Accents

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 31 Jan 01 - 06:03 AM

Do youse see the difference between scunnered and scundered where scunnered means pissed off and scundered means embarrassed, or does that be a local culchie thing?

(take yer gamp, it's pishing down, and laave the door til when yer going out)

I like "She's so-and-so to her own name" or "who's he for an Adams?" - which a colleague's grandmother said about Bryan Adams when she told the granny she was going to see him.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Brendy
Date: 31 Jan 01 - 12:45 AM

Yousins from Shafty are a quare geg, tho

Couldn't bate yiz with a Swiss Roll!

B.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: alison
Date: 31 Jan 01 - 12:34 AM

See you Brendy! would ye jist howlll yer auld wheesht, wee lad, or I'll hit ye a quare dig in the bayek........ (why is Belfast much easier to do if you're insulting???....*grin*)

awww c'meer wee pet ye know I'm not meself.....

this thread has my hayedd turned... I'm fair scunnered so I am.....

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Brendy
Date: 31 Jan 01 - 12:08 AM

Us culchies pronounce it 'gaunch'. Fib.

Kyat idinnit

B.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 30 Jan 01 - 10:22 AM

I agree Jon,

I Live in South Wales, Uk (was on the paltalk last night) and lots of people here don't have particularly strong Welsh accents, as alot live on the borders of Wales... like me... My accent is very diluted, having moved away and come back again, though I can slip sometimes into quite a strong Welsh accent. But yes you can usually tell, who is likely to be able to speak Welsh when speaking to them....

I missed out on my Welsh schooling... It wasn't 'in fashion' when I was at school be be part of the curriculum. So when I moved back (still young) it wasn't on the agenda of my local schools... And really wasn't that strong... but in the event of the Strengthening of all things Welsh, and of course the Assembly - then Welsh has once again become popular in schools and is being taught at most, as part of the curriculum...

And hooray, but not fair....as I missed out!

Ella - who has a fairly weak Welsh accent....

Subject: RE: Accents
From: CamiSu
Date: 30 Jan 01 - 10:11 AM

My mother, who does have a bit (OK more than a bit) of a Long Island accent, has teased me about picking up a western twang when I lived in Colorado. Now that I am in New England, I love hearing the regional differences. These can change from town to town, and Vermont certainly isn't like Maine. (I actually heard on the CB once "You won't get too many muskeetahs in yor bandanna buggin today" i.e. There's enough breeze to keep the bugs from bothering you while you pull your lobsters...)

My older two kids have New England overlaid on Colorado. Joshua walked into Jessica's fraternity the other day, and was told he had a 'Buster accent'. i had no idea it was unique and so identifiable.

CamiSu

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Jon Freeman
Date: 30 Jan 01 - 09:46 AM

guest, I do believe what you are saying but to me in the UK, all these Canadian accents you are reffering to would almost certainly just sound American (or should I say Canadian/American).

Jon

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jan 01 - 09:38 AM

Eastern Canada has a huge varity of accents, I am from Nova Sctia and can often tell from in the Prevince a person comes by the accent, Cape Breton is a great accent but Lunenburg is the best..why do I think that ? Ha

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 30 Jan 01 - 07:38 AM

Ely,I have never heard you speak but I would be fairly sure that to me, you have an American accent. Accents are funny things and I think we all focus on the bits we can recognise and the bits that don't belong and much of this is dependent on how well we know a region or country's accent(s).

As an example, you would probably pick me up as being from the UK. I live in Wales but the Welsh tend to place me as having a rural English twang, say SW (not that I have ever lived there), outside Wales, people pick up on the Welsh bit in me,etc...

Wales BTW, or my part of it, is interesting. There are what I could call Welsh accents and English/Welsh accents - what I mean is you can be pretty sure of who's first language is likely to be Welsh.

Jon

Subject: RE: Accents
From: CarolC
Date: 30 Jan 01 - 06:41 AM

Ok, the general consensus among the Canadians I've met so far is that with the exception of a few words (like house and about), I have a Canadian accent.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Ely (on someone else's computer)
Date: 30 Jan 01 - 01:40 AM

My dad has no accent (by American standards--he's from eastern Iowa). My mom used to have a very strong southern New Jersey accent (they drink "wooder") but she went to college in Pennsylvania and got teased so badly that she consciously got rid of it. The rest of her family still talks like B-movie bootleggers, though.

I don't know if I have an accent or not. I've lived all over the US (Michigan, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas) so I probably don't have any accent very strongly. I think I used to have a muddled northeastern twang of some sort because friends in Colorado teased some of my pronunciations. I've lived in Texas 11 years and have probably picked up aspects of that, too ("bayou" is pronounced "by-o").

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 29 Jan 01 - 05:28 AM

"glipe" - I'd forgotten about glipe Den. And "ganch". And "scut".

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Brendy
Date: 28 Jan 01 - 01:29 PM

See me. See my woman. See cheese.
Bokes rings.

B.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Jan 01 - 03:10 PM

To GUEST,tequilaron: No, sorry, I don't have the chords. But if you start a new thread with the prefix "Lyric & Chord Request" you might get someone else to help you out.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Amos
Date: 27 Jan 01 - 02:48 PM

I thought a penal colony was the showing off in the high-school boy's shower room...

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,tequilaron
Date: 27 Jan 01 - 02:21 PM

Jim, Sorry to interrupt this thread with an off topic request. Jim, do you have the chords to Church Street Blues? I got the lyrics you posted and I thought I could save some time if you knew the chords. Much obliged. Ron

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Clifton53
Date: 27 Jan 01 - 10:15 AM

Ickle Dorritt, you brought up a very good point about accents and class distinction. Here in the U.S., some accents are also looked down upon by certain segments of our society. For instance, the southern U.S. accent has long been vilified up north, carrying the stereotype of stupidity and shiftlessness. By the same token, speak your Yankee accent in the south, and you will more than likely hear something disparaging from somebody, or worse.

I am from New Jersey, a northern state, and yet I have heard more than one or two remarks and seen more than one set of rolling eyeballs even in other northern states.

Just a shame that in this day and age this type of thing still hangs on in people.

Clifton53

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Snuffy
Date: 27 Jan 01 - 05:50 AM

Is that kerker kerler, Dorrit?

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Ickle dorritt
Date: 26 Jan 01 - 04:02 PM

I have a fairly neutral accent and speak a bit like Mo Mowlam who went to the same school in Coventry (near birmingham and has a strong midland accent which is very unpopular). I did have elocution lessons at school which probably ironed out a lot of the regionalaccent, and since I spent my early years abroad I did not form any sort of accent in my formative years. I tend to speak very quickly but just occasionally the odd phrase comes out in a broad Hull accent e.g'I'll ave a rum and curk'. Accent is definitely a class thing in this country and dneotes pretty much your social status.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 26 Jan 01 - 01:49 PM

Jim, I think you hit on something there with the grammar. I used to laugh at my husband on large animal veterinay calls when he would fall back into his farmer talk. "Where 'bouts is the cow? She ain't worth shootin'. We ain't got time for that."

Another dear friend worked constuction, and he routinely worked in Eastern Kentucky. He could put on the moutain talk whenever necessary. He also had a strong philosophy of communicating with people by whatever means necessary, whether accent, grammar, colloquilisms, or a pistol on his hip! He traveled a lot and loved to talk to children. He used numbers and counting to begin communicating with someone who didn't understand his language.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Jan 01 - 01:35 PM

On accent and "class":

There is definitely a difference between America and Britain in attitude toward accents. In Britain, accent can be an indicator of social class as well as region. In Britain, upper-class people speak a so-called "posh" accent regardless of what part of the country they're from. For many generations, the upper-class had a habit of spending their summers at their country houses and their winters in London where they socialized with - and intermarried with - others of their class. As a result, their speech became fairly homogenized. They often brought their servants with them, so they didn't have a lot of contact with the London working-class.

A "posh" accent is somewhat like the "received" pronunciation that is (or was) usually spoken by BBC announcers (but I think the BBC has been loosening up a bit in recent years) and by Shakespearean actors.

I once saw a British production of "Julius Caesar" in which I was surprised to hear a group of actors suddenly begin speaking something that sounded to me like Cockney. This puzzled me: Why would they want to make a bunch of ancient Romans sound like they came from East London? Then it dawned on me: the actors in this particular scene represented working-class Romans - plebeians - in contrast to the patrician or upper-class Caesar, Brutus, and Marc Antony. It probably made perfect sense to a British audience, but it was a bit confusing to this American.

In America, there is no such thing as a "posh" accent. Rich and poor, in any given region, tend to sound alike. I suspect we miss some of the jokes in, say, "Fawlty Towers" and "Keeping Up Appearances" because we can't always recognize when a class struggle is going on.

In America, it is grammar, not accent, that labels people as working class. If you use "ain't," if you use double negatives, or if you say, "I seen it," you will be thought of as working-class, and, depending on the prejudice of the listener, possibly stupid as well.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Rowana (at work)
Date: 26 Jan 01 - 12:18 PM

I have to agree, NH Dave. While attending acting school I was told repeatedly that the person who sounded as though they came from Indiana would get the job. Not surprisingly, a number of national newscasters and morning chat show hosts have that Indiana accent. The reason? It requires less effort on the part of the listener to understand. I'm not referring to local slang, which could be misunderstood, simply the pronunciation of vowels and consonants. Personally I think it's all a crock. I want color and texture and interest in my life. I don't need bland and boring.

Reen

Subject: RE: Accents
From: NH Dave
Date: 26 Jan 01 - 10:03 AM

Having bounced around a bit I can only say, Home is where they don't talk funny.

Here in the states we used to have some really thick accents, and some still do, but with the growing influence of American TV with announcers that are urged to speak the US version of Oxbridge or BBC English, many regional accents are dieing out, as uncultured. As a sideline here, Dan Rather, although long enough from Texas that he has supressed his accent, still came out with a string of down-home aphorisms the long election night last year, a fact that was picked up and commented on by Time magazine. This is frequently rubbed in when folks like Tim Sample on the one hand and Marty Caine or Billy Connolly on the other, make a living portraying a local accent and way of thought to those from else wheres. In Great Britain, accents seem to be a tag that immediately classifies one into a class and/or lifestyle (these may well be synonymous.) Hence many people seem to try their best to adopt a neutral accent so as to conceal their roots. One Yorkshire born friend of mine sometimes tells of the trials he had going back and forth between a posh public school in the south, and his seaside home, so as not to be teased any more about his current accent. I lived for some time in East Anglia, and used to have troubles occasionally figuring out what was being said. Later on when I was working with British military from all over teh different accents I encountered served more to indicate where a friend was from, than social position - we were all living in mud and eating military rations.

I think it is human nature to atempt to blend in somewhat. I know that when I was in England I developed a generic British accent, my son developed a bit of an East End accent from playing and going to school with London Overspill children (a scheme where Londoners were relocated into different areas around the country to provide them with better jobs and homes), and when I was briefly in Norway, many of the US Forces there were speaking with a pronounced Norwegian lilt and accent in their offices, although few bothered to try to learn Norwegian.

I suspect that as television becomes more ingrained in any culture, that there will be a smoothing out of accents until only a generic national accent remains, just as good local bread gives way to a homogenized, even textured, commercial product on the gorcer's shelves, to the loss of everyone concerned.

Dave

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Den at work
Date: 26 Jan 01 - 10:00 AM

See him...see you. See you boy any more ould craic and I'll empty you, I'll drop ye like a snotther. I'll get me brother for ye, they'll have te dig him out of ye. Anyone from Norn Iron remember glipe (bagel) when refering to a dog, halion. Would ye look at the cut o that halion? Yer Da's piece? Den

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Big Mick
Date: 26 Jan 01 - 09:28 AM

You know what is really frightening?? I understood every bit of THE FAIR ONE's and Seamus' postings the first time through and laughed till I damn near ruined my shorts. Great posts!!!

Mick

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 26 Jan 01 - 08:58 AM

just saw Seamus's post... very good...

Ha!

Subject: RE: Accents
From: alison
Date: 26 Jan 01 - 08:52 AM

lol....

Seamus, thon was so good I near wet meself...........

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 26 Jan 01 - 08:16 AM

Cool, Ella, I'll try to get there sometime when your on. I can put you on my Pal List. My Paltalk name is Matt_R. BTW yes, someone did once come in the room and say "Hello everyone." And I said "Wait..you're from Wales, aren't you?" Of course I was right. I knew them pretty Welsh accents! And you wouldn't believe how stupid some of the people are. They even peg Ozzies as English!

Subject: RE: Accents
From: InOBU
Date: 26 Jan 01 - 07:40 AM

Well, the general, everyday family way to speak, is a sort of Anglo, Irish - Trinity flat accent. However, like most musicians, I am an accent magnet, so after about six month is Dingle, my wife noticed I was putting a S in th sounds, Chrisht Sake! - more emphatic than usual. With family and friends from the north, a definate northern upturn creaps into the voice, to the point that my friend Liz (from Derry -Dheh-ry) said to her mum, when we first met... Try te guess where Larry's from? She thought I was from Derry.
When Liz's brother and I would get into the jokes, my wife would be left scratchin her head. We'd be rolling on the ground laughing, and Genie would not be able to understand word one.
When spending time in the west of England, especially when I was younger, I was seldom taken for Irish American, but was usually thought to be from London. So accents for those with a musical ear, ballad singers espcially, are, well... conditional.
Larry

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 26 Jan 01 - 04:35 AM

lol reen

very good!

Ella

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Seamus Kennedy
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 08:37 PM

Alison, Fib, Big Mick, Jimmy C.- Knock, knock! who's there? Gwen. Gwen who? Gwen Shite. Any more of this oul' guff, I'm gonna knock somebody's pan in. Here dear, I'm away in. If I stay out here, the wind'll wreck my shade, so it will. An' I think I'm gettin' the coul' - the snatters are trippin' me so they are.I'm up til me oxters in trouble as it is. I'm gonna send the childer round till the shaps to knock somethin' for their da's tea. I think I'll knock aff nye. This thread's not worth the full o' yer arse o' roasted snow, so it's nat. Bye bye nye (or as the say on the Malewn Rewd, bye bye nar.)

Seamus

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Ruthie A
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 03:40 PM

Accents are great! Mine's very odd. It mutates every time I hear somebody different talk. It's part London, part Yorkshire and goes Geordie (which it should be, considering I live near Newcastle) when I'm shouting. When I sing, it has a funny turn and does God-Knows-What. On the subject of songs, I don't think it really matters which accent you sing them. It sounds good if you can get it just right, but a song sung in an unmastered accent isn't good to listen to.

Ruthie

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Rowana (at work)
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 03:08 PM

Ella, I'm shocked! Isn't Wales a London suburb like Ealing? ;-)

Reen

Subject: RE: Accents
From: wildlone
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 02:45 PM

I pick up accents very quickly, so quickly that somtimes I am sure people with strong accents think I am extracting the urine. I was once talking to a man from Eire on a train and he asked me what part of Clare I came from. but on the whole I have a hint of West country
dave

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 11:29 AM

meant they can't pick out where I am from...

And Matt... just discovered how to Paltalk, so when I get time from work, and my evenings I will be on the paltalk...

:-)

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 11:26 AM

awwww... Matt

you made me blush!!!

lol,

Thank you...

awww stop it..

Well, my accent is a mish mash, I've moved around so much... At best it is Welsh.. Now Mat, was going to tell you off about describing where UK people are from, I get a bee in my bonnet as some Americans insist that we all come from England, and Wales is In London right... argghhhh no!!

Anyways, they way I would describe my accent would be borders Welsh, as my village is on the border between England and Wales, I am Welsh, but don't have the strong, Swansea, Cardiff or Valleys lilt to it... Though ok, it comes out sometimes.

But I also have a hint of Lancastrian, from my dad... and a bit of Kent... from my mum.. All mixed up with Scots, Irish and who ever else in in our family.

I find it too easy to mimic people - simply because my family are from all over the place, and when you grow up with these people, for sure you are going to be influenced by them.

When I lived in Liverpool, they though I was posh, with my diluted Welsh accent... it's great fun, as usually people can pick out at all where I come from. It is I would say, a pretty unique accent to our town... a town of diluted Welsh people... ha ha aha

Ella

blush blush

Subject: RE: Accents
From: little john cameron
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 11:25 AM

Haud yer wheesht. ljc

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 10:34 AM

hould yer whisht! (if that's how you spell it...)

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Jimmy C
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 10:28 AM

Alison, Fibula, Mick and Seamus, how about

"You better watch it wee lad or I'll hit you a dig in the bake ".

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Rowana (at work)
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 10:19 AM

Southern New Jersey accents are similar to Philly accents but very different from Northern New Jersey accents. As a young child I had a So. NJ accent - much to the dismay of my Rhode Island relatives. Their mocking caused me to change the way I spoke. My speech has been influenced by old English films. Careful enunciation, no slang, etc. It's also on the sexy side, I've been told. Because of this, NY casting directors wouldn't consider me for any roles. According to them, I sound too educated for the average American audience and would make them uncomfortable. And all I wanted to do was some voice-over work on radio! Sometimes you just can't win. . .

Accents and dialects are what define us and make our language colorful.

Reen

Subject: RE: Accents
From: little john cameron
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 09:57 AM

oops,JACK an Victor then click on the sound clip. ljc

Subject: RE: Accents
From: little john cameron
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 09:54 AM

Here's a wee sample o Glesca patter.Check oot the twa aujd geezers talkin aboot the books they're readin an their opeenion o John Wayne.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/chewinthefat/neducation/index.shtml

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 09:07 AM

MSAH (aka Jon), I don't know either. Maybe it's just because we can actually understand a "foreign" language.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: alison
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 08:14 AM

humph!!!!!!!!

lol

haven't heard tube in a long time either.... "he's a right tube!!!"

One Ballymena duck says to another Ballymena duck, "Quack Quack!!"... the other duck says "I'm goin' as quack as I can!!!"

I know... oldies....... hahaha.......

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 06:29 AM

I just wonder what it is about my "sexy" accent and people (female) from the US (or perhaps N America in general). I have had these sort of comments from other chat rooms so I know it is not just Mudcat but I don't get them from anywhere else in the world.

Maybe things work other ways too... I love some of the Southern Ireland accents (sorry not too fond of Ulster) - they often sound sexy to me and many American accents (MV in particular)... just wondering what makes us read things into the accent of a person... could make an interesting study athough it has probably aready been done.

Jon

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 05:45 AM

ho ho - heavy rain in Ballymena?

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Brendy
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 05:29 AM

What's the definition of the word 'passion'?

B.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 05:00 AM

"Knock yer melt in" hee hee Alison - haven't heard that for a while. Or "knock yer pan in, wee doll". And why does no one get called "tubes" or "balloons" anymore?

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 09:45 PM

I have difficulty only with those who are 'wedded' to their accents and colloquialisms, and will not or can not slow down or adjust when strangers are trying to communicate & understand. My wife had the experience of being ignored in England when she asked for 'water' in a restaurant...and when she tried for the 3rd or 4th time, the waitress finally asked in a condescending manner.."oh, do you mean 'wahwtuh'? "or something like that...clearly suggesting that she KNEW what was wanted, but wished the stupid 'tourists' would learn to speak 'prowpuhly'. *grin*

Many accents are facinating, melodious and truly important to the culture...I just wish more people were aware of how....umm..*grin*...'different' they sound to the uninitated. I know I have a "Kansas twang" with remnants of starting school in the southern U.S....I wish I could mellow it a bit sometimes. I suspect that in a number of years, some accents will blur at the edges even more as travel and internet conversation become more common.

I always was impressed by Jean Redpath's ability to slip in & out of broad Scots...even to doing American 'Country & Western'...Jean even used to do a routine about waiting for a bus and mimicing a VERY fast, colloquial Scots regional accent where NO one in our audience could follow the details...

(in Germany there are a number or regional dialects and accents, but there is also 'Die Umgangsprache' or 'general language' which almost everyone could approximate when they traveled...similar to that used on the national news programs...kind of a handy thing)

Subject: RE: Accents
From: alison
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 09:08 PM

LOL Seamus.... haven't heard "boke' in years......

and Mick "you watch yer tongue or I'll knock yer melt in, so I will!!!"

and Matt.. we can all do Ballymena.. but we choose not to.... hahahaha

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Jimmy C
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 06:50 PM

Steve. all my three children were born in Toronto and grew up in East York, but they only have to be in Belfast for a day or two and they're sounding like the natives.

Clifton 53 - As for the Joisey accent, I heard a story once about a teacher taking a class of Jersey children out on a field nature trip, One of the little boys pointed up and shouted " look it's a boid" the teacher said "it is not a boid, it is a bird" The kid replied " well it choyps like a boid"

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Clifton53
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 05:22 PM

'Joisey' is pretty much gone with the wind. People here use it purposely to get a laugh when asked where they're from. Actually it is a New York City accent that uses 'Joisey' more than we from the other side of the Hudson do. But the Jersey accent is strong of itself and sometimes hard to distinguish from New York City's. In fact, the accents there differ by borough or even neighborhood. And here in Jersey, one's accent will differ depending on what part of the state one is from.

Clifton53

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Matt_R
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 05:04 PM

Heh heh Jaze! We also say "yeeeeeuh", "j'eat?" and "oddinerry".

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,jaze
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 04:51 PM

Matt, I can spot a Philly accent a mile away! it's that unique. I also grew up in NJ and NEVER said Joisey. I do say Youse guys, though

Subject: RE: Accents
From: SINSULL
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 03:56 PM

Or Bert

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Amergin
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 03:47 PM

Or MargaretV.....

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Bert
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 03:42 PM

We can't have thread creep about sexiest voices without mentioning Jeri.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: SINSULL
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 03:27 PM

What's your point, Mary? New Jerseyans do have a foreign accent. My god! Have you ever heard them say potatoes? (badaydas)Wonder how Dan Quayle would spell that??? And Jersey fresh - Joisey, no less.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Seamus Kennedy
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 03:16 PM

Big Mick, Alison and Fibula - youse'uns are gonna make me boke wi' all thon oul' shite about accents. Us 'uns from Norn Iron don't have an accent - everyone else does! So knock it aff, will yez?

Seamus

Subject: RE: Accents
From: CarolC
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 12:45 PM

I lived in Rhode Island until I was nine and a half, so I started out with a New England accent. Then, we moved to Maryland, but instead of getting a Maryland accent, the two accents canceled each other out, and now I think I sound like I'm from Ohio. A Canadian recently told me he thinks I sound like I'm from Canada.

Carol

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Noreen
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 12:45 PM

Funny that, Bron, my equipment manufactures a Liverpool accent (another accent that everyone thinks they can 'do'...aargh)!

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Noreen
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 12:40 PM

I trust that there was a sly grin with that comment, Nathan. An American participant on HearMe a while ago made the same comment and was deadly serious...

Noreen

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Llanfair
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 12:34 PM

Funny, that, I don't have an accent either, but when I listen to songs I've recorded, it's obvious that the recording equipment has altered it to a Manchester accent.
Ihaven't lived there for 30 years!!!
Cheers, Bron.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Noreen
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 12:26 PM

I think singing in your own natural accent is the best, but we've discussed before about using dialect words in trad songs or changing them. Can anyone tell me why I'm happy singing 'Will ye gang love' but I can't sing 'and leave me noo'

And you can't sing the blues in an English accent, so what's a girl to do? :0)

Noreen

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 12:24 PM

Having been raised in Toronto I have no accent (Right Rick, Peter?).

My father came to Canada form Dublin when he was 27, yet most people who knew him here had no idea he wasn't raised in Toronto, with the exception of a few words he had no accent at all.

I find that when I travel I quickly and unintentionally pick up the local accents, but lose them as quickly when I return.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Amergin
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 12:20 PM

I'm from the west coast US.....I have no accent....

Subject: RE: Accents
From: kendall
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 12:16 PM

We Mainers can not stand Murder she wrote because of the phoney accents. Fred Gwynn in Pet Semetary was the worst though!

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 11:09 AM

Good one Mary! Heh...check me out. I've moved every three years since I was born. I speak with a Philadelphia accent, although I've never lived there for more than a few months. I was born in Georgia, and have lived in the South for 13 of my 22 years, but still haven't lost my Philly accent..or picked up a Southern one (except when I was 3, and from watching The Waltons, I started calling my mother "momma"). I fake the Southern thing though...but this Eastern NC accent is hard to master!

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 11:01 AM

I think it's hard to fake an accent; we just need to be true to what we really are. I always hated the actresses in Steel Magnolias trying to fake a Southern accent. I think they can fool outsiders, but it kinda grates the nerves when you can recognize the real thing.

Having moved around a lot, I know that one's accent changes with geography. It's a matter of changing in order to be understood. But when we go back home, the old accent comes out. I remember seeing a TV reporter who sounded so proper and bland on screen, but then when she turned to greet her Mississippi neighbors, the accent bubbled over.

Since my MS has affected my vocal chords, my speech has had to become slow and labored. That coupled with a childhood Texas drawl really makes me sound like something I'm not. I've found that foreigners (Chinese and Mexican restaurant workers and university students from all over the world) have no trouble whatsoever understanding me. American teenagers working in fast food places almost never understand me. Unfortunately, that has as much to do with attitude as "ear."

SINSULL, you got it right on the PalTalk folks! It really is a pleasure to listen in. One of the funniest songs I heard was when jacko put on a redneck accent for a song. (It sounded normal to me.) I had never thought about how you would "put on" a redneck accent.

When my son was in high school he referred to the librarian as "that lady with the foreign accent." She was from New Jersey!

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 10:57 AM

Don't worry, Fib, I'm conditioned. The young people of America think it's really cool for some reason to talk REALLY fast. So, you get used to it!

And LJC, I'm well known for talking to myself and others in the Scots dialect!

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Lady McMoo
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 10:56 AM

I beg your pardon Little John....

(;0)

mcmoo

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 10:55 AM

Oh aye, the Ballymena one's easy enough to understand because it's a nice slow drawl, but if I could type as fast as I normally speak I'd be breaking world landspeed records!

Subject: RE: Accents
From: little john cameron
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 10:53 AM

Weel then,here's whit ah think o the maiter.We shud aw blether in the same tongue an gie up this accent business.Ah spent a wheen o years gettin rid o mine an here ye are stertin up wi it again.Gies a brek,wull ye no,an speak proper an mibbe we'll aw be able tae understaun ane anither.Ah dinnae want aw mah elocution lessons tae go doon the cludgie. ljc

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 10:50 AM

I dunno...it all sounds easy to understand to me!

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 10:48 AM

Yeah Matt, but my drunken Ards Peninsula Ulster Scot's is fairly similar, so ye cannae say nathin' 'bout that Ballamena yin, hey boy.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 10:46 AM

Think, Fib, ALison and Jimmy, at least you don't have a Ballymena accent!

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 10:45 AM

Aye, "doyne" would be gettin close, like, wee lad. Here's me, wha'?.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Lady McMoo
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 10:40 AM

Beg to disagree Roger, I just love the Geordie accent!

"Doyne" Alison?...just a guess...(8o))

mcmoo (of no particular accent due to living all over the shop except for the Sligo "a"s)

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Big Mick
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 10:37 AM

Well, to be shure, woman, if its a ta-aste of the aul tea you'd be havin, shure and I wouldn't I ever love to take care of it for yourself. Would you ever be so kind as to hand me the teabags...............What for?.........oh, dat's right, Maura........she only wants me to show the blessed bag to the pot, not actually put it in......there ya go lad, now.......its on with the snug and let brew..........LOL.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: alison
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 10:16 AM

I defy you to spell "down" the way I say it..... hahahaha...

an Mick I'd jist luv a wee bit af cayek.... a nice wee slab of chaclit cayek wud be jist grayit..... thanks wee lad..... and can I get a wee tayist of tea for til go with it luv? yer a wee pet.......

lol

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 10:16 AM

I'd have to agree with you Sins about WyoWoman. Ella is right up there too though I've only heard her once. But I remember! And how could I forget Diva? Her voice makes me...um..well..yes (!) Oh, and Tinker has a sexy voice too!

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Big Mick
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 10:11 AM

This is grayit stoof here. Alison.........would you like some cayek? I love the sound of the norn iron. My people were all Galway to Athlone folk, but the immigrants in my area of Michigan in the 50's and early 60's were from all over Ireland. It had a curious effect on the way us wee'uns spoke. There were so many of the old ones and there families around, that it literally would affect our speech patterns over the summer. To this day, when around immigrant folks, it still comes back some 30 - 40 years later. In fact, a wonderful friend from Limerick, when we first met said to me.........."I know you are a Southerner, but I can not figure out from where"...........LOL. Funny stuff. Quick.........Alison, ...........say "Down".

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Accents
From: SINSULL
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 10:04 AM

Jon Freeman has the sexiest accent on the 'Cat. Nynia comes in for a close second. Bigchuck and DaveO have deep sexy "American" voices. Make me think of Gregory Peck and Harrison Ford. Kendall talks funny but makes up for it with his dimples. I have never heard Spaw's voice (nor any other Spaw noises) so I have no comment. For reasons unknown I don't have a real NY accent though born and bred here. Wyoming Woman has the sweetest, gentlest female voice on the "Cat. Babbling over. Back to work.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: alison
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 10:01 AM

My kids have Aussie accents... but they still say "down" and "cow" like their mum (they can say them the Aussie way too... but more often it's the "proper" way like me)........ hahahaha

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Accents
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 09:50 AM

Jaze, don't you find that your accent changes according to whom you are talking at the time? Mine does - so I think that its OK for the singing accent to change according to context in the same way. I hope so anyway, because I can't help it.
I often sing in quite a broad Berkshire (UK) accent, which had me a bit worried in case it sounded false, but then I realised that sometimes speak that way too - so now I think its OK [its where I live]. I'll sometimes put in a bit of a more northern accent - which is not natural to me geographically, but again I sometimes accidentally do that in spoken conversation as well if I enjoy the word/phrase better that way - so its probably OK too.
If its an unconcious variation of accent then hopefully it won't sound false
. But I could be wrong......
I suppose its another of those preference debates.
Anyone else come down in favour of singing in varying accents?

Kris

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Mikey joe
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 09:49 AM

Cork altough a little diluted by living in Limerick and Dundee. And yeah the norn iron situation is pretty impressive sounding.

Mj

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 09:46 AM

Yeah Alison - the 8 sound - I've had to spell my name constantly over here in England as people assume when I say it that it's "Kit". And they all get me to say "situation" as apparently there is a uniquely Belfast way of saying it. And "cow". And no one understands me if I say they're being thran.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: alison
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 09:43 AM

Add another Belfast one to the list....... no one catches me at full speed either, or at full speed and angry EVEN worse.... hahaha

I had to slow right down for the Aussies when I first came over here, they're used to me now..... the folks back home think I have a bit of an Aussie twang.. I don't think so...... although I sometimes have to modify a few words to be understood.... like anything with "ow" in in or the number 8.... no one says them quite the same as Belfast folk.......

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 09:38 AM

I have a wee bit of a Belfast accent which I have to tone down here because no one understands a word I say. I also have to slow it way down, like Jimmy C says - no one can follow us at top speed. When drunk I regress into more "culchie" talk, and can get quite Ulster Scots (it's an Ards Peninsula thing - I grew up there). If I'm doing a lecture or delivering a paper I become "awfully nice".
I love accents too, especially Norn Iron ones, and I love hearing people sing in their own "voices". Perhaps that's why I don't like all that formal classical singing - it just sounds forced and unnatural to me.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Jaze
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 09:30 AM

I love accents. I think they add a great richness to our language and would hate to see them fade out. I especially love British accents. Having grown up in Phila. and N.J. and now living in the South, people tell me I have an accent. I'm thrilled. When I first moved here, I met a lady from Texas who swore I was from England because of my accent. Couldn't convince her I was from Philly. Don't ever change your accents to sing-every interpretation of a song brings something unique and special.Just my opinion.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Jimmy C
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 08:39 AM

My accent is straight from Belfast, I have been away from there for 35 years but it is still very strong. Most people can understand us if we speak slower than normal, but if a few Belfast people are together and the speech speeeds up a little then outsiders are lost, although a scotsman can usually figure out what we are talking about.

A few months ago I was explaining a song about convicts. I mentioned that a certain country was once a "Penal Colony". After the set a lady asked what a "Penis Colony" was ?. She was definitely not from Belfast.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 08:24 AM

Well I was born and drug (dragged) up in Brum (Birmingham UK), my accent has probably softened from 3 years in S.Wales, 1 in N. Wales,15 in London and now 15 in Ascot but still sound pronounced on 'phone or tape.
Matt, it is an unpopular accent in UK so it is flattering you try to imitate it.
Bostin', (ie Busting, a W.Midlands term of approval) ower kid (Brummie term of affection - sometimes "bab" -literally "babe" is used whatever the age!).
RtS (you can take the man out of Brum, but you can't take the Brummie out of the man)

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 08:23 AM

Haha, I know Bagpuss, I was being silly!! I usually say "Yeboogah!" and they counter with an equally amusing response! And I always say "Wotcha!"

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 08:21 AM

Well, I'm from Minnesota, but I don't have the 'Ja, sure, you betcha' type accent. Can't even do one. I'm from a suburb of Minneapolis, and despite what you may have seen in 'Fargo,' they don't talk like that there (unless they just drove down from Bemidji or something). But I don't have a Minneapolis accent, either... Maybe 'news-caster with a head injury' accent? With a lisp. :P

---Lepus Rex

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Grab
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 08:18 AM

A mild Lancashire accent, but it can become VERY strong sometimes when I sing - I never realised until I taped myself, played it back and thought "Who the hell is that?!"

Grab.

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,bagpuss
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 08:15 AM

Matt - us Geordies would NEVER say "why yes". "Why Aye" is far more appropriate!

KT

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 08:14 AM

I think regional accents are important. They are also interesting, and, I would hate to see the day when we all sound like Dan Rather. In my own case, my Maine accent is very important in what I do. (Maine humorist)

Subject: RE: Accents
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 08:05 AM

Lol! Listening to all your different accents not has me guessing where people are from in England. In the other room I'm always in. Most of the uninitiated hear people in the room with Scottish and Irish accents and say "You must be from England." On the other hand, I'm noted for going "Oh you must be a Geordie." "Why yes! How did you know?" they say. I must say I've fooled a lot of Americans (not Uk'ers of course!) by putting on my accent and telling them I'm from Birmingham. Ha ha!

--Matt (accent-lover)

Subject: RE: Accents
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 08:01 AM

I think we have been through the accents bit before (I am bit of N Wales, Shropshire and Kent - lived in Sheffield too but only for a few months - my brother who still lives there (I stopped with another one who has since left) sounds decidedly Yorkshire to me!).

As for songs, just sing what you like to sing and express them as you; how you wish to and do not worry about accents - IMO putting on a fake accent tends (some can do it) to detract from a song anyway. I sing on PalTalk and there is a lady from Kentucky (Mary) who seems to like my version of "Old Black Joe" and I can't think of a less likely accent than mine for this song...

Jon

Subject: Accents
From: JulieF
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 07:36 AM

Having met my first mud catters in the flesh ( although I recon I've got Malcolm Douglas down to one of two people) - the subject of accents came up. What do we sound like?

I have a bit of a vested interest in this as my accent is often considered to be one of my more endearing qualities. People, who I have spoken to on the phone have been midly disappointed when they met me. I have, what has been classed as an 'educated scottish' accent - basically it means that having lived in England for a long time my accent is noticabel but soften - a mixture of Galloway, Edinburgh and South Yorkshire.

On a musical front, I can not alter my accent in anyway when I sing ( I have no mimic ability at all) and this restricts my choice of song. What does anyone else think ?

Julie