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  • But you have an accent

    At the second mall I worked, I rang up a lady who had this conversation with me.

    SC: Where are you from?
    Me: America.
    SC: Where are you really from? I'm American, but I was born in Brazil.
    Me: I was born in America (despite the fact I am Asian).
    SC: But you have an accent.
    Me: Everyone's voice sounds different.
    SC: But you have an accent.

    The "where are you really from?" gets me b/c it's treating me like a liar. Apparently having an accent gets you labeled as a foreigner. Paula Dean has an accent, so does that make her non-American, too?
    It's called common sense for a reason

  • #2
    That's the kind of thing that would get me to start using an exaggerated Southern accent.

    "AH'M FROM MURRICA!"
    PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

    There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

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    • #3
      I suppose it would be rude to tell the nosy customer that you had a stroke and it left you with a speech impediment, thank you so much for bringing it up and embarrassing me.

      Along with singing, accents are one of the talents I sorely wish I had. If I could, I'd mess with people all the time.
      Sorry, my cow died so I don't need your bull

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      • #4
        Quoth EvilEmpryss View Post
        I suppose it would be rude to tell the nosy customer that you had a stroke and it left you with a speech impediment.

        Along with singing, accents are one of the talents I sorely wish I had. If I could, I'd mess with people all the time.
        Heh, I joked with coworkers and regulars at the wholesale club when my time in retail hell was approaching its end that I was going into IT help desk work, and that "day one is going to be about affecting an Indian accent."
        PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

        There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

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        • #5
          My wife is from France, and has an accent.

          She has been "accused" over the phone of being English (Yeah, that'll get you on a French person's good side, nothing against you lovely distantly related to me because I have large amounts of British Iles ancestry types), Ukranian, Polish and Swedish.

          I am from Colorado. We do not have an accent. Although I'm sure I'd stick out in N'Awlins, Baaaahstin, Ahlabamah or Minnesoota...:P

          I actually DO have a talent for accents - and it gets me in trouble sometimes. I once worked in a fast food joint where I completely unintentionally started perfectly coping this Austrailian guy's accent. Didn't mean to. Still got the stink eye.

          I can also mimic some cartoon voices...Dr. Nick, Apu, Archer, Cyril FIGGIS, Professors Farnsworth and Frink, and a pretty good Zoidberg.

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          • #6
            Quoth Ted_The_IT_Guy View Post
            I once worked in a fast food joint where I completely unintentionally started perfectly coping this Austrailian guy's accent. Didn't mean to. Still got the stink eye.
            I have a habit, if I talk long enough to anyone with an accent, of starting to pick it up from them, especially if they have a strong London one (which is where I was born) or a broad Norfolk one (which is where I have lived for some years)

            I now have a manager with a very strong Scottish accent and I've already warned him that if I start copying him, I'm not doing it to take the rise.
            Engaged to the sweet Mytical He is my Black Dragon (and yes, a good one) strong, protective, the guardian. I am his Silver Dragon, always by his side, shining for him, cherishing him.

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            • #7
              I'm full blooded Puerto Rican & that's where I was born at BUT I wasn't raised over there. Raised in PA. So I get people who, once they discover that I was born in Puerto Rico, want to know why I don't have a Puerto Rican accent like my parents do. Cause they were born & raised there.
              Then I get people who swear up & down that I must be from New York City cause according to them I have "that" accent...lol. No, I don't have "that" accent but I do have the attitude...lol.

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              • #8
                Quoth Bright_Star View Post
                Then I get people who swear up & down that I must be from New York City cause according to them I have "that" accent...lol. No, I don't have "that" accent but I do have the attitude...lol.
                Oddly enough, I have two 1st cousins who have been raised in Brooklyn Heights, 5 minutes from the bridge, and I don't recall anything resembling a Noo Yawk or Brooklyn accent on either of them. One has lived in NYC his whole life, and the other spent the first 25 years or so of her life in the city. First time I met her WAS in NYC.

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                • #9
                  Everyone has an "accent" of some kind. I found that out when I went off to college. Most of us were from different parts of the same state, and we were all telling each other, "You have an accent!"
                  Sometimes life is altered.
                  Break from the ropes your hands are tied.
                  Uneasy with confrontation.
                  Won't turn out right. Can't turn out right

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                  • #10
                    I'm born and raised in a small town in Texas. My wife is from Long Island.

                    I can turn on my Texas "accent", and my wife can turn on her New York "accent".

                    She said she worked hard to get rid of it and sound normal.

                    Though we joke that one day we're going to go to a restaurant, and we're both going to turn on our accents, just to see what happens.
                    Skilled programmers aren't cheap. Cheap programmers aren't skilled.

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                    • #11
                      Quoth mjr View Post
                      I
                      Though we joke that one day we're going to go to a restaurant, and we're both going to turn on our accents, just to see what happens.
                      Ever see Scanners?

                      Boom.

                      Quoth Marmalady View Post
                      I have a habit, if I talk long enough to anyone with an accent, of starting to pick it up from them, especially if they have a strong London one (which is where I was born) or a broad Norfolk one (which is where I have lived for some years).
                      This is something I've done, and apparently is the only way I can do accents -- but only so long as a person with that accent is speaking to me. Once they go away I lose it completely. It's served me well in Latin, Spanish, Korean, and Italian language classes when speaking to the teachers, but when I study with my classmates my accent is horrendous.
                      Sorry, my cow died so I don't need your bull

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                      • #12
                        Chalk me up as someone who can pick up accents from listening to someone long enough. I do have an ear for it, and how people from a city/region/country pronounce things.

                        As a for-instance, I was in a high school production of "You Can't Take It With You" as Grandpa, and the actress who played Madam Kolenkhov (gender-flipped due to lack of male actors for the show) did the role naturally with a Russian accent. Being that I love a good Russian accent myself, offered some suggestions, and pointed out that I had heard Russians pronounce the capital city more similar to "Muss-coh," as opposed to the common American pronunciation "Moss-cow."

                        She took it to heart, and during the show, there's a scene where Grandpa (me) asks her about her time in "Moss-cow" and she wistfully reminisces about her life growing up in "Muss-coh."
                        PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

                        There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

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                        • #13
                          I like to tell people that my father was from the North, and my mother was from the South. As a result, I grew up without an accent.

                          Another view of accents.
                          "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

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                          • #14
                            Henry Kissinger is from Alabama...
                            I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
                            Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
                            Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.

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                            • #15
                              I have a coworker who was born and raised in MI. However to me he sounds like he's from New York. I think it's mostly because he's loud and talks incredibly fast whereas most of the people I interact with up here are very laid back sounding.

                              Myself... I know I have something of an accent. I was born and raised in South Florida with a mother who was born and raised in Maryland, and a father who was born in Trinidad, raised partially there, partially in Connecticut and partially in Florida....my grandmother still has a slight British accent to her voice.

                              Also when I was growing up, my parents had some friends who were from Boston and had the Boston accent... I'm one of those people that as soon as I hear an accent, I automatically pick it up...most of the time it goes away when they do, however if they stick around long enough, the accent sticks around. So there are definitely some words that are accented for me..it's not coffee (cough-ee) it's caw-fee. It's not root it's rut, it's not oil it's awl, and stuff like that.

                              When I'm speaking to people, if I notice they have an accent, I tend to automatically ask where they're from and mention I'm asking because I hear an accent..and explain that I tend to unconsciously mimic accents so if I start mimicking them, I'm not making fun of them. It's made for quite a few interesting conversations. When I talk to my grandmother on the phone for a long time, I come away sounding like her. The worst part is when my friend from Scotland visits.. I pick up his accent after a few hours around him and then I'm stuck sounding like him for days after he leaves. Going to work is always fun when he visits. Makes me people look at me twice.

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