skubikky
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Post by skubikky on May 10, 2013 10:23:51 GMT -5
You're right, we are pretty nasal over here. Another difference is we say "SORry" (the right way) instead of "Sore-ry". That is how we tell an actor is Canadian! You know you and I are neighbors Anyway, up here between Syracuse and Buffalo, the way they pronounce these words all sound the same: Mary.....Merry Merry....Merry Marry....Merry Very confusing............
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2013 10:31:48 GMT -5
315 iz in the houuuuuuzzze! Or are you 585? Eh, either way, I'll wave when I'm driving down the 90.
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alabamagal
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Post by alabamagal on May 10, 2013 10:41:44 GMT -5
When my DH and I visited Rochester NY, the hotel clerk said there were pop machines on every floor. He asked a couple times and then I told him it was a soda machine...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2013 11:28:19 GMT -5
I grew up in San Diego and have been told I don't have an accent. And thank God I was a little too old to pick up on the Valley Girl speak. I'm also grateful that I didn't pick up my parents' accents; Brooklynese and Queensian. But I'm a good translator. When I was in my mid 20s and living in the Washington DC area I had to translate words between three of the women who worked in the office. They all grew up within 50 miles of Washington DC!
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on May 10, 2013 11:31:08 GMT -5
Im from NNY and I can't understand the southerners. I was in TN once and I ordered ice tea. The waitress then said "Swaaaaid unswaaaaid?" I had absolutely no freaking idea what she meant. She was saying "Sweetened or Unsweetened?" I needed a translator. But it was mutual. The soutnerners complain I talk too fast. I was deep in Mexico once, and we were with a group of locals. They spoke some English, and my group spoke some spanish, so it worked out. And the one gal said she could understand the last group better than us, because they spoke very slowly, but we all talked very quickly. They were from Tennessee.
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kittensaver
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Post by kittensaver on May 10, 2013 12:13:52 GMT -5
I was told once that I have a "California accent." When I asked what that meant, the person (who was from the deep south) said, "well yoo sound lika one-nna dem-der folks in the moovies."
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teen persuasion
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Post by teen persuasion on May 10, 2013 12:21:45 GMT -5
You're right, we are pretty nasal over here. Another difference is we say "SORry" (the right way) instead of "Sore-ry". That is how we tell an actor is Canadian! You know you and I are neighbors Anyway, up here between Syracuse and Buffalo, the way they pronounce these words all sound the same: Mary.....Merry Merry....Merry Marry....Merry Very confusing............ So, how would you pronounce them to make them sound different?
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on May 10, 2013 12:36:22 GMT -5
Im from NNY and I can't understand the southerners. I was in TN once and I ordered ice tea. The waitress then said "Swaaaaid unswaaaaid?" I had absolutely no freaking idea what she meant. She was saying "Sweetened or Unsweetened?" I needed a translator. But it was mutual. The soutnerners complain I talk too fast. I was deep in Mexico once, and we were with a group of locals. They spoke some English, and my group spoke some spanish, so it worked out. And the one gal said she could understand the last group better than us, because they spoke very slowly, but we all talked very quickly. They were from Tennessee. I remember having to translate for an Italian field tech at a company site in Northern Ireland. If you have never heard the Northern Irish accent, it is a heavy British accent with a bit of Irish lilt, usually spoken very fast. The poor guy couldn't follow any of the chatter among the locals, or even if one was speaking directly to him....and would just look my way to repeat the question. I got a chuckle because the wife of my dad's best friend is originally from that same area in Northern Ireland where the site is. I grew up listening to that accent, and spent quite a bit of time on the receiving end of a rant when us kids went off and did something we shouldn't. I followed every bit of the chatter all week like they were all speaking like me. sent from my electronic distraction
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wwtpgirl66
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Post by wwtpgirl66 on May 10, 2013 12:40:38 GMT -5
Maine accent for sure. I had someone come in my office the other day and say "I like how you talk" and I was thinking...how do I talk?
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on May 10, 2013 12:41:06 GMT -5
LOL Chiver - I worked with people from all over the world, many from English speaking countries, and many from people who had English as their second language. The only person I couldn't understand for the life of me was the Scottish guy. Even though we sat very near each other, we would usually talk via email. Even when we did do a face-to-face, we would follow up with an email string to make sure we heard each other correctly. I kept thinking if I just talked to him more, I would figure it out, but I failed.
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on May 10, 2013 12:42:56 GMT -5
Well, I'm from the midwest, which supposedly is the place with the most neutral and well spoken english in the country.
So in essence, no, I don't believe I have an accent.
But I've always wondered if accents are all relative. Like to the British does your average American have an accent?
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on May 10, 2013 12:44:12 GMT -5
Of course! We have "American Accents."
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on May 10, 2013 12:45:03 GMT -5
I don't really know - Indiana has a pretty wide range of accents (Chicago area down to the y'alls of Evansville and New Albany). I'm from a county bordering Kentucky and went to college there, so have more of a southern accent than most of my coworkers, but I don't think it's that strong. (Send me camping with ILs for a weekend and it's another story!) I couldn't detect any accent from you Mid. You were raised in the midwest, we don't do accents there.
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on May 10, 2013 12:45:57 GMT -5
Of course! We have "American Accents." If that's true then I wonder how it sounds to them, because to me it's indistuinguishable.
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Plain Old Petunia
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Post by Plain Old Petunia on May 10, 2013 12:47:21 GMT -5
I've thought of this before, but the audiobook thing reminded me. I read all of your posts in basically the same voice. But I know you are from all over... Who should I be reading with a South Boson accent, for instance? I don't have one I don't have one. The year I went to Ireland, I couldn't figure out why people wanted me to repeat things and would look at me as though they were trying to puzzle out what I was saying. It was weird, like they didn't know they were the ones with the accent.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on May 10, 2013 12:48:21 GMT -5
Of course! We have "American Accents." If that's true then I wonder how it sounds to them, because to me it's indistuinguishable. You can't tell the difference between someone from Denver and someone from England? Really?
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Chocolate Lover
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Post by Chocolate Lover on May 10, 2013 12:48:45 GMT -5
I wouldn't have called you a foreigner and would only call you a Yankee if you told me we were doing it wrong and "back home" you did it right. If I ever come across one of them outside of work, I'm going to ask them where they sleep every night if "back home" is still home. And offer to help them pack since they don't like it here. I absolutely love, love, love it here. So many stressers gone. Vanished. People have manners and move slow. And the men have real nice accents! Oh, I mean the people have real nice accents. I should have been born here. I'm home. Before I read anything else........ WELCOME HOME!!!! You're the kind of transplant we're happy to have.
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on May 10, 2013 12:53:50 GMT -5
If that's true then I wonder how it sounds to them, because to me it's indistuinguishable. You can't tell the difference between someone from Denver and someone from England? Really? No, I meant how does an American accent sound TO someone from the UK (or Australia or wherever)? Because I can't tell how an American accent sounds because I speak one (at least one would think). Of course I can tell if someone has a british accent, but I don't know how I sound to them with the so called "American Accent." The question I'm posing is accents relative? In other words, if someone sounds like they have an accent to me, do I have an accent to them? And if so, how does the "American accent" I speak with sound to them?
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Plain Old Petunia
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Post by Plain Old Petunia on May 10, 2013 12:57:00 GMT -5
I don't really know - Indiana has a pretty wide range of accents (Chicago area down to the y'alls of Evansville and New Albany). I'm from a county bordering Kentucky and went to college there, so have more of a southern accent than most of my coworkers, but I don't think it's that strong. (Send me camping with ILs for a weekend and it's another story!) I couldn't detect any accent from you Mid. You were raised in the midwest, we don't do accents there. Oh, yes you do!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2013 12:57:27 GMT -5
You know you and I are neighbors Anyway, up here between Syracuse and Buffalo, the way they pronounce these words all sound the same: Mary.....Merry Merry....Merry Marry....Merry Very confusing............ So, how would you pronounce them to make them sound different? Easy: Mary got married on December 25th and we all wished them Merry Christmas at the reception!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2013 12:58:07 GMT -5
LOL Chiver - I worked with people from all over the world, many from English speaking countries, and many from people who had English as their second language. The only person I couldn't understand for the life of me was the Scottish guy. Even though we sat very near each other, we would usually talk via email. Even when we did do a face-to-face, we would follow up with an email string to make sure we heard each other correctly. I kept thinking if I just talked to him more, I would figure it out, but I failed.
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Plain Old Petunia
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Post by Plain Old Petunia on May 10, 2013 12:58:16 GMT -5
Of course! We have "American Accents." If that's true then I wonder how it sounds to them, because to me it's indistuinguishable. You must have never met someone from across the pond. Or heard them on the telly.
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Plain Old Petunia
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Post by Plain Old Petunia on May 10, 2013 13:00:00 GMT -5
You can't tell the difference between someone from Denver and someone from England? Really? No, I meant how does an American accent sound TO someone from the UK (or Australia or wherever)? Because I can't tell how an American accent sounds because I speak one (at least one would think). Of course I can tell if someone has a british accent, but I don't know how I sound to them with the so called "American Accent." The question I'm posing is accents relative? In other words, if someone sounds like they have an accent to me, do I have an accent to them? And if so, how does the "American accent" I speak with sound to them? Of course. Everyone thinks their speech patterns are just plain old normal, and everyone else speaks with an accent.
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Chocolate Lover
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Post by Chocolate Lover on May 10, 2013 13:00:18 GMT -5
I'm from the south, so yes, I do. Somewhere between Scarlett O'Hara & Larry the Cable Guy Same here but I did have someone tell me that I sure talked fast for a Southerner. And then someone told me I dropped my vowels when talking - I told them to just bend over and pick them up I should introduce them to my sister, man she can talk fast! In her defense, in our house if you didn't talk fast you'd get interrupted before you finished. We all just shared thoughts as we had them. Still do
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on May 10, 2013 13:00:56 GMT -5
If that's true then I wonder how it sounds to them, because to me it's indistuinguishable. You must have never met someone from across the pond. Or heard them on the telly. Exactly. I spent so much time in Ireland way back when that I knew what county they were from as soon as they started speaking. It was just remarkable how different the nuances were, in a land about the size of Maine. sent from my electronic distraction
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on May 10, 2013 13:01:49 GMT -5
Ah - so you are asking if they can tell the difference between a Brooklyn accent and a Southern accent? I'm sure some of them can, and some of them can't pick up on the more subtle differences. Just like I can tell the difference between a New York accent and a Philadelphia accent, but most people in this state don't know the markers, so assume people are just from the "New York area."
I have heard the different accents within Europe. I can (now) tell the difference between some of them. It took me a while to even identify the difference between Australian and British, mostly because I wasn't paying attention. But, a lot of them I can tell two people have a different accent when they are standing next to each other talking, but I don't really know enough about the area to know where they are from and be able to get all that straight. Although, for a while I could hear a Dutch person from a mile away.
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on May 10, 2013 13:03:01 GMT -5
Ya, sure, you betcha Hey, that's not Irish. You're looking for terms like wee lass, wee lad, brilliant, Da, or bairn, with a Derry accent. You sound more like you can provide a functional definition for uffda.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on May 10, 2013 13:04:56 GMT -5
You edited and asked a different question - so my answer is n/a.
I can't really answer your question except to say that when they hear you speak, they know you aren't from Ireland, or Japan, or Australia, and they know you are from America. You sound like an American.
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on May 10, 2013 13:05:07 GMT -5
When my DH and I visited Rochester NY, the hotel clerk said there were pop machines on every floor. He asked a couple times and then I told him it was a soda machine... But if you drink from a bubbler, we know you grew up in Milwaukee!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2013 13:07:41 GMT -5
But I've always wondered if accents are all relative. Like to the British does your average American have an accent? Phoenix, Your post about some up title of subject in my opinion.
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