What is it about accents?

Did she eventually slap you like the guy in Breaking Away?

Speaking of Hoosiers, Bubs, does your wife say "MAY-sure" and "TRAY-sure" for measure and treasure? Does she pronounce school, "skyool?" End any interrogative statement about location with "at?" Emphasis the first syllable no matter how a word is pronounced -- "I need some IN-surance for my I-talian UM-brella?" Do things stink, or do they "stank"?

Somehow I never picked up the Hyusher, er, Hoosier accent, though it helps that my mom was from da UP (but lost any UP Michigan accent) and my dad sounds like Ashy Larry, even after 40 years away from Boston.

 

I pray Svetlana never loses her accent. :-* :-*

 

Just remember: like a good horse, always check the teeth.

 

Yes, I've been told my southern accent is almost undetectable unless I'm drunk or angry (or both).

One that always cracks me up is the "plantation Southern" that you hear from people across south Georgia and Alabama (as well as other places). If you remember Frank Broyles on ABC College Football or if you've ever heard Alabama AD Mal Moore speak in public, you know what I mean.

I can hardly contain my giggles when I hear Mal talk about "charact-uh," "lead-uh-ship" or "seen-yuhs." His accent almost sounds like it's a put-on, but it's absolutely real.

 

Both of my mom's parents talked like that. My grandmother would have been perfect in Gone with the Wind. My mom talks a little like that, but fortunately it wasn't passed on to any of her children.

 

Luckily, I didn't have to use the accent every day for two months. Just one or twice during the week on the phone and then on Saturday nights. Having a Scottish teammate on my soccer team helped. He coached me on the accent. That, combined with my natural ear for mimicry, helped.

And, yes, of course to the second question.

 

1. and 1A. are Australian and Portuguese.

2. Southern American.

 

Colbert "unlearned" his Southern accent so people wouldn't naturally assume he was a doofus hick. It can be done.

 

I spent some time in New Orleans as a kid. At first, I couldn't understand what the heck they were saying, but I came to really enjoy the way they talk. I can still do a passable imitation.

My brother has lived in South Carolina for about 12 years now and it's funny to hear the Southern accent creep in here and there.

I do not understand how anybody can find a New York accent attractive. I really don't. Not quite as bad as a Pittsburgh Yinzer, but still.

 

That is either the funniest or most pathetic thing I've heard in a long time. Congrats.

 

I agree. Grad school was not a time of good decisions for me.

 

Speaking of Australian, the reason the Wiggles never worried about losing the Aussie accent was because they figured little kids wouldn't care. And they're right. In fact, it has the opposite effect -- it gives kids an Australian accent. My 3-year-old refers to the Wiggles individually as Grig (or Sahm), Anthony, Mah-ry and Jif.