A letter

[cosmolinguist]

I think I'm going to have to get Andrew to write me a note or something.

Dear Midwest,

Holly does not have an English accent. Really, she doesn't. Please stop telling her that. It's annoying her, and more importantly it's not very nice to us Englishes. She'd never fool one of us. She is occasionally thought to be Canadian, but that's it.

Sincerely,
An English Person

P.S. I do not sound like Hugh Grant. Don't get your hopes up.

Something I can pin to my shirt, because no one believes me when I say this.

Comments

[godplaysdice.livejournal.com]

I've had that same problem my whole life - except the one time I got off the continent, when everyone in Ireland thought I was German. It was a nice change of pace.

[cosmolinguist]

I think everyone here, knowing I've been gone, expects me to sound different. I don't think a few months in Merrie Olde England are going to change anything too drastically ... and I also think that my accent (not incredibly strong) and vocabulary (a bit weird to begin with) are just getting more attention now that I'm Someone Who's Been to England, Where Everybody Talks Cool. I dunno.

[davmoo.livejournal.com]

It could be worse. At least they aren't telling you that you *look* like Hugh Grant...

[cosmolinguist]

It's not me who's worried about Hugh Grant, it's Andrew; he's convinced that all USians expect all English accents to be Hugh Grant's accent. This is why he thinks that people like my mom's friend who says "I can't wait to her Andrew talk!" are going to be disappointed.

(I, on the other hand, remind him that he's dealing with people who think there is only one English accent, so they probably won't notice or mind that he doesn't sound like Hugh Grant.)

[hexar-le-saipe.livejournal.com]

Tell them, "He doesn't sound like Hugh Grant, he sounds like Ozzy Osbourne."

[showmehowyou.livejournal.com]

I second this. I am quite tired of people telling me that I have an accent that they just can't place, but it has a hint of English in it. Basically, what I am dieing to tell these people, is that I have more than a 5th grade vocabulary and that I'm not the one with the accent...as far as I am concerned I don't have an accent at all...one of the few things that I can thank growing up in Iowa for. Damn people...just shut up and let me be!

[hephaestos.livejournal.com]

Iowa accent: Motel 6. "We'll leave the light on for ya." ;)

[ivana-duboise.livejournal.com]

You have picked up new inflictions and meter.

inflection.

[classytart.livejournal.com]

Hey! An English accent's not an infliction!

:)

Re: inflection.

[ivana-duboise.livejournal.com]

Er, oops! If you've known me long enough you would know that I mix up words like that quite often. Ask Holly!

[offensive-mango.livejournal.com]

I came here to say (almost) exactly this. When I go back to the US I hear that I've got an "English accent" all the time, which is clearly not the case, as is evidenced by every English person recognizing that I'm Not From Here.

I had some American cvnt who visited recently tell her friend that I was "trying to be British." Ok, number 1, I speak the way I speak because I've lived here for 7 years and it's rather hard not to pick up the inflections of the people who live around you. Number 2, I *am* British, would you like to see my passport? Wh0re.

[bratjuice.livejournal.com]

Whenever I speak on the phone with my American friend, he always says I have an accent ("You speak like an islander"), while I say he has the accent (the American one where you delete the "t" in 'pointing' and elongate the a's and do a lot of shortcutting). And the people here tell me that I have an American accent, which I know I don't... I wish they would make up their minds.

And as usual, Holly, you have the coolest icon ever, I'm so jealous.

[stealthmunchkin.livejournal.com]

Well, one unusual thing about Holly's accent is that she accentuates her ts *much* more strongly than most Americans - hardly ever dropping them and very rarely softening them into the d sound that most USians have. In fact the first few times we spoke on the phone I thought she was taking the piss out of me because just occasionally, on words with a very strong t sound in them, she sounds like an American trying very badly to do an English accent (think of Bill Hicks in the 'orange drink'/'run, it's the hooligans' routine)

[cosmolinguist]

And that is one of the things that's getting jumped on as A Weird English Thing. Sigh. I think it's just me overcompensating for my usual inability to enunciate. :-) I consciously changed several things about the way I speak, when I was in college: I call the noon and evening meals "lunch" and "dinner," respectively, whlie my family says "dinner" and "supper." I say "soda" instead of "pop." (And was once accused of being from Wisconsin because of this! They do that there. They also say "bubbler" for drinking fountain. Weirdos! Okay, I admit, I'm just jealous.) I usually pronounce "interesting" and "comfortable" with four syllables (each!). All of these things were done just because I decided I prefer the different way to the way I grew up. Same with the ts.

Still, I do not want to sound like Bill Hicks trying to sound like an English person. That's only good if you're talking about ruffians and dustbins.

[cosmolinguist]

I love this icon. (I love Penny Arcade too, at least sometimes.) I just stole it from a community to which I belong.