Have you intentionally changed your accent?

I was introduced to the wonders of sticky toffee pudding several years ago, at a restaurant in the theater district in London. It was sublime!

 

I grew up just outside Chicago, so you would think I would have a very "DA Bearrrrrz"way of speaking. But I was raised by two Pittsburghers. I don't sound like they do, nor do I sound like anyone in my area. I am told by my significant other however, that when I am worked up about something, I sound "just like Jami Gertz!!!!!". It would seem as though I unintentionally try NOT to sound like a Chicagoan, but fall into it when agitated.

 

I should've put this in the Pointless Announcements thread, but thought if might be fun to bump this thread.

How about faux accents that fool people?

My FIL, who lived in England for over 50 years, was totally fooled & amazed by actor John Hillerman as Higgins on Magnum (the TV series, not the king-sized condoms ). He was even more amazed to learn that Hillerman was a native Texan (per my quick research JH didn't leave Texas until about age 20).

My wife, who lived in mostly in NE/Newcastle area of England until age 15, thought that the actor James Marsters, best known as Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the spin-off Angel, was from NE England. To her credit she immediately recognized Sting's NE accent (reference--nearly all of the Sting film Stormy Monday was shot in Newcastle).

 

I didn't know that. We get Magnum reruns on free TV. My wife watches, I read (seriously, tailing someone while driving a red Ferarri?). It would fun to see Hillerman speak with a Tek-sus accent.

 

I wish I had an accent.

I just wonder if I lived somewhere where everyone had an accent, would I start talking like that too?

 

In my single days, I often used to amuse myself by playing acting games while traveling or other public ventures: I would create a character, interact with people as that character, and most often the character would have an accent, because using an accent keeps me in a character headspace well.

So I have used a couple of different English accents, a Scottish accent (Highland/Glasgow fusion, mostly because I have trouble staying in one or the other), a couple of different Irish accents, an Israeli accent, a Canadian accent, a several different American Southern accents, northern New England, South Boston, Brooklyn, maybe one or two others.

Those kinds of games are fun, although they do run risks. Sometimes you run into someone actually from those places, and you either have to disengage and flee before they figure out the truth or you have to wing it and pray you can pass. The accent isn't usually the giveaway in those situations, its insufficient or inaccurate knowledge of living in the place you claim to be from. But you also run the risk of being trapped in a situation in character: I once got stranded at San Francisco International airport for around five hours as an irascible Irish archaeologist, and once for over six hours at Detroit International as an extroverted Israeli venture capitalist....

I am a natural sponge for accents, dialects, and idiom. I spent two weeks in London once, and came home speaking not only perfect London Northwest accent, but a ton of common British idiom and slang as well. It wore off with time, though it helped with my general London West/Public School accent: I can sound convincingly posh on no notice at all. But anywhere I go, I start picking up the local sound and usage of language. Even foreign languages, though to a much lesser degree: I am a great immersion student.

 

This is going to going to indicate just how little there is to do in a town like Anchorage in the 70s on a Saturday night after after Rocky Horror got out but my group of errant drama geeks would get high and go to the airport.
Once there we would pretend to be waiting for friends off the redeye planes and try out our accents on the tourists.
We did our best to convince them that everyone in Alaska talked and dressed like us (Oh, did I mention we were in out best RHS regalia).



Security kicked us out a lot.

 

I really don't remember posting in this thread. Damn Swiss cheese memory!

I've learned to be mostly silent on XboxLive. As soon as I say a sentence, I have a bunch of teen trolls calling me redneck and trying their version of my accent.

 

Heavy accents can be a burden. Some people don't understand that an accent that makes a person "sound stupid" is not a reflection of that persons intelligence. Just imagine the following heavy accents: Slow Southern drawl, Brooklyn, Minnesota/N&S Dakota, Scottish, etc.

 

One of my XBILs is a native Scot and worked for BP in Scotland. He had to communicate verbally with people from all over the UK and the world. Germany in particular as they supplied much of the equipment, parts, & handled the extensive rebuilds of said equipment. He was a working class bloke (that's an observation, not a criticism, something which he readily acknowledges), and really had to work on speaking clearly. There were other guys, Scots, who could've done his job, but they couldn't communicate clearly enough.

I'm a native Texan, yet I have to remind myself that accents are just accents, not a reflection of intelligence and/or competence. But there are some people who play their accents for everything they're worth. I've never met James Carville IRL, but I'm convinced that he very intentionally exaggerates his Louisiana accent. TBH it annoys the hell out of me at times.