Page 1 of 3 [ 46 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next

Squark
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 5 Aug 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 7

07 Aug 2012, 4:46 am

I find it easier to talk to people when I speak with an accent, I don't naturally have an accent :P
I also love peoples reactions because I'm this little quiet girl, I'm very shy and rarely talk but when I do, I use an Irish/Scottish accent and peoples eyes widen and they look shocked 8O :)
No I am not Irish or Scottish.
Does anyone else do this ? if so what accent ? And how many of you don't naturally have an accent ?



Last edited by Squark on 07 Aug 2012, 10:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.

TheBicyclingGuitarist
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 27 May 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,332

07 Aug 2012, 4:56 am

Everyone has an accent! You're just substituting your impression of another region's accent for your region's accent.


_________________
"When you ride over sharps, you get flats!"--The Bicycling Guitarist, May 13, 2008


Tequila
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Feb 2006
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 28,897
Location: Lancashire, UK

07 Aug 2012, 4:56 am

What is an "Irish/Scottish accent"? You might want to be careful with that as Irish and Scottish accents are very different, even within Ireland and Scotland. A Dublin accent is enormously different from an Edinburgh or a Glasgow accent.



Squark
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 5 Aug 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 7

07 Aug 2012, 5:06 am

@TheBicyclingGuitarist: I do not have an accent neither does my sister or my mother it is just the way we are :P My voice is extremely monotone.


@Tequila: It was just a generalization.



TheBicyclingGuitarist
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 27 May 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,332

07 Aug 2012, 5:10 am

Squark wrote:
@TheBicyclingGuitarist: I do not have an accent neither does my sister or my mother it is just the way we are :P My voice is extremely monotone.


Lol, yes you do, everyone does. The only way you could not have an accent is if you don't speak! It's not a put-down to say you have an accent. EVERYBODY DOES!

I spoke more in a monotone when much younger, and in my home town people sometimes assumed I was a foreigner because I sounded different to them. Still, some of different regional dialects emphasis on different vowel frequencies and other patterns of rhythm and sound undoubtedly influence the sound of one's speech wherever one is from no matter if in a monotone or not.


_________________
"When you ride over sharps, you get flats!"--The Bicycling Guitarist, May 13, 2008


Last edited by TheBicyclingGuitarist on 07 Aug 2012, 5:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

Tequila
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Feb 2006
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 28,897
Location: Lancashire, UK

07 Aug 2012, 5:12 am

Squark wrote:
@Tequila: It was just a generalization.


I take your point but people who know Britain well will know that your accent is fake, and that is likely to cause you embarrassment. Just sayin'.



Squark
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 5 Aug 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 7

07 Aug 2012, 5:30 am

I have only been on here for like ten minutes and your all having a go at me ?!?!?!?! SERIOUSLY ! 8O

I'm 16 with high functioning autism....I thought you would be a little nicer.
LIGHTEN UP PEOPLE ! I was trying to have a conversation NOT an argument !

@TheBicyclingGuitarist
I don't understand how you can tell me how I talk when you have not even heard me speak SERIOUSLY ! 8O
Definition of an accent is: A distinctive mode of pronunciation of a language, esp. one associated with a particular nation, locality, or social class.
Definition of a monotone voice is: 1. a single unvaried pitch level in speech, sound, etc. 2. (Linguistics) utterance, etc., without change of pitch 3. lack of variety in style, expression. etc.
They are two distinctly different things, I have a monotone voice therefore I do not have an accent.



John_Browning
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Mar 2009
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,456
Location: The shooting range

07 Aug 2012, 5:35 am

I'm born and raised in southern California and so were my parents, and sometimes people have wondered if I have a very slight southwestern or mid-western accent. Oh well, it might work to my advantage when I finally escape this FUBAR state.


_________________
"Gun control is like trying to reduce drunk driving by making it tougher for sober people to own cars."
- Unknown

"A fear of weapons is a sign of ret*d sexual and emotional maturity."
-Sigmund Freud


zxy8
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 2 Aug 2012
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 484
Location: Perth, Western Australia, Australia

07 Aug 2012, 5:36 am

I love certain accents. Mainly most European ones :) Espescially German lol. I think that is due to Inspector Rex, which I used to watch ages ago. I know it is set in Austria, but they speak German XD



Guppy
Pileated woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 31 Jul 2012
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Posts: 188
Location: Somewhere below the North Sea

07 Aug 2012, 5:41 am

I always believed I spoke good Swedish.

Then it turns out my dialect is bloody heavy.

I was shocked, hah.



whirlingmind
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Oct 2007
Age: 56
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,130
Location: 3rd rock from the sun

07 Aug 2012, 5:51 am

Squark wrote:
I find it easier to talk to people when I speak with an accent, I don't naturally have an accent :P
I also love peoples reactions because I'm this little quiet girl, I'm very shy and rarely talk but when I do, I use a really thick Irish/Scottish accent and peoples eyes widen and they look shocked 8O :)
No I am not Irish or Scottish but there is Irish/Scottish ancestry in my family.
Does anyone else do this ? if so what accent ? And how many of you don't naturally have an accent ?


I used to be fascinated by accents, in particular the scouse (Liverpudlian) accent. I was always using it. And even when I was talking in my own normal voice, I had some comments before adulthood that I had an unusual accent that didn't sound as if I was from the area I lived in.


_________________
*Truth fears no trial*

DX AS & both daughters on the autistic spectrum


SeppUKu
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 6 Aug 2012
Gender: Male
Posts: 2
Location: Merseyside, UK

07 Aug 2012, 6:10 am

I've always been fascinated by accents as well. I used to mimic teachers, celebrities, etc in class (much to the amusement of class mates) :lol:

I also do this odd thing where I start to sub-consciously copy the person I'm talking to's accent which is very embarrassing, especially if they're from a totally different country! :oops:



gibbslette
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 6 Aug 2012
Age: 46
Gender: Female
Posts: 6
Location: Next to the train station

07 Aug 2012, 6:22 am

SeppUKu wrote:
...I also do this odd thing where I start to sub-consciously copy the person I'm talking to's accent which is very embarrassing, especially if they're from a totally different country! :oops:


Argh! That happens with me too - then it's worse when it finally dawns on you that you're doing it and you try to minimise the effect and the accent sorta fluctuates and warps into something else.



whirlingmind
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Oct 2007
Age: 56
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,130
Location: 3rd rock from the sun

07 Aug 2012, 6:28 am

OMG me too! My husband is foreign and whenever I have to relay or repeat something he's said, either to him or others, I do his accent (although it's quite amusing).


_________________
*Truth fears no trial*

DX AS & both daughters on the autistic spectrum


Mummy_of_Peanut
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Feb 2011
Age: 51
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,564
Location: Bonnie Scotland

07 Aug 2012, 6:55 am

OP, You have an accent. Without even hearing you speak, I can guarantee it. Even if you are using your own voice, to my ear, unless you are from the Greater Glasgow area, you will sound like you have an accent. You don't sound like me (even in your real voice), so you have an accent. It's all relative.

What's your Scottish/Irish accent like? There are very few people who can do either, without sounding ridiculous, phony and, in some cases, offensive. And, as Tequlia says, there are many accents in the UK and Ireland. There are slight or major differences in the way people speak, when they live in towns only 10 miles apart. Please don't do it, unless you're as good at it as Johnny Depp.

A friendly word of advice here: you are setting yourself up to be made fun of.


_________________
"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiatic about." Charles Kingsley


Tequila
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Feb 2006
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 28,897
Location: Lancashire, UK

07 Aug 2012, 7:10 am

Mummy_of_Peanut wrote:
Please don't do it, unless you're as good at it as Johnny Depp.

A friendly word of advice here: you are setting yourself up to be made fun of.


Indeed. Not only that, but you might actually be quizzed on where you're from in Scotland or Ireland - more embarrassment. Like I say, within 10 or 20 miles of me the accents change considerably.

Trying to mimic someone's accent is usually seen as offensive.

Mummy_of_Peanut wrote:
There are very few people who can do either, without sounding ridiculous, phony and, in some cases, offensive. And, as Tequlia says, there are many accents in the UK and Ireland.


Indeed. I'll tell the OP a story now.

In the Britain of the 1970s there was a serial murderer of women on the loose throughout the North of England. He was known as the "Yorkshire Ripper". He killed 13 different women and attacked another seven. Anyway, during the hunt for this killer a man sent a tape in claiming to be the killer and taunting the police. This chap had a Wearside accent (Wearside is in the North East of England) and was known as "Wearside Jack". Anyway, the hunt for this hoaxer majorly disrupted the investigation for the real killer as precious resources were focused on the attributes of this hoaxer rather than those of the real killer. Anyway, the real killer was eventually found and locked up for a very long time.

Anyway, the investigation was still ongoing for the hoaxer and he was eventually traced, arrested and imprisoned. What helped in him eventually being caught was that his accent, and thus his voice, was that distinctive that it was traced to a particular housing estate in Newcastle. There were a lot of other things that contributed to his arrest but his accent was one of the factors in narrowing down the investigation.



Last edited by Tequila on 07 Aug 2012, 7:17 am, edited 1 time in total.