What sort of accent do you speak with?

[Fenris]

Quite a few of the people I encounter have placeable accents, but many speak with an affectation that is slightly ambiguous. I myself have been accused of having an accent similar to an British person, but I believe that has something to do with the fact that I make a painful effort to speak proper English. Having lived in the Southern United States for all but two years of my life, I find it surprising that my speech carries little Southern influence. Perhaps that is because I have tried to avoid speaking with a Southern twang as if it were the plague.

So what sort of accent do you speak with?

[MissMillie]

1. Bahstun

I drive my cah to work every day, but I have the idear that it would be better for the environment if I took the T.

[Fenris]

2. Wicked Awesahm!

:D

[polmaven]

22. While English is my first language

I, too, speak fluent New Englandese.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

35. Bostonese

long vowels, soft "r's", and lightening fast delivery.

[Rowdyboy]

3. Sorta like I'm from somewhere 'round N'awlins

if ya catch my drift

[markus]

16. Another from N'wawlins

People can't figure out why a guy who sounds like he's from Balmer or some other north east or mid-atlantic port city keeps saying "y'all".

[grannylib]

4. probably pretty flat midwestern, but not as bad as portrayed in 'Fargo'

have lived out west and in England, and spent lots of time in the South, so maybe not as 'pure Minnesotan' as a Scandihoovian who spent her whole life here...

[MrsMatt]

45. Minneesohtahn

with a little dash of Swedish (Småland, specifically, from my father).

A friend of mine once told me that when I drank too much, I talked like a housewife from Fridley.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

5. I'm from the same county as Ewan McGregor, so he's a good reference.

That's how I sound, although every year drags it further across the Atlantic. Quite often people think I'm from the Maritimes. Then again, some people are convince I'm Australian, so maybe people aren't the best guide.

[mlawson]

79. Do you look like him, as well??

:-) Lucky you, if you do....

[Screaming Lord Byron]

84. Sure I look like him.

If he'd been in a car crash and had major facial reconstructive surgery, that is.

[rogerashton]

6. 'bout same as you, sounds like.

and a little Bill Clinton.

Funny thing is, it doesn't fool IBM Via Voice. When I dictate to the computer, my drawl often makes 2 words of 1 -- and the program just will not learn that, however long I "train" it!

[elfwitch]

7. No discernible accent...

I used to have a bit of a Texas-ish accent. I dropped Gs at the end of ING words. I pronounced the number 10 like the metal tin. It got pretty bad at times. In High School I had a pretty touch speech and debate coach that broke me of most of my bad habits.

If I'm around people who don't talk right for any length of time, my accent does slip a bit.

[AlCzervik]

8. accent

Born and raised in Boston, lived in Texas, now reside in California. I will move again but i will nevahhh lose my wicked pissa cliff clavin accent, no, they will never take that away from me!!!!!

[gyopsy]

9. none

n/t

[Gildor Inglorion]

10. Southern Appalachian

We pronounce the "r" in everything and don't make a diphthong of long "i" (we don't say "oi-ee" for "eye," for example). A curious anomaly, though: Invariably one hears "dawg," but never "hawg," "lawg," "frawg," or "cawg." Pronunciation is non-nasal with very little twang.

[Droopy]

11. I speak with some southern twang

I'm from southwest Ohio but I have a slight southern accent. I have some relatives that used to live in Maine and when we would go up there and visit them they always told me I had a wicked southern accent. I guess that was a compliment.

I'm not sure where the southern accent comes from. A lot of people from around here are transplants grom the south who moved up here looking for work in the factories. My grandparents on my father's side were originally from Tennessee. I guess it's a combination of those two factors.

[Bonhomme Richard]

12. I'm from Philly so I don't have............

an accent.

[RebelOne]

26. You don't think you do, but it is evident.

I was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Miami, Florida, but I never lost my Philly accent.
People still ask me what part of the North I'm from.

[phillybri]

38. Same here...Philly accent...

n/t

[Bonhomme Richard]

72. JEET?

Did you eat?

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. Middle atlantic, but with a hint of downeast flavor

Comes of having a mother from Penn but being raised in Maine.

[Westegg]

44. Dunno, luv. Wot I bin told is, "French wiff a twist," innit?

[trotsky]

14. Yah, did ya ever see da movie Fargo, dontchaknow?

I got da MinnuhSOHta accent. You betcha.

[terrya]

15. Flat Midwestern. I pronounce "wash" as "warsh"

Never ceases to amuse my Canadian b/f.

:-)

Terry

[2Sailsgirls]

70. That's not Just Mid-western

I grew up in "Baldimore" and i say "Warsh" and I have never been further west than WV. I also say "Wooder" or "Wooda". That is the extent of my accent to my knowledge

[Cursive_Knives512]

17. I don't have an accent--

Everyone else does! =)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

18. indian-british type accent

[Lindsay]

19. Standard broadcast English.

That's what we were taught in school in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. Some folks there have a sort of midwestern accent...like, cat is pronounced "keeat." Very annoying. But my mom would've smacked me for that. ("Theeat.")

OTOH, I pick up accents readily when I'm talking to people with 'em. I once was selling stage make-up to Colm Meaney and his wife for the Great Lakes Theatre Festival, and by the time I was writing up the sale I was coming close to speaking with a brogue. Very embarrassing, but I just couldn't help it...they sounded so wonderful!

[La Lioness Priyanka]

39. that happens to me too

so when my aussie friend stays w.me after 2 days i start sounding aussie-indian-brit-ny...its weird!

[XNASA]

20. South-side Chicago

I sound like frikken Dennis Farina sometimes.

[everythingsxen]

21. A fake-German accent..

but only for fun. A fake-Italian accent too. Again only for fun.

In reality, no discernible accent.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

23. I do a mean Angus Young from AC/DC.

Apparently it's pretty convincing, if I do say so myself.

[everythingsxen]

28. I actually do a lot of accents, I don't know how convincing they are

:shrug:

[Screaming Lord Byron]

30. I don't know, that was a pretty convincing Swedish you just did.

It was meant to be Swedish, right?;-)

[everythingsxen]

33. How did you know?!!

*gasp*

:P

[AlienGirl]

53. Your fake German accent sounds fake Austrian to me

[everythingsxen]

54. Well it is Austrian...

I mean fake-Austrian...

[AlienGirl]

56. Fake-Austria is not Fake-Germany

So there. :P

[everythingsxen]

58. Oh I vould disagree...

Austria has always been a traditional part of Germany, along with Bavaria and the Sudetenland and Poland and France and ...........

:evilgrin:

[Ediacara]

24. Seattle accent

Or as a linguist would call it: NO ACCENT.

Oddly enough English spoken by people in England is full of accents! People in the western United States who actually pronounce words as they're phonetically given in a dictionary, are said to have no accent.

I do sometimes move into a Mountain States drawl, which is almost imperceptable, but usually, stick to the plain Seattle tongue.

[AlienGirl]

51. It depends who I'm talking to

Normally, I have a mixed Seattle/Yooper accent, which I'm told makes me sound like I'm from BC. When I talk to my family or anyone else in the UP, I sound much more Yooper than Seattle. But then, people in Racine said I sounded Irish :shrug: and the director of the National UFO Reporting Society thought I might be British.

For fun I speak with a fake Martian accent. :P

Tucker

[everythingsxen]

52. You do that Martian accent very well

:D

[CBHagman]

25. A greatly modified Northern New Jersey accent.

When I was around 12, I said "soughta" for "sort of" and "wondah" for "wonder." I couldn't believe it when I heard myself on tape.

Now that I've traveled around a lot more and lived in various additional states, my accent has shifted a bit. My stepmother swore that after I'd spent nine months in Germany (part of that living next door to an Irishwoman), I had an Irish accent.

[Insider]

59. coffee regulah

north jersey (jersey city). moved around too with the army, but it comes out, especially when i'm around someone else with the same accent.

[CBHagman]

71. Yeah, like when I pronounce Dawn Upshaw's name.

And suddenly I'm channeling my uncle from Jersey.

[kitkatrose]

27. I have a bit of a Southern accent,

but I speak (most of the time) proper English. The funny thing is, when I was in Memphis, people kept asking me "Where were you born? Up North somewhere?" I'd lived there all my life. Now, I'm in DC and people keep telling me that I have this country Southern accent. :shrug: Go figure.

I know my accent comes out when I get excited or something, but on a regular basis it's undetectable, to me at least.

[Momgonepostal]

29. To my ears...

...I don't have an accent, but I've been told I sound Californian, whatever that means.

[truthbetold]

31. East coast all the way.

While I'm from the part of New York that's NOT NYC, I still posses the East coast accent.

[WoodrowFan]

32. None, I'm from the eastern Mid West

we don't HAVE accents!

[VelmaD]

34. You can tell I'm from East Texas

When I get all het up I sound like Ross Perot's illegitimate lovechild. The rest of the time I have that slow lyrical Texas drawl.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

36. I'm definitely South Side Chicago

with a little Irish accent sometimes. The husband is from Co. Down.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

37. Everybody has an accent

Mine was originally pyurr Minnesoht'n, although not quite as strong as in Farrgoh.

Then I lived on the East Coast fuh noin yeahs. When I moved back tuh Minnesota, everybody stahted asking me, "Wherr arrr you from, anyway?"

Three years in Minnesota removed most traces of Easternism, but to this day, I drift into Eastern speech patterns when I'm annoyed. It's an excellent accent for expressing annoyance.

Then I spent eighteen years in the Pacific Northwest, where the accent is similar to the Midwest but not as emphatically articulated as the Minnesota accent.

When I moved back to Minnesota a few months ago, people kept asking me if I was Canadian, or, I'm not making this up, British!

I guess I'm stuck with a Pacific Northwest accent for the duration, because I consciously try not to slip back into the true Minnesota accent, although I use it with my older relatives. They understand me better when I speak Minnesotan.

[ProfessorGAC]

40. Not Me!

Anyone who doesn't talk exactly like i do, has an accent. Since i have NONE!!!!! that means everyone else must have one.

That's my story, and i'm stickin' to it.
The Professor

[XNASA]

46. I really hate to do this GAC, but.............

You most definately have a Chicago accent, not unlike myself.

Dat's right, youse do. An dat's wot I'm talkin' 'bout.

[T_i_B]

41. Slight Yorkshire accent

but it is getting less the more time I spend "darn sarf".

[rbnyc]

42. 2/4 Midwestern, 1/4 Southwestern, 1/4 Northeastern. (nt)

[ConcernedCanuk]

43. hhhhhhmmmmm, dat'd be Caaneighdeean here, . . eh?

[CrownPrinceBandar]

47. Mid-Atlantic?....

I'm from north-central WV.

When I did a year of college in South Carolina, my accent was a popular topic of conversation. The folks from the northern part of the country said that I had a bit of a southern twang, whereas the southerners said I sounded like a "Yankee". When I meet folks now, most think I'm from PA or NY.

[slackmaster]

48. Surf slang, dude

Let's have a soda!

:beer:

[m-jean03]

49. Is it true or just assumed

That people on the west coast speak slower than out east?

[GOPisEvil]

50. I think people in the south have a slower speech pattern in general.

Since I'm not a southerner by birth, sometimes the natives ask me to slow down when I speak. :-)

[TXlib]

65. I can attest to this.

Not so much east vs west coast, but north vs south.

I grew up in Massachussetts, and I speak fairly quicky.

I find it frustrating, sometimes, talking to native Texans because the bit rate is too low on their end, and they're always asking me to slow down.

[Anaxamander]

55. 'Bout as Southern as you kin git (nt)

[EstimatedProphet]

57. Northeast Southwestern

I can pick up or drop an accent, depending on where I am or who I'm with. Sometimes if I am with people that have a strong accent, I will start talking with that accent without intending to.
Other than that, I have a pretty standard midwestern accent-little bit of a drawl, sharp vowels.

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

60. Mid-Atlantic flavored with

Pittsburghese.

Drives me crazy because I have always overcompensated with trying to lose it and end up saying things like "still meal" because I'm trying to say "steel mill' instead of "still mill."

[SW FL Dem]

61. None unless I have a few drinks and hear someone

with a southern twang. I was born in NC and it very easy to slip back into a drawl.

[mlawson]

62. Similar to Al Gore's.

Very similar, actually. Voice, too.

[SmileyBoy]

63. Part Manitoba-Canadian, part Minnesotan.

I'm kind of addicted to saying "eh" a lot. I've travelled all across Canada countless times in my life, and spent many summers up in Manitoba as a child.

[VOX]

64. Born/raised in So. Calif., but my dad was from El Paso, so...

I have a hint of his western twang in my speech. A professor visiting from UT Austin once mistook for me for a transplanted Texan, which was only one degree from being accurate.

:kick:

[Cuban_Liberal]

66. Purest 'Hoosier'/Midwestern

:)

[lazarus]

67. Unless I'm tired

I've been told I really don't have an accent. When I get tired or a bit tipsy, my Southern accent comes out.

I have a bit of a Zelig thing going; I adapt whatever accent I'm around the most. When I lived the south, I had a fairly strong accent. I started working radio, heard a tape of myself, and immediately started working to correct it. Time in the military, then living in the UK, took care of that.

When I returned from the UK, I actually had a fair spot of a British accent. Not quite West End, more Berkshire County, where I was living. Took about 3 months to fade completely, but it comes back fairly easily.

When I worked sales, my accent would actually jump around depending on the person I was speaking to. My sales staff thought I did it intentionally, but until they pointed it out, I had no idea I was doing it.

Now, it's just rather bland and non-descript, unless I'm focused on it. At one point, I could adopt about two dozen accents, but I've lost all but 6 or 7 of them. 3 or 4 southern accents and a couple of UK accents is all I have left, really, that sound any good.

[jpgray]

68. I'm in Minnesota, but I am accused of having an East coast accent

Go figyah. :D

[democratreformed]

69. Southern hillbilly n/t

[Jim__]

73. New Yawk - n/t

[The Lone Liberal]

74. Pure Redneck

A state trooper in Arkansas stopped a speeder on the outskirts of Conroy. The trooper walked up to the car and motioned for the driver to roll the window down. Once the window was down the trooper asked the driver, “do you know how fast you were going?” The driver replied, “no, sir!” The trooper then said, “you were clocked at 85 miles per hour. Do you have any Id?” To which the driver responded, “about what?”

[The Lone Liberal]

75. At the count of three

Let's all start talking and see what accent in synthesized.

[Qanisqineq]

76. Fargo accent... like in the movie (n/t)

[SarahB]

77. Midwestern soprano (but I live in the northeast now)

Therefore, sometimes people ask me if my mommy's home when I answer the phone. However, I sing well. Oh, and it's not like Minnie Mouse or anything THAT bad. I can do suave and sexy when I need to, just not the Kathleen Turner variety of it. :7

[jus_the_facts]

78. well....sorry but I speak with that plague accent...southern....

:(

..on edit...I've gotten many compliments on it though! :P

[mlawson]

80. ?????

There is nothing wrong with that. So do I.

[jus_the_facts]

81. Well.....he said he avoided speakin' southern like the plague....

...so I was messin' with him...just guilt trippin' and such!! :evilgrin:

[Orangepeel]

82. No accent. I sound like most people on television

[Sentath]

83. 3/4 Kansas

1/8 BBC (Thank you PBS)

1/8 Okie (GET me OUT of this State!)

with minor influences from choir

{rlg}

[Djinn]

85. depends who you ask and where I am

people HERE don't think my accent is particularly Australian (maybe because I actually pronounce the L as opposed to Ors-traa-yan) when I go back to Edinburgh it sticks out like a sore thumb no matter how much I try to tone it down - if I go to Shetland (where my mum and her family hail from) no-one can understand me at all! but given that people there over the age of 40ish pepper their conversations with gaelic I'm hard pushed to understand them too!