# do american's have accents **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 21, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917 "2003-07-21T14:33:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![gerikel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/858c86/32.png) [@gerikel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gerikel)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/82 "2003-07-22T01:17:03Z")
proud of prejudice? are you speaking of my dislike for the southern accent? that’s like me being a neo-nazi with a jewish religion. i’m just saying i’m not the only one in the south that thinks southern accents aren’t desirable. it’s a FACT that people, in the other regions, have mocked those from the south and used the accent to imply lesser degrees of education. i know what people think (because i have had it said to my face before) that people in the south (particularly the state in which i reside) don’t wear shoes and marry their syblings. and while this says nothing directly about the accent, when you speak with a southern accent, people know you are from the south and may assume the aforementioned circumstances. trust me, i’ve been up north and have gotten the “you mean y’all wear shoes down there” (in an obvious mocking souther accent) more times than i can count. it gets old. and my point is that people can be prejudice about southerners or any other region just as they can be about those of different races. i live hear, i know we wear shoes and that people don’t inbreed, so how i can i be prejudice when i am educated on the matter? ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/83 "2003-07-22T01:48:09Z")
Arrrr, matey, what _is_ a pirate’s accent exactly? 'Tis certain those scurvy dogs in Hollywood didn’t just pluck it out of the air. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/84 "2003-07-22T02:23:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by xvxdarkknightxvx \* > I like to believe that New Jersey and California are the most accent-free areas in the U.S. … I’ve never heard a California accent because (in my mind, at least), it doesn’t exist. … No one arround me speaks with an accent. Not trying to prove my accent-freeness, but I think it may be because of my parents. One had a slight Oregonian accent, and the other had a strong Filipino accent. I guess I just ignored how they talked and stuck to pronouncing things like they are in the dictionary. I mean, how can I **not** be accent-free? 😛 This is much, much harder work than it ought to be, but please try to understand that you and everybody you have ever spoken to, or ever will speak to has an accent. An explanation can be found throughout this thread. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slipster \* > I recall hearing a report on the BBC World Service some years ago about how Estuary English was receiving increasing acceptance as a standard or refined way of speaking. If I understand correctly, Michael Caine generally speaks with an Estuary English accent, and the Received Pronunciation is used by the royal family and was what Rex Harrison set out to teach in My Fair Lady. Caine’s accent does seem to have approached Estuary from the Cockney direction. It is becoming more commonplace but it isn’t a refined way of speaking, just a compromise. RP is indeed the version of English 'enry 'iggins tried to teach Eliza Doolittle, but surprisingly the royal family don’t generally use it. Nowerdays younger members probably use a version of it mixed with some Estuary and a curious, rarified version of English associated with the young upper class (google “Sloane Ranger”). The old guard (e.g. Her Maj, Phil and Charles) have a characteristic, strangulated way of speaking that would sound very odd if the ladies and gents at the BBC used it for announcements. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/85 "2003-07-22T02:35:00Z")
**gerikel** , I’m afraid I’m puzzled. You go on at length about the Southern accent being a disadvantage, with people assuming you’re a hick, and so on. It obviously is important to you what impression you give to other people by your communications. Then, you post stuff like this: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gerikel \* > \*\*i _sic_ have listened to foreign newscast _sic_ while in china _sic_ and see your point exactly. i _sic_ get it. i _sic_ didn’t mean to sound whinny _sic_ either (the femal _sic_ nature i _sic_ suppose) but i _sic_ refuse to be insulted to tears for foming _sic_ my ignorant opinions. \*\* I don’t have any idea what you sound like in real life, but if I got an e-mail from you looking for a job, with those many errors, I’d likely pass. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/86 "2003-07-22T02:49:23Z")
[url=http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3735163#post3735163]gerikel: You’ve not really been welcomed until you’ve been Pitted. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/87 "2003-07-22T02:50:55Z")
Dratted coding errors! [Fixed link.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3735163#post3735163) ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/88 "2003-07-22T04:21:39Z")
All I know is that, after working in my lab for several months, I’m starting to say “jah” when I mean “luck”. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/89 "2003-07-22T07:45:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wumpus \* > \*\*Arrrr, matey, what _is_ a pirate’s accent exactly? 'Tis certain those scurvy dogs in Hollywood didn’t just pluck it out of the air. \*\* It sounds to me like a stereotype of the accents from the West Country of England (anywhere from Bristol to Cornwall). The local accent of Oxfordshire also sounds a bit like a pirate accent, though without all the "avast ye"s. ---
**Author:** ![parlo\_americano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b19c9b/32.png) [@parlo\_americano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parlo_americano)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/90 "2003-07-22T07:50:18Z")
But besides using different words soda vs. pop and sub/hero/hoagie/grinder/po’ boy in different parts of America we use different vowel sounds. Small story to illustrate: I moved to New Jersey at a young age from Mass. and I got into a fight with my 2nd grade teacher. “whodaya want in your group, alison?”(please read with a mellower Sopranos type accent) “Olivia and Dawn (pronounced Dahn with an open low “a” sound)” “You mean Da-won (Really pronounce that w when reading this)” ::nodding in agreement happy Dawn would be in my group:: “Dahn yea” “Da-won” ::what is this lady trying to say we’ve only got one dawn in the class::“Dahn ummhmm” “DA- WON” We volleyed this name back and forth for a good five minutes ending with the teacher breathing hot air into my face. She was using the “if they don’t understand, speak louder” method for communication. Next week I went to speech class with the kid with the lisp. I never fully pronounced an “r” unless it was at the end of the word “idea” Doa was the sound for both drawer and door. Gahl was the sound for girl and grill. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/91 "2003-07-22T09:55:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wumpus \* > \*\*Arrrr, matey, what _is_ a pirate’s accent exactly? 'Tis certain those scurvy dogs in Hollywood didn’t just pluck it out of the air. \*\* A West Country accent, such as might be foud in Bristol, Plymouth or Portsmouth which were the major ports in England during ‘pirate times’. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/92 "2003-07-22T11:50:49Z")
What a disgusting story, **parlo americano**. I suppose common sense would tell you you might have to put up with that kind of nonsense from the other kids, but a _teacher_? She shouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near children. ---
**Author:** ![parlo\_americano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b19c9b/32.png) [@parlo\_americano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parlo_americano)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/93 "2003-07-22T12:02:59Z")
thanks everton. just to give the story a happy ending: it turned out okay, the speech teacher was very nice, the kid with a lisp turned out to be one of my best friends, and I ended up studying liguistics. Also, I’m pretty damn good at figuring out what non-native speakers are saying and helping them pronounce words more clearly. And I can speak other languages with an easily understood (mostly unnoticed) accent. ---
**Author:** ![hyjyljyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@hyjyljyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hyjyljyj)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/94 "2003-07-22T12:39:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cervaise \* > \*\*And for what it’s worth, we spent a lot of time learning a “neutral American” dialect, similar to the “newscaster-speak” referenced previously. This is a created dialect; nobody actually speaks this way in real life. \*\* Got some “news” for you there, pardner. Lots and lots of people actually speak this way in real life, especially in the midwest (not up north like MI, ND, MN), including me. Yes, where I’m from in St. Louis there are some accents that one can discern with practice, but most of those whom I know from there speak generally unaccented English. Not just that we “can’t hear it” because we are the speakers; I focus attention on this from a linguistic interest standpoint. People speak this way, although probably not as well or as uniformly as a trained actor like yourself. ---
**Author:** ![glilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/48db29/32.png) [@glilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glilly)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/95 "2003-07-22T12:39:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 5 time champ \* > \*\*Interesting, so how can you tell someone in St Louis? \*\* It’s subtle, but there are a few clues, like if the speaker pronounces Saint Louis as “Sant Louis”. ---
**Author:** ![godzillatemple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/96 "2003-07-22T12:46:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*That’s rather an arbitrary distinction, though, isn’t it - it neglects, for example, the populations of Sri Lanka, Malta, India, Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong, the Philippines etc., who all speak English as their first language. \*\* 😕 I don’t know about Sri Lanka, Malta, India, Australia, South Africa, and the Philippines, but I’ve been to Hong Kong and can tell you that English is definitely **not** the “first language” there. It is certainly taught in schools (or at least it was before HK was returned to China – I don’t know if it’s still taught there now), but the first language has always been Cantonese. Many of the people who learned English in school there don’t speak it particularly well, and many more people don’t speak it at all. All movies are filmed with Cantonese speaking actors, not English (although before the handover to China all movies were required to have English subtitles). Sorry for the nitpick. Carry on… Barry ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/97 "2003-07-22T13:04:24Z")
Yeah, I should have been more clear - I meant “the _segments of the_ populations…”. Incidentally, I lived in Hong Kong for three years and can confirm there are third- and fourth-generation caucasian and eurasian people in Hong Kong who do speak English as a first language, but they’re a tiny minority and thus not a very good example. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/98 "2003-07-22T13:37:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hyjyljyj \* > …where I’m from in St. Louis there are some accents that one can discern with practice, but most of those whom I know from there speak generally unaccented English. At the risk of repeating myself yet again, there is no such thing as “generally unaccented English”. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/100 "2003-07-22T13:48:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > **But these people also have _their_ versions of announcerspeak too - or are you just referring to getting American and British announcers to use an averaged dialect? Whichever, it doesn’t make much sense to me.** I didn’t mean to leave you hanging. Let me see if I can make better sense. Originally, **Chronos** asked about the possibility of creating a Pan-English dialect. I maintain that, academically, such a dialect could well be conceived and created. Let us now consider our proposed Pan-English dialect as a practical matter, as opposed to an academic matter. The presence and _current influence_ of the existing American and British standard dialects would tend to diminish the contributions of Sri Lankan, Maltese, Indian, Australian, South African, Hong Kong, and Philippine English to any real-world application of a Pan-English dialect. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/101 "2003-07-22T14:18:55Z")
**bordelond** , now I getcha. I thought you were talking purely academically. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917/102 "2003-07-22T14:35:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SIMFOG \* > **Do blacks in England have black accents?** When I was there they all sounded British to me, but do they sound British to Englanders? Black people here have a similar range of accents as do white people or any other category. There are some accents (e.g. Caribbean, various African ones) that would be much more commonly heard among black people than white for obvious reasons, and there are certain tonal qualities to black people’s voices that may allow identification on the phone or radio. But yes, a black person born and raised here does sound “British”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-americans-have-accents/189917.md?page=6)