Accents!

[TheQuirk]

http://www.picapic.net/media/YT37465

Sweet Jesus.

In order to not make this thread completely useless, let's discuss accents.

Personally, I have the usual, rhotic accent found in most American suburbs. Like many American accents, it's also a little nasal.

[Aloone_Jonez]

I live in Bedford so I have a typical London accent some people say it's middle class but I disagree.

Anyway you yanks all seem to think all us English speak the same, well we don't. Lol a couple of weeks ago I was in Gt Yarmouth and some of the locals have the strangest accent I've ever heard it was hard understand some words.

My parents are from Warrington  Cheshire which is in between Manchester and Liverpool and is totaly differant, the main differance is there's no differance between deep u sounds so book sounds the same as buck, also putt and put also have the same pronunciation.

There's even a Wikipedia page on British English

[Pathos]

lmao.

New Zealanders speak normally. :p

And sound nothing like australians. :mad:



I love british accents they sound cool.

[WMD]

http://ftp://[email protected]/me.mp3 (no password, if it asks)

[Laukev7]

Check out the Please Call Stella database:

http://accent.gmu.edu/

Here's my sample:

http://illhostit.com/files/9813400013366895/stella.mp3

Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the store: Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob. We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids. She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.

[Aloone_Jonez]

One thing that (I've recently found out) some people in the US are totally unaware of UK slang. Some words have a totally differant meaning - often it's quite funny.

Here in the UK:
Fags are cigarettes.
If you're pissed you're drunk.
If someone takes the piss they're mocking you.

I can't think of anything else at the moment can you?

[sporkme]

knock you up means get you pregnant in america
if i'm not mistaken, it means wake someone up by knocking in the uk

[Jack2000]

I do not like accents ...
but they are an integral part
of our life



ps:what is my accent ?? how do I sound ?? (i mean from what i write on this forum)

[H_TeXMeX_H]

Accents ... bahhh ... as long as I can understand what you are saying you don't have an accent to me ... the only English speaking accent I cannot understand is an Irish accent ... or it takes me asking them 20 or so times before I figure it out

[Dark_Me]

One thing that (I've recently found out) some people in the US are totally unaware of UK slang. Some words have a totally differant meaning - often it's quite funny.

Here in the UK:
Fags are cigarettes.
If you're pissed you're drunk.
If someone takes the piss they're mocking you.

I can't think of anything else at the moment can you?

Interesting. We have the same slang in Australia.

[TheQuirk]

Accents ... bahhh ... as long as I can understand what you are saying you don't have an accent to me ... the only English speaking accent I cannot understand is an Irish accent ... or it takes me asking them 20 or so times before I figure it out

Ireland isn't, uh, England.

I was once told that "faggot" is now an offensive word in England (not sure about the rest of the UK). Confirm/deny.

how do I sound ?

Like this.

[piratePenguin]

I was once told that "faggot" is now an offensive word in England (not sure about the rest of the UK). Confirm/deny.

It is in Ireland anyhow.

[Aloone_Jonez]

Interesting. We have the same slang in Australia.

That's because Austrailia was under British control far more recently than the US.

Faggot in the UK was originally a meat ball (and still is for the most part) but the homosexual meaning has been imported from the US very recently (I was about 14 when I learnt it meant queer) and isn't used thad much apart from on the Internet.

Fag means a mundane chore/favour for someone or most commonly cigarrette, it's also an imported from the US as an abbreviation for faggot/homosexual.

Another slang word I've never heared on a US film is wicked, if used in the right context it means cool although it's isn't as fashionable as it used to be.

[TheQuirk]

"Wicked" used to be popular, especially in New England. Some people still use the term.

[Aloone_Jonez]

Perhaps it's an Americanism too.

the only English speaking accent I cannot understand is an Irish accent ... or it takes me asking them 20 or so times before I figure it out

I think it depends on how strong the accent is some Irish accents are harder to understand than others, I like Terry Wogan's accent for example (although no one has probably heard of him outside of the UK and Ireland).