I was thoroughly enjoying hearing the Brit telling us about our new machine. “Just love your accent!” Never missed a beat. She reminded me SHE is the one speaking ENGLISH!
I had a lot of ear infections as a child so I didn’t always hear clearly so I have some words I’ve never learned to speak in the normal pronunciation, throw in a love of the study of English, with exposure to reading Beowulf, and Chaucer with how we believe it to be pronounced, along with learning that most of the time in Shakespeare words that were spelled alike were intended to rhyme and I wound up with a very distinct accent. I’ve been asked my entire life where I’m from because people haven’t heard my accent before. The looks on their faces when I tell them i grew up less than 10 miles from where I currently live are priceless.
My wife is originally from Utah, and we read in some source that the “Utah accent” is the “BBC of American English”, which is something she reminds me of frequently. I can’t quite put my finger on what the difference is, other than the occasional longer vowel. I’ve been told several times that I have a distinct California accent (accent? everyone I knew growing up spoke that way!). The only thing that I’ve been able to gather about my supposed accent is that in my California-speak, my consonants are usually spoken very softly, and words seem to run together (maybe influenced by Spanish?).
“Kee” for “he”, and “Kahlo” for “hello”? Does Lithuanian not have the “h” sound? (I consider it possible, since I know that Finnish doesn’t have the “f” sound. Their word for “coffee” is “kahvia”.)
blunebottle over 3 years ago
And I’d have hung up even if I did understand him.
whahoppened over 3 years ago
I was thoroughly enjoying hearing the Brit telling us about our new machine. “Just love your accent!” Never missed a beat. She reminded me SHE is the one speaking ENGLISH!
theincrediblebulk over 3 years ago
I had a lot of ear infections as a child so I didn’t always hear clearly so I have some words I’ve never learned to speak in the normal pronunciation, throw in a love of the study of English, with exposure to reading Beowulf, and Chaucer with how we believe it to be pronounced, along with learning that most of the time in Shakespeare words that were spelled alike were intended to rhyme and I wound up with a very distinct accent. I’ve been asked my entire life where I’m from because people haven’t heard my accent before. The looks on their faces when I tell them i grew up less than 10 miles from where I currently live are priceless.
pony21 Premium Member over 3 years ago
Being from the South, as I am, all I can say here is that our is the accent everyone secretly wishes they had. Every time we speak, it’s music.
Dae over 3 years ago
I grew up with a THICK Southern accent. living overseas convinced me to modify it somewhat, but I still use y’all.
Bob. over 3 years ago
Back in my Army days, there was a Chinese fellow from Hong Kong who spoke English with a British accent.
WF11 over 3 years ago
My wife is originally from Utah, and we read in some source that the “Utah accent” is the “BBC of American English”, which is something she reminds me of frequently. I can’t quite put my finger on what the difference is, other than the occasional longer vowel. I’ve been told several times that I have a distinct California accent (accent? everyone I knew growing up spoke that way!). The only thing that I’ve been able to gather about my supposed accent is that in my California-speak, my consonants are usually spoken very softly, and words seem to run together (maybe influenced by Spanish?).
gammaguy about 3 years ago
“Kee” for “he”, and “Kahlo” for “hello”? Does Lithuanian not have the “h” sound? (I consider it possible, since I know that Finnish doesn’t have the “f” sound. Their word for “coffee” is “kahvia”.)