I’ve noticed a recent spate of “Why do some people pronounce word X differently to me?” threads. Is there some current US-based TV show or something causing this sudden spate of interest?
The answer to all of them is, of course, “because they don’t have your accent, seeing as they live somewhere else”. But more oddly - why do people even ask this? Do they imagine there’s some special reason that some people deliberately choose to speak differently to the poster in question? The concept of accents is fairly well-known; I don’t fully comprehend the mystery that’s prompting these questions.
The polite answer is that people see a question that reminds them of unanswered questions of their own and they post them. Pronunciation is an endless sink of questions, leading to many possible threads, unlike other issues which are more complete in themselves. The history of pronunciation, dialects, and all variations in languages has also been extensively studied and some real answers can be given to some of the questions based on massive real research. Not having seen the threads, I can’t say whether people are just spouting opinions and anecdotes or true knowledge, but there is at least a tiny chance that some knowledge might emerge, however small that is in practice. But I’m being impolite again.