Do you notice accents?

We have a friend from India and when he speaks each word is pronounced slowly and quietly. I love to listen to him. I've been told I have the worst Jersey accent people have ever heard. I think everyone else sounds strange.
 

Some of the Yankees higher up the New England coast still don't pronounce "R"'s like the early settlers. Maine, parts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire; but not so must the rest. Certainly not CT.
 
I can detect an accent pretty fast, be it a Southern, Boston, South America, Asian or Europian. May take the person speaking a few sentences, but, if they have one, I'll pick it up and ask them about it.
 

Pinky said:
There are so many nationalities here that I am in heaven just hearing them, and guessing where the different dialects originate from.

I got a kick out of being told I had an accent, when I lived in South Australia. They always assumed I was "American" .. had to correct them, that I am Canadian.
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Most people here can't tell the difference between an American and Canadian accent...I can.... :D
 
jujube said:
I wish I could "do" accents. I'm a big joke teller and sometimes I try to get the accent right and fail miserably. The only accent I can do fairly well is Italian for some reason, and even that wouldn't fool anyone.

Sometimes I've been told that I have a touch of a "Tidewater" accent. I lived there for a while.
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My husband can imitate most accents, ..it's funny because he doesn't know what accent he's mimicking, just that he can copy anyone he hears... whereas I can identify most accents, ( definitely in the UK) but can't mimic them... I'm useless at that
 
RadishRose said:
Some of the Yankees higher up the New England coast still don't pronounce "R"'s like the early settlers. Maine, parts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire; but not so must the rest. Certainly not CT.
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Rose - A long ago friend of mine grew up in far northwestern CT. His mother had the most beautiful accent. She was very soft spoken ... I recall her pronunciation of the word "book" rhymed with "fluke".
 
Tommy said:
Rose - A long ago friend of mine grew up in far northwestern CT. His mother had the most beautiful accent. She was very soft spoken ... I recall her pronunciation of the word "book" rhymed with "fluke".
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Gee Tommy, that's not familiar to me. I'm a bit south of central. Interesting.
 
treeguy64 said:
I'm very good at identifying accents. When I drove a cab, to get through college, I freaked out my passengers, at times, by telling them where they were from. This one guy, from Saskatoon, got so flustered he blurted out, "Wait, do I know you?" The negative aspect of this is that I can't tolerate those actors whose attempt to do accents is a joke.
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This!

Outback steakhouse used to heavily promote the restaurant on TV and the radio. Maybe they still do, but I just don't watch TV anymore so I have no clue and I haven't heard them on the radio in forever.

Anyway their commercials were always voiced by an "Australian." Riiiiiight. I would cringe every single time I heard the ad. To a non-Aussie it probably sounded authentic. And I'll admit the person wasn't bad....but he definitely was NOT an Aussie. There were certain words, certain inflections on certain words, that was just so OFF!!! It made me crazy.
 
Ok, as far as accents. I think it is 'generally accepted' that Americans like the sound of the 'posh' British accent. But, is there a name for that? I've read, somewhere, that there are North, South, and East London accents. Supposedly, the North London is the one Americans tend to like. Or is that bollocks?
 
I love accents, and have had fun trying to imitate some of them. (My own native accent is pure New Jersey.) A few days ago, I sang a couple of comic songs in a show we did, both in accents other than my own. One was
sort of hillbilly (a parody of a ridiculous country western song), and one was Irish.
 
I like to hear the French speak English
So smooth, soft, fluid

They even make the phrase ‘Hey, I gotta take a dump’ sound beautiful

‘Pardon me, but, I must poo poo’


Heh, I worked with a young engineer from Australia
Thick Aussie accent
Only he was Japanese

Talk about throw ya when he spoke
 
treeguy64 said:
I'm very good at identifying accents. When I drove a cab, to get through college, I freaked out my passengers, at times, by telling them where they were from. This one guy, from Saskatoon, got so flustered he blurted out, "Wait, do I know you?" The negative aspect of this is that I can't tolerate those actors whose attempt to do accents is a joke. Streep, loved by so many, is truly terrible, to a comical extent. In the same movie, her accent will change over the movie's duration. Terrible.
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Lewis says it best. A Southern Humorist from Atlanta Ga..

 
Gary O' said:
I like to hear the French speak English
So smooth, soft, fluid

They even make the phrase ‘Hey, I gotta take a dump’ sound beautiful

‘Pardon me, but, I must poo poo’


Heh, I worked with a young engineer from Australia
Thick Aussie accent
Only he was Japanese

Talk about throw ya when he spoke
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I had the same reaction when I lived in Australia and came across Asians with a heavy Aussie accent .. when I spoke, they looked at me like I was an alien - a Japanese Canadian without an Aussie accent - and technically, I was.

It's always fun when we have a large get-together which includes all the extended family members and their partners. There are many accents to be heard .. Turkish, Polish, Scottish, Japanese, Korean - and the different Middle Eastern accents. I always say it feels like we're at the United Nations, and, I love it.
 
When I was on an LBC phone Ian Dale said he loved my Welsh accent.I do notice them and some of them I love.The various West Indian accents in particular.
 
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