Accents? Do they throw you?

[delete this account pls]

On the telly.

[delete this account pls]

But first I need to get some petrol.

[Arbor Gold]

Your tv runs on gas? Weird.

[S John]

Accents dont normally throw me, but I know a lot of actual hillbilly's so maybe thats why.

But... there is this guy at work who has the oddest American accent I have ever heard and it does throw me. Mostly because I couldnt place it at all. I didnt say anything about it, but somebody else did and he explained that it was either 'old english' or 'old virginia', I cant remember which. Anyway, he is from some fairly isolated town in Virginia (I think its on the eastern peninsula) and his family had been there for 400 years. Some of his pronunciations are just plain odd and I wouldnt characterize it as similar to either US southern or english. Its kind of a neat accent though, very unique.

[Guest Ro_]

I have a hard time with southern accents because its SOOOO SLOOOOOOOW and the ennunciation is horrible. I have the attention span of a gnat so my brain starts wandering off as I wait for a sentence to complete. And yes, it does sound less bright to me - only the reeaaaally bad ones tho. For instince, Greg has a lovely accent.

I never thought I had an accent until YW plagued me to death about my 'Fargo' accent. I totally did not believe him, and rightly so. When we did TorCon, I found out I have a Candadian accent. :D

[Jaime L]

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.

Holy shit.

This is like the last scene in Primal Fear. He's been acting all along.

[delete this account pls]

Fair suck of the sauce bottle. I'm flat out like a lizard drinking this arvo.

[Mack Kilimaro]

Accents make life more interesting. I admit, sometimes I will laugh at the totally redneck ones, but only if they are saying something ridiculous. English speakers from other countries with vastly different slang are only even more often.

In suburban Ohio in a Target, I passed by a family where the mother and a young girl were conversing about their pets. I forget what led to the comment, but the little girl said very innocently, "Ah guess that's wha kates and DOHgs shouldn't lee-yuhv togayther." (I guess that's why cats and dogs shouldn't live together.) I had to sprint away in order to politely laugh.

I find that I speak in a more exaggerated Baltimorean manner when I am outside of the area. Perhaps that's my way of repping my roots. Or maybe it keeps me from missing home. I don't know.

[Lord O' Bones]

Dear LoB,

Go fuck yourself.

Sincerely,

The City of Brotherly Shove

See what I mean? Amazingly consistent.

*get's ready to duck a flung battery*

[Yagathai]

Batteries? We threw batteries at Santa Claus during the Christmas parade. We save batteries for the people that we really like.

[cjfshaw]

I used to work at a bar, and there was an asian woman there who spoke with a british accent. I had to do a double take and ask her to speak again. This was years ago, way back in high school. I had never experienced this before and it blew my mind.

[cjfshaw]

Batteries? We threw batteries at Santa Claus during the Christmas parade. We save batteries for the people that we really like.

And snowballs and beer cans if it is during a sports game.

[Mya Stone]

Braids, seriously? :lol:

Well, how about this? Did you know crikey means gee whiz, wow?

Right now I'm high as a kite, mate. I'm flat out like a lizard drinking, all the time. You know I have trouble just sitting here. You know, I'm just like, got to get up.

And I have no fear of losing my life - if I have to save a koala or a crocodile or a kangaroo or a snake, mate, I will save it.

[Stubby]

Fair suck of the sauce bottle. I'm flat out like a lizard drinking this arvo.

Pull your head in mate! Chuckin a dummy spit won't help. Haven't you shot through yet? I thought you were gettin ready to bugger off to seppoland?

OT: I still struggle to accept that there are different accents within Australia. We use different expressions depending on where we come from (eg- there are different names for the same sized beer glass in every State) but I think we all the sound the same. Others disagree. As to the multitude of US and British Isles accents - I can usually spot the differences fairly well.

[Lightning Lord]

I hear so many different English accents in a given week that I've pretty much stopped noticing. I can separate the British accents, can manage Australian from Kiwi and those crazy SAfers are just plain doing their own thing.

When non-native speakers use English, gets a little trickier. I can figure out China-Korea-Japan readily enough. But I get screwed when it comes to German-Dutch-Scandinavian. If people from those places speak English to me, I have no idea which they are from.

Also, as an American male, accents enrage me out of pure jealousy. When pursuing the ladies, American girls automatically add 3 points on the 1-10 scale for a guy with an accent. Fucking ridiculous. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen my female friends swoon for total douchebags just because they are from Australia or Britain or wherever. :tantrum: Nothing against the people...just the accents...

[naz]

I guess I've never had this issue since, by the time one has grown up in New York City, one has heard probably every accent known to man.

Usually in the course of a single day.

eta: Although, I will admit it took me a long, long time to figure out the differences between various Hispanic accents. I'm still not very good at it.

[CloudFlare]

I used to work at a bar, and there was an asian woman there who spoke with a british accent. I had to do a double take and ask her to speak again. This was years ago, way back in high school. I had never experienced this before and it blew my mind.

Yep, this has startled me as well. Or blacks who speak with English accents, but not Caribbean ones. Vietnamese with Australian accents as well.

I've also tried to speak English to east Asians in Europe because I assume they are American, not natives of whatever country they are in.

It's interesting what your mind perceives as "correct associations"

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.

Particularly PR women.

I also have trouble with Indian accents.

[dalThor]

I hear so many different English accents in a given week that I've pretty much stopped noticing. I can separate the British accents, can manage Australian from Kiwi and those crazy SAfers are just plain doing their own thing.

This. The occasions in which I hear English without an accent are so rare it doesn't even register anymore.

[Galactus]

There's this black norwegian guy I run into occasionally. That always throws me off.

[MinDonner]

I think I mentioned this in the last accent thread, but the funniest accent/face combination I ever saw was a Scandinavian guy who'd been living with his black girlfriend in Harlem, and had picked up all the slang. So, tall blond pasty-white bloke with a hint of Swedish in his accent, saying things like "I got the need, brother!"... made for many a double-take. :stunned: