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Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Linn County, Oregon
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Accents and speech mannerisms
Why is it that many think a Brit accent denotes intelligence while a southern "country" accent denotes the opposite? Accents only tell us geographic information, giving us an idea of where someone was raised. Remember reading once that Johnny Carson's flat and accurate Midwest accent had a lot to do with his TV success. His accent meant he was easily understood all over the country. Johnny was raised in Omaha.
It's kind of sad that the USA is losing regional accents. Why? Television. Regional phrases used also gives a clue. An RN in Albany, Oregon was taken aback a bit when I asked her where she was from that was East of the Mississippi? Her use of "yeah-yeah" gave me the clue...only hear that from East folks. She was from Pennsylvania. Out here only a "yep" or a single "yeah" when expressing agreement. Yep...listen up! You can often figure out where someone was raised. Any others here with similar observations?
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"Now, to put a water-cooled engine in the rear and to have a radiator in the front, that's not very intelligent." -Ferry Porsche (PANO, Oct. '73) (I, Paul D. have loved this quote since 1973. It will remain as long as I post here.) |
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D idn't E arn I t
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You kidding? When I hear uppity Brit accents (not Cockney, the other one) it trips the gaydar- bigtime.
rjp
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AOC/Hogg 2028 |
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Using that impression suggests Russell Brand or Lennox Lewis is gay. Hmmmm.
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"Now, to put a water-cooled engine in the rear and to have a radiator in the front, that's not very intelligent." -Ferry Porsche (PANO, Oct. '73) (I, Paul D. have loved this quote since 1973. It will remain as long as I post here.) Last edited by pwd72s; 04-12-2024 at 02:35 PM.. |
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This is a trick question. Fall for it at your own risk.
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Location: N.S. Can
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After working in tourism for a decade or so, I could often narrow down someone's point of origin to a region in North America or much of Europe.
There are many exceptions of course, but it was fun enquiring where they called home. So many regional differences in spite of television and 'received pronunciation ' Best Les
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Best Les My train of thought has been replaced by a bumper car. |
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Get off my lawn!
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Back in 2016 my wife and I dove my 911 to all the New England states. I had no issues with accents until we went to park near Plymouth Rock to see the rock. I pulled into a parking lot and the attendant had a horribly thick Boston accent. I understood about 1/4 of the words he said. I asked him to say it again about three times. Finally I figured out he said their lot was full, but I could park in the first spot if I left the keys and it would be $10 to park there. I declined, and then it took a few more tries to understand that I could use the lot to turn around and leave.
I found street parking a few hundred feet away for two bucks. It was enough to walk to the beach, see the little rock, and the tour the replica of the Mayflower. That was way cooler than the rock under glass. As a kid we moved a lot as dad was an Air Force pilot. In 1970 we moved from Hawaii to Alabama. My first day in school a black kid behind me in class tapped me on the shoulder and mumbled something that could have been Klingon for all I could understand. Finally the kid next to me said he wants to borrow a pencil. I was used too pidgin English in Hawaii, but it took me a while to learn to understand the 60% of my black classmates.
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Glen 49 Year member of the Porsche Club of America 1985 911 Carrera; 2017 Macan 1986 El Camino with Fuel Injected 350 Crate Engine My Motto: I will never be too old to have a happy childhood! |
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Always fun when I travel to my birth place and listen to folks talk. Yins, Sundee, Mondee, Tuesdee, Pilla, up air as in "I was up there".
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________________________________________ Eric Hahl 85 911 to 73RS backdate, a.k.a. "Gretchen" (SOLD) 2015 981 Cayman S (Sold) 23 Outback Wilderness & 23 BMW R1250GS |
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Oh, and Ward Burton back in the day getting "Rut side tars only"
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________________________________________ Eric Hahl 85 911 to 73RS backdate, a.k.a. "Gretchen" (SOLD) 2015 981 Cayman S (Sold) 23 Outback Wilderness & 23 BMW R1250GS |
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2012 we were the only car taking the small ferry from the north end of the isle of Aaron to the Kintyre peninsula. There was a hurricane on its way and apparently the captain didn't want to turn the vessel around so sent the deck hand to us to see if I might be able to back our rental up the ramp. It took me three tries to understand what he was asking. It only took a moment more to figure out which side of the ramp I had to use in order not to interfere with would be passengers waiting on the dock.
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Best Les My train of thought has been replaced by a bumper car. |
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Back in the saddle again
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Quote:
I work in IT, and have worked with some amazingly intelligent folks. I've heard "ghetto" accents, southern accents, Joisy accents, etc.... I've lived around the world and worked with highly diverse groups of folks. Something that I've observed is that some folks have a good ear and are able to mimic other's easily, while others don't have a good ear and aren't good mimics. I suppose it's possible there are folks that don't pair the two things up (hearing and mimicry). I don't believe that either denotes intelligence. As an example that's very close to home (but not the only example) my wife is very intelligent, MS in molecular biology w/A avg and genetics and PhD candidate until circumstances caused her to stop, insatiable reader with huge vocabulary, etc... We can both hear someone in person or on TV that that has a foreign accent, or ever a heavy accent from somewhere in the US (like the NE), and she can barely understand them while I understand them fairly easily. I've folks that have been in the country for decades that were highly technical that had thick accents and had a tough time understanding someone American with an accent. I've also met technical folks that have been in the country a few years that had nearly no accent. Still, yes, it's not unusual for a heavy accent to instill a negative opinion on most folks almost immediately, especially if it's a thick/heavy accents, whether it's ebonics, some flavor of southern, and some of the thicker accents from NY, NJ, or Boston.
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So, these three executives from Kansas City were in Louisville, Ky. for a business seminar. At lunch break they walked over to a fast food joint for a bite to eat. As they sat down at a table with their food one the execs said, "Well, here we are in Louis-ville!"
One of the other execs laughed, then corrected him. "It's not Louis-ville, Fred. It's Louie-ville." The third exec said, "Bah! You're both wrong! It's Lowe-ah-vull!" "Wait a minute!" said Fred. "I can settle this very easily. I'll just call that little restaurant girl over here and ask HER how it's said. She bound to be from Kentucky." Fred calls the girl over and says, "I was wondering if you would help us out a little bit. We're having a disagreement, so what I'd like you to do is, as plainly and slowly as you can, tell us, just exactly where are we? The girl gave them a half-confused look, but then said, "O-okay." She then straightened up, took in a deep breath and very slowly and seriously said... "Buuurrr-ger King."
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"Now, to put a water-cooled engine in the rear and to have a radiator in the front, that's not very intelligent." -Ferry Porsche (PANO, Oct. '73) (I, Paul D. have loved this quote since 1973. It will remain as long as I post here.) |
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^^^funny!
An idiom that I have only heard in Southern Oregon is the word “pert-near”. Which means “pretty near,”. My Grandparents used it. And then I was shocked to hear a co-worker say this. Yep, from S Oregon. |
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Back in the saddle again
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I've heard pert near before, but I can't remember where. It may have been on TV.
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My favouritest accent is in Cornwall England. Where everyone speaks like a pirate.
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Quote:
![]() I've heard it on occasion ... one friend in particular said it a lot... |
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Quote:
My Appalachian grandparents used "drectly" to mean "soon." "Ivamind" to mean "I'm planning to..." I can still hear my grandfather saying, "It's per near noon. Ivamind to go ta town drectly." I used to think people who spoke with the Appalachian dialect were ignorant because, well, most of my relatives are pretty damn ignorant. Now I'm beginning to think of it as sort of charming, and I fall into it myself now and then just for fun. In my family, "dinner" was the meal you ate an mid-day and "supper" was the evening meal. That's one of the first idioms I dropped as soon as I left the arms of my family and stepped out into the rest of the world. I have an immediate and visceral reaction to speakers who drop the "T" in their words. I think it's a relatively recent fad, but I tend to dismiss the speaker as not serious or credible. If you want to sound credible, speak credibly.
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. Last edited by wdfifteen; 04-13-2024 at 03:23 AM.. |
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I'm fixin' to ....
![]() Ain't gonna add "t"s tho'... I'm just incredible ![]() |
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Fleabit peanut monkey
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Quote:
I have lots of stories but will keep it to two (and a half): Cousin was a C130 pilot based in Little Rock. Early 70's. Took his old square Volvo on a camping trip deep into Arkansas. Axle breaks. Gas station guy says call CD Auto Parts. Looks in the telephone booth phone book. Nothing. Asks the guy. How do you spell CD in CD auto parts? Guy says c i t y. Gloucester. SW England. Teenage kitchen help at the buffet type breakfast at the ancient hotel talking to each other. It was English but I could not understand it. Maybe a casual southern Wales accent? I was in line for grub so had some time to listen. Pretty cool. (Same in deep rural Louisiana. Got lost and entered old corner store for directions. Two elderly black men talking to each other. No comprehension and then when they tightened it up to give me directions I picked up just enough to get to my destination)
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Good topic Pwd. Originally from the UK my parents used to say fifty years ago that English folks could get a job in the US readily because of their English accent.
From my perspective some accents are more pleasing than others. Some are just plain annoying and others are pleasing. Unfortunately it used to be but I do not know what is the case now but your odds of getting a job increased if you had a Southern England accent if you were applying in the London area. I got a chuckle out of the gaydar comment. Also the main thing is that a person can understand another. Some Irish and Scottish accents prevent me from full comprehension. |
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