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When I was in college I did.
Accents... that make you go... WTF...
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When I was in college I did.
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WHAT DO YOU DO NOW!?
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I'm a media producer. I yell from behind a camera for the people on camera to smile with their eyes.
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Same. Hard to believe that we have something in common.
neobuyer
Master of Disguise,
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Oh yes!
The Boston/New England accent sounds absurd and goofy to my ears. Like something to make fun of and impersonate. EXAMPLE: They have a breakfast food called 'Journey Cakes' which a Bostonian or New Englander will say 'Johnny Cakes'. for some reason I just love making fun of this dialect.
OR
What about the Scottish accent when pronouncing very serious things with dire consequences such as nuclear warfare ...omg it's like a magical pixie just entered the room to announce our impending doom. Keep trilling those 'R's Scotland, we love ya.
neobuyer
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Oh yes!
The Boston/New England accent sounds absurd and goofy to my ears. Like something to make fun of and impersonate. EXAMPLE: They have a breakfast food called 'Journey Cakes' which a Bostonian or New Englander will say 'Johnny Cakes'. for some reason I just love making fun of this dialect.
OR
What about the Scottish accent when pronouncing very serious things with dire consequences such as nuclear warfare ...omg it's like a magical pixie just entered the room to announce our impending doom. Keep trilling those 'R's Scotland, we love ya.
That's not the accent. They're actually called Johnnycakes up here.
Also, I've wondered how different the Boston and Brooklyn accent are to an outsider.
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What? You don't like folks from durry, nurwy, baalfast, or dun? Nah it's a rough one to get used to. But if you think that's bad don't travel down to Cork... Dear god.
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Add an "aye, fair play mate" and that's it
nam9
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aha2940
AH, A, COLUMBIAN!,
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I am trying to read the "Trainspotting" novel (since I liked the movie a lot) but I'm having a hard time deciphering it. With much effort I can understand most of it, but veeery slowly.
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They are very different. When I lived in Texas and Missouri people made it a point to notice when I said things like coffee, water, and such.
Thierry Henry
Tung's Hair Stylist
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The other day I was catching up on a few Ray Donovan episodes. That accent is strange to me.
When they say the word "sure", they kinda pronounce it as "shouhhr." lol
When they say the word "sure", they kinda pronounce it as "shouhhr." lol
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Ha, yeah, "coffee" is very different. Also, I like how Canadians pronounce "water" as "witer" and "robots" as "robits".
Hmm, if I were to say "sure" with a Boston accent, it would sound more like, "shuuhh" where you just kinda trail off at the end without really pronouncing either the second part of the U sound or the R.
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I love Trainspotting and own the novel too. I have tried to read it on multiple occasions and always end up putting it back on the shelf as the accents are annoying to decipher. When reading this thread, I thought of the same thing!
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How far are you getting in? I found after an hour or so of reading I'd forgotten it was even scottish, you do get used to it.
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In all honesty, not that far. I love reading the books that accompany/expand-on movies I love but I just couldn't embrace Trainspotting.
neobuyer
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That's why why they spell it that way now- they're making fun (sort of) of the accent by spelling it Johnny Cakes. They were originally Journey Cakes in Colonial times. and New Englanders pronounced it 'Johnny' because of the accent.
Let me ask you a question though- how would a heavy accented New Englander pronounce the word 'journey' phonetically? See?
Voodoohead
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Had to laugh hard about this one....in Germany it's the sachsony...and don't let them speak english!
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Over here, the accents are more like dialects, straying so far from the standard it kind of becomes its own language. Where I used to live the people were really proud of their dialect, even had an entire set of post cards based around the different words/phrases.
A strong memory I have is when visiting Sichuan (Szechuan) I asked a bus driver a question about getting somewhere and the dude talked and it didn't sound like Mandarin at all. Got my gf to ask him and she had absolutely no idea what he was saying either, we just broke into laughter at the absurdity of it - the bus driver could clearly understand us, but he could not communicate with us. A teenager on the bus helped translate from the local dialect into Mandarin and that was it.
Which is different from America, where you've got some accents but it's still mutually intelligible.
A strong memory I have is when visiting Sichuan (Szechuan) I asked a bus driver a question about getting somewhere and the dude talked and it didn't sound like Mandarin at all. Got my gf to ask him and she had absolutely no idea what he was saying either, we just broke into laughter at the absurdity of it - the bus driver could clearly understand us, but he could not communicate with us. A teenager on the bus helped translate from the local dialect into Mandarin and that was it.
Which is different from America, where you've got some accents but it's still mutually intelligible.
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The variety in accents in American or British English is quite interesting in comparison to Australian English. For example you can tell where someone is from based upon their accent, in Australia you really cant tell to such a degree. It's probably due to the age of the society, dispersion of population and how limited travel between population centres was with Australia being considerably younger.
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That's why why they spell it that way now- they're making fun (sort of) of the accent by spelling it Johnny Cakes. They were originally Journey Cakes in Colonial times. and New Englanders pronounced it 'Johnny' because of the accent.
Let me ask you a question though- how would a heavy accented New Englander pronounce the word 'journey' phonetically? See?
Eh, most people, even with a thick accent, would pronounce it "jyernee". But either way, I'm OK with that. The word "ampersand" was invented because British people would say "and, per se, and" when the ampersand was part of the alphabet. I think it's kinda stupid when fad words are added to the dictionary, but this type of stuff I don't mind.
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I thought Johnnycakes was a Vermont thing.
Anyways, do you know how to tell when a Boston accent is super extreme? It's when a person starts inserting R's after vowels. This happens. "Hey, Christiner, like my cah?". I don't think there's a Brooklyn equivalent to that one.
Although I don't have a Boston accent, I bet I wouldn't blend in as nicely as I'd hope if I were placed in an area devoid of regional accents. Wasn't the basis for the "broadcast accent" Nebraskan? They'd probably think I speak funny over there, even though I don't.
What do you/you guys/y'all/yinz think the relationship between American regional accents and class is? I'm sure that's just one of many variables that can determine the existence or erosion of regional accents though.
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