Do you have a strong regional accent?

[stargazingboi]

OK...sooo I've been told I have an accent. I've been told it's abrasive *shrugs* I don't see it...do you?

[Amulette]

I find it interesting how anyone outside "our" region sounds different, and that "ours" is normal. And how there can be layers of both cultural and region speech patterns that mix.Throw in the ability to speak more than one language and and the layers deepen. Such a varied field of flowers, us humans.

[randrum]

I've been told I have a Chicago accent. Personally, I don't think I do. But I think it's harder to recognize an accent in yourself than hearing it in other people. A good friend of mine always makes me repeat the word "quarter". Apparently I say it funny.

What I do notice more is the slang and colloquialisms I have a tendency to use. Like sitting in the "front room", wearing "gym shoes", and drinking "pop".

[Daniela]

Originally Posted by randrum

I've been told I have a Chicago accent. Personally, I don't think I do. But I think it's harder to recognize an accent in yourself than hearing it in other people. A good friend of mine always makes me repeat the word "quarter". Apparently I say it funny.

What I do notice more is the slang and colloquialisms I have a tendency to use. Like sitting in the "front room", wearing "gym shoes", and drinking "pop".

It's interesting to hear the different colloquialisms people use.

People often say "cut the lights off," instead of "turn the lights off," in GA. I have a friend from St Louis who said she never heard someone say "shot a bird" instead of "flip a bird." Of course everyone drinks Coke, so there is no "pop."

[Rockinonahigh]

I have a mix of Italian,cajun and southern drawl,understandable ??Ask Fever.

[homoe]

Being born and raised in Upper Michigan I never heard pop called Soda till I moved to the big city of Milwaukee

Another thing they said in the city that I'd never heard of "we're going to go by so and so's" I never understood why they said "by" instead of "to" so and so's I mean to me going by someone's place meant to just drive by not stop and visit!

[Ascot]

Regional, no. Pedantic, alas, yes.

[stargazingboi]

Originally Posted by homoe

Being born and raised in Upper Michigan I never heard pop called Soda till I moved to the big city of Milwaukee

Another thing they said in the city that I'd never heard of "we're going to go by so and so's" I never understood why they said "by" instead of "to" so and so's I mean to me going by someone's place meant to just drive by not stop and visit!

yes, different parts of the country have different words and wordings for things, like:

In Mass...we say: where is the bubblah?
translation: where is the water fountain/drinking fountain

In Mass...bang a left at the light
translation: take the next left

In Mass...I'm gonna swing by the packie, you want somethin?
translation: I'm heading to the liquor store, would you like me to pick you up something?

In Mass....that is wicked cool!
translation: That's great!

I could go on....but yeah...it's an interesting little thing to observe. Sometimes it's like we aren't even speaking the same language when I am talking to folks here in the midwest

[Gemme]

Originally Posted by SleepyButch

Stong? no. I tend to pick up the regional accents pretty quickly.

I can do this. A weird thing about me is that I pick up speech impediments.



If I'm talking to someone with a lisp, I will catch myself subconsciously replicating it. I'm a vocal chameleon but I can't 'do' accents on demand. They sneak up on me.

Originally Posted by Daniela

I can always tell when someone speaking Spanish has an Argentinian accent (they sound like my parents!), although I'm a little lost at picking up Cuban vs. Puerto Rican, for example.

I wish I could help with this. I've dated both a Puerto Rican and a Cuban and they had very similar speech patterns but both lived in South Florida, so I'm sure their dialect is different from those who live in Puerto Rico or Cuba.

Originally Posted by Ginger

To say someone's accent is "abrasive" seems oppressive to me. Maybe classist, definitely regionalist. Some accents are "deeper," in my opinion, than others—more thoroughly immersed in the way of speaking in a certain region. Why is that a bad thing? An "abrasive" thing?

Abrasive means rough, not good or bad. Just like some people have gravely voices. Their voice might be described as 'gritty'. Some make careers out of it, like Joe Cocker.

Some accents are more rough, like Bostonians and some native Rhode Islanders. Part of it is the accent itself and part of it is the delivery. Very 'you talkin' to me?' when excited and 'eh, whataya gonna do?' when relaxed. Thick; rich with character.

I find English accents to feel very smooth, like water flowing down a quiet creek (pronounced CREAK by me and CRICK by my dad, who has been in MS all his life). The words flow seamlessly and, from my experience, the peaks and valleys are not as distinguishable as with North Easterners. It's very relaxing to me and I could listen to it for hours. I love Scottish and Australian accents too.

Here, there are a lot of stops and starts and the volume goes up, up, up. Most days it feels like home, because I am Italian and that's how I am, but some days it feels like someone broke the control button on the speakers.

[Cin]

Originally Posted by stargazingboi

yes, different parts of the country have different words and wordings for things, like:

In Mass...we say: where is the bubblah?
translation: where is the water fountain/drinking fountain

In Mass...bang a left at the light
translation: take the next left

In Mass...I'm gonna swing by the packie, you want somethin?
translation: I'm heading to the liquor store, would you like me to pick you up something?

In Mass....that is wicked cool!
translation: That's great!

I could go on....but yeah...it's an interesting little thing to observe. Sometimes it's like we aren't even speaking the same language when I am talking to folks here in the midwest

LOL! Sounds like home. Love that Dirty Water.

Nobody knows what a coffee frappe is here, my dad always called it a coffee cab, either way you can't get one. They don't have coffee anything. Except coffee. And it's only recently that I've been able to get iced coffee. I would go to a coffee place and ask for an iced coffee and they would look at me strange and say they don't have it. I'd be like do you have coffee? Do you have ice? Put 'em together. They'd just shake their head no.

And it's always trash here, even when it's clearly garbage or should I say gahbidge cause that's how it sounds when I say it. I'd say put it in the garbage and people would just look at me. It's put it in the trash or put it in the poubelle.

I had to stop saying I was going to take the T. People thought I was getting a cup of tea.

You can't get an elastic here, it's a rubber band.

Here it's not a packie or a liquor store. It's the SAQ.

But everybody knows what wicked pissah is!

[Ginger]

Originally Posted by stargazingboi

OK...sooo I've been told I have an accent. I've been told it's abrasive *shrugs* I don't see it...do you?

To say someone's accent is "abrasive" seems oppressive to me. Maybe classist, definitely regionalist. Some accents are "deeper," in my opinion, than others—more thoroughly immersed in the way of speaking in a certain region. Why is that a bad thing? An "abrasive" thing?

My dad had a different accent than I do. He had a masculine, upbeat, Texan twang. He was the only person in my world with that accent. I can still hear it. I channel his encouraging words.

I went to an Ivy League graduate school and there, for the first time in my life, people corrected my pronunciation of certain words (for example, I would say IN-sur-ance, not in-SUR-ance) and grammar. Some constructions, like "lay" and "lie" will never come naturally to me, but I know how to do it right.

When I'm with my sister, I don't bother self-correcting.

[Trev]

One particular conversation comes to mind when I read the title of this thread. I was asked during this conversation, "can you repeat that without your accent?" I actually thought for a moment to Myself if that was possible. After I was finished laughing, because she was darn cute and serious about it, I did try. You'll never take the country out of this good ole boy.

So, I will defer to Ms. Candelion, who can answer this better than Myself.

[Candelion]

Originally Posted by Trev

One particular conversation comes to mind when I read the title of this thread. I was asked during this conversation, "can you repeat that without your accent?" I actually thought for a moment to Myself if that was possible. After I was finished laughing, because she was darn cute and serious about it, I did try. You'll never take the country out of this good ole boy.

So, I will defer to Ms. Candelion, who can answer this better than Myself.

It's slower and thicker than molasses in January. His accent, that is.

[grenade]

Originally Posted by Ginger

To say someone's accent is "abrasive" seems oppressive to me. Maybe classist, definitely regionalist. Some accents are "deeper," in my opinion, than others—more thoroughly immersed in the way of speaking in a certain region. Why is that a bad thing? An "abrasive" thing?

I'm the someone who found and still finds it abrasive at times.

It's the harshness, the bluntness. It's foreign to me. It's been explained to me numerous times and I certainly try to not take it personally. Sometimes, I try and fail. It is what it is.

I grew up in Kansas and Texas. I grew up with slow drawls, "honey, sugar, and baby". "Yes, ma'am" and "where y'all headed?" Life here is slow paced and laid back.

It's more of a cultural difference issue than one of oppression.

[cinnamongrrl]

Seeing how I'm Massachusetts born and bred, people expect me to have a strong accent. I have to explain that I grew up in western and central Mass, anf only out further east do you really get THAT accent...

But everyone who is from here knows that I'm from "away" as they say in New England. And not even so much by my accent but by how fast I talk. That's a New England trait I'm not likely to lose lol

[imperfect_cupcake]

I found some enlgish accents to be hard on my ears. I *hate* plummy accents, they make my brain curl. And all the different dutch accents, I loved amsterdam the most - hard, and guttural with sharp edges but everything is sweet and diminutive lol. But I dislike "RP" (properly announciated and upper class educated style) dutch. It sounds like they have a piece of cheese stuck in the back of their throat.

Some accents will sound pleasing and lovely to a listener's ear. I loved West Country UK accents the best. Then south east working class London, then Geordie and Yorkshire accents. But plummy makes me want to pull my ears off.
There is nothing wrong with the people who have those accents.

I also can't stand certain kinds of music because it hurts my ears, the way it jangles in my brain. Doesn't mean they are crap musicians. I love accents many people hate. Some people probably don't like the sound of mine. In fact, having been a foreigner, I know they don't. I've been told. Oh well.

[Daniela]

Originally Posted by imperfect_cupcake

I found some enlgish accents to be hard on my ears. I *hate* plummy accents, they make my brain curl. And all the different dutch accents, I loved amsterdam the most - hard, and guttural with sharp edges but everything is sweet and diminutive lol. But I dislike "RP" (properly announciated and upper class educated style) dutch. It sounds like they have a piece of cheese stuck in the back of their throat.

Some accents will sound pleasing and lovely to a listener's ear. I loved West Country UK accents the best. Then south east working class London, then Geordie and Yorkshire accents. But plummy makes me want to pull my ears off.
There is nothing wrong with the people who have those accents.

I also can't stand certain kinds of music because it hurts my ears, the way it jangles in my brain. Doesn't mean they are crap musicians. I love accents many people hate. Some people probably don't like the sound of mine. In fact, having been a foreigner, I know they don't. I've been told. Oh well.

Ok, I had to look up "plummy"...is it a snooty upper-class British accent? One example gave Hugh Grant as an example. But yeah, I'm not a big fan of snootiness in any culture/language. lol

[Gemme]

Originally Posted by Daniela

Ok, I had to look up "plummy"...is it a snooty upper-class British accent? One example gave Hugh Grant as an example. But yeah, I'm not a big fan of snootiness in any culture/language. lol

I was wondering too! Thanks for doing the research on that because I'm lazy.



I actually like Hugh Grant but as a whole package...the next time I see something with him in it, I will pay better attention to his voice and less about his mannerisms.

[imperfect_cupcake]

Originally Posted by Daniela

Ok, I had to look up "plummy"...is it a snooty upper-class British accent? One example gave Hugh Grant as an example. But yeah, I'm not a big fan of snootiness in any culture/language. lol

No. Hugh Grant is an actor and thus speaks RP english. What BBC broadcasters use and with a slight southern, thus very slight plummy accent. A strong plummy accent is far more pronounced. But he does have a bit of one. Edit to add: now that I think of it, some of his roles have had stronger plum than others...

It's not snooty. Snooty is more of an attitude. The queen speaks with a Strong plummy accent. It's hooking the back of the tongue softly against the palate at the end of "o" and prolonging certain vowels - like you are talking around a plum. Strong plummy accents are also called "horsey" accents.

It's a bit nasal, long open vowels and over articulate. People try to make it stronger to appear more upperclass. And that's when it's gets very annoying.

The accent I picked up was a cross between sauf an' east london, yeah? South London is very relaxed and sloppy and east London is choppy so along with my west coast canuck and Polari slang, people had no clue where the fuck I was from after 10 years.

So to explain, a south London accent is Lauren (and her best best mate) in this clip, whereas david tennant (dr who/the teacher), is speaking with a very soft and "educated" scottish accent.

South London and Scottish



And an east London accent is Dell in this clip:

East London accent, expressions and slang


I managed to pick up quite a bit a bit of Polari living in the east end (London drag queen/queen chat-slang and wot-not) gay scene. Click on the link

a fabulous drag queen explains Polari