It's okay, we won't shoot you.

[Opalin]

If I was off the military base I'd have assumed it was because everybody in that section of TX seemed to assume that you were either a "Yank" or Foreign. But on base only 45% of people were from the area so.... *shrug*

That is odd on the thoughts of southern accents from Florida. I've never associated them with any particular accent.

[Andara Bledin]

A note on accents - Not only do we pick up accents from where we grew up, but we also pick up accents and odd regional dialect choices from how our parents speak.

I've been in sou Cali my entire life (currently live about 5 miles from where I was born), but I have a number of phrases that I picked up from my mom (born in sou Cali, raised all over as an air force brat), many of which she picked up from her mom (raised on a farm 'back east').

Then there are those of us who can ape an accent on first hearing. I've done that in person with a couple with a mild UK accent, and I did that with a guy calling with a heavy Texas accent who subsequently refused to believe I not only wasn't from Texas but has also never been there.

^-.-^

[Cookie]

My husband, who was born and raised in the Southeast US, but has done his best to neutralize his Southern-ness, had somebody ask him if he is Romanian the other day. The guy swore up and down that my hubs sounded Romanian. I don't hear it.

[Seshat]

I (Australian, with an 'educated city Australian' accent) have apparently had Canadian, British, South African, Scottish, and even Welsh accents.

[mharbourgirl]

I get asked ALL the time where I'm from. I've been told that I'm Canadian at least 5 times (born and raised in Orange County, CA). Apparently it's how I pronounce my "a"s and "o"s . People only believe me when I tell them where I'm from is when I slip and add "like" alot

Well, yeah, that'd do it. I'll explain.

No, there is too much, lemme sum up.

I am Canadian, but I'm a dialect sponge. I have an uncanny ability to sound like I grew up in Nova Scotia, but I didn't. I grew up on the west coast - Vancouver, pretty much. I was a teenager in the 80's. And when I get excited, or stressed, my dialect reverts to the Valley girl phrasing of my adolescence.

Because it's just, like, sooooo obvious that I'm from, you know, the Wet Coast. But, you know, like, whatever.

Yeah. And an unfortunate tendency to call my male friends and co-workers 'Dude'.

THAT'S why some people have mistaken you for Canadian. You should be flattered, we're pretty cool.

[42_42_42]

My mom's from western PA. When I was little, she was a full-time stay at home mom, so I was around her all the time. Plus, my dad, who's from the coast of NC, worked 3rd shift and slept during most of the day, so I didn't see him very often. So, even though I grew up around Raleigh, NC, when I started school, my accent was much more like my mom's native accent. A few years later when we moved 1 county south-east, the kids accused me of being a "yankee" because I didn't speak with the very prominent local accent. I got teased for years about my accent, mostly because I spoke with proper grammar and actually pronounced the ends of words. Then, I got married and moved to Atlanta and somehow my accent is now more "southern" sounding than my hubby's, and he's lived in GA all his life and his parents are from rural GA and AL!

[BeenThereDoneThat]

That is odd on the thoughts of southern accents from Florida. I've never associated them with any particular accent.

Another weird thing about Florida: The farther south you go, the less Southern you get. Northern Florida, including the Panhandle, is pretty much the Deep South, but as you move farther down you get all the people who moved to FL from somewhere else.

One other interesting story about accents. My father was born and raised in The Bronx (NYC), and he sounds like it. My mother was raised just a few miles away from him in Yonkers, NY...and aside from a few NYC-area sounding words, she doesn't much have an accent at all. Her theory is that since her parents were Scottish immigrants, she probably sounded more like them as a youngster and never really took the NY accent to heart.

[Beckpatton]

I've been asked whereabouts in the US I am from, where in the UK I am from, and where in NZ I am from, I am Australian born and bred, a Melbourne girl, so I don't sound particularly Ocker, but I can put it on when I want to...

I tend to mimic people's accents when I speak to them, not intentionally and not to be insulting, I just do it. When I lived in the US, I quickly picked up the local slang, and I guess a bit of an accent, so when I then moved to London, people there, including visiting Americans thought I was American. Then after awhile I noticed I was sounding more and more like a Londoner, which my family really noticed when I called home... but it only took a couple weeks back in Oz to get back to normal.. although I notice my "phone voice" still sounds kinda posh and British!

[Opalin]

I've been asked whereabouts in the US I am from, where in the UK I am from, and where in NZ I am from, I am Australian born and bred, a Melbourne girl, so I don't sound particularly Ocker, but I can put it on when I want to...

I tend to mimic people's accents when I speak to them, not intentionally and not to be insulting, I just do it. When I lived in the US, I quickly picked up the local slang, and I guess a bit of an accent, so when I then moved to London, people there, including visiting Americans thought I was American. Then after awhile I noticed I was sounding more and more like a Londoner, which my family really noticed when I called home... but it only took a couple weeks back in Oz to get back to normal.. although I notice my "phone voice" still sounds kinda posh and British!

I do this, but it goes wonky. If someone talks to me in a Russian accent, I sound French, French-Italian, Italian-German. The rest tend to be same as, with British being my default accent. Not sure what section of Britain though.

[RootedPhoenix]

One lady at JCPenney thought I sounded Welsh. O__o

All I could think of was that I'd watched Beatles movies too many times.
Sooo...
"Help!" + "A Hard Day's Night" + Northern Utah accent + Southern California accent = Wales

Alrighty then... I'm American, but maybe I am a bit of an accent/dialect sponge. It was sort of fun to hear her say that, so I don't mind too much.

[EricKei]

I'm from NOLA and have lived here, off and on, most of my life. When I was living in Hotlanta at one point, someone discovered where I was from and asked me, point blank, "Why don't you have an accent?" ... I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that one...o_O;>