I Love Accents-----Do You?

[RadishRose]

Yes, accents fascinate me and I like to stumble across info on how they evolved.

One night a bunch of us girls met for dinner. The waiter was from France. OMG, we were all in love by the time our plates came!

 

[Gaer]

You know what gets me? Scottish, Irish or welsh accents! Wow! It's like sending magnetic energy through me. It's so exciting to listen to!

 

[Don M.]

My wife is from Germany, and she still has an accent, even after being here for over 50 years. Every once in awhile, I still have to have her repeat something, so that I understand it correctly.

The accent I have trouble with is the British/English speakers...It seems that they never pronounce the letter "R".

 

[JaniceM]

I'm not particularly fond of the US Northeastern accents.. To harsh.. and they really need to learn how to say their "R's"


Being from Chicago.. I of course have NO accent at all.

[video]http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the+chicago+accent&view=detail&mid=B8F8BC B2A7381511820AB8F8BCB2A7381511820A&FORM=VIRE[/video]

So is that the reason Chicagoans (or some, at least) put extra syllables in words- because we don't generally bother with "unnecessary" letters?

New Yo..ORK ORK ORK!!!! Happy?

 

[Sunny]

I like the same accents that Gaer does.

 

[C'est Moi]

 

[win231]

I also love accents & always have. It's so boring when everyone talks the same way. Same with skin colors & different features - boring when everyone looks the same.

 

[Keesha]

Yessss. I love accents too. Those who really stand out and I remember are people with strong accents who are friendly and personable.

 

[MarciKS]

I love accents from people from Louisiana and listening to French.

 

[Ken N Tx]

 

[Lewkat]

I am from NJ/NY area and most people think I am from the mid west. No trace of the usual accent I guess due to education.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

Awww! This has always been one of my most favorite topics-accents. I was born and raised in Massachusetts. I just couldn't figure out why people said Kennedy had an accent???????? I love talking to my brother, back home. The accent takes me back to my childhood. If you travel around the US, it really looks the same- a mall, McDonalds, developments ,the interstate. Why travel? But, an accent makes somewhere into a place. A unique place, all its own.

 

[Camper6]

My New England accent always amused some people I met in the service from other parts of the country. Some ask me to say words like tomato and potato, car and garage, and then they would laugh out loud...

New England? I visited there. You should have heard them laugh when I pronounced Leominster and Worcester. I'm from Canada and I had no problem with New England speakers. In fact they sound just like Canadians. The Kennedys seem to have a more pronounced accent.

 

[katlupe]

Of course, I don't have an accent, I am from upstate NY.

I did though grow up in the south and took a lot of picking on for being a "Yankee". Now I love the videos my southern friends' post on FB that they are talking in and I hear their southern accents.

 

[Capt Lightning]

When I took a taxi (especially when abroad), I would often write my destination on a card and give it to the driver - it saved any misunderstandings. My children have a sort of 'home counties' accent (rather than Hampshire) and my daughter said that one time in Liverpool, she showed a taxi driver the address of where she wanted to go. He looked at her and said (as she put it) in an accest that could have sandblasted granite, "You're not English, are you"

I've been asked several times if I came from Orkney or Wester Ross.

 

[Pinky]

Some Australians thought I sounded British!
I love ALL accents.

 

[hollydolly]

You know what gets me? Scottish, Irish or welsh accents! Wow! It's like sending magnetic energy through me. It's so exciting to listen to!

I am Scottish born and raised.. to Irish grandparents.. and of course I have a Scottish accent . When I first came to England of course my accent was very thick and strong but the English were super rude, whenever I spoke they'd look at the person behind me and in a sneering manner say ''What did she say '' .. however my husband who is English likes my accent which is much more mellowed today

 

[hollydolly]

I have a passion for accents, and I always laugh when Americans in particualr say they don't have an accent... believe me you ALL have different accents..

 

[Sunny]

Just ask anyone to say, "Park the car." The way they say it is a dead giveaway.

 

[AnnieA]

I have a passion for accents, and I always laugh when Americans in particualr say they don't have an accent... believe me you ALL have different accents..

Same here! I love to guess American accents when meeting people in/from different parts of the country and usually get pretty close. But even growing up near NOLA, they're hard to pin down when out of the city; some sound straight out of Brooklyn.

Nigerians have beautiful accents when speaking English.

 

[tbeltrans]

Personally, I enjoy various accents.

Oddly, the most difficult accent for me to understand when on engineering phone conferences was the Scottish brogue. I have been involved in phone conferences with folks in a variety of countries and was always able to understand what was being said, regardless of the accent - except the Scottish brogue. I would have thought that people in Israel, or maybe China would be difficult to understand, but that was not the case. I think it had something to do with speaking over the phone and how it processes voice frequencies to minimize bandwidth (a guess on my part), because that was not an issue with satellite teleconferencing.

Tony

 

[CinnamonSugar]

You know what gets me? Scottish, Irish or welsh accents! Wow! It's like sending magnetic energy through me. It's so exciting to listen to!

when I was in Seattle, there was a favorite Irish pub... the young Irish waiter with the lovely lilting accent asked, “would you be wanting anything else miss?” I wanted to say, “No, I’m done eating. But keep talking, l’ll order some more just to hear you talk “

 

[hollydolly]

when I was in Seattle, there was a favorite Irish pub... the young Irish waiter with the lovely lilting accent asked, “would you be wanting anything else miss?” I wanted to say, “No, I’m done eating. But keep talking, l’ll order some more just to hear you talk “

:Like the English and the Scots and Welsh... there's no such thing as ''an Irish accent''.. per se... there's a whole world of difference between a Northern Irish, and Southern Irish accent.. and then of course every Irish county has it's own brogue like we do in Scotland . Scotland and Ireland being close neighbours and both Celtic means that we look on each other as cousins

 

[fuzzybuddy]

I was born and raised in Massachusetts. I couldn't understand why people said JFK had an accent. To me, it's how everybody talked. I've been living in PA for 50 years, so I've lost that accent. I'm also from French Canadian stock. I love going to Montreal and to hear that French accent. It reminds me of my grandparents, who spoke. with that accent. I've been fascinated by accents my whole life. They are like little snippets of history that tell you where your ancestors were. I've read some of the posts from the UK division of the forum, and over there it's like accents on steroids.

 

[hollydolly]

Of course, I don't have an accent, I am from upstate NY.

I did though grow up in the south and took a lot of picking on for being a "Yankee". Now I love the videos my southern friends' post on FB that they are talking in and I hear their southern accents.

hahaha..oh yes you do have an accent... as a Non American I can hear the difference in all of your accents.. even though none of you think you have one.. .. I may not get the right state very often ( although a few are very distinct, like NY, NJ, Boston etc).. but I know they're all different.