Accents

Mem

Sexy Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2006
Posts
7,912
Media
0
Likes
54
Points
183
Location
FL
Sexuality
99% Gay, 1% Straight
Gender
Male
When travelling in the late 80,s
met quite a few Americans attempting to be Canadians
(incl sewing the canac flag on there packs)
due to there accents
wonder why?
perhaps not so much these days
Aussie accents/TWANG a lot more pronounced than Kiwis altho
THEY
love to take the piss out of us
re 'feesh & cheeps'
enz

Maybe you assumed it because you don't know that most Canadian sound like Americans, besides the occasional oot instead of out.

Famous Canadian Actors

Here is a list of Canadians that sound American.
 

rbkwp

Mythical Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2007
Posts
80,306
Media
1
Likes
45,703
Points
608
Location
Auckland (New Zealand)
Sexuality
100% Gay, 0% Straight
Gender
Male
Maybe you assumed it because you don't know that most Canadian sound like Americans,
---Vice/Versa---
besides the occasional oot instead of out.


No' in this case i never assumed such re that
I asked many of the Americans who chose to adopt a Canac persona why,
reason generally was they were 'sick and tired' of MANY persons of other Nationalities despising Americans .. (at THAT Time)
(a few mentioned Viet Nam, nothing to do with that generation, but they were typecast as...)
I was also very well aware Mem that American/Canadian accents are similar, well before i travelled
enz
- that was the reason for my travels, to learn first hand..from the ordinary folk.
 
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Posts
38
Media
0
Likes
1
Points
151
And by the by, where do you guys stand on Russell crowe

When he's winning Oscars he's Australian-When he throws 'phones at hotel employees he's a Kiwi-Same as Mel Gibson-When he's Braveheart-we claim him-When he's being a drunken racist-We point out that he was born in NYC, and came to Australia as a child.
Julia Gillard Speech Accepting the Office of Prime Minister of Australia (YouTube)

Julia came to Australia as a 3year old-Her parents immigrated from Wales. Settled in South Australia-She would have had that sing song Welsh accent at home, and that very nasal Oz accent at school etc. Her voice would have picked up influences from each. The Oz accent in South Australia can be very broad and harsh. And apparently she has had some sort of voice lessons to improve it!!!
My family has a mixture of Irish/Australian...Sort of a softer sound for the Irish part, but a drawl of slow Aussie-and as I've mentioned elsewhere-What sort of school you went to can have an influence-Julia went to a local high school in Adelaide SA-. A convent educated girl(Germaine Greer-Presentation Convent - or Private school (Cate Blanchett-Methodist Ladies College) would sound a bit softer.
There is an Australian broadcaster -Geraldine Dougue-who is regarded as having the typical Australian accent, current these days-and as someone pointed out-accents, pronunciations, language, change from time to time and place to place-but I find it fascinating..In passing-where does the accent as portrayed by the Charles Winchester character in M.A.S.H-is it an actual accent or something the actor dreamed up? For a word like, say, Harvard-he says Ha'-vid. Sort of pushes the last syllable of a word through his nose.
 

Calboner

Superior Member
Verified
Gold
Joined
Aug 16, 2007
Posts
9,027
Media
29
Likes
7,839
Points
433
Location
USA
Verification
View
Sexuality
100% Straight, 0% Gay
Gender
Male
In passing-where does the accent as portrayed by the Charles Winchester character in M.A.S.H-is it an actual accent or something the actor dreamed up? For a word like, say, Harvard-he says Ha'-vid. Sort of pushes the last syllable of a word through his nose.
It was an accent made up to strike most American television viewers as an East-Coast upper-crust accent. The only real-life accents that I have heard that sound anything like it have been those of William F. Buckley and George Plimpton.
 
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Posts
38
Media
0
Likes
1
Points
151
They must be describing this sort of accent:

Julia Gillard Speech Accepting the Office of Prime Minister of Australia (YouTube)


Paul Theroux, in The Great Railway Bazaar, reports some Australians using the phrases of Cockney rhyming slang but with non-Cockney meanings: they used "butcher's hook," which in Cockney means "look" (e.g., "Have a butcher's over here"), to mean "crook," which is Australian slang for "sick."

I have a copy of Theroux's "The Kingdom By The Sea" a record of his hike around the coast of The United Kingdom at the time Margaret Thatcher took on the Argentinian Generals. In it he recorded his impressions of the sorts of people he met. One reviewer recommended that should he contemplate repeating the exercise, that he should do it incognito, as there might be more than one disgruntled native waiting for him. He does tend to polarise-a very acute eye, delivered with a dose of asperity and sarcasm. None of the humour of Bill Bryson.
"A butcher's" can mean a look, and also to be crook. For instance I took a butcher's at your gallery, and came to the conclusion that some blokes have it all, Beauty and Brains. Felt a bit butcher's when I read that you are Garden and Gate.
 

HiddenLacey

Cherished Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2010
Posts
5,423
Media
5
Likes
332
Points
118
Location
somewhere
Sexuality
No Response
I sound like a "Gone with the Wind" character. I have actually had people from up north ask me to read to them so they could listen to my accent.

I love everyones different accents and I am glad we all sound different and unique versus the same and boring.
 

B_stanmarsh14

Sexy Member
Joined
May 24, 2007
Posts
2,078
Media
0
Likes
25
Points
183
Location
Nottingham, England
Sexuality
90% Straight, 10% Gay
Gender
Male
I've caught a few people out before with my accent, when most think I am from South Yorkshire (Lived all my life about 5 miles from East Midlands Airport), but only connection I have with that is, I went to a college centre near Sheffield for two years, when I was 16, though I do travel often there, to see my former manager.

Heh, also get some very nice comments from quite a number of Americans here too, but as I have found out, quite a number of Yanks are a sucker for a British accent, especially the more unusual / less common ones like mine.
 

BiItalianBro

Sexy Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2006
Posts
1,195
Media
0
Likes
93
Points
268
Location
Chicago & Louisville KY
Sexuality
60% Gay, 40% Straight
Gender
Male
Mine changes...literally...and not by self-direction. If I am abroad or with friends who speak Italian or Spanish...i loose my north american diphthong for a few hours. Same when I spend time in the US deep south...i become deep in my native Louisiana accent...even after years of absence.

I have a brother has been living in New Zealand for the past 7 years...he and his wife have STRONG US southern accents..yet their 2 children have very strong Kiwi accents; and they have yet to start school and are not allowed much TV time.
 

Calboner

Superior Member
Verified
Gold
Joined
Aug 16, 2007
Posts
9,027
Media
29
Likes
7,839
Points
433
Location
USA
Verification
View
Sexuality
100% Straight, 0% Gay
Gender
Male
Born and raised my whole life in Southern California.....would guess I have a flat Midwestern/Illinois accent.
How can you have a Midwestern accent if you have lived your whole life in southern California? Why would you have anything but a southern California accent?
 
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Posts
38
Media
0
Likes
1
Points
151
I sound like a "Gone with the Wind" character. I have actually had people from up north ask me to read to them so they could listen to my accent.

I love everyones different accents and I am glad we all sound different and unique versus the same and boring.

Hattie McDaniel- Mammy?
Butterfly McQueen- Prissy?
No don't tell me....I know...... Everett Brown-Big Sam...."You don say "it's quittin' time"-I sez "it's quittin'time"...It's quittin' time."

A soft southern accent is beautiful.....like Rue McLanahan--died recently.
 

KidKhaos

1st Like
Joined
Jul 2, 2010
Posts
14
Media
0
Likes
1
Points
36
Location
Madrid
Sexuality
100% Straight, 0% Gay
Gender
Male
my spanish accent is really noticeable outside!
US people says I talk like puss in boots ,but in a sexy way *blush*
 

gymfresh

Expert Member
Verified
Gold
Joined
Jan 8, 2008
Posts
1,633
Media
20
Likes
155
Points
383
Location
Rodinia
Verification
View
Sexuality
99% Gay, 1% Straight
Gender
Male
The australian accent you hear today is descended from that. It has been modified and smoothed out-usually by education and travel-but by and large there are two strains-Educated Australian and Broad Australian-samples: Cate Blanchett-Educated/Sam Worthington-Broad


When I listen to this video clip, I honestly can't tell whether the speaker is English or Austrailian... is this the "educated" Aussie of which you speak? Most Australians sound to me like Paul Keating. But the moderator in the cartoon debate -- and I don't link to this for content, in any way, BTW -- has a very soft accent to my ears. I'm leaning Aussie, but it could be Brummie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSLkQnCurgs
 

Calboner

Superior Member
Verified
Gold
Joined
Aug 16, 2007
Posts
9,027
Media
29
Likes
7,839
Points
433
Location
USA
Verification
View
Sexuality
100% Straight, 0% Gay
Gender
Male
When I listen to this video clip, I honestly can't tell whether the speaker is English or Austrailian... is this the "educated" Aussie of which you speak? Most Australians sound to me like Paul Keating. But the moderator in the cartoon debate -- and I don't link to this for content, in any way, BTW -- has a very soft accent to my ears. I'm leaning Aussie, but it could be Brummie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSLkQnCurgs
Funny that you should have cited that video: I was just watching it earlier today (following a link at Debunking Christianity). NonStampCollector has a peculiar accent. It is unmistakably Australian, but it has been modified in some ways that I find difficult to identify. E.g., he often pronounces post-vocalic R's, like an American.
 

gymfresh

Expert Member
Verified
Gold
Joined
Jan 8, 2008
Posts
1,633
Media
20
Likes
155
Points
383
Location
Rodinia
Verification
View
Sexuality
99% Gay, 1% Straight
Gender
Male
A good place to hear Kiwi, as opposed to Australian, is this infomercial video. If you're familiar with the difference in vowels (New Zealanders tend to swallow them, Australians tend to highlight them) you can detect the difference straight away. Some giveaway words are "ever", "is" and "stick".
 

AquaEyes11010

Expert Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2007
Posts
787
Media
10
Likes
172
Points
263
Location
New Brunswick (New Jersey, United States)
Sexuality
90% Gay, 10% Straight
Gender
Male
I was born in College Point in Queens, NY and moved to Levittown when I was 12. Being of Germanic descent (on my mother's side), I wasn't exposed to the Italian-American "NY accent" but I could definitely be placed as a New Yawkuh.

My college freshman year I went to Cornell and made friends mostly with people NOT from the NYC/Long Island area, which smoothed out my accent to more of a "generic" American from being playfully teased whenever my accent reminded people I was a Long Islander. After returning to Long Island I was much more aware of the accent I previously didn't notice, but I stayed in my "generic" accent. I'd often get asked "where are you from?" when working or out and about.

Since June 2009 I've been in Buffalo, NY for school. I have to say I am truly annoyed by the strong native accent here, but I don't know why. Here, the "r" is strongly pronounced, such that when someone here says "are" it sounds like a pirate saying "argh" but leaving off the "g". I've also noticed that away from the NYC area, the names "Aaron" and "Erin" sound identical, while I've always said more distinction between the "a" and "e".

Language is mutable like genes, but at a faster rate. Outside of rigorous education and training to make one's speech conform to a standard, the spoken language functions as long as it's understood by others. This allows for a degree of variation within a population, like a species able to reproduce with others of its kind. When there's a separation between two populations who speak the same language, little changes pop up that don't get shared, and over time, there's a sort of "genetic drift" effect that builds up into a language separating. For example, a few hundred years ago, English and German sounded alike enough to be dialects or accents of each other.
 

gymfresh

Expert Member
Verified
Gold
Joined
Jan 8, 2008
Posts
1,633
Media
20
Likes
155
Points
383
Location
Rodinia
Verification
View
Sexuality
99% Gay, 1% Straight
Gender
Male
I have to say I am truly annoyed by the strong native accent here, but I don't know why. Here, the "r" is strongly pronounced, such that when someone here says "are" it sounds like a pirate saying "argh" but leaving off the "g".


Ooh, if you're still in Buffalo in 2 months then you might not even notice International Talk Like A Pirate Day when it comes around again!
 

AquaEyes11010

Expert Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2007
Posts
787
Media
10
Likes
172
Points
263
Location
New Brunswick (New Jersey, United States)
Sexuality
90% Gay, 10% Straight
Gender
Male
Ooh, if you're still in Buffalo in 2 months then you might not even notice International Talk Like A Pirate Day when it comes around again!

Unfortunately, I'll be in Buffalo until I graduate in spring 2011, and for as long after as it takes to save up to move back to LI.

Oh, and btw, how do you all pronounce "haddock"? It's a fish, common here in "fish fries." Where I'm from, I've heard and said it as "HAD-uck" but here all I hear is "hyeah-DOCK" and it drives me crazy. I don't understand how western NY people have come to sound like they're from Minnesota. It's like I'm living in the town from the movie Drop Dead Gorgeous.

:-/