How aware are you of your accent? (Read the whole OP before answering, yeah that's right, all of it)

[rdaleric]

I Have an accent, which as i have been told from people not from the town I was born in, is a bit odd. Where i'm from is on the border shared by Manchester, Lancashire and Yorkshire and my accent tends to have parts from all these regional accents.

So people from Manchester view my accent as a sort of rural sheep- bothering one, but if i go to the towns in Lancashire and Yorkshire they assume I'm a city boy. I don't mind though, I'd rather have a regional accent than get the sort of semi- posh sort of accent a lot of my friends got while at university.


I have found that people from different countries (even Scotland and Ireland) have trouble understanding my accent, but that happens to most people

Accents i love - Northern Irish, Scottish, New York,

Accents that make me want to rip my ears off and feed them to my cat
Scouse, Cockney and South African

 

[TMAN10112]

I have a slight NYC accent(i'm not from the city though) because my parants grew up in the bronx and brooklen. It's not really noticable around here because most people have a slight accent around here, but if I was to go out of the state it would probably be noticed. The most noticable part is the shortcuts in words that everyone takes, combining two word and using other names for stuff. Its not uncommon here for someone to refer to a pizza as a pie. For example: "Hey, ya'guys wanna go uptown and split a pie?"


As for a toasted cheese sandwich(we call it a grilled cheese sandwich over here), I haven't had one for around 3-4 years. I'm gonna make one later today and see if I remember anything interesting.

I always like Italian and Australian accents, I just though they sounded cool

p.s. I Live in New York bye the way

 

[Ancalagon]

My accent has caused me nothing but trouble. I was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and moved to England when I was four. At the time, I had a Scottish accent, not an Aberdeen one particularly; just a general Scottish accent. According to my mother, I used to get very distressed at school, because the dinner ladies would keep asking me to talk, when I just wanted my lunch.

By the time I was twelve or so, I had a completely English accent. But then I moved back to Scotland when I was eighteen, and after a year or two, I started to talk in a mish-mash of English and Scottish accents. People from England thought I was Scottish, and people from Scotland thought I was English. Which is not an ideal situation to be in. Now I'm back in England, and no-one can really place my accent. I tend to speak in a Scottish accent when I'm speaking to other Scottish people, but then I become aware of it, and it's really annoying being aware of your own accent. Apparently I also talk in a Scottish accent when I'm drunk or angry. But I speak RP English when I'm talking to my old school friends.

As for accents I like, I'm probably the only person in the UK who likes an American accent. Also Russian accents, and the Shetland Isles accents are just brilliant. They have different accents on different islands, and the Whalsay accent is the craziest accent I've ever heard.

EDIT: A Whalsay accent: http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/individual/scotland-whalsay-sutherland-paula.shtml

 

[WeedWorm]

Im aware of my accent when talking to people who aren't from Kilkenny (where I'm from). Here, Water is Wa'er, Later is la'er. Words like That and They're/There/Their are pronounced Da' and Dare.

 

[Saskwach]

And to make a stunningly intelligent and polite statement that will surely fire the intellectual...fires of all Escapistians: Am I the only one who finds American accents bearable, even - dare I say it - cool, on TV, but finds them nails-on-a-chalkboard annoying in person? I discovered this on my recent trip to the United States of Americana.

 

[DeadpanLunatic]

I have removed my words from this site.

 

[God's Clown]

I'm from Michigan and nobody has really said I had an accent. Though on Vent for WoW someone asked if I was from Michigan and I said "How'd you know?" and she was like "Your accent"

I asked her how I had an accent and she said Michiganders had an arrogant tone or something. I was shocked, appealed even. How could I, a person from the most beautiful state in America, be arrogant? RIDICULOUS!

 

[SecretTacoNinja]

-Have you ever put much thought towards your accent? How it sounds, the similarities and differences it has with other accents?

I'm only aware of my accent when people ask me if I'm aware of my accent... And when I listen to myself in a recording. I've also noticed how close it is to the Australian accent.

-From a global perspective, how do you think your accent (note: Accent, not the country/place of origin in question) is viewed?

Made fun of by everyone... And occasionally loved by Americans.

-Since we're sort of on the subject, what's a foreign accent you have fondness for (it would help to say what country you are viewing this foreign accent from so I can see if there is a link between accents and what accents are liked by people with said accents.

(I'm London-British) Australian. It's like the British accent only better. And Russian for how cool it sounds...

-In the same sense as the above, is there any accent you don't care for at all, or find downright infuriating?

I can never understand the Indian accent... American can be pretty annoying sometimes too. And the way Londoners/chavs speak.

And while I'm here, I might as well ask:

-This whole Toasted cheese sandwich thing, is it just me? I'm thinking it might be that there was a toasted cheese sandwich present at the time of the original event, but it's not the first time such a sandwich has sparked a memory like this. Maybe I just need to go outside more.

Sandwiches - or any food for that matter - can evoke memories. Now shut up, you're making me hungry. ;}

 

[InfinitySquared]

I don't seem to have an accent. But me being born and raised in the Republic of the Philippines, to Filipino parents (though I have some Spanish mixed in) might be a contributing factor. But my short 's' sound, and sometimes my long 's' sound becomes 'sh'. So 'sir' becomes 'shir' or 'shur'. And no, 'sit' does not become 'st*t'.

[EDIT]What does the RP in RP English mean? Republic of the Philippines?[/EDIT]

 

[Zephirius]

Personally I have a generic American accent, despite being mainland Europe born-and-bred. I tend to be able to copy accents pretty easily though. I really like Irish accents, and Scottish too, and German accents are pretty fun. I really loathe the accents people from my country have when speaking English (hint: it's in West Europe...somewhere). I don't care for certain British accents on account of incomprehensibility. 'Friend of mine from Manchester can get really hard to understand.

 

[Iampringles]

I have thought about it, and I think I have a british accent, but it isn't particularly defined.

Also, I love the Northern Irish accent, and dislike Eastern European and Russian accents.

As for the whole Cheese Toastie thing, I suspect the government of foul play.

 

[fnph]

I've given the topic of accents a few trips down the corridors of my mind before. I'm from Minnesota, US. Born and raised there, still living there. It's not as ridiculous as people from neighboring states think, with all the, "Ya, sure, ya betcha. Don'tcha know. etc." But definitely I have the long O's, with a bit of Norwegian & German mixed in from grandparents that still have a lot of their origins in them.

I don't know about globally, but most of my friends from other states make comments on it, and a few from foreign countries.

My favorite accents are British, Scottish, and Irish. I'm also quite fond of deep north Canadian accents. There is no accent that I have a dislike to really. It's usually people's use of vocabulary or slang or inappropriateness that distances them from my like.

Here in Minnesota we don't have toasted cheese sandwiches. We have grilled cheese. I don't know how you make your toasted sammies, but if it's on a pan on the top of an oven, with butter on the outside and cheese on the inside, then they're the same. If that's the case, then I would say it's probably something with your government messing with the bread. Nothing like that happens to me ever.

I also would say you cannot and should not say "American accent". The country is too big, and too varied depending on location, heritage, and such to generalize us together.

I, again, also say Semi the same way you do, with the EYE.

Just a heads up, be careful about that in the future.

Anyways, I'm from Yorkshire (in the north of England for those not in the know) and as such have a typical Yorkshire accent. For most of my life so far I've put no thought at all towards my accent. Living almost exclusively with other people with the same accent for 18 years tends to do that. Then I moved to uni and found out I had a northern accent. Now I don't really think about it, but I do acknowledge it.
From a global perspective, I have no idea how my accent is viewed. I honestly don't think Yorkshire has enough prominent speakers to warrant a public opinion on the subject.
Not exactly foreign, but I'm a sucker for a good Welsh accent. The French accent's quite nice as well.
A really strong American accent grates on me and I can barely understand anyone with an Indian accent.

 

[Mr Fatherland]

Being from the North West of England, pretty much everyone has the same accent, apart from scousers*shudders*. But really, everyone within a 30 mile radius of me has the same regional accent so if I do have one I don't notice it and it's never been mentioned before. EDIT: It was mentioned on a school trip to Germany once.

 

[Raddragon]

"What? But you're the ones that talk funny, you're the one that has the accent."
(facepalm)
At least you tried.Dont blame yourself.

 

[sanomaton]

Well, I'm from Finland so I guess my accent can be a bit funny to some people. I have strong consonants and "rl" sounds are just insane for me. (E.g. the word "girl", even that can give me the shits sometimes) But yeah, I'm aware of my accent but I don't really know what other people think about it. I have thought about it a lot since I don't like to talk out loud at all cos I hate my voice and I'm afraid someone will make fun of my accent (...) On the other hand, my Aussie mate always says that I speak just fine. *shrugs*

Aaand as for what accents I like... Scottish and Aussie. I dunno why, Aussie accent just sounds so cool and I think it's really hawt when a cute guy speaks with the Aussie accent. :3

"What? But you're the ones that talk funny, you're the one that has the accent."
(facepalm)
At least you tried.Dont blame yourself.

I lol'd!

 

[Copter400]

That was very nicely written. It made me feel kind of lucky that my headset is broken.

I am quite aware of my American accent. The weird thing is that it is an American accent, as I was born in Australia and have spent all my time overseas in Asia. This is of course conflicted with my tendency to use British/Australian pronunciations of words, which makes my accent either fucking awesome or bizarre depending on who's listening.

 

[marfoir(IRL)]

No matter where I go I have a different accent. I live in Ireland and in a fairly good part of Dublin.

In school I was accused of sounding posh.
While visiting my cousins down the country I apparently have a very thick "city" accent.
On my holidays I supposedly sound typically Irish.

Oh and a guy I know from England says I can do a better upper class accent than him which is probably my favourite accent for awesomness value.

Personally I feel my accent is not that strong but still noticably Irish.

 

[TwistedEllipses]

I'm English, from the south and I don't normally notice my accent because it's been embraced as 'regular' by TV. However whenever someone attempts to do a 'British' (a fallacy in itself) accent they tend to overcook it and exaggerate aspects that make you think about your own accent...