# Are some Australians ashamed about their accents? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 14, 2002, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-australians-ashamed-about-their-accents/128455 "2002-09-14T21:51:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-australians-ashamed-about-their-accents/128455/21 "2002-09-15T15:08:20Z")
[hijack] > [@](#): > > I don’t know about all that. I DO know that I wasn’t very impressed with my sister talking like an Australian; after living with six aussie folks for six months. Not that I don’t like Australians. I love the bunch I’ve hung out with before. It was just that nobody could understand what the hell she was saying when she got home. I couldn’t understand anything she said really. I understood the Aussies I got drunk with fine. But a Tennessee girl acting like something she’s not is … well… stupid. Maybe your sister isn’t actually _trying_ to sound Australian. She may just be susceptible to the crowd she’s with. I’ve noticed that I tend to temporarily “pick up” accents of whatever group I’m with. It’s not that I’m consciously trying to sound like them; it just happens. FWIW, I tend to sound sort-of Australian on the rare occasions that I’ve been drinking a lot. I don’t know why, but my theory is that my brain is trying to articulate, but it’s thwarted by the alcohol. By coincidence, it comes out sounding vaguely Australian. I met my first g/f’s family, and one of her sisters asked me if I’m Irish. Nope. Never been there. As far as I know I speak Standard American English. But there was “something” about my voice that led her to believe I had an accent. I have no idea why she thought I had an accent when I talk like everyone else around here. At an airshow an Englishman thought I was from London. I’m guessing that I was trying to be overheard above the aircraft noise, and in an effort to make myself clear my syntax and inflection might have changed in the shouting. A girl I knew from New Orleans thought I had a “surfer” accent. Cha! As _if!_ Once someone told me I sounded Welsh. 😕 I also have a tendency to “do voices”. (Peter Lorre is a favourite. I’ve recently come up with something that sounds a little like Jimmy Stewart, I’m told. I do a bizarre voice that is intended to sound like like an English thug. A German voice comes up once in a while. And of course, there’s the Pirate!) Maybe when people think I have an accent it’s just these “voices” influencing my speech? Or maybe it’s years of watching _Monty Python_ and _The Young Ones_? Maybe I really _do_ have some sort of accent of which I’m not aware, that _sounds_ vaguely English? (No. I don’t.) So maybe your sister is just “picking up” accents subconsciously. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-australians-ashamed-about-their-accents/128455/22 "2002-09-15T23:21:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Johnny L.A. \* > \*\*…my theory is that my brain is trying to articulate, but it’s thwarted by the alcohol. By coincidence, it comes out sounding vaguely Australian. > \*\* heh 😃 I’m a person who picks up accents easily (within hours sometimes), and I really admire people who can keep an accent unchanged after decades living overseas. I used to partially pick up (and lose again) the New Zealand accent when I was working with some New Zealanders (which was ok, because it’s one of my favourite accents too - just don’t tell **Wolfie** 😉 ). ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-australians-ashamed-about-their-accents/128455/23 "2002-09-15T23:48:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > \*\*[NZ accent’s] like a flatter, faster version of an Australian accent overall with some other differences. \*\* I agree with **Ice Wolf** , good summary **astro**. The “faster” can be quite a lot faster. I don’t speak particularly quickly, or have a very strong Kiwi accent (I’ve been occasionally asked if I’m english – NZ through and through), but even so I found on US business trips that it helped to conciously slow my speech (just a little), and avoid contractions (Kiwis use a lot of “can’t”, “don’t” and the like). One of my current co-workers gabbles aways at immense speed, with a strong, rural Kiwi accent. The first time she was presenting to a US audience they just sat and stared at her. They thought she had a nice accent, but couldn’t understand a thing she said. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Intaglio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71e660/32.png) [@Intaglio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intaglio)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2002, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-australians-ashamed-about-their-accents/128455/24 "2002-09-16T00:58:32Z")
All I know is, I like Russell Crowe’s accent and manner of speaking. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-australians-ashamed-about-their-accents/128455.md?page=1)