Accents? Do they throw you?

[TheBigTEA]

I was just reading through the weight discrimination thread (awesome awesome thread) and it occurred to me that while I am pretty good about not treating people different for race, sex or weight I really suck at preconceived notions about people based of their regional accent.

I am from the mid-west so obviously all of this is with a bias with my regional accent.

I talked to a gal from Kentucky the other day and she was blowing me away with some of the stuff she was saying. Smart, concise and insightful. I could not believe it and after thinking about it for a while I realized I am an asshole. The reason I could not believe it was not because she was gorgeous, or that she was blonde or that she was a woman...it was because of the slow "hillbilly" accent she had.

Anyone else have this or is this just me?

Anyone with a Boston accent I expect them to be foul mouth jack asses like Dignam from "the Departed".

Have an English accent and a man? I automatically think you are an arrogant prick. English and a woman? Well that is just HOT.

French accent? You have a 60/40 chance of being a effeminate "nancy-boy".

Texas drawl? Cowboy hat and boots looking to do some shooting?

Anyone? Or am I just a shielded Hick?

[Ocean of Notions]

I don't usually associate any sort of overarching personality trait with accents. That might be because I didn't spend the first few years of my life speaking English, but another language.

I actually really enjoy hearing different accents, even if the difference (from my own accent, which happens to also be Midwestern USA) is very subtle. It's fun trying to figure out where the accent is from.

[Jaime L]

I'm pretty sure all accents are fake.

Don't play their game. Just stare at them impatiently, like I do.

[Nichole]

I associate the Utah accent with someone being Mormon.

[Ser_not_appearing_yet]

Once you meet more of these regional people you generally lose these pre-conceived ideas.

Case in point, one of my flatmates is a french guy, and he's about as far away from 'effeminate' as its possible to be.

I am thrown of by accents though. Particularly bulgarian, there's this one guy whose name i've asked 15 times yet never understood what he said. It sounds like some sort of guttural barking noise.

[Nehet]

I'm normally not one to notice accents much beyond realizing they have one different from mine and that's it. However, this is a very human reaction to notice something different about someone else and pass a judgment based on this. Granted, we also have other means to counteract this, which is a good thing in my opinion.

[TheBigTEA]

I don't usually associate any sort of overarching personality trait with accents. That might be because I didn't spend the first few years of my life speaking English, but another language.

I actually really enjoy hearing different accents, even if the difference (from my own accent, which happens to also be Midwestern USA) is very subtle. It's fun trying to figure out where the accent is from.

This kind of plays into my idea about why I have stereotypes for people with accents...not used to hearing them. I grew up in Wisconsin and never really traveled outside of the state. The only accent I really ever heard as a kid was the "yoopers" which I thought was funny (yous guys? so damn funny if you have heard it) and, like Jaime L, fake and my grandpa who had a thick German accent.

I have also decided that women with accents is > than men with accents. I want to love the women, punch the guys.

[Jed o' Tarth]

I tend to want to be around people with any hint of an Irish accent because I love the sound.

I also tend to want to avoid people with French accents because I hate the sound.

ETA: I also avoid Hispanics rattling off Spanish at 1000mph. They tend to take one look at me and think I can understand them and respond. I've had college Spanish... and that's it.

[delete this account pls]

I'm still struggling to accept that American people have American accents. JUST LIKE ON TV!

[Hereward]

Have an English accent and a man? I automatically think you are an arrogant prick.

You are misguided. I am not an arrogant prick, I am simply inherently superior.

[TheBigTEA]

I'm still struggling to accept that American people have American accents. JUST LIKE ON TV!

Most of the "accents" on TV don't sound like accents at all to me.

I think that is God's way of saying I am awesome. Right?

[Lord of Oop North]

You speak another language? Welcome to my pants.

[gladius]

I can recognize from which part of the country is someone coming from based on the accent and words that are more commonly or almost exclusively used in certain geographical areas. That doesn't tell me much, however, and it doesn't bother me.

On the other hand, there are some English accents that i find unpleasant. Mainly those from England.

[Lord O' Bones]

I talked to a gal from Kentucky the other day and she was blowing me away with some of the stuff she was saying. Smart, concise and insightful. I could not believe it and after thinking about it for a while I realized I am an asshole. The reason I could not believe it was not because she was gorgeous, or that she was blonde or that she was a woman...it was because of the slow "hillbilly" accent she had.

Anyone else have this or is this just me?

My roommate does this. He would regularly mention that he was sorry, but he can't take anyone seriously that sounds like that. Then I would would remind him that my whole family is from Kentucky, and he would shut up. Now he just groans when he hears a southern drawl. I want to punch him.

Anyone with a Boston accent I expect them to be foul mouth jack asses like Dignam from "the Departed".

I admit, the first time I met a guy with a hahdcoah Boston accent, I was surprised by how nice he was. On the other hand, every guy I've ever met that sounds like he's from Philly, has been an asshole. Even the couple I liked. :dunno:

[Yagathai]

On the other hand, every guy I've ever met that sounds like he's from Philly, has been an asshole. Even the couple I liked. :dunno:

Dear LoB,

Go fuck yourself.

Sincerely,

The City of Brotherly Shove

[Mya Stone]

My favorite thing to be asked is, "Why don't you say pahhhk the cahhh like most people from MA do?"

My answer varies, but it's normally something like, "Did you know MA went to the west past Worchester? No? Most Boston people don't, either." :P

And to Raceypoo, who thinks I do like to shout out NOMAHHHHH! and talk like I'm Matt Damon's little sister in Good Will Hunting (and if I did, it's in the privacy of my own home), shut up. I do NOT. :tantrum:

[Arbor Gold]

European accents really screw with my gaydar.

[Adz of CCAA]

I can recognize from which part of the country is someone coming from based on the accent and words that are more commonly or almost exclusively used in certain geographical areas. That doesn't tell me much, however, and it doesn't bother me.

On the other hand, there are some English accents that i find unpleasant. Mainly those from England.

I can do that too. :)

And it doesn't bother me listening to accents, or dialects as we call it. I'm not quite sure if there's a difference, but there may be.

Anyway. Of course there are dialects which I like more, like the one spoken in my home town.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6lsch_language

Which, btw, is mostly represented quite awfully on tv by non-native-Kölsch-speakers. :ack: And people from out of town tend to look down on people speaking kölsch in every day life. Which isn't done a lot anyway, we talk more of a regiolect. Which is somehow a watered down dialect. But it's done anyway because kölsch can sound quite coarse to the "untrained" ear.

My mum is from a rural hilly area to the south of Cologne, called Eifel. There every village talks a little different. I love to listen to her talking to her siblings or other relatives. I understand most of it, though I don't speak it, apart from a few words.

I met a guy once who had been living in Cologne for more than 20 years and who had lost his accent. Well most of it. Because I could still hear that he was from the Eifel, too. He was quite astonished that I could tell it. Different part than my mum but I still recognized it. ;)

I don't have a problem with British English accents, other that I tend to not understand them very well. Or so I think. On the other hand I met a guy in 2006 during the football world cup who was from Manchester, IIRC, and although he was quite drunk I didn't have much of a problem understanding him. We had a nice evening together with other people in the pub watching football. :)

I can't tell the difference between any English accents, be that British or American.

Ok, I could maybe tell if someone is from the UK or the US. But that's about it.

When I was in the US 11 years ago some people told me that I sounded "american" (can't remember which region they said, though). I remember laying in the street and cursing/swearing in English after spraining my ankle. I really have no problem saying Scheiße! (shit) in German in Germany, although we often say shit, too. But I couldn't do it as I was laying there. That was on San Juan Island in the Puget Sound. ;)

Edited to adjust the link post.

[Ocean of Notions]

You speak another language? Welcome to my pants.

Why would anyone want that? I'd want a perfectly new pair, not something worn!

:P

[delete this account pls]

I still don't get why Americans don't understand what dinner is. I'm speaking the Queen's English here ya flaming drongoes. Stop taking the piss. I need a smokeo to calm down, might play the pokies and grow a mo as well, then watch the Simmos.