Many southerners think the educated (BBC) Brit accent is very similar to the educated (UVA or UNC-CH) southern accent.
Have to say, I listen to the Pet Shop Boys a lot, and when I sing along with Neil, I say a lot of words the way he does (drop my r’s, etc.)
Never have had any difficulty understanding GB accents, and they don’t seem to have a problem with me.
As an aside – my cousin, who lives in New England, carefully cultivates her Alabama accent because everyone up there just loves it.
Not sure how revelent this is, however people all over the US have varying degrees of accents.
From that NY kinda edgy Brooklyn thing to the Boston/New England thing to the WAY south thing to the Texas thing to the Midwest thing to a more Midwest with nasal thing going on in the Rocky Mtn. States to Californian which can be highly ummmm wierd. (okay not the accent itself just the usage of words) to the northern states area (like Wisconsin, Minnesota, etc…) where they have a more notably Canandian accent…
So with that said, what is "the American Accent?
Heck, where I live has a high (not large but second highest ethnic group) of Mexican Americans which have a strong Mexican accent.
So how do you define the “American Accent?”
Oh and I can’t type for crap tonight…I am in the mood for some Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and that’s a run I can’t make right now because of a bottle of Chardonnay. Damnit. I apologize.
HAHA.
I have to say there’s much more variety in American dialects than some of our non-American posters seem to think. There are a number of different Southern accents - it gets thicker as you go further South, for one, and then you get to the class issue, and the Southwest doesn’t sound like the Southeast. There are multiple New York accents, there’s the Fargo/‘Minnesota nice’ accent - which is an exaggeration, but based on something - the Chicago accent, and more general Midwest ones…
I think the reason California and Canada get lumped together is the rising inflection at the end of the sentence issue. Though in point of fact, I’ve seen plenty of spoiled girls here that speak that way, too.
I had a geography professor that claimed newscasters are taught to speak like people in Omaha, Nebraska so that they don’t have a recognizable accent. Do people from other parts of the country think that midwesterners (think Tom Brokaw, a South Dakotan) don’t really have an accent?
I’m sure newscasters are discouraged from being too regional, generally speaking, but no matter where you’re from, people from somewhere else can think you have an accent. I think what you’re talking about, Dignan, is an urban legend, because I’ve heard locations other than Omaha stated there. And I don’t care where he’s from, Tom Brokaw sounds weird.
Funny, Peter Jennings doesn’t sound like he from Nebraska, he sounds like he’s from Canada.
Well, he is, so I guess that’s why.
So much for newcaster training.
More likely than specific training, someone with a “Nebraska” accent is more likely to get hired for the job because people can understand him or her. Likewise, Canadians have an advantage over many native borns because Canadians don’t mumble nearly as frequently as Americans do.
SEZ WHO???
They don’t sound anything alike to this southerner. I’ve never confused anybody from Chapel Hill with somebody from the UK, educated or not!
i’ve always wondered about this…
the difference in accents at the Niagara Fall, NY and Niagara Falls, Ont. I always wonder how the hell they can sound soooo different but live soooo close together…
<walks away pondering>
I’m Irish, and I love American accents, I can tell the difference between quite a few American accents, which usually surprises the American in question when I can point out [approx] where they are from …
I used to live in Scotland and I can assure the earlier poster that Scots people don’t speak English they speak Unglesh, an’ canae unnerstaun whe ither folk canae unnerstaun a wurd thur sayin …
I’ve heard a quote from a German describing American accents as sounding like were were all speaking with potatoes in our mouths.
American accents (generally) grate a little with me - but i think thats mainly because i tend to hear them at excess volume here in London waffling on about something touristy. I’m sure they are nicer in their natural setting.
I do think that a soft southern accent is possibly the sexiest thing ever.
A young lady with one of 'em would have me eating out of her hand - no question.