# What do I need to do to pull an American bird? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 10, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728 "2010-10-10T23:01:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/21 "2010-10-11T10:53:31Z")
Pull an American bird? Would that be like Plucking the Yew? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/22 "2010-10-11T10:56:54Z")
I once pulled an American bird. It took about two weeks of charm. The moment we first kissed was when I was telling her what you could buy in a butcher’s shop (she’d never seen one and was freaked out at how anatomical the meat was). The last thing I said before we locked lips was “some sorts of offal, meat pie, sausages…” I highly recommend this approach. 😉 > [@KinkiNipponTourist](#): > > If you have a cute accent, and can pull off that Hugh Grant (hey, no judgments! you want the hawt bird or not?) self-effacing bit, and can try not to laugh too hard at my broad American accent, after a few €7 pints I’ll follow you anywhere. Yes. Mr Grant is definitely not Irish in any way. That dithering stuff is more suited to posh English boys. > [@Laudenum](#): > > You’re liver I am not, chopped or otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/23 "2010-10-11T11:42:10Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Am I the only one who thought of [this](http://www.theonion.com/articles/european-men-are-so-much-more-romantic-than-americ,11552/)? I was hoping someone would give him a line to use. Something like, “I don’t know what you want. I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career…” Something perfect for putting a young girl abroad at ease. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![FrWindyShephardHenderson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@FrWindyShephardHenderson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrWindyShephardHenderson)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/24 "2010-10-11T11:57:58Z")
> [@Laudenum](#): > > > [@An\_Gadai](#): > > > > **Laudenum** where the hell can you get drinks for €2 a go (other than an offy)? > > > > How about just going up and talking to them? > > Dicey’s on Harcourt Street on a Tuesday 😃 > > You’re liver and wallet will thank me. Oh sweet fancy Moses ---
**Author:** ![KinkiNipponTourist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@KinkiNipponTourist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinkiNipponTourist)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/25 "2010-10-11T12:05:54Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Mr Grant is definitely not Irish in any way. That dithering stuff is more suited to posh English boys. pfffffft. I’m calling BS on your whole “kissed an American bird” story then. If you’d actually spoken to one of us, you’d know that we have no idea what’s going on with all your countries over there. Why, I usually charm British (UK?) boys by asking them if that accent is Scottish. They quickly launch into some explanation denying it, but I can tell they are very flattered when I do that. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/26 "2010-10-11T12:30:23Z")
> [@KinkiNipponTourist](#): > > > [@jjimm](#): > > > > Mr Grant is definitely not Irish in any way. That dithering stuff is more suited to posh English boys. > > pfffffft. I’m calling BS on your whole “kissed an American bird” story then. If you’d actually spoken to one of us, you’d know that we have no idea what’s going on with all your countries over there. Why, I usually charm British (UK?) boys by asking them if that accent is Scottish. They quickly launch into some explanation denying it, but I can tell they are very flattered when I do that. 🆒 If an Irishman is still talking pleasantly to you after you call him English, he’s definitely trying to get into your pants. Only the urgent need to get laid can override such an insult. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/27 "2010-10-11T12:47:18Z")
If you’re in the States you’re sucking diesel. You’re in for a harder time if in ireland as your accent isn’t as special then as everyone around her has the same accent. I remember when I spent some time in Vermont I had little to no problem with the local females. It seemed all I had to do was talk. One girl who I ended up spending a lot of time with basically picked me up out of the blue. I was playing a trivia quiz machine in a bar and talking to the barman while doing so. She sat beside me and just started asking me questions. I answered and after a while said I had to go (which I had). She gave me her phone number and that was it. Called her and we hooked up. She just kept on getting me to talk and then she’d giggle a lot 😃 That was a great few weeks. Ahhh Sarah from Tallahassee, what a girl. Whomever ended up with Sarah is a lucky man. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/28 "2010-10-11T13:09:40Z")
This is something that I really get confused by. (Bearing in mind I’m talking in sweeping generalities here…) The “standard” English accent is, in comparison to the American accent, quite odd. Non-rhotic, clipped vowels, etc. The Irish accent is totally and utterly different. And indeed much closer to the American accent. There’s far more difference between the English accent and the Irish than the difference between, say, US and Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/29 "2010-10-11T13:27:35Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > This is something that I really get confused by. > The Irish accent is totally and utterly different. And indeed **much closer to the American accent**. Not to my (American) ears. It’s a lovely, lovely accent, but I don’t hear it as “closer” to the American accent than British accents can be. Heck, you get a Deep South or Appalachian American and a Brit and I’d be hard pressed to tell the one from the other for the first few phrases. I have a pretty good ear for accents, but there were a couple of sounds in Irish accents that stumped me for the first day, and I had to pay close attention before I felt at ease. In particular, the “t” for “th”. When told that the show started at “Half Tree…Tree Tirty”, I had to do that rude tourist thing and ask for a repeat. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/30 "2010-10-11T13:33:27Z")
There are at least ten easily distinguishable Irish accents. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/31 "2010-10-11T17:28:39Z")
> [@Laudenum](#): > > There are at least ten easily distinguishable Irish accents. Yeah but it’s not easy to foreign ears. To a bloody foreigner a person from wildest Donegal and from the deepest of Dublin 4 will often sound similar, especially if the person has not been exposed to any Irish accents before. For years I thought there was a “Northern Ireland accent” but after a lot more exposure there are numerous accents, albeit with some commonalities. ---
**Author:** ![JessEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cdc98d/32.png) [@JessEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JessEnigma)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/32 "2010-10-11T18:36:46Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > > [@jjimm](#): > > > > This is something that I really get confused by. > > The Irish accent is totally and utterly different. And indeed **much closer to the American accent**. > > Not to my (American) ears. It’s a lovely, lovely accent, but I don’t hear it as “closer” to the American accent than British accents can be. Heck, you get a Deep South or Appalachian American and a Brit and I’d be hard pressed to tell the one from the other for the first few phrases. Some of the Irish accents really are bizarrely close to American ones. There’s a particular one - I think it’s a posh Dublin accent? - that has more than once left me scratching my head for a minute or two wondering why an American is trying to fake an Irish accent. Once it clicks, I can easily hear the difference, but the illusion is surprisingly sustainable. Other Irish accents don’t fool me at all if I hear them directly, but as background noise, they still sound vaguely American because of the rhythms and stuff. English accents are completely different. That said, Irish accents are different enough from American ones that they can be awfully attractive for novelty alone. Unless it’s a Belfast accent. ---
**Author:** ![LunarPlexus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@LunarPlexus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LunarPlexus)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/33 "2010-10-11T19:12:39Z")
> [@Laudenum](#): > > Why will she assume I am going to mug/rape her? Attempted handshake? ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/34 "2010-10-11T19:25:34Z")
> [@JessEnigma](#): > > There’s a particular one - I think it’s a posh Dublin accent? - that has more than once left me scratching my head for a minute or two wondering why an American is trying to fake an Irish accent. Once it clicks, I can easily hear the difference, but the illusion is surprisingly sustainable. Other Irish accents don’t fool me at all if I hear them directly, but as background noise, they still sound vaguely American because of the rhythms and stuff. English accents are completely different. > . Yep. It’s particulary strong with teenage girls. It’s not an old accent though. It’s a new one(maybe 10-20 years). I think, total WAG BTW, it came from people coming back from having a summer in The States on a J1 visa and just stuck and then other people started picking it up. It’s like a generic American accent because that’s it’s influence. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/35 "2010-10-11T19:25:51Z")
> [@JessEnigma](#): > > Some of the Irish accents really are bizarrely close to American ones. There’s a particular one - I think it’s a posh Dublin accent? - that has more than once left me scratching my head for a minute or two wondering why an American is trying to fake an Irish accent. Once it clicks, I can easily hear the difference, but the illusion is surprisingly sustainable. In reverse, for the longest time I thought that the lead singer of the Decembrists was Irish. Turns out he’s from Montana… ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/36 "2010-10-11T19:29:46Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/vshSwVDB8kA/hqdefault.jpg "Franz Ferdinand talk to Jenny Huston @ the Electric Picnic") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vshSwVDB8kA) Jenny Heuston is originally from Canada so that explains her accent but there are young girls all over this city speaking with that accent who have never left the island. ETA: Oh and they all do the ‘going up in pitch at the end of the sentence’ thing that makes everything sound like a question. That’s a very American thing IME. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/37 "2010-10-11T19:31:52Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > Yep. It’s particulary strong with teenage girls. It’s not an old accent though. It’s a new one(maybe 10-20 years). I think, total WAG BTW, it came from people coming back from having a summer in The States on a J1 visa and just stuck and then other people started picking it up. It’s like a generic American accent because that’s it’s influence. Exemplified by [Sorcha](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNMA5_jSKGM) in Thinkzoo. To me, the (southern, Hugh Grant) English accent is much further removed from the rhoticism of the (“standard”, newsreaderish) American accent and the (for the sake of it, south Dublin) accent. For simple example, for car, we silly English say “kah”. Both Americans and Irish say “caR”. That difference alone should make them unconfusable. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/38 "2010-10-11T19:37:35Z")
Here’s an Irish newsreader. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LJcsoKuBfjo/hqdefault.jpg "Sharon Ni Bheolain18 02") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJcsoKuBfjo) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/39 "2010-10-11T20:23:20Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > For simple example, for car, we silly English say “kah”. Both Americans and Irish say “caR”. That difference alone should make them unconfusable. It’s hardly unconfusable considering that a lot of Americans say car the same way. Haven’t you ever heard anyone making fun of the Boston accent by saying “Pahk ya **cah** in Hahvahd Yahd”? I try to say car with an R, but when I’m overly tired, it does morph into an H like it did when I was little and still living in MA. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728/40 "2010-10-12T04:25:40Z")
> [@Laudenum](#): > > :dubious: Unless you are counting mad homeless people shouting to the world at large then you are walking in the wrong areas. No, I’m just female and live in a city. This stuff has happened in well-populated parks in broad daylight. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-do-to-pull-an-american-bird/556728.md?page=3)