was practiced and very authentic.   Needless to say, her speaking voice didn't sound French or German.  More like New York Italian.

Metallica geek here.  Dream Theater has covered the entire Master Of Puppets album from beginning to end in concert, and it is available on the usual P2P sites as well as YouTube.

I am not well versed in Dream Theater but the accent makes me think some Scottish/Irish blend.  Wikipedia says the singer is from...  well wikipedia is not loading for me right now but i seem to recall either Newfoundland or Nova Scotia.

Definitely an N word.

OHSCrifle said:

My screen name lists a handful of the many states in which I've lived. For my first 25 years in Wadsworth (Northeast) and Oxford (SW) Ohio I swore that I was accent free, but after a few years each in SC, RI, FL, CT and now GA... I can discern an Ohio accent when I visit. So much for accent free.

WHICH Ohio accent?  There are several. People in Youngstown sound different from Toledo sound different from Cincy and I swear I can tell if someone is from Cleveland/west, the East side, or the Western exurbs.  And don't get me started on SE Ohio which sounds more West Virginia than actual West Virginia.