What accent do you have?

[runelk]

Said I was from the Inland north. Was born and raised in El Paso, Tx.
Go figure

[XtremeEuph]

Midland.........EXACTLY. I KNEW I NEVER HAD AN ACCENT even though everyone technically does heh.

[hugechunkofmetal]

New york City...

See if this works

*edit* No it doesn't

[tubatooter1940]

I knew a man with a thick British accent. I was surprised to hear he had lived in Alabama 20 years. He sounded like he just got off the plane.
I asked him if his family in England noticed him speaking with an American (make that Alabama) accent when he visited back home.
He told me that he had no ear for music at all and that skill was required to detect subtleties in accent-let alone be able to modify his accent.
I believe that to be true. Most of my friends and family are musical and I hear them change like a chamelion when they talk to family or friends from "back home". My wife is from (shudder) South Carolina and you should hear her lapse into dialect when she talks to her sister.
I found this interesting. I hope you tubenetters did.

[pulseczar]

I have a Midland accent, but I've been born and raised all my life in California.

[sc_curtis]

midland?

then west, then south

hmmm, born and raised in houston, tx

[finnbogi]

Another quiz, however, says I'm 87% British

I took that one too. According to the quiz, I'm 94% British.
I find that rather odd, as I have only been to Britain once and have no British connections whatsoever.
But you can't argue with internet science...

[TubaRay]

But you can't argue with internet science...

I take issue with this statement. I can argue with absolutely anything. Now if you're talking about arguing successfully, that is quite another thing.

[TUBAMUSICIAN87]

Midland?
Im from Long Island (Then again when I tell people where Im from its always the same thing "you dont sound like your from Long Island") though Im still thinking of a good prank to pull on these brilliant minds when they say that, any suggestions

[windshieldbug]

"I don't sound like LonGuyland? Where from, then, SanLoowee?"

[Bill Troiano]

I say, "ow ya dune?" Where does that make me from?

[Rick Denney]

It gave me a perfect Midland score, which is also says is very close to a southern accent.

I suppose that's accurate enough. My wife tells me my Texas accent is strong at times, though I suspect that is more word choice than sound. But I teach classes all over the country and few can tell where I come from. Whatever accent I had in younger years seems to have been filtered out.

What got me was that I was able to imitate various regional accents in my mind as I answered the questions, and was able to get a perfect score for being from Boston or Phildelphia. It also susprised me that it gave my natural speech high marks for southern and for Philadelphia influences. Well, I grew up in the south and I go to Philadelphia for meetings nearly once a week, and it seems to me those to accents couldn't be more different.

Rick "lots of fun" Denney

[Rick Denney]

Midland.

That is correct for someone from San Antonio, Austin or South Texas, generally speaking.

And someone consciously making sure not to attain to the local dialect.

Rick "who would do likewise in the same place" Denney

[Rick Denney]

midland?

then west, then south

hmmm, born and raised in houston, tx

So was I. But I've always been told I don't have a pronounced Texas accent, even by people well outside Texas (except my wife, and mostly when she's poking fun). I think it was the school I attended in Houston, which was mostly kids of a melting-pot of the professional classes. The people I know in Houston who have a strong Texas accent (though it must be said that the regions of Texas are quite distinct) were from more homogeneous areas.

When a childhood friend of mine moved to Poughkeepsie (his father worked for IBM), and he came back after two years for a visit, boy, had HIS accent changed.

I can tell the difference between the west side of Philly and the New Jersey suburbs of Philly. Accent distinction seems to be more localized up this way.

Rick "who can assume a local accent with about a day's practice" Denney

[Chuck(G)]

Rick "who can assume a local accent with about a day's practice" Denney

Maybe you should qualify that one with "local US accent". I'd love to hear your Yorkshire or highland Scots accent at the end of a day...

Chuck "Just saying that English is spoken outside of the US"(G)

[windshieldbug]

Just saying that English is spoken outside of the US

... and I've heard those same people say that English isn't spoken inside the US (and they're not referring to Spanish)

[Rick Denney]

Rick "who can assume a local accent with about a day's practice" Denney

Maybe you should qualify that one with "local US accent". I'd love to hear your Yorkshire or highland Scots accent at the end of a day...

Chuck "Just saying that English is spoken outside of the US"(G)

I have spent days with colleagues from the UK, and been able to pick up a lot in a day or so. But it goes away just as fast. It's strictly mimicry, though. The word usage, however, isn't hard for me at all--I'm the veteran of way too many British spy novels.

Rick "who thinks the Brits have the most interesting spies" Denney

[Chuck(G)]

The word usage, however, isn't hard for me at all--I'm the veteran of way too many British spy novels.

See, ha is yor geordie, Rick?

Abeun the hemmel, ower bye,
Wheelin’ in the dappled sky,
Ye’ll droon oot spuggies, lairks ‘n’ wrens,
An’ set the ladies hoyin’ styes
Wi’ yor feckless cry!

Doon wheor the willas hev thor fling
Fornenst the footbridge, catkins hing,
An’ heor the tits are aall agabbor,
The robin playin’ hitchy-dabbor
Afore he tyeks t’wing.

[tubatooter1940]

After two years in Alabama, following 25 years in Germany,my German brother-in-law could not find enough words in German to converse with some tourists visiting the U.S.. Once he started thinking in English, He began to lose his native German.
He was a nice guy. I'm sorry my sister-in-law ran him off.

[Dylan King]

How does one pronounce "beef balls on California cucumber"?



http://youtube.com/watch?v=mlOiYrlvW6g