# Things you always say in a borrowed accent. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 28, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053 "2009-08-28T17:42:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/61 "2009-08-31T15:36:09Z")
My Clousseauism is “fin” for phone. I say “yelz” for yes and “thenk you” like the the British gofers from Looney Toons. Rodeo is always RoDAYo, though that’s not an accent but mockingly referring to Rodeo Drive. I also say “Cuber” and “Tamper” but that’s usually when I’m mocking the English boyfriend. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/62 "2009-08-31T15:38:47Z")
I think most of y’all know I’m originally from Germany, but, because I’ve been here since 1960, I have lost the accent (but not my fluency). I also like to talk about my fondness for the _nuances_ of the English language, and it brings to mind an NPR interview with the actor Simon Pegg, who had a cute anecdote to share. Seems he and a friend were in an American restaurant and after bringing their order, the server asked if there were anything else they needed? So Simon says (;)), “I’d like some _bah_, please.” “Excuse me?” “Some _bah_.” Well, they went round and round a few more times until finally Simon goes, " **Buddderrrrr!"** (like in that old commercial). Guess you had to be there, huh?🙂 Thanks Quasi ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/63 "2009-08-31T16:31:17Z")
Whenever I’m vacuuming and run over something that makes an unusual sound, I channel an old Eddie Izzard routine and say, in my best (read: terrible) English accent: “Is that a bit of grit? Is that a piece of _money_? **Or the Treasure of the Sierra Madre?** ” ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/64 "2009-08-31T18:01:53Z")
I really like to say, “Your usefulness has come to an end!” in that suave, upper-crust, vaguely British supervillain accent. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/65 "2009-08-31T19:06:25Z")
I often say the word “properly” in a (bad) South Asian English accent (think Apu from “The Simpsons”). This is because I have heard the word used by South Asians to mean “severely” when referring to punishing a child – as in “I am going to beat you properly for being such a naughty boy!”. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/66 "2009-08-31T22:14:48Z")
(phoney Transilvanian accent) I’ve come to suck your blooood… ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/67 "2009-08-31T22:52:45Z")
Wagner (as in Richard) and Volkswagon. Fagner Folksvagon Thanks, 1 Semester of German. Thanks a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/68 "2009-08-31T23:49:02Z")
I used to love to mimic Jerry Lewis’ version of a German officer in the film _Which Way To The Front?_ “ **SCHRRRRRRODAH!** , Goot Churman!” Y’all **did** know they showed re-runs of Hogan’s Heroes over there for a while, right? > **[Hogan's Heroes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan's_Heroes)** > > Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom set in a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in Nazi Germany during World War II. It ran for 168 episodes (six seasons) from September 17, 1965, to April 4, 1971, on the CBS network, the longest broadcast run for an American television series inspired by that war. > Bob Crane starred as Colonel Robert E. Hogan, coordinating an international crew of Allied prisoners covertly running a special operations group from the camp. Werner Klemperer played Colonel Wilh... “I know **NOTH** ink!” Dose krezzy Churmans! Vat vill dey dink off nächst? 😉 Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/69 "2009-09-03T19:47:04Z")
‘Kahl-COOL-us’ the math taught by my Romanian professor ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/70 "2009-09-03T19:50:31Z")
“I’m sure in the _miserable annals of the Earth_ you will be _duly enshrined!_” in an accent borrowed from John Lithgow. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/71 "2009-09-03T19:58:11Z")
Ever since the spouse had a computer science teacher with a very thick Indian accent many years ago, we refer to “parmootating the farbles” (permutating the variables). Well, not that we refer to them often, but when we do that’s how we say it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/72 "2009-09-03T20:02:35Z")
Having watched _Stalag 17_ too many times, I am incapable of referring to a certain spring flower as other than “daffo-dilz”, in the accent of the Commandant (as played by Otto Preminger). And when people criticize Hitler, my comeback is “Not many people know zis, but der Fuehrer vas a _vonderful_ dancer.”\* \*Kenneth Mars as Franz Liebkind in _The Producers_. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/73 "2009-09-03T20:52:09Z")
Od. Ich achi pood. I got it from Penfold on Danger mouse. I use a foreign accent quite often and often without thought when speaking, while I use visual cues speaking. I don’t do it as often as I used to since the memory problems as it blanks out the correct phrases to use. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/74 "2009-09-03T23:28:53Z")
How _cool_ was it for the guitar to share the theme with that “oom-pah-pah” tuba, huh?. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Uwp_CNPYv5g/hqdefault.jpg "Hogan's Heroes") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwp_CNPYv5g) You know, I could have _sworn_ I heard a bass guitar throughout the whole Hogan’s Heroes theme song, but I’ll be damned if I can find a version of that. Musta been the theme from _The Waltons_ I was thinking about. **Vaht?** 😕 You dink I wass hei-jerking der damm **Trrrreadddd**?😉 Und **SO?** J/K:) Quasi (der Modem) ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/75 "2009-09-04T08:45:56Z")
whenever I or my friend, the local Boy Scout Troop’s Scoutmaster would pack up all the boy scouts’ stuff in a truck and tie it up with rope, I would look at the rope and say in a fake Hong Kong accent: “oh, the spiderweb technique (meaning the rope tying) , I have not seen that since the monks burned the castle.” Then my friend the scoutmaster went to iraq. the next camping trip, I packed up all the boy scouts’ stuff into the back of the truck and tied it up with rope and told the assistant scoutmaster that he needed to say (in a fake Hong Kong accent), "Oh, the spiderweb technique. . . . . .etc. etc. What he said was: "you really miss him, don’t you. " ---
**Author:** ![Recliner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a88e57/32.png) [@Recliner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recliner)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/76 "2009-09-06T08:44:02Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > _Inconceivable_. But it isn’t an accent so much as a voice. My friend’s brother ran into Wally Shawn in a restaurant once, and reflexively said that. Mr. Shawn was apparently not amused at the reference. Someone speculated its the “serious-actor-known-for-cult-character” thing. That said, I still find it funny. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/77 "2009-09-06T11:05:27Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > " **Buddderrrrr!"** Was it for his mashed per taters? ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/78 "2009-09-06T17:48:37Z")
“Walk thees way” …probably a high 87% of the time I toss in a slight hunch, and gesture with an air-walking-stick, too 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/79 "2009-09-06T19:59:26Z")
Cheee-bourr-gah Cheee-bourr-gah. (old SNL Greek diner sketch) Holy Mackeral —in a bad Indian accent. Spa-ka-ru —from the Simpsons’ Mr Sparkle (Meeeeestah Spakaru!) Whassa matta you? Take a teezy! (Ricky Ricardo–take it easy) ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053/80 "2009-09-06T23:07:08Z")
I tend to refer to the common petroleum-based fuel as “gazzaline”, like Mel Gibson says it in _Mad Max 2_. Also, invariably, after watching _The Commitments_ I say everything in a Northside Dublin accent for at least half a day. Everyone else thinks it’s really shoite and tells me to shut the fook oop. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-always-say-in-a-borrowed-accent/508053.md?page=5)