Do you think you have an accent?

Naturally said:
Well aren't you "special" intones challenging physical or mental attributes and usually with straight sarcasm. Or often a polite-sounding way of saying someone thinks you’re being naive, annoying, or a little too pleased with yourself. There’s not much warmth in it unless it’s clearly joking between friends.

“Bless your heart,” especially in the South, is a whole different animal. It can be genuine kindness, but it also doubles as a very soft, socially acceptable insult. It might mean “you poor thing,” or “you don’t know any better,” or even “that was dumb,” depending on context. The trick is that it lets the speaker keep their manners intact while still delivering a judgment.

In other words, well aren’t you special is sarcasm. Bless your heart is context dependent. Sometimes it’s kindness, sometimes it’s a polite way of saying something unkind.

Those two phrases are cousins … but they don’t mean the same thing at all. Well aren’t you special is blunt sarcasm wearing a thin disguise, while bless your heart is a velvet glove possibly holding a sharp, pointy instrument.
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I think I could picture a grandma saying something to her granddaughter like: “You made this all by yourself? Well, aren’t you special.”
Kinda more of an expression of pride. However, I think you're right. It would likely be used more in sarcasm.
 
I am *told* I have an accent, but it's not like I can hear one myself.

What's strange is that I'm told I have something akin to an "Australian" accent. This is due, no doubt, to my having lived in the US as long as I did, and having an American wife and extended family. I lost my original accept completely. Still, accents are affectations, they're boiled in.....
 
I'm from West Virginia. Everybody makes fun of my accent. It's not as soft as a southern accent it's a hillbilly twang. Just like Sissy Spacek in "Coal Miner's Daughter." All my husband's Minnesota relatives think I'm from the south even though I live in Ohio now and West Virginia was never the south. They claim they don't have an accent, but I can tell someone from Minnesota instantly because of the L sound after their O's.
"We don't eat biscuits we eat tolst."
 
Della said:
I'm from West Virginia. Everybody makes fun of my accent. It's not as soft as a southern accent it's a hillbilly twang. Just like Sissy Spacek in "Coal Miner's Daughter." All my husband's Minnesota relatives think I'm from the south even though I live in Ohio now and West Virginia was never the south. They claim they don't have an accent, but I can tell someone from Minnesota instantly because of the L sound after their O's.
"We don't eat biscuits we eat tolst."
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Della.. you know I don't know too much about American accents...I can tell a New Jersey one from an Appalachian one... and an Ohio one from Texan...but that's pretty much it.....

However there's one Youtuber who I occasionally watch.. and she says ''warsh'' instead of wash... and she says it because she's from West Virginia... so I have to ask you...do you say ''warsh'' ? :D
 
hollydolly said:
...do you say ''warsh'' ? :D
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Speaking of which, I served in the Navy with a fella from the state of Washington and he pronounced it Warshington. Latter I was even stationed at Everett in the state of "Warshington". I found some state natives, a few, do pronounce it Warshington but most do not.
 
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jujube said:
"Warsh" is a Hoosier-ism, especially Southern Indiana. My mother would have a fit when we'd say "warsh". We also pronounced route as either root or rut.
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"Route" is pronounced either as "root" (rhymes with boot) or "rowt" (rhymes with out). In British English, "root" is standard. In American English, both are widely used and accepted ... --Gemini
 
I have a French accent. I was brought up by a French mother and an Italian father. I carried the Italian nationality, but my parents separated when I was young, so I was brought up speaking mainly French at home and I went to French schools.
I hate having an accent!
Fortunately, it is getting milder through the years. I don't speak like Macron (ha!) but it is still there!
When I first came to the USA, I only could clearly understand my husband and his relatives. With time, I got used to different accents and people got used to mine.
 
Actually, being from NJ, I don't have a typical Jersey accent. Never say Joisey by the way. Only the clowns from certain areas of NY say that.

At any rate, It's been thought I came from Ohio, or Michigan by people.

There are so many areas of this great big country of the USA, one is bound to hear all manner of accents. One of the fastest talkers I ever met, was a fellow nurse in the Air Force. She was from Tennessee and I never understood a word she said.
 
Lewkat said:
Actually, being from NJ, I don't have a typical Jersey accent. Never say Joisey by the way. Only the clowns from certain areas of NY say that.

At any rate, It's been thought I came from Ohio, or Michigan by people.

There are so many areas of this great big country of the USA, one is bound to hear all manner of accents. One of the fastest talkers I ever met, was a fellow nurse in the Air Force. She was from Tennessee and I never understood a word she said.
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Ha ha ..... When I was stationed at Travis, in Calif, a buddy of mine was from Tennessee as well, and he was a fast talker too, and it was like a fast mumble. When he would say "remember", it would come out as "ruh-mumbah". He was a terrific guy though, and we had some fun times. I knew a couple gals in Chico, and I wanted to introduce him to one of them, so we headed down the road in an old car he had. Well, it broke down about halfway there, and it was going to cost too much to fix, so we just sold it to a junk dealer, and hitch-hiked the rest of the way and took the bus back. We still had a great time.
 
hollydolly said:
Della.. you know I don't know too much about American accents...I can tell a New Jersey one from an Appalachian one... and an Ohio one from Texan...but that's pretty much it.....

However there's one Youtuber who I occasionally watch.. and she says ''warsh'' instead of wash... and she says it because she's from West Virginia... so I have to ask you...do you say ''warsh'' ? :D
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Good catch Holly! Yes! My son teases me about it all the time, usually when I ask him to help me unload the dishwarsher.
 
Oh, yeah, good ol' "bless your heart". I remember my southern Grandma wielding that phrase like a very sharp sword.

It usually means, "You're an idiot but at least you're our idiot and we'll make exceptions for you."

I can remember hearing things like, "That boy, bless his heart, like to kill his mama with his goings-on but she wouldn't hear a bad word about him!" and "Well, he tries his best I guess, bless his heart. He wasn't ever the sharpest one." and you know they're talking about Aunt Bessie's least'un.
 
My Uncle said that when he came out to Australia and went for a job interview, he was asked," are you Welsh? He said yes, but he actually came here from India and didn't want them to think he was Indian (which he wasn't). The Welsh accent is a little like the sing-Songy way of talking, like the Indian accent. Apologies if I offended anyone from Wales.
 
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