Yes I have an accent, may I take your order now?

[Xarlaxas]

Ahh, unique accents. . . . I've lived in the same city my whole life and yet have people asking me where I'm from all the time. People keep on thinking I'm Canadian, because I sound halfway between British and American. . . .

The best thing about it is that all the Americans I've talked to think I sound *incredibly* Scottish. I guess sounding exotic to everyone is a plus. . . .

Apparently my accent is incredibly clear and precise, so no-one has any trouble understanding me, I've also been told I should be a radio presenter or on English Language tapes.

[Fudgethatkay]

Ahh, unique accents. . . . I've lived in the same city my whole life and yet have people asking me where I'm from all the time. People keep on thinking I'm Canadian, because I sound halfway between British and American. . . .

The best thing about it is that all the Americans I've talked to think I sound *incredibly* Scottish. I guess sounding exotic to everyone is a plus. . . .

Apparently my accent is incredibly clear and precise, so no-one has any trouble understanding me, I've also been told I should be a radio presenter or on English Language tapes.

God, I love Scot accents and slang...lol /stalking moment over

[Teysa]

I have a fairly neutral accent although I've been told I talk pretty fast for a southerner. My Texan accent tends to come out more when I'm irritated. And if I start speaking really slowly with the said Texan accent, take cover.

[Mystic]

The brain certainly works in odd ways.

I pick up accents very quickly when I'm around them. Not sure why, but it happens. When I lived in Australia, I had an Australian accent. Mind you, I'm native to the US. When I came back to the States, I adopted a very awesome mixed accent that I loved, but it faded over the years.

However, there are many words in my vocabulary that I still speak with an Aussie accent without even thinking about it. The oddest thing though is that my Aussie accent comes full on when I'm shopping. Many more times than once my wife has pointed this out. Funny thing is, I never even notice it.

[CheshireCat]

God, I love Scot accents and slang...lol /stalking moment over

Good Or otherwise, as his girlfriend, I would have feel in the obligation to act the stereotype of the jealous latina girlfriend and go into hissy cat mode

My accent is a bit weird. All my education was in British English, and I have a basis of it, though I have seen that my accent varies between something more of less RP English to full foreign mode depending on who I am speaking to. According to my Phonetics teachers, it had a very marked Uruguayan Spanish inffluence (in the intonation and the pronounciation of some sounds), though I know that while I pronounce the "r", I do it like Americans. This is most surely due to the fact I couldn't pronounce the "r" sound in Spanish until I was 10, as I had a speech problem, while I started learning English at 6 and the English "r" is so much easy to pronounce.

In both my trips to Scotland, I was expecting to be confused with Argentinians due to my accent, as it's very similar and we are all the time being confused by other Latinoamerican nations. However, I was asked if I was Colombian, Spanish or Italian (though apparently the last one was due to my "healthy Mediterranean look" :P). Also, a German guy told me some time ago that I sounded Eastern European, and that he would have thought I was from that area if he didn't know I was South American.

Though I think that the opinion I like the most is Xarlaxas'. He says my accent is exotic =^.^=

[lineswine]

Heh, even though I generally speak English - although with a pronounced Northern accent, I can do a fair interpretation of the Yorkshire dialect - which appears to be a mix of English, Norse & a little of its' own devising. It's reet gradley, tha'nos!

[Bright_Star]

Some people tell me that I sound like I'm from New York City. Haven't been there in years & I'm not from there...lol.

[Rock Lobster]

Lisa Simpson impersonator

I have a Western Pennsylvanian accent that drives me up the wall. I say things like 'dawg', 'frawg', 'hawg', 'sear-up' and I am not from the south or even Pittsburgh!

My language teacher in college gave me exercises to do to try and make my voice lower since apparently I sound like Lisa Simpson but it failed to work.

[Jester]

SC: Is that why you can't tell us where you're from? Because you're in witness protection?

"Actually, I'm not in Witness Protection, but the authorities are looking for me, because I killed a couple guys who were asking too many damn questions!"

THAT oughta shut 'em up!

What's bad is that when I was still in the same office, I'd pick up the linguistic cues and start mimicking her without trying to...

I also have an ability to pick up accents. Sometimes I do it without realizing it, but oftentimes if I hear an accent I can pretty rapidly imitate, usually with a great deal of skill. Heck, I even once got complimented by a Mexican in Mexico for my excellent Mexican accent--with the very few Spanish words I spoke.

I can't imitate all accents, though; despite the fact that I was engaged to a Brit for about a year, I have never been able to do a decent British accent. Odd, that.


ON ACCENTS:

My little sister, after nine years in England, has definitely started to pick up a slight English accent.

Myself, I often get asked by my customers where I am from, and I have them guess. And they never get it. When I finally tell them I'm from Arizona, I go through this with a large percentage of them:

THEM: "You don't SOUND like you're from Arizona!"
ME (in my best Texas drawl): "Oh, y'all thought I was gonna sound like this?"
THEM: "Yeah!"
ME (normally): That's Texas. In Arizona, we know how to fucking speak!"

Also, a lot of times when I tell people to guess, they ask me to speak more, to try to gauge my accent. I tell them straight up that won't help them, as I was a broadcasting major. And while that IS true, it is actually quite moot for two reasons: First, Arizona really doesn't have an accent, other than some of the folks that live out in the sticks. (Phoenix is often called the West-most Midwestern city.) Secondly, I just naturally have a neutral accent, probably from moving around so much and from my ability to hear other accents and (usually) imitate them.

Amusingly, a lot of times when I get drunk, I will get more and more of a Western drawl as the night goes on. Not ALWAYS, but often enough.

[Pagan]

The best thing about it is that all the Americans I've talked to think I sound *incredibly* Scottish. I guess sounding exotic to everyone is a plus. . . .

Apparently my accent is incredibly clear and precise, so no-one has any trouble understanding me, I've also been told I should be a radio presenter or on English Language tapes.

Ah, but can Siri understand you?

Heck, I even once got complimented by a Mexican in Mexico for my excellent Mexican accent--with the very few Spanish words I spoke.

Heh. I've gotten complimented on my English when people find out where I'm from. Despite the fact that I don't look even remotely Spanish.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Heh. I like to think I don't have an accent. I do sometimes catch a bit of a Southern kind of drawl creeping into the occasional word, but otherwise, normal.

I grew up in Maryland, in Howard County. We were closer to Baltimore than DC, though. Or, in the regional accent, "Balmer, Merlin." (Baltimore, Maryland) The regional accent also pronounces it "farhice," not "firehouse."

When we lived in Plano, Texas for a few years, Mom would sometime catch herself unconsciously using a Texas accent when saying "Hi!" (Mom grew up in northern Indiana.) Whenever she caught herself doing so, she'd groan and say something like "I've been in Texas too long."

Funny story from Mom-- she was talking with a mover once, who had an AMAZING ear for accents. He asked my Mom where she grew up, and she told him. He remarked that she sounds like she's from the <X> area of Pennsylvania (or something like that), and she gaped in astonishment. She'd been BORN in that area, but spent her childhood through high school in Indiana.

[Xarlaxas]

Ah, but can Siri understand you?

Haha, I'd bloomin' well hope so! I know it's supposed to have had some problems with Scottish accents when it first came out, but I imagine it's more the Glasgae (NWS) accent that would be causing those problems!

We're much more posh-sounding over in Edinburgh, for the most part!

[Cookie]

Heh, I get asked where I'm from a lot. I was born and raised in Tennessee by my West New York mother and grandparents and some influence from my redneck father's side. In my natural state, it's a hodge podge of WNY and redneck, but I've mostly neutralized it after a lot of work. Still, people here in Chicago have told me I sound more southern than anything they've heard. Heaven help them if they go to East TN.

People will stop me when I'm talking sometimes and ask me where I'm from. If they're a friend, I'll tell them. If they're a rude asshat I barely know, I say I'm from Chicago and keep going. It's fun to watch the confused expression on their faces. Hey, I am from here! For the last 2 years anyway...

Edit to add: If I don't watch myself, I start picking up bits of a Chicago accent, too. I try to keep it neutral, but if I'm not paying attention, I could end up with a real confusing mess.