What ACCENT are you speaking?

Dragging this out here, because we've abused the TV thread.

I know you can't really hear your own accent. I did have a thick West By God hillbilly accent that people would notice, but 35 years in Columbus OH have sanded most of it off. I think. The Columbus accent is close enough to TV Reporter Standard that nobody in the US particularly notices it. But if I spend a day or two back home, or have a couple of drinks, a little of the twang will come back. The years didn't sand off the words, though. It's still 'pop', 'crawdad', and 'shopping buggy.'

My sister-in-law lived in WV for most of her life, and tried to tell me she didn't have an accent. "Sorry, but you do, and it's pretty thick." 60 years in one place will do that.

When I went into Basic Training in the Army, I was stuck in a whole company of National Guard trainees from Boston, all of them from the same three or four high schools. Even then I could savor the irony of some guy with a thick Bahston accent telling me, "You talk funny."

Although mainly midwestern in accent, I picked up a little southern during my time in the Army. It is 'soda' to me rather than the Michigan 'paap'.

I worked a couple of months in Houston as a consultant. I used 'pop' in front of the secretary down there, and she called me a Yankee.

Funny, I've lived most of my life in Houston, and I don't think anyone has ever picked out my accent other than my proclivity towards saying "y'all" which is a choice I make, not subconscious. I think our accents are so bland in this city, I'm not sure I could pick it out if I ran into someone abroad. Now East Texas, OMG...

Moving to Washington/Oregon from California and hearing ‘pop’ for the first time was weird, but it’s far from the standard term, so I don’t hear it a lot.

Growing up in the SF Bay Area and going to college about halfway between SF and LA, where most of the students were from one or the other, we got into huge arguments over the North’s use of the word ‘hella.’ I was on the wrong side of history but luckily realized it soon enough and broke myself from saying it early on.

I have some sort of generic New England accent. My family moved every few years growing up. So I never really picked up a particular area but always in NE. I did live in Boston for 20 years as an adult but I still properly pronunciate my words.

Australian accents*, range from broad (steve irwin) through the middle (hemsworth) to cultivated (Cate Blanchett is often cited) (which many people from overseas would potentially just identify as british as it's quite close to "received" - i.e, that one you all think = smart ). Fairly class based.

Mine is somewhere between broad and the middle, at the middle end of things, I'd say. Product of being a "westie" (i.e., from western sydney) with aspiring parents who now lives a bit more regionally.

* apart from some very slight regional, and also some ethnic, variations

Growing up a major city in the south but with Yankee parents my accent is all over the place.

But good grief it's not "soda" and definitely ain't "pop", it's "a coke", the actual brand is inferred ,

Just like it is "a slice of pizza", not just "a slice" and pie is what you eat later!

I've been in Northwest Ohio for most of my life, and I think more than an accent we have certain pronunciations that stand out to others. I remember talking with a woman from New Jersey who would bust up laughing every time I said "grocery store", which to her would sound like "growshuree store". I think she expected "growsiree store".

In 2014 the Pittsburgh Yinzer accent was voted "Ugliest Accent In America" by Gawker.
So beat that!

Born and raised in Louisiana my entire life and never had an accent, and it's funny to me when, after people find out where I'm from, say, "You don't have an accent."

Of course not, New Orleans, Slidell, Metairie, Baton Rouge don't have any accents at all. Everybody seems to think that Randy Quaid's accent in the Big Easy is how everyone talks down here. Um, no. I tell people, "The only way you can tell that I'm from the South is I say 'Y'all' (which isn't a marker so much anymore) and I lurve my sweet tea."

One of the funniest interactions was when I was in college working for a hardware store. Had a older man, local, come in and wanted some pipe cut. So, while cutting the pipe, we were talking and he asked me where I was from. When I told him that I was born and raised here, he said, "Huh, you don't sound like from you're around here." Not mean, just surprised at my response. When I asked him where he thought I was from, he said, "With the way you speak, you sound like you came from a far off, exotic place... like Michigan."

I burst out laughing at that. I assured him that I was not from Michigan. 33 years on, and that still makes me chuckle.

The only place you'll probably hear accents are in the rural parts of the state, like in Northern LA, since there's crossover from Arkansas. Some in Lafayette (Cajun), and closer to the Texas border in Lake Charles.

Overall, we are a very non-accenty place down here, in my opinion.

Disgustipater wrote: Moving to Washington/Oregon from California and hearing ‘pop’ for the first time was weird, but it’s far from the standard term, so I don’t hear it a lot.

Growing up in the SF Bay Area and going to college about halfway between SF and LA, where most of the students were from one or the other, we got into huge arguments over the North’s use of the work ‘hella.’ I was on the wrong side of history but luckily realized it soon enough and broke myself from saying it early on.

You should have avoided the inevitability of "hella" and gotten straight to the real issues dividing California, namely is there a "the" in front of freeway numbers!

Rliyen wrote: When I asked him where he thought I was from, he said, "With the way you speak, you sound like you came from a far off, exotic place... like Michigan."

First time I have ever heard of anyone referring to Michigan as exotic. That is hilarious!

Kiwi. Enough said (don't think a couple of decades in the UK has changed it much).
In case most of you can't tell the difference between Kiwis and Aussies they speak funny .

hotseatgames wrote:

Rliyen wrote: When I asked him where he thought I was from, he said, "With the way you speak, you sound like you came from a far off, exotic place... like Michigan."

First time I have ever heard of anyone referring to Michigan as exotic. That is hilarious!

That's exactly what I thought, too. It was hilarious. I don't believe he was serious, though. But, his delivery was spot on.