I hate bumper stickers, but that is a great catch phrase, me being the most pedantic person I know. On that note, can I use it? Keeping in mind that I won’t claim coinage if asked, but citing my source will be meaningless to most.
I am always quietly amused when someone is spouting off about drunks or junkies in front of me, always talking about how “those people” are criminal lowlifes, useless to society, can’t hold down a job, etc.
Sometime I identify myself, sometimes I don’t.
What is an RP accent?
I had my moment last night, out to dinner with my MIL and her friend, who started wondering if we were having more trouble with crime here in Baton Rouge with all of these (older lady hushed voice) “New Orleans people” who’ve moved here.
I loved being able to smile beatifically at her and say, “I AM one of those New Orleans people.”
RP - Received Pronounciation - well-spoken, British, BBC English.
RP = Received Pronunciation. It’s the prestige dialect of English in the UK. In the US, the prestige dialect is standard American English.
But, of course, that woudl be with a capital S. :rolleyes:
In one Linguistics class back at my university just a couple of years ago, I was sitting there wearing my Square & Compass Club shirt (I got it by virtue of being a member of said club when I worked on Diego Garcia, BIOT). The whacked out Funamentalist classmate sitting behind me said something about Freemasons being a false religion when someone mentioned “masonic” as an example of the ~ic morpheme’s use. She hadn’t noticed the shirt. I turned around and said, “How interesting. Most people come to college to alleviate their ignorance.”
The other DeMolay and Masonic types in the room snickered.
Oh, this is the same woman who held that the science of Linguistics can’t be right because it contradicts the Bible.
Making small talk with patients who have a noticeable accent, I’ll often ask them “where are you from, if you don’t mind my asking?” Sometimes I’ll think I recognize a London accent, or German, or Portuguese… but I don’t want to make the assumption and find out that they’re really from Manchester, or Austria, or Brazil–I think I have a decent ear for accents, but I absolutely don’t have the ear for it that, say, an English person has for the various English accents. The funny thing is that I phrase the question that way to be polite and avoid faux pas, but a good portion of the time they seem to mistake it for complete ignorance and will respond “London… England” with a slightly incredulous look on their face.
I thought I wouldn’t have anything to contribute to this thread until I read this and it reminded me of my own mom. Okay, both of my parents have lived in California for their entire lives and are very provincial. They are completely amazed that I left and am apparently happy living in Chicago (which is where I’ve lived for the last several years, my current location notwithstanding). Anyway, my mom watched some documentary about some losers in Wisconsin (I didn’t get a better description than that from her), and we had the following chat:
Mom: I’m so glad I don’t live in the Midwest with all of those losers!
Me: MOM. I LIVE IN THE MIDWEST.
Mom: Well, you live in Chicago. You don’t live in a Red State.
Me: Wisconsin is a Blue State, mom.
Mom: Wait, do I have blue and red mixed up? Isn’t blue Democrat?
Me: Yes. Wisconsin is a Blue State.
Geez.
This isn’t about me, but my relatives. My aunt, who’s of Irish heritage, married a Mexican Jew. My uncle’s parents were born in Poland, but fled to escape the Nazis. They originally immigrated to New York, but for some reason ended up in Mexico City, which is where my uncle has lived his entire life. He’s a very patriotic Mexican and so are their children, my cousins. Anyway, I was talking to a Mexican-American guy I know here in Bulgaria and the topic of Mexico came up and I mentioned that I have family in Mexico City, blah blah blah and in the course of the conversation I had to correct his impression that they were mestizo. His response? “They aren’t Mexican then.” Um, they’re Mexican citizens…unlike YOU, dude. Try telling my cousins they aren’t Mexican because they’re white, and see how far that gets you.
Most of my friends and acquaintences know, but I’ve defended strippers/exotic dancers many times to those who would disparage us. Yeah, “normal” girls do it too, and we’re not all hookers! lol. 
My daughter is 2, and I’ve had several experiences with people inquiring about when I’m having “the next”. Though we can’t have another biologically, we are undecided right now as to whether we will have another via adoption. Sometimes, I get treated to all the bad stereotypes* of how only children will turn out selfish, socially stunted, etc.
It is a pleasure to let them get to the end of the rant and then say, “Gee, I had no idea you thought I turned out so bad, seeing as I’m an only child myself.”
- Not borne out by any of the scientific literature, in case you were wondering.