tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post7642794095042905842..comments2024-03-09T10:15:11.266+13:00Comments on Unravelling: "Do I Detect an American Accent?"Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350447919000146804noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-86056673946550798412009-05-03T10:03:00.000+12:002009-05-03T10:03:00.000+12:00And I'm glad you enjoyed Nelson. It's gotten cool...And I'm glad you enjoyed Nelson. It's gotten cooler since yesterday, but last week was varied and interesting!Meghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350447919000146804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-58351405588846530162009-05-03T10:02:00.000+12:002009-05-03T10:02:00.000+12:00Well, Sarah, if you're a Brit in Welly and it happ...Well, Sarah, if you're a Brit in Welly and it happens, I guess I have no hope. I might carry a beautifully handwoven bag with holes for eyes and every time someone asks, I'll just pull it over my head? However, Kiwis don't preface the question, do they? And because I'm such an anomaly, I have evidently-non-Kiwis ask me the same, too. It's never ending...Meghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350447919000146804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-36095778994229214252009-05-03T08:52:00.000+12:002009-05-03T08:52:00.000+12:00Don't worry Meg I am from the UK and have been liv...Don't worry Meg I am from the UK and have been living in Wellington for twelve year's and nearly every day a shopkeeper, stranger on the street etc. asks, 'Where are you from'. They also assume I'm a tourist - and always respond with a shocked look when I tell them how long I've lived here.<br /><br />Quite often it's just a conversation opener. People don't mean any harm, they are just curious. I have to admit to asking the same question - but I never 'assume' I normally say, 'I hope you don't mind me asking, but where are you from?'. I even ask fellow Brits - as the local accents vary so much and I'm always pleased to meet a fellow Brit.<br /><br />On a side note - we've just spent a wonderful week's holiday in Nelson - wow - it is so gorgeous!Sarahhttp://www.chezlee.co.nznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-63172435619788076532009-02-28T09:27:00.000+13:002009-02-28T09:27:00.000+13:00Well, I do get sick of it, Gail. That is the truth...Well, I do get sick of it, Gail. That is the truth. But then Dictionary.com's word of the day today is... "hidebound". There you go.Meghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350447919000146804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-14827919808734597142009-02-28T05:25:00.000+13:002009-02-28T05:25:00.000+13:00For myself, I will often ask people where they are...For myself, I will often ask people where they are from when I hear a different accent - having lived in Australia for 6 years and then China for 10 years. Its simple curiosity - seeing a flower in the midst of a field of grass. When I lived in in Australia people always commented on my Californian accent -- and when I lived in China, well, no way to disappear...just about everyday comments about being foreign (usually curious and friendly, once in a great while hostile), and in the very remote countryside areas, people sometimes surmised I was Japanese (my grandparents were norwegian, swedish and Saami), or that i was once a local and left to some faraway place and came back changed. It's just a people thing -- noting differences. Most with a good heart, some with room for improvement......Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09663258186761071201noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-16139166457747949882009-02-25T09:09:00.000+13:002009-02-25T09:09:00.000+13:00That's right, JB, you only keep hammering abou...That's right, JB, you only keep hammering about my undertallness :-> This thing predates you by about... a decade. Exonerated!!Meghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350447919000146804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-151340046712461062009-02-25T09:01:00.000+13:002009-02-25T09:01:00.000+13:00I'm being accused around hereof being the catalyst...I'm being accused around hereof being the catalyst for your current crisis, but I'm convinced that my only comments referred to your being mildly vertically challenged....jbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02360120000195750160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-67534469394276123192009-02-24T08:28:00.000+13:002009-02-24T08:28:00.000+13:00And in school, we learn HEAPS of Scottish and Iris...And in school, we learn HEAPS of Scottish and Irish folks songs. Back in my days, almost as many as Japanese songs.Meghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350447919000146804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-54807113988257893572009-02-24T08:27:00.000+13:002009-02-24T08:27:00.000+13:00Geodyne, it gets tiring after living here 10+ year...Geodyne, it gets tiring after living here 10+ years, I guess. Not to mention shopkeepers and taxi drivers and plumbers and so on and so on. I never happened in Minnesota - but then of course I was speaking more or less Minnesotan, albeit as a foreigner.<BR/><BR/>Valerie, my primary English teacher was an Irish nun from Cork who had lived in Japan 20+ years by then. I still can't recall any trace of Irish accent from her, though, in the way one does from television or Irish persons from Dublin. I know nothing about Irish regional differences, though.Meghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350447919000146804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-84364304189472781572009-02-24T05:23:00.000+13:002009-02-24T05:23:00.000+13:00My dh used to travel to Japan quite often for work...My dh used to travel to Japan quite often for work (US, midwest, auto companies). During meetings, interpreters were necessary. <BR/><BR/>He came home from one trip with a story of a Japanese woman who translated to English with a Scots accent. Turns out her English language instructor was from Scotland. The interpreter had never been to Scotland. <BR/><BR/>So you never know. But it's the only story he ever came home with regarding an interpreter.<BR/><BR/>I grew up in the Pittsburgh area, have lived in the Detroit area for over 30 years. I still get the occasional, "You're not from around here, are you?"Valeriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16226371437929271405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-54056569992989867912009-02-24T03:41:00.000+13:002009-02-24T03:41:00.000+13:00I think it's just a way to open a conversation, Me...I think it's just a way to open a conversation, Meg. Just like remarking on the weahter or asking "what work do you do?". I find that in my case, the real answer to the latter tends to scare people so I use a single, deliberately vague job title which satisfies those who are only asking out of form. The few who are actually interested ask more questions.<BR/><BR/>I can understand how this would bother you, especially if you're searching for a sense of place. Because I have a very soft, non-region-specific accent with traces of both Australia and NZ I used to be asked where I was from all the time, particularly back in my home country. People would ask how long I'd been in Australia and be astounded when I'd tell them "five generations". I'd often not be believed.<BR/><BR/>I'm asked more rarely here, and people tend to tentatively inquire as to whether "I might be Antipodean?" when they do.Geodynehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05612024268485020748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-84137949447309947692009-02-23T18:26:00.000+13:002009-02-23T18:26:00.000+13:00Tracey, probably time for me to stop being so para...Tracey, probably time for me to stop being so paranoid, then...Meghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350447919000146804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-59650095051796211092009-02-23T18:24:00.000+13:002009-02-23T18:24:00.000+13:00Meg I get the "Oh are you Australian" or "Where is...Meg I get the "Oh are you Australian" or "Where is your accent from?" all the bloody time over here. I think that for most people they just don't know what else to say to new people.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-33082162461470940422009-02-23T17:45:00.000+13:002009-02-23T17:45:00.000+13:00Too right, Leigh. But now my Minnesotan buddies s...Too right, Leigh. But now my Minnesotan buddies say I sound very much "downunder". I thought it was only my vocabulary, but no, I use some of the Kiwi consonants!!Meghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350447919000146804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-87750592299488488902009-02-23T17:38:00.000+13:002009-02-23T17:38:00.000+13:00Too funny. I grew up in the Midwest of the US but...Too funny. I grew up in the Midwest of the US but have lived most of my life in the south. My northern relatives all laugh at my "southern" accent, while every southerner I've ever met always nails me with "you're not from around here, are you." Just can't win in the accent department.Leighhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02435811789823712254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-18320148127535504232009-02-23T13:57:00.000+13:002009-02-23T13:57:00.000+13:00I wonder if I'm trying to find or create a box int...I wonder if I'm trying to find or create a box into which I can conveniently be slotted...Meghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350447919000146804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27254015.post-999886949885694762009-02-23T10:42:00.000+13:002009-02-23T10:42:00.000+13:00I live in a neighborhood with a lot of immigrants....I live in a neighborhood with a lot of immigrants. In fact, the Swedes are in minority. Lots of Muslims, and lots of Somalis. And very lot of roamers how dangerous it is here. <BR/><BR/>But of course, if I meet someone for the first time, none would say anything about it. Just look at me in a peculiar way (why do you live there? Its cheap).desireehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07747387260620893252noreply@blogger.com