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[jimnyc]

I thought it was hilarious that Jim claimed he didn't have an accent.


FYI, Alaskans are the only ones without an accent. Honest Injun.

See, now I thought you sounded just like me, as in you didn't sound much different that most around here ('cept for the guido type).

[NightTrain]

See, now I thought you sounded just like me, as in you didn't sound much different that most around here ('cept for the guido type).

Actually, your accent isn't overly obvious at all, but still detectable. It was cute watching Sharon grin when she heard your voice, I think she gets homesick sometimes.

Now, a Boston accent... I've heard some of those and I was only able to decipher about 3 out of 5 words he was saying. The Louisiana cajun accent gives me problems understanding, too.

[Drummond]

Actually, your accent isn't overly obvious at all, but still detectable. It was cute watching Sharon grin when she heard your voice, I think she gets homesick sometimes.

Now, a Boston accent... I've heard some of those and I was only able to decipher about 3 out of 5 words he was saying. The Louisiana cajun accent gives me problems understanding, too.

As relatively small an island nation that we are .. the UK has several distinct regional accents. Easily the most impenetrable to the untrained ear is the Geordie one (Northumberland .. NE England).

Where I worked, we started employing a Geordie who'd just moved to London. Few people found it at all easy to understand him. So, there was a bit of an issue as to how to best make use of his individual attributes.

It was solved in the only way possible. We put him on telephone duty, answering queries from the general public ..

[NightTrain]

As relatively small an island nation that we are .. the UK has several distinct regional accents. Easily the most impenetrable to the untrained ear is the Geordie one (Northumberland .. NE England).

Where I worked, we started employing a Geordie who'd just moved to London. Few people found it at all easy to understand him. So, there was a bit of an issue as to how to best make use of his individual attributes.

It was solved in the only way possible. We put him on telephone duty, answering queries from the general public ..

There's a certain British accent that I almost can't understand at all... is it Cockney? I think it's because it's loaded with British slang combined with a very heavy accent?

I have a friend that lives near Gravesend, Kent. I can manage to keep up with him with a little effort, until he gets drunk and then all bets are off. Hell of a good guy, but he gets self-conscious when anyone mentions his British accent for some reason. I've always enjoyed hearing it, along with the Aussie accents.

[jimnyc]

Actually, your accent isn't overly obvious at all, but still detectable. It was cute watching Sharon grin when she heard your voice, I think she gets homesick sometimes.

Now, a Boston accent... I've heard some of those and I was only able to decipher about 3 out of 5 words he was saying. The Louisiana cajun accent gives me problems understanding, too.

I just don't like Boston accents as I instantly think "liberal" when I hear it, and the Kennedy's.

[Drummond]

There's a certain British accent that I almost can't understand at all... is it Cockney? I think it's because it's loaded with British slang combined with a very heavy accent?

I have a friend that lives near Gravesend, Kent. I can manage to keep up with him with a little effort, until he gets drunk and then all bets are off. Hell of a good guy, but he gets self-conscious when anyone mentions his British accent for some reason. I've always enjoyed hearing it, along with the Aussie accents.

I don't have any trouble with the Cockney accent .. possibly because I've a bit of a twang of it in my own voice ...

It's loaded with British slang, to those who are especially immersed in that accent and region it comes from. But not all Cockneys indulge in the slang aspect ... it's down to education to an extent.

South and east London are the 'home' to that accent ('within the sound of Bow Bells', according to tradition, though that goes way back). However, during and even after WWII, when London suffered from German bombing and its aftermath, so whole chunks of London's population ventured elsewhere for safety. Places like Kent and Essex have become increasingly inhabited by East Londoners (and their descendents).

[It somehow made sense to Cockneys to slightly SHORTEN the distance between themselves and the German bombers' point of origin ...]

Curiously, a 'sub-accent' is discernible from people in Essex .... sounds characteristically Cockney, only with a broader twang to it still. Or to put it another way, they're as common as muck ... and I should know, having once spent ten years there myself (my locality there had street names named after places I'd just come from, in London) ....

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

I don't have any trouble with the Cockney accent .. possibly because I've a bit of a twang of it in my own voice ...

It's loaded with British slang, to those who are especially immersed in that accent and region it comes from. But not all Cockneys indulge in the slang aspect ... it's down to education to an extent.

South and east London are the 'home' to that accent ('within the sound of Bow Bells', according to tradition, though that goes way back). However, during and even after WWII, when London suffered from German bombing and its aftermath, so whole chunks of London's population ventured elsewhere for safety. Places like Kent and Essex have become increasingly inhabited by East Londoners (and their descendents).

[It somehow made sense to Cockneys to slightly SHORTEN the distance between themselves and the German bombers' point of origin ...]

Curiously, a 'sub-accent' is discernible from people in Essex .... sounds characteristically Cockney, only with a broader twang to it still. Or to put it another way, they're as common as muck ... and I should know, having once spent ten years there myself (my locality there had street names named after places I'd just come from, in London) ....

We Southerners are often accused of having a Cocky accent!
And some of its well deserved since we shoot better than any other regional group in this nation methinks.
, 'Cause one-of-'em old boys raised on shotgun, so sings the great Hank Williams Jr.

"A Country Boy Can Survive"

The preacher man says it's the end of time
And the Mississippi River she's a goin' dry
The interest is up and the Stock Markets down
And you only get mugged if you go down town

I live back in the woods, you see
A woman and the kids, and the dogs, and me
I got a shotgun, a rifle, and a 4-wheel drive
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

I can plow a field all day long
I can catch catfish from dusk 'til dawn
We make our own whiskey and our own smoke, too
Ain't too many things these ole boys can't do
We grow good ole tomatoes and homemade wine
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

Because you can't starve us out
And you can't make us run
'Cause one-of-'em old boys raised on shotgun
And we say grace and we say Ma'am
And if you ain't into that we don't give a damn

We came from the West Virginia coal mines
And the Rocky Mountains and the and the western skies
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trotline
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

I had a good friend in New York City
He never called me by my name, just hillbilly
My grandpa taught me how to live off the land
And his taught him to be a businessman
He used to send me pictures of the Broadway nights
And I'd send him some homemade wine

But he was killed by a man with a switchblade knife
For 43 dollars my friend lost his life
I'd love to spit some beech nut in that dude's eyes
And shoot him with my old 45
'Cause a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

'Cause you can't starve us out and you can't make us run
'Cause one-of-'em old boys raised on shotgun
And we say grace and we say Ma'am
And if you ain't into that we don't give a damn

We're from North California and south Alabama
And little towns all around this land
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trotline
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Definitely one of his best songs IMHO.
I once lived so damn much of that song. -Tyr

[indago]

There's a certain British accent that I almost can't understand at all...

It's because they annunciate only half a word...

[Gunny]

I thought it was hilarious that Jim claimed he didn't have an accent.


FYI, Alaskans are the only ones without an accent. Honest Injun.

You're full of crap. Y'all talk goofier'n shit.

[Gunny]

I just don't like Boston accents as I instantly think "liberal" when I hear it, and the Kennedy's.

Liar. You think "Red Sox fan".

[Perianne]

I have traveled some. People say they cannot detect any accent from me. But that is because I put on my "proper speech" when traveling. I can talk Kentucky pretty well when I want to. So, I think while some of us take the extra effort to speak properly, others don't. And I guess that's okay.

I remember once we were in Chicago and were on a tour bus. On the front row were some guys from England and they were talking to the bus driver. Finally, the bus driver told them he could not understand one word they were saying. I can more easily understand black gibberish than I can some people from England.

[Drummond]

I have traveled some. People say they cannot detect any accent from me. But that is because I put on my "proper speech" when traveling. I can talk Kentucky pretty well when I want to. So, I think while some of us take the extra effort to speak properly, others don't. And I guess that's okay.

I remember once we were in Chicago and were on a tour bus. On the front row were some guys from England and they were talking to the bus driver. Finally, the bus driver told them he could not understand one word they were saying. I can more easily understand black gibberish than I can some people from England.

Because of a cockney accent ... or another accent ?

These days, there's a significant chance that 'a person from England' wears a turban. Or a burkha ....

If you ever come across a certain turd by the name of Anjem Choudary, give him a handbagging from me ....

[Perianne]

Because of a cockney accent ... or another accent ?

These days, there's a significant chance that 'a person from England' wears a turban. Or a burkha ....

If you ever come across a certain turd by the name of Anjem Choudary, give him a handbagging from me ....

I don't know what kind of accent it was. They didn't appear to be Muslims. They looked like regular people.

I honestly have difficulty understanding even British movies and TV programs. It doesn't click in my brain for some reason. The accent doesn't annoy me like Boston or Mexican accents do. I simply cannot process what British people are saying. I still love you though, Drummond.

[jimnyc]

Liar. You think "Red Sox fan".

When I was there in Boston is was the "Sawx". I heard that in line at D&D from quite a few of them and almost laughed in their faces.

[Drummond]

I don't know what kind of accent it was. They didn't appear to be Muslims. They looked like regular people.

I honestly have difficulty understanding even British movies and TV programs. It doesn't click in my brain for some reason. The accent doesn't annoy me like Boston or Mexican accents do. I simply cannot process what British people are saying. I still love you though, Drummond.

Thanks for that last sentence, Periane .. you're a sweetie ...

As to whether you'd understand one word of my speech if you ever heard it ... that's another matter, I think ...

One of the problems with our Muslims is that some of them just look British, and in fact, a proportion are native Brits who've been converted (brainwashed ?) into becoming Muslim.

Consider Anjem Choudary's accent. He looks Muslim - of course. But he speaks with a native British accent.

I fully understand what you mean about not processing British speech. It seems, even to me as a born 'n' bred Londoner, as a less than 'naturally flowing' speech (though of course - Geordie accent excepted - I can always understand it).

Turning the tables, as to how I process American accents .. I don't think the British have the same issue, broadly speaking. OK ... I'd have a bit of difficulty with, say, a 'hillbilly' type accent, though if I listened carefully, I'd overcome the difficulty. Otherwise, the 'processing' goes just fine.

Have you ever seen the Jeremy Kyle show ? Do you have a problem understanding him ?

Over here ... we get both the home-grown show, fully British .. AND the version he has exported to the US. In all honesty, comparing the two, the American productions make for more 'comfortable' listening. I prefer the American ones.