# Do you hear your own accent?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-your-own-accent/596640>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [September 17, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-your-own-accent/596640 "2011-09-17T17:27:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-your-own-accent/596640/41 "2014-06-13T22:42:01Z")

</div>

I sound soo Texan in a recording - To myself I don’t.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-your-own-accent/596640/42 "2014-06-13T22:53:10Z")

</div>

I’m from a place in Ohio where people think there’s no distinctive accent,  
But having lived elsewhere for 20 years, my ears perk up when I hear some of those vowels.

Among a group of my Indian relatives, my brother and I can drop into a drawl that the people around us have trouble understanding us, and that’s with an accent that’s supposedly fairly dull and indistinctive.

I can occasionally catch myself using pronunciations that are not native to my homeland, but it’s much more noticeable when it comes to vocabulary. For example, I habitually say “soda” now, instead of “pop,” although I always feel like a turncoat doing that.

Strangely enough, I grew up saying “sneakers,” even though it’s supposedly not native to that area.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-your-own-accent/596640/43 "2014-06-13T23:01:34Z")

</div>

I was born, raised and have always lived in Northern California. I am aware that I don’t have an accent. When I hear myself recorded that is confirmed.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-your-own-accent/596640/44 "2014-06-13T23:05:08Z")

</div>

I’ve always lived in and around Sydney (where I was born), and my family is Australian for generations back on both sides, yet for whatever reason, I don’t have a particularly Australian accent. I’ve been mistaken for being from pretty much every part of Britain, and I’ve even been asked if I was Russian. Yet sometimes, just sometimes, I’ll be speaking to somebody and I’ll hear a random word come out as an insanely caricatured old-time Steve Irwin style, fully nasal Aussie drawl. I don’t seem to be able to control it.

I have been known to code shift though - in remote towns and places, I’ll speak a little slower and a bit more Australianised, so that I don’t get beaten up for being a smug city arsehole. 😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-your-own-accent/596640/45 "2014-06-13T23:31:05Z")

</div>

> [@Rhiannon8404](#):
>
> I was born, raised and have always lived in Northern California. I am aware that I don’t have an accent. When I hear myself recorded that is confirmed.

It’s impossible to speak without an accent.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-hear-your-own-accent/596640.md?page=2)