In this Discussion
- auntscale1 April 2007
- beat32calf April 2007
- DJRose April 2007
- dollarflame6 April 2007
- jedi_grrlie April 2007
- jumbofuel6 April 2007
- mumblo April 2007
- sherib April 2007
- suit6lion April 2007
- sureeyesawake April 2007
- target35ghost April 2007
- thephantommilk April 2007
- veinleo09 April 2007
- women60banana April 2007
- yak63geese April 2007
- ytel82 April 2007
Comments
When I was four I moved to San Francisco (briefly) and by the end of my 6 months or what ever it was over there, I had an American / Californian accent. The video of me as a little kid is hilarious. But when I moved back, the English accent came back fairly quickly. Actually, I spent about 4 days in Nottingham recently and I started saying "glass" and "grass" like they do instead of my posh-ish "glarss" and "graarss" type accent. Maybe I'm just malleable?
Katy - I love french accents! I try to get it perfect but it's so hard...
Lety, I think I've got "But Ms. Love" or whatever it's called--does that help?
Lety, I think I've got "But Ms. Love" or whatever it's called--does that help?
Argh, I knew that sounded bad! I was in a hurry.
Soooorrrrry, I wish that didn't offend you ...
Aw, did I? It is quite the haunting huge eyeball. Again, nice picture--thanks!
erections
erections
Yeah. I remember because I hadn't even noticed it until you mentioned it
Curse you Sheri!
I also thought Worcester was eastern Mass. But I'm from Ohio, so what do I know? I just went to college in Amherst, and that's definitely western Mass.
About accents: I spent a semester in Colchester, UK, when I was 20. Since going to the student bar was just about the only thing to do for fun, I drank a lot of lager there - not in volume, but in frequency. Meanwhile I'm surrounded by English people, and I pick up accents really quickly. Anyway this went on for three months, and I swear to God, when I came back to the US, for the next three months, every time I got drunk past a certain level, I would start speaking with a British accent, and I couldn't control it. This is how I know that our brains are indeed shaped by their environment (and alcohol consumption).
I collect accents as well. Sometimes in the car, I'll talk out loud in some accent, just to amuse myself.
That reminds me of my own drinking and accents story. When I lived in NYC, I worked pretty hard on not having a Texas accent, and I was pretty successful, except when I was drinking. My best friend said she could tell when I was getting drunk because all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I would start to twang-g-g-g-g. She thought it was hilarious. I have more of an accent nowadays because I moved to Virginia, and then worked for a boss with a hardcore Texas accent for two years.
I'm weird about picking up accents too. I came back after three days in London this February sounding incredibly affected, because that's all the time it took for me to start picking up the accent and speech patterns, especially when saying "thank you" and "all right?" I sounded like someone incredibly pretentious trying to pass herself off as English, but with a really bad accent because I hadn't spent enough time there to get it right yet.
bluecanary, do you say "dawg" and "cawffee" instead of "dog" and "coffee"? LOL That's all right. It's better than referring to NUKULAR weapons. That Texasism has driven me up the wall since I was a kid. I grind my teeth every time the President says it.
Sheri, I was driving down the road yesterday right next to a truck with a circular logo that said "American Erectors, Inc.". I had to do a triple take!
Edit: Damn! Why did this weird post have to be at the top of a page!?
About accents: I spent a semester in Colchester, UK, when I was 20. Since going to the student bar was just about the only thing to do for fun, I drank a lot of lager there - not in volume, but in frequency. Meanwhile I'm surrounded by English people, and I pick up accents really quickly. Anyway this went on for three months, and I swear to God, when I came back to the US, for the next three months, every time I got drunk past a certain level, I would start speaking with a British accent, and I couldn't control it. This is how I know that our brains are indeed shaped by their environment (and alcohol consumption).
I collect accents as well. Sometimes in the car, I'll talk out loud in some accent, just to amuse myself.
Same thing happened to me when I spent a year there, and it'd still come out later in the U.S. when I drank beer. ODD! It wasn't intentional, but like Azulaco I felt like everyone thought "pretentious ass!" I guess it's all about situational context bringing things back. While I was there I picked up some sort of accent. A taxi driver in the U.K. told me that I "lost my accent'.
I have people beg me to do U.K. accents. They're especially amused by the roll-y "O" sounds like in "No" or "I'm gOing hOme for the weekend that people near London tend to do.
Now since living in Germany, when I drink beer and speak English, I get confused and get my phrasing backwards, kinda talk like Yoda, and stammer a lot. But with an American accent, as far as I know.
Karen, I think I would like to hang out with you!
By the way, I just now had a chance to watch the Boston TV clip. The accents were sweet, but Damian looks a little rough around the edges.
At least he's not wearing "the shirt."
Edit: Damn! Why did this weird post have to be at the top of a page!?
I want to hear Paris stories from you! And did you go around saying "pamplemousse"? (sorry, I'm sure I spelled that wrong)
Yeah, I go to Smith, though, yeah, like you said, I´m abroad (heee) this year. Paris stories? Um. I got drunk with my friends on a street corner in Montmartre one time. And I haven´t said "pamplemousse" too much, but Damian has the two out of three times I´ve seen them here, haha.
Katy - I love french accents! I try to get it perfect but it's so hard...
I´m exactly the same way as you and everybody else with the British accent. Around Barry, I was always fine, because he was absorbing my accent instead of the other way around. (More than once while I was at his place, his friends would be like, "Dude, stop talking with an American accent." Except all British-like, because y´all don´t really say "dude.") But whenever I was at Jen´s place, I´d start picking up her accent, and I couldn´t get out of it. I was almost unconscious- I knew I was slipping into it, but I couldn´t help it, and I wasn´t doing it purposefully.
As for the French accent, I was on the phone with my dad on Monday and stopped to talk to a Portuguese man who spoke French to complain about how 1) I was basically stranded there, as my dad was still in Lisbon and I didn´t have a way to contact my dad´s uncle and 2) the fucking airline lost my fucking luggage. Everything´s fine now, but at the time, I was pissed and crying and going off in French, and my dad was like, "I thought I was listening to a little old irate French lady."
I want to go to a show in Paris, just for that experience!!
That is one of the highest compliments anyone could ever give me.
I would give almost anything to be a little irate french lady.
Not old tho, yet.
Yeah, well, thatºs (Iºm using that thinger ºcause Iºm too lazy to use the pseudo-apostrophe key) the part that got to me.
I grew up in Southwestern CT and in my experience, the stereotypical New England accent is more prevalent the further east you move. I went to summer camp in Great Barrington, Mass, which wasn't all that far from Worcester, and I don't remember an accent. In fact, the only accents I ever heard those summers were the Long Island ones!!!!!
Haha, I've been kinda bogged down lately.
sorry.
erm, I think they're kinda awful and yet hysterical, actually. specially since it's NY that says "hawp" instead of "hop" and bostonians would say "hahp"
like, instead of "bawston" it's "baahhstin"...
and people really need to get over "wicked"... especially "wicked pissah" since I've never actually heard anyone say wicked pissah although I'm sure it happens.
and Worcester is Center Mass... to bostonians everything west is Western Mass, but like Katy said, to anyone in the real western part of the state, Worcester is Eastern Mass. kind of like how in NY there's a big debate about what counts as upstate.
oh, and that picture of them with the lobster? hanging on my bedroom wall. It's from the events section of the Boston Globe from a while ago.... but it's like, the best picture ever.
obviously.
sorry.
to bostonians everything west is Western Mass, but like Katy said, to anyone in the real western part of the state, Worcester is Eastern Mass. kind of like how in NY there's a big debate about what counts as upstate.
haha, perfect explanation!