I can't believe this sort of attitude still persists today

[CharlesB]

Well I'm glad I didn't choose to study abroad in the UK! I'll be leaving for the Netherlands soon, I hope I don't encounter any of that over there. Somehow I doubt it though, all the Dutch exchange students I met over here were ridiculously nice and friendly. Then again, they did choose to come to the US, so who knows about everyone else!

Sounds fun. I'll be swinging through that area in the spring. If you are around then the first drinks on me

 

[deadpandiva]

I have a horrid, harsh midwestern accent and I always have people in America asking my what country I'm from. [huh]

 

[Atticus Finch]

....and it's true that that whenever people hear a Southern accent, they always want to deduct 100 IQ points.

Yes. What you say is true. I have met many people in my career who came to realize---too late---that they had made that very mistake.

Atticus

 

[Lola Valentine]

Well I've lived in the UK all my life & I've never met anybody who has a problem with the American accent. In Edinburgh, we get a lot of Americans coming here during our festival & I've never seen anyone being rude to them. As was said before, there are dumb people everywhere, if you travel abroad & have a different accent to the locals, there will be some idiots who are going to comment on it. I've had my Scottish accent mocked in America many times, but you can't take it to heart because those people are just ignorant, as are the people from the UK who mock the American accent.

 

[zaika]

I have a horrid, harsh midwestern accent and I always have people in America asking my what country I'm from. [huh]

i like the midwestern accent. even though i grew up in oregon and have never been to the midwest, i find myself sounding more and more like my grandmother (who grew up in wisconsin). i like it.
the accent is strong with this one...
lol.
back to topic...
when i lived in russia this last time, i was blessed enough to be able to speak russian without an accent. at least for the basics...so just being out and about, no one really suspected that i was american. however, once i started trying to have a decent conversation, while i had no accent, the lack of correct grammar and my deplorable vocabulary gave me away. overall, though, people were either very curious and/or friendly.
well..once i did get a lecture on a train ride, but he was nice...just very opinionated.
but...forget it when they're drunk.

 

[wecrosscreek]

My sister now lives in Seattle. She was told early on in her carrer that she should lose her Southern accent if she wanted to advance. She was able to do that. I gave her a hard time aabout it... I was younger. Now I understand.

Seriously however, I do have a lot of fun with my accent. Sandy (wife) and I travel a lot and she really does the "southern thing". I've worked in the international community for thirty years, so I can hide my "southern side" when I need/want too.

I envy that. In my current job I have to travel from time to time. Chicago mostly, Reno and Lancaster every now and then. I notice that I tend to "chew" my words a few times before I speak and try not to speak much.
It seems it only takes a coupld of words before I am asked where I am from.
(I usually laugh and say the South side of Chicago.)

One waitress I had kept coming over and checking with me and would just smile really big when I answered. I thought she was just being a really good waitress. Until I saw the other waitresses out of the corner of my eye watching. Hahahaaha!! Quick! Make the southern guy say something else.
But seriously she was nice. I doodled about it Here.

It's great fun to "please and thank you ma'am" my way around the US! We "southerners" also have the physical accents that can sometimes get us in trouble. We can't help but open doors for women and get close when speaking. I've gotten some strange comments about things like that. Sometimes the accent comes in very handy... Ron

My past two bosses (both ladies from Chicago) will come down for "talks" and they always coment how much they like to come here. They say the moment they start walking theough Nashville's airport that they can "feel" a difference. They like the politeness and the relaxed atmosphere.

It is true that in the business world the southern drawl can do more harm than good. I have seen people almost tune me out completely... or rather dismiss what I am saying. So I try to keep it short and to the point in meetings.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Baron,

I wasn't actually using the word "fearful", it was this comment that raised the question.

Aye, i think i was responding to the post below yours.

Hausfrau,

What is "the state of things in the UK" you're referring to? What do you mean by "edgy"?

If I'm reading it right, the remark referred to crime/terrorism/racial tension in the UK.

I'm not sure there is any "state of things" in the UK. No widespread racial - or any other - tension that i can see. Perhaps perceived by the Daily Mail crowd, but don't believe the hype.

What confuses me is what possible connection an American accent wuld have to the kind of "foreigners" that might be making people be "edgy"?

All anyone seems to have with us is a political beef, not that we are a direct threat to Britain or individuals there in any way.

[huh]

Yes, you're right. It is entirely a political beef. And not really political; though politics is the excuse, it's more psychological. It's a sad yearning for the past when Britain was a world power. Our miserable toeing of the American line in every and all political/military situation brings it home all the more that we are a shadow of the past. We are not a great power any longer. We have been relegated to the role of also-rans. This is very difficult for a proud people to swallow. Hence the antagonism to those to whom we are now subordinate.

bk

 

[Hausfrau]

What is "the state of things in the UK" you're referring to? What do you mean by "edgy"?

If I'm reading it right, the remark referred to crime/terrorism/racial tension in the UK.

What confuses me is what possible connection an American accent wuld have to the kind of "foreigners" that might be making people be "edgy"?

All anyone seems to have with us is a political beef, not that we are a direct threat to Britain or individuals there in any way.

I am erasing what I wrote because I don't want to be rude or potentially offend anyone. It's a sensitive subject.

 

[Starius]

Said the man in the big furry trooper hat. Just kidding I actually need one just like it.

Best,

eightbore

I stand by my hat and everything it stands for!
Er,... I stand under my hat and everything it... uhh... aw forget it!

Starius wrote: "Seems we are judged (and judge) on how our speech is dressed just as much as how our bodies are."

-Paging Professor Higgins. Telephone call for Henry Higgins!-

Haversack.

Hahahaha If only it were so easy - and so musically entertaining!

 

[Zastrozzi]

Hmmf. I apologise on behalf of my supposed 'compatriot'.

 

[kokopelli]

You'll love this

As a Tennessee boy, I'm sure you can appreciate this "accent incident". One summer I had the family at Dollywood and it was "prime time". Hot and steamy and packed to the gills. Everyone was b*&^%$#@ and complaining and the trams were backed up with about a 45 minute wait. Standing in front of the line was a rather obnoxious "northern" couple (no regional slight intended) that spent the entire time berating the hillbilly's and their inbred culture. When the tram arrived, they were the first on and took both front seats surrounding the "stroller spot" (i.e. seats 3 per seat and a place to stash the baby stroller). The guy took one entire seat and the woman the other; the placed their legs across the space to the opposite seats. The tram filled and directly in front of us was a visiting Amish or Mennonite couple with a baby and stroller. They had no place to park the stroller so they nodded for us to take the only available seat. The guy that hogged the seats just smiled and put on a show for his companion. I was just about to explode and thought "I'm not going to let him get by with this" (famous last words). It was like someone else took control of my actions. I winked at my wife and kids and whispered "follow my lead". Like some fool, I jumped in the seat beside the guy and in my best hillbilly accent said 'hey ole buddy, what are you-all doing around these parts". I grabbed him around the neck, slid him over and said "come-on kids, they's plenty of room". We all slid in with the couple and smooshed them against the rail. I looked to the couple with the baby and said "give me that baby buggy and you-all take the open seat"!
The couple of seat hogs were speechless and the guy was as red as a beet". He just mumbled for the ride to the gate. As we exited, I glanced back at the tram load of people and the entire tram was rolling in laughter. The drive was laughing so hard that she had to get off the tram. What fun.. Ron

My sister now lives in Seattle. She was told early on in her carrer that she should lose her Southern accent if she wanted to advance. She was able to do that. I gave her a hard time aabout it... I was younger. Now I understand.


I envy that. In my current job I have to travel from time to time. Chicago mostly, Reno and Lancaster every now and then. I notice that I tend to "chew" my words a few times before I speak and try not to speak much.
It seems it only takes a coupld of words before I am asked where I am from.
(I usually laugh and say the South side of Chicago.)

One waitress I had kept coming over and checking with me and would just smile really big when I answered. I thought she was just being a really good waitress. Until I saw the other waitresses out of the corner of my eye watching. Hahahaaha!! Quick! Make the southern guy say something else.
But seriously she was nice. I doodled about it Here.


My past two bosses (both ladies from Chicago) will come down for "talks" and they always coment how much they like to come here. They say the moment they start walking theough Nashville's airport that they can "feel" a difference. They like the politeness and the relaxed atmosphere.

It is true that in the business world the southern drawl can do more harm than good. I have seen people almost tune me out completely... or rather dismiss what I am saying. So I try to keep it short and to the point in meetings.

 

[gluegungeisha]

I've been told many times that I have a "New Mexican" accent. I don't really know what that means, but apparently I have a slight Spanish twang.

I haven't gotten any negative reception for it...though my sister, after coming home from school on the East coast, bluntly told me that I "talk like a chola." I'm not sure how to take that...[huh]

 

[wecrosscreek]

Hey "rljsrubicon" That great! LOL!!! I always like what "Capt. Woodrow Call" said in Lonesome Dove... "I hate rude behavior in a man. I won't tolerate it."

There isn't much that gets under my skin... except for elitist attitudes, selfishness, and blatant rudeness. Thanks for "step'n up" and taking up for those who can't for themselves. Bravo!

I haven't gotten any negative reception for it...though my sister, after coming home from school on the East coast, bluntly told me that I "talk like a chola." I'm not sure how to take that...[huh]

As a complement.
I for one, I like accents. It makes us unique and original. It gives us flavor and is just as much a part of as anything else. Although it sometimes comes with some unintended baggage (like the southern drawl) it also helps identify our selves if not our lives. Being in the south I can pick out the subtle differences of different southern accents. When I do travel... nothing makes me happier than hearing another southern accent in the airport or store.

"gluegungeisha"... I would imagine that you wouldn't be "you" without it.

My mother was on a business trip to Boston and the waitress told my
mom she loved to listen to her talk. Then my mom told her she enjoied her accent as well. The young girl looked puzzled and said... "Huh? I have an accent?@?" LOL!!!

 

[rebelgtp]

personally i've never had anything negative said about my accent. however living in the northwest it is really easy to tell when you are talking to someone not from here in how they pronounce names of places around here. heck just in how they say oregon sometimes.

when i was on a school trip to washington dc i was in the hotel gym with some friends talking and these two girls from georgia came in and started giggling. they asked me to join them in the pool and that they loved my accent, up until this time i had never thought of myself as having one. oddly enough i have had people here in oregon say that i have an accent that they can't place, and i have lived here all my life.

i've also found that i can adopt an accent very easily, granted i spent more years then i care to count on the phone doing tech support with people from around the country. i had someone side jacking with me once and they went wide eyed as my accent changed from call to call so the person on the other end could understand me better. heck i have had people here in oregon flat out refuse to believe that i was from here. [huh]

 

[nobodyspecial]

I suffer from Lizzie's problem of picking up accents without being conscious of doing so.

In 2005 while in England I had no problems with my American accent or with anyone I met. I spoke with several people who's parents were in the war and very much appreciated our contribution to their freedom.

 

[Dr Doran]

I don't know how bad my Southern California accent is, or how much I have picked up the (completely different) San Francisco Bay Area way of speaking, but my diction is sometimes extremely, painfully clear because I have to lecture in front of a classroom and I cannot stand hearing the word "what?"

So I enunciate to the point of exaggeration, and I do this rather automatically at this point, including outside the classroom, and so sometimes people think I have an accent. Usually, bizarrely, an Irish accent. I've also gotten German and English.

As for drunks giving you a hard time: smile, look crazy-gleamy, move deliberately slowly, speak slowly, stare at them in the eye, and keep the glass (or, better, bottle) in your fist. Show great, sadistic interest in them. Pretend you don't quite understand and make them repeat themselves. Smile with your eyebrows drawn. Bare your teeth a bit. Step close but remain polite. They'll get nervous. Then they'll figure out that it's best to back off. This has never, ever failed me.

 

[Story]

Yes, you're right. It is entirely a political beef. And not really political; though politics is the excuse, it's more psychological. It's a sad yearning for the past when Britain was a world power. Our miserable toeing of the American line in every and all political/military situation brings it home all the more that we are a shadow of the past. We are not a great power any longer. We have been relegated to the role of also-rans. This is very difficult for a proud people to swallow. Hence the antagonism to those to whom we are now subordinate.
bk

Your lot from Oxford and/or Cambridge either refuse to recognize that, or are hypercompensating for it when over here. Considering their extreme nasal elevation, they're generally in danger of drowning if the weather turns inclement. lol

And your spot-on about stupidity being an equal opportunity employer across the entire globe.

 

[Michaelson]

I was born and raised in Ohio, but have lived the last 20 years in the deep South, currently in south central Tennessee, right on the Alabama border.

When I to vist in Ohio, I'm told I've picked up a 'quaint Southern accent', and yet when I'm here in Tennessee, I'm occasionally asked what part of Canada I'm from.[huh]

Go figure!lol

Regards! Michaelson

 

[OldSkoolFrat]

I was born and raised in Ohio, but have lived the last 20 years in the deep South, currently in south central Tennessee, right on the Alabama border.

Fayetteville?