Falcon
DV8
- Location
- So. California
Well, I don't know about that; she just said she liked the SOUND of my voice.
Accents?
- Thread starter Ameriscot
- Start date
Well, I don't know about that; she just said she liked the SOUND of my voice.
Oceana
Oceana
- Location
- Vancouver Island, BC, Canada
When I first moved to Canada from Scotland, I was asked in a store if I would "Please speak English!" I wanted to say "why should I? You don't" - but realized they wouldn't understand that either. 40 years later I'm back in Canada (having lived various other places, not Scotland) and everyone seems to think I sound Irish - very strange!
My sons say they can't hear a Scottish accent, they just hear something in a voice that sounds familiar and they know it must be Scottish.
My sons say they can't hear a Scottish accent, they just hear something in a voice that sounds familiar and they know it must be Scottish.
Warrigal
SF VIP
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
I sound like Paul Hogan with a nasal twang, so hardly any accent at all. :yeahright:
My Dh's brother has lived in Melbourne since about age 22 and he's now 58. Glasgow accent still.
Their cousins in Sydney who went as young children on the £10 ships sound of course totally Aussie.
rkunsaw
Well-known Member
- Location
- Clarksville, Arkansas,USA
When the English first came to America they brought their language with them. As they spread through the colonies regional differences began to appear. Through the years the wise people of the southern states revised and improved the original English language until they got it perfect.
SifuPhil
R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
- Location
- Pennsylvania, USA
Just took the test -
"The Inland North" - 93%
No, I call them "soda".
To my ear, Philadelphians have a distinctly different speech pattern - more like "YO, yo, wuchoo doin', man?"
The rest of the answers - the Midland, the South, Boston, the West and North Central - are just plain wrong.
I spent the first half of my life (28 years) in New York, and except when I get excited you would be hard-pressed to figure it out - I do not have the typical "New Yawk" accent.
"The Inland North" - 93%
No, I call them "soda".
To my ear, Philadelphians have a distinctly different speech pattern - more like "YO, yo, wuchoo doin', man?"
The rest of the answers - the Midland, the South, Boston, the West and North Central - are just plain wrong.
I spent the first half of my life (28 years) in New York, and except when I get excited you would be hard-pressed to figure it out - I do not have the typical "New Yawk" accent.
When British people say Americans destroyed the language, I come back with how Americans improved it. I get sour looks.
My sister gets very defensive about American terms and when I say things like 'trainers' and she says tennis shoes she assumes it's saying one word is better than the other. It's just different, not better.
Lee
Senior Member
- Location
- Chatham, Ontario
This is what I got.....not surprising that they mistake me for a Canadian....I am Canadian but living just a hop, skip and a jump across the border from Detroit
"North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
"North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
Just took the test -
"The Inland North" - 93%
No, I call them "soda".
To my ear, Philadelphians have a distinctly different speech pattern - more like "YO, yo, wuchoo doin', man?"
The rest of the answers - the Midland, the South, Boston, the West and North Central - are just plain wrong.
I spent the first half of my life (28 years) in New York, and except when I get excited you would be hard-pressed to figure it out - I do not have the typical "New Yawk" accent.
Being from Michigan I always said pop, and when I moved to TN they always made fun of me for saying pop. Yea, it was much better to call all of them 'coke'.
For some reason I started saying soda, although normally here it's fizzy drink or the brand name of the drink.Oh and as for the name of the thing you push at the supermarket, Michigan was shopping cart, TN was buggy, and the UK is trolley.
Just plain me
Member
The test said and I quote "That's a Southern accent you've got there. You may love it, you may hate it, you may swear you don't have it, but whatever the case, we can hear it.". Being from Kentucky, it was right on. When I moved to Indiana. Only 100+ miles from where I grew up. They used to really laugh at my accent. But I didn't care I was proud of it!
Just plain me
Member
My eyes are not as good as they used to be. That is why I increased the font size. Not yelling!
Debby
Well-known Member
- Location
- East coast of Canada
Here's an example of a purely 'Canadian' accent that only occurs in a corner of the country that calls for endurance to live there. Newfoundland!
No, I'm not a Newfie but we visited there once (wrong time of year in October, let me tell you). The guy in this video is actually more understandable than a couple of old-timers that my husband talked to down on a dock in a little fishing village where we stayed for a week. He wound up doing the old 'smile'n nod' routine because quite honestly, couldn't understand a word the guy was saying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQc43b4OsRg
and this one they discuss the different sounds from different regions of Newfoundland. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqLuIXwsLDw
No, I'm not a Newfie but we visited there once (wrong time of year in October, let me tell you). The guy in this video is actually more understandable than a couple of old-timers that my husband talked to down on a dock in a little fishing village where we stayed for a week. He wound up doing the old 'smile'n nod' routine because quite honestly, couldn't understand a word the guy was saying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQc43b4OsRg
and this one they discuss the different sounds from different regions of Newfoundland. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqLuIXwsLDw
That's okay. Large is fine, it's all caps that does my head in!
There are some wild accents out there! I still have trouble with a thick Glasgwegian accent, but I don't live right in Glasgow. Hear it often enough though.
QuickSilver
SF VIP
- Location
- Midwest
I called it Soda as a little kid.. because my mom did.. her dad grew up in New York. However, as I got older, I started using the correct term.. which of course is POP
I've always heard that pop was a Michigan or at least a midwest word, but then someone in England said they also used it.
QuickSilver
SF VIP
- Location
- Midwest
I don't know about the "southern" accent being better... I can take a shower, fix my hair and get dressed before a Southerner can finish a sentence.. TOOOOOO SLOOOOOOW. I will say the US DID improve English.. getting rid of the unnecessary OU in everything.. Colour... Flavour.. etc..
LOL. It's the original spelling of the words. I've switched many words to the British spelling and now color looks incorrect. The one I'm sick of hearing about is in Britain it's aluminium, in the US it's aluminum. So the British are always asking why Americans can't pronounce aluminium correctly. All are surprised that it is spelled differently.
Jackie22
Well-known Member
- Location
- Northeast Texas
LOL.....now 'yall' know us Texans only speak SLOOOOOOOW.
QuickSilver
SF VIP
- Location
- Midwest
lol!! My first husband's family lived in Alabama.. when we would visit them everyone wanted to hear me talk because "Ya'll talk so fast and crisp" Crisp? Guess cuz I actually ended my words... instead of drawling them out. I liked to hear them talk..and I have to admit that I sometimes couldn't understand but every other word or so..
This is funny!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUFL2GT1-2g
Jackie22
Well-known Member
- Location
- Northeast Texas
Have you ever heard the ''Geordie'' accent..even Brits can't understand it!
Aye! I have a trouble with quite a few English accents. I used to have trouble understanding a Welsh accent but not now. Guess I've heard enough of them on tv to become attuned to them, because I'm never around Welsh people. I didn't have too much trouble in Yorkshire but then I've only visited York and Whitby.
If you've ever heard Charlie Hunnam who plays on Sons of Anarchy with an American accent, it's very hard to imagine that he actually comes from Newcastle.