# He thinks all short men sit on their laurels all day: Take 2 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 1, 2010, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-thinks-all-short-men-sit-on-their-laurels-all-day-take-2/537956 "2010-05-01T10:34:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-thinks-all-short-men-sit-on-their-laurels-all-day-take-2/537956/1 "2010-05-01T10:34:09Z")
So I was reading [a thread that popped up in the cue](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=482620), and it mentioned recording your accent so people could here it. I got all excited because I’ve been wanting to participate in one of those threads. I went to the [linked thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=482896) I posted and said I’d have recordings shortly. What I didn’t notice is that I’d resurrected a zombie. Someone else had resurrected the other one. Thing is, I’ve already made the recordings, and I’d really like to share them. So I thought, why not do a part 2? I’m sure we’ve picked up new people, especially since we left pay-to-post. So have at it new people. Get a microphone and record you saying the title. I’d love to hear your accent. Here’s [mine](http://www.box.net/shared/ckrgo24ym5). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-thinks-all-short-men-sit-on-their-laurels-all-day-take-2/537956/2 "2010-05-01T10:44:55Z")
Just kidding! I said I tend to [mimic accents](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12404543#post12404543), and so I mimicked the first poster in the old thread. Probably would have been funnier in the original thread. Oh well. Here’s the real me: [ul][li][Reading](http://www.box.net/shared/ozi8tqpjxf)[/li][li][(over) Enunciating](http://www.box.net/shared/53u4b15a6y)[/li][li][Conversational](http://www.box.net/shared/258lyyxxr5)[/li][li][When I’m around my “Hicksville” friends.](http://www.box.net/shared/fyz6tf5l7j)[/li][/ul] Yeah, with 5 total recordings, you can see why I wanted to post these. I’ve even got less-than-perfect recordings of part of the Gettysburg Address, but I’m not going to share them unless this thread doesn’t bomb. Oh, and if you have trouble recording as an MP3, see the [last post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12404583#post12404583) in Part 1. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-thinks-all-short-men-sit-on-their-laurels-all-day-take-2/537956/3 "2010-05-02T02:03:13Z")
[Can I play](http://www.box.net/shared/ppogcdrbqm)? Would anyone tell me where my accent is from? Really, I mean it. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-thinks-all-short-men-sit-on-their-laurels-all-day-take-2/537956/4 "2010-05-02T10:36:10Z")
I don’t have an accent persay, at least not one that anyone can pinpoint, but I DO pick up accents super quickly unless I try not to. I’m talking like within 5 minutes of speaking with somebody, I’ll start to mimic their speech patterns. I think it’s served me well over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-thinks-all-short-men-sit-on-their-laurels-all-day-take-2/537956/5 "2010-05-02T10:39:43Z")
I’ll record something later when I’m not half asleep. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-thinks-all-short-men-sit-on-their-laurels-all-day-take-2/537956/6 "2010-05-02T12:39:37Z")
Mighty Girl, I’m thinking either Ireland or Scotland. Whatever it is, it’s lovely! I’m so jealous! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-thinks-all-short-men-sit-on-their-laurels-all-day-take-2/537956/7 "2010-05-02T12:53:21Z")
Ok, here’s mine: > **[laurels.wma | Powered by Box](https://app.box.com/s/e9naspqnc1)** ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-thinks-all-short-men-sit-on-their-laurels-all-day-take-2/537956/8 "2010-05-02T13:45:38Z")
**Mighty Girl** , you have the oddest accent I’ve heard. I like it, but it’s odd. Australian or Kiwi, but your parents came from somewhere else? You have elements that could come from any number of places, but they don’t necessarily match one another. Yet it all comes together in a rather delightful accent! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-thinks-all-short-men-sit-on-their-laurels-all-day-take-2/537956/9 "2010-05-03T02:39:28Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > I don’t have an accent persay, at least not one that anyone can pinpoint, but I DO pick up accents super quickly unless I try not to. I’m talking like within 5 minutes of speaking with somebody, I’ll start to mimic their speech patterns. I think it’s served me well over the years. Do you find it hard with stutterers, like I do? Do you also start trying to rhyme things after you’ve hear a bunch of poetry? Anyways, I’m glad the thread is picking up a bit of steam. Here’s my [Gettysburg](http://www.box.net/shared/c2mcx9npbl). (Sorry about the popping. Bad editing software.) Also, if anyone wants, I can convert your stuff to MP3 and put it on [box.net](http://box.net), where it will stream. That way people with slower connections can download it easily. (I already mentioned instructions on how to do it yourself [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12404583#post12404583). ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-thinks-all-short-men-sit-on-their-laurels-all-day-take-2/537956/10 "2010-05-03T03:06:19Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Do you find it hard with stutterers, like I do? Do you also start trying to rhyme things after you’ve hear a bunch of poetry? Umm, negatory for the former, but I do indeed have a tendency to rhyme things, with no rhyme nor reason, hyuck hyuck hyuck. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-thinks-all-short-men-sit-on-their-laurels-all-day-take-2/537956/11 "2010-05-03T03:10:56Z")
I suspect **Mighty Girl** is some flavor of Caribbean. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-thinks-all-short-men-sit-on-their-laurels-all-day-take-2/537956/12 "2010-05-03T03:45:34Z")
> [@Oy](#): > > **Mighty Girl** , you have the oddest accent I’ve heard. I like it, but it’s odd. Australian or Kiwi, but your parents came from somewhere else? You have elements that could come from any number of places, but they don’t necessarily match one another. Yet it all comes together in a rather delightful accent! I am Dominican, born and bred. I speak English since I was a child, my first teacher was Irish (I think, everybody called her “la inglesita”, but she was a Catholic nun, so it figures). Anyway, after her I had some American teachers, then MTV, books, music, travel, friends. Then I met my husband, a Dane, who also speak perfect English since he was a child, and we settled on English as the home language (my daughter’s main language is English, although she speaks Danish and Spanish at the same level. Ironically she sounds more “American”). Native speakers are always baffled at my accent. It sounds native, but “native from where?”. Most people who talk to me without knowing how I look, or where I am from, assume I am from “somewhere USA”. People who meet me assume “somewhere in the US, perhaps English Caribbean”. I also spell some words with an English spelling, out of habit. So I assume I just picked whatever spelling/pronunciation/enunciation I heard/read when I first learned a word. Mine is a collage of accents. I joke with a friend that I should just pick an accent I like and run with it, it is not affectation if you don’t have a native accent to start with. I am split between a Geordie, or a Southern American drawl. What do you say? ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-thinks-all-short-men-sit-on-their-laurels-all-day-take-2/537956/13 "2010-05-03T11:21:14Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > I joke with a friend that I should just pick an accent I like and run with it, it is not affectation if you don’t have a native accent to start with. I am split between a Geordie, or a Southern American drawl. What do you say? I say it’s lovely. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-thinks-all-short-men-sit-on-their-laurels-all-day-take-2/537956/14 "2010-05-04T13:47:49Z")
There must be a lot of people looking at the old thread. I keep getting emails from the hosting site saying someone has listened to my audio file! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-thinks-all-short-men-sit-on-their-laurels-all-day-take-2/537956/15 "2010-05-04T13:55:08Z")
I was wondering why my old stuff was being downloaded! Not that I mind. I already have a couple of voice clips on [box.net](http://box.net). Including the OP’s suggestion and part of the Gettsyburg address. I wouldn’t mind doing something newer.