So this is probably going to sound pretty crazy, but I have recently starting speaking in a fake Boston type accent…pretty much with everyone except my family members. It started as just a “for fun” type thing, but the person I ended up talking to in the accent offered me a professional opportunity, so I kept speaking in that accent with them…and then their friends…and now just in general with everyone I meet.
I’m really from the South, and sometimes I feel like a more confident, “different” version of myself when I speak in the Boston accent, and I do quite enjoy it just for the fun of it.
I DON’T lie to people about where I’m from, however. I’ve told them that I merely have relatives that are from Boston, I grew up around them, picked up the accent…no one has thought anything weird about it so far. I’ve even met some people from Boston that seemed completely convinced about my accent and didn’t raise any eyebrows or question it.
So am I crazy to do this? Has anyone else ever adopted a fake accent permanently like this?
My husband is very anti social and doesn’t like to speak to strangers. When he does have to speak to them, I notice he feigns an English accent…not a regular one, but an obviously put-on one…like an English Sir. He also uses this accent with me when we are having “deep” philosophical discussions. He’s been doing it for years, but you know I never really thought about it or discussed it until now.
I remember watching a bit from an interview with Johnathan Harris (Doctor Smith from Lost In Space); the interviewer asked if he was British and he said “No, just affected.”
I have known several people who spoke just like him, all the time. It’s a little strange.
Yeah, I should have said “eccentric” in reference to my husband. But very eccentric, indeed. I wouldn’t worry about it though. Sounds perfectly harmless. You aren’t lying when asked, so, seems fine.
Well, technically, I am lying though…because I don’t really have relatives from Boston…but I’m not going to say, “Oh, I’m from Virginia, but I just talk like this because…I do?”
At least I don’t say I’m really from there though…
I’ve had several students recently ask if I was English, by my supposed accent.
But I’m from Colorado, lived 23 years in DC, and am now in Texas. Maybe my northern and eastern accent sounds British to the southern Texas or possibly the Hispanic ear. All the students (in different schools) were of Hispanic decent. shrug
I have a friend who is into reinactment and speaks with a Scottish brogue. Most common now to see young men and women speaking in the Getto tongue. One indication of Borderline personality disorder is adapting speech patterns and mannerisms of someone who presently is an object of focus for us in some fashion.
My accent has been known to shift slightly, from a midwestern neutral to something with a hint more Appalachian/southern to it–natural, given that I’m from Cincinnati, just as close to the border as you can be, and come from what you might call hillbilly stock.
Besides that, I’ve considered deliberately developing a “mid-atlantic” accent–a sort of American/British hybrid that was once common among stage actors and folks who attended boarding schools. Cary Grant is one of the most well known examples.
Anyway, not a big deal as I see it–no different than choosing how to dress. Be careful, though. Get it right if you can, don’t be too broad, and be very cautious if you’re actually dealing with anyone from Boston who naturally has such an accent–they may take it as mocking.
I used to slip into Cockney for yelling at people who do stupid things on the highway. And, of course, if I have to say something that’s both pompous and mathematical, that’s what the put-on Russian accent is for.
Of course, in both cases it’s for shits and giggles, not trying to “pass”.
I’m from Montgomery County, MD (suburb of D.C.) and I’ve had people from Michigan and western states (Utah, California) mistake my “accent” for an English one. Maybe it’s something about the accent from that area that some people here it as “English”? Weird. I always thought it was because I enunciate my words.
Not consciously, but when I’m trying to be cute around men who will like it, my Midwestern Neutral accent turns a bit Kentucky-Southern. I really DO have a lot of relatives from around there, and get it from them.
Not usually unless I’m quoting a line from a movie or tv show. I do sometimes pick up speech patterns of people I’m talking with without realizing it immediately though.
I had a hillbilly accent that was very noticeable so I eventually got rid of it and generally speak with no accent at all. I guess I am faking Not having an accent.
