Question Of The Day, Saturday 20th Of June.

Graceful-Lily said:

I don't have an accent - at least, I don't think I do. Parents from Jamaica but I was born in Canada. If I talk like a Jamaica, it's because I'm trying to be funny.

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Jamaican accents, how did I forget!
And to be fun,
" 'Nuff people say they know they cant believe,
Jamaica we have a bobsled team!"

"How Much!?"

........."I made a dolla and 16 cents"

(I love that movie, and I love that accent too.)

M maggiedemi - We actually don't here in southern Ontario. I hardly hear people say, "eh" and if we do, it's jokingly because we know people think we say that all the time.

Graceful-Lily said:

We actually don't here in southern Ontario.

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They do in Ottawa and Brockville. Is that Northern Ontario? I'm not good with directions.

maggiedemi said:

They do in Ottawa and Brockville. Is that Northern Ontario? I'm not good with directions.

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It's still south, just way out in the west end past Toronto. About a 7 hour drive from where I am.

Norachan said:

Good morning!



What accents do you like? Are there any accents that you really can't stand to listen to?

I really like Southern Irish accents, they sound so musical! Russian accents are cool too, I love the way some words are stressed and stretched out in Russian pronunciation.

I'm not too keen on New York accents, New Yorkers always sound like they're kind of annoyed with everyone. Birmingham accents aren't that nice either. Somehow people who speak with a Brummie accent sound bored.

How about you? What do you think about different accents?

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My Mother was a Brummie, with hardly any accent, but that may have been due ti having lived in the U.S. for so many years (she married an American). I find it amusing how many people (back then, at least) practically thought she was royalty because she had an English accent!

As for British accents, I like a Mancunian accent, or a Liverpool accent. Yorkshire ones are kind of charming, but maybe I've just heard too many in British television shows, where the actor wasn't a native speaker--and they often seem to be portrayed as being quaint and silly. My Mother's family later settled in Warwickshire/Birmingham, but originally come from Yorkshire and Manchester, with a smattering of Liverpudlians in her mix. Mom loved to mimic a thick Yorkshire accent. One of my great-grandmothers was from Yorkshire (Topliffe by Thirsk), and was known as The Yorkshire Witch, due to being a fortune-teller, and practising herbal healing--which later turned to deliberate poisoning and murder. She was hanged in Leeds in 1809.

I also like to hear native Mongolian speakers. Even though the language is supposed to be harsh-sounding, I think it's a soft, calming sound. What little I've heard, they seem to speak softly and quietly, too.

I also like Southern American accents, especially South Carolinian ones.

I hate my own accent. I've lived in the Philly suburbs all of my life. When I hear myself on a recording, that accent comes out--even though I don't think I have it!

jcat said:

It's so hard for them there are even YouTube videos:

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My English mother always pronounced it "Squeerill"!

margecat said:

I've lived in the Philly suburbs all of my life. When I hear myself on a recording, that accent comes out--even though I don't think I have it!

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I can relate to that! So many people in other parts of the US or in Europe have asked whether I'm from Philly, even though I make a conscious effort not to say "wudder".

jcat said:

I can relate to that! So many people in other parts of the US or in Europe have asked whether I'm from Philly, even though I make a conscious effort not to say "wudder".

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I don't say wudder; for some reason, I say "warter", and people here make fun of me! I've only ever known one other person that pronounces it that way. She was born in Gettysburg, but left at age six month, but she did grow up in my town.

Do you say "schnow" for "snow"?

No, I say "snow", but there must be other giveaways. I've met other Americans from the Philadelphia area over on this side of the Atlantic and recognized them as such, too.

Norachan said:

I was going to say Pikey, but that's not a very nice word to use.

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That's the term they use in the movie. He does play an Irish Traveler in the movie.
I just wasn't sure if it was exaggerated for the movie or if many people really talk like that.

Norachan said:

Could you understand what he was saying? I thought he did a pretty good job in that movie.

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I could understand some of it but not all. And yes agree that he did a really good job.
One of my favorite scenes of him speaking, is when he is hungover/still drunk, and the "boxing head guy" is asking if he knows when he's to go down. It's right before a fight and they are wrapping his hands and he starts to mumble something, I have no idea what, then he laughs at his own "joke". Always makes me giggle.

1 bruce 1 said:

PS:
Coke, soda, or pop?

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Soda

My grandma said "warsh" for wash. I've heard a few others who say that but it doesn't seem to be a consistent thing in the area.

Hindi (Indian) is so lyrical and they really pronounce their words instead of slurring them, as do the French.. both my favourites.

1 bruce 1 said:

Coke, soda, or pop?

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In the South, I say "coke," and in Illinois I say, "soft drink." If you say "coke" here, people think you mean Coca-Cola.

Willowy said:

My grandma said "warsh" for wash.

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Growing up, our neighbors from Ohio said "warsh." They often talked about living in Warshington.

I never mentioned the ones I don't like, and I'm with those of you who find New York and Boston accents appalling. Kennedy is a prime example. Remember the trouble we had with "Cuber"? But then, his Texan successor, LBJ, wasn't much better with his "my fellow Amurricans --" It was like fingernails on chalkboard.

DreamerRose said:

If you say "coke" here, people think you mean Coca-Cola.

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Yes, if you ask for a Coke here in NY, you will get a Coca-Cola.