Usually whenever I run into Americans, I find that I'm asking THEM silly questions about their accents. I work in a restaraunt and this oilman from Texas came in with a bunch of people from his comany. They were all from the south and their accents KILLED me! We all had a great laugh together about the social stigmas from being from the south, or of course, Canada. They said that I myself have an accent, but they never heard anyone else in the restaraunt who did. Just because I say "melk" and "pellow" doesn't mean I have an accent!
We all had a good laugh though. I'm glad that the stigmas about aboot go both ways - I don't think the lady from Alabama thought I was serious when I asked if she had alligators in her back yard.