Kevin's Watch

I'm the same way with speech patterns. Accents, not so much.

nice guy peter wrote:I have no accent that I'm aware of...

Well, I suspect that we're just unaware of our own accents. But I sound perfectly normal to myself.

--A

THOOLAH JOYKILLER wrote:Okay guys I'll come clean. This is aTOMiC posting.
In addition to THOOLAH JOYKILLER I've changed this second profile several times (many of which were for just a post or two to annoy dANdeLION). The latest incarnations were BUNDY MONKEY and LINUXED.

Now the cat is out of the bag. I'm busted!

that is just a KICK ASS thoola avatar.

hugs and sh*t

ussusimiel wrote:Your forebears are from Kilkenny, IIRC, ali. I'm originally from Waterford which is not that far away so my accent will actually be close enough to the Kilkenny one, so you can practice by trying to imitate mine

u.

Spectacular!

The accent adoption/musical ability thing sounds right to me. I've been pretty good at picking up regional (US!) accents over the years, and I suspect it's partly due to the musical training I had as a young'un.

Quick story that I've probably bored y'all with before: When I was living in West Virginia, I went home to Chicago for some holiday or other. While conversing with my brother (who has never left the area) the first day I was back, he remarked to me that I had a Southern accent. (Actually, it was Appalachian, but I wasn't going to split hairs with him.) I told him it was protective coloration, and to give me a couple of days. Couple of days later, sure enough, he tells me I didn't have the accent any more.

I got in an accident back in '88....
Oh, wait, we are talking about accents...
Never mind.

I was thinking specifically about the 1 and only time I've met Brinn back in 2005. We were sitting next to each other at a poker table at the Foxwoods Casino, and he told me of his wife's concerns that he was going to play cards with some guy from the Internet. As I recall, her exact words were, "What if he's an ax murderer?" Thus, the legend began.

Remember this well. And I learned a valuable lesson; not everyone you meet on the internet is an ax murderer... Just most of them!

--A

Alas yes - a dying breed your good old 'axe-murderer'. Why I remember the time when never two days went by but.......

Things just aint like they used to be!

[Just popping out into town......now where did I put my axe?]

Am I the only non-native English speaker attending the fest? :/

ACCENT with rolling R's and hard back-in-the-mouth pronunciation.

Well, Pig Latin is my native tongue, although I've lost my accent. But otherwise, that might be accurate.

At least people know the nature of Pig Latin. Nobody in that open-air sauna speaks Old Giantish.

I know how to take a sword to someone's head. Does that count?

Frostheart wrote:Am I the only non-native English speaker attending the fest? :/

ACCENT with rolling R's and hard back-in-the-mouth pronunciation.

little known fact. French was my first language. I was stopped of speaking it in kindergarten since I knew too many words only in French.

I was an odd child up there in New Hampshire.

Interestingly, you ALL have Australian accents when I'm reading your posts!

Yeah - the aussie accent is a bit of a strange one. To me an american accent is clearly derived from the irish accent [there have been times when I've overheard a quick 'snatch' of conversation and haven't been able to tell which accent it's in] and the south-african from dutch/german. But the aussie is a bit of a mystery. Any ideas anyone?

sgt.null wrote:

Frostheart wrote:Am I the only non-native English speaker attending the fest? :/

ACCENT with rolling R's and hard back-in-the-mouth pronunciation.

little known fact. French was my first language. I was stopped of speaking it in kindergarten since I knew too many words only in French.

I was an odd child up there in New Hampshire.

French Canadian? (Just wondered based on your saying you grew up in NH.)

nice guy peter wrote:Yeah - the aussie accent is a bit of a strange one. To me an american accent is clearly derived from the irish accent [there have been times when I've overheard a quick 'snatch' of conversation and haven't been able to tell which accent it's in] and the south-african from dutch/german. But the aussie is a bit of a mystery. Any ideas anyone?

American English is, apparently, derived from West Country English and is rhotic: R's are in most American dialects, pronounced, whereas in most English accents they no longer are.

Now, in the past, I've confused English and Australian accents.

I've been told, by Lucimay, I sound very much like I'm from Chicago. Not surprising, since I am.

Damelon wrote:I've been told, by Lucimay, I sound very much like I'm from Chicago. Not surprising, since I am.

She's right -- you do.

nice guy peter wrote:..and the south-african from dutch/german.

Haha, only a small portion of the population are of dutch/german/french descent. So yes, the Afrikaans speaking South African's accent. As for the English speaking South African...well, when I travel abroad I'm most often mistaken for a Kiwi.

(And I can actually hear the similarity myself sometimes.)

--A

Way back at Seafest, there was a photo of me, Covenant Jr, and Seareach, that I entitled "The Spectrum of the English Language."