American Accents?

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

I actually have a dear fondness for Australian folk, my mother went on her last trip there an loved it, also, when I was younger I was quite the tenny player and had a fascination with ol' Laver. I was taught at a tennis school run by you people.

What accent? It's you guys who have the accent.

a reply to: DAVID64

You can understand Ozzy? That's awesome dude.

I have a New York accent I'm told. I don't hear it.

a reply to: Revolution9

I've lived in the south for twenty four years ans still have my New York accent. I've met other Yankees here and its pretty much the same. I think you tend to keep the accent you had when you learned to speak. I have one child who was born here in Virginia but he learned his words from me and my husband and we're both New Yorkers. He has a New York accent with a southern twist.

a reply to: Revolution9

The southern states got their accents from scotch Irish immigrants. I'm guessing that's the western accent you're talking about.
Now I'm wishing we had live speakers instead of text for this forum.

a reply to: gdt26

No we don't. The one thing I've learned from BBC programing is that I don't speak English. I speak American. LOL.
Sometimes English is really hard to understand.
I guess it's good we don't write with accents huh?

a reply to: AutumnWitch657

I imagine if we were to write phonetically we would need translation software to be built into the site!

My accent(north Nottinghamshire UK) is almost on the verge of understanding where I live now and it's only 300 miles away.

a reply to: nonspecific

I live on the south east coast of Virginia. It's an area dominated by military installations rivaled only by California in numbers but in a much smaller concentrated area. So many people from all over the country have given this region a generic California type accent.
Thirty miles to the west it sounds like dawgpatch Appalachia.

m.youtube.com...

a reply to: AutumnWitch657

I love that movie 'O'Brother Where Art Thou', it really expresses the whole classic southerner accent in a really stylish manner, its got some extremely catchy tunes too. Its actually a masterpiece, rather than just a movie.

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

Can you name a show in particular that bugs you? It may be a certain accent[s] that bother you. There's no such thing as an "American" accent. There's a broad range from Boston to Georgia and New York to California "surfer dude".

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

I think it has to do with the ads, like another poster said. Anyway, what American accent were you talking about? There are several here. You've got the southern, Up North, southie (found around Boston and that region), Californian, different regional ones, some really interesting ones around and on Indian reservations, the list goes on.

Wait a sec. You're Australian and that accent bothers you? Does it bug you when you hear yourself talk?

a reply to: AutumnWitch657

I like the New York accent very much. It is a very distinct one indeed. Think about the way that you say "night" and light", that's what I like. Yes there is a definite Irish/Scottish thing happening there.



That is an example of Cornish. It is well country lol. This is a verified Cornish accent, can vouch for that.

Lol, I'm such a country yokel. My accent is more modern. I'm one of the younger generation influenced by the "neutral" media accent. Particularly here in the very west of the west in Cornwall, Penzance, there is a real Pirate accent. I'm laughin' my socks off as I write! Eat your heart out Captain Sparrow Johnny Depp!

a reply to: DAVID64


Thanks for that. Great fun to hear that.

originally posted by: Skid Mark
a reply to: Subaeruginosa
Wait a sec. You're Australian and that accent bothers you? Does it bug you when you hear yourself talk?

lol, that's what I'm curious about. In real life I don't notice the Aussie accent at all (unless its really thick), where as if I met an American in real life there accent just pops.

But when I'm watching tv or a movie, I notice the Aussie accent big time, but don't notice the American accent at all (unless its a southerner or a new york/brooklyn type accent, obviously). Yet when I watch American ads, there accent is really noticeable.

American accents all sound the same to me, I guess... outside of the southerner and New York tone.

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

You must be talking about the Midwestern accent. It's the type most often heard in movies.
Do you speak with an Australian accent? Do you notice it when friends or relatives talk or is it just on TV?

originally posted by: Skid Mark
a reply to: Subaeruginosa
Do you speak with an Australian accent? Do you notice it when friends or relatives talk or is it just on TV?

Yeah, I'm what they call a true blue Aussie, so I suppose I talk with an Australian accent.

I never notice peoples accents well down south where I was raised. But we have 3 distinctive accents in Australia, imo. The southern, the northern and the country accent. Although, most people living in major cities just have a generic Aussie accent, no matter what part of Australia there from.

I do notice the northern and country accents when travelling, but its no where near as distinctive as when I hear the Aussie accent on tv.

Its probably just the being immune factor, since over 95 percent of the shows & movies I watch are American. But I've only just started watching American ads. It just got got me thinking though, on whether Hollywood actors deliberately try to talk with a generic accent.

a reply to: AutumnWitch657

I could write in Glaswegian..but it wouldnt make a whole lot of sense

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

Yeah, I'm what they call a true blue Aussie, so I suppose I talk with an Australian accent.

Maybe if you breathed you wouldn't be blue. It works for me.

a reply to: gdt26

I really love the Scottish accent and no not Sean Connery who sounds like a Londoner these days.

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

They don't sound very classic southern to me. George Clooney sounds like he's faking it. The other one yeah sort of . I think they were going for the uneducated southern sound . Of course there's the lovely drawl heard in gone with the wind but nobody thinks of that type of accent when they think southern.
Daniel Radcliffe did a better American south accent in a movie I saw not to long ago though I can't recall the title just now.