Do You Pick Up Other Peoples Accents?
@cynicalandoutspoken (4725)
United States
March 18, 2008 12:21pm CST
I noticed this first when I went to visit my daddy down south. I was only there for a few days but by the time I left my speech had a certain drawl to it. I was saying things like "Man, I'm plum tuckered after this trip." instead of simply saying "Dam I'm tired!"
And then when my gay step brother from the south came to stay with me I had to beat myself with a wooden spoon to get out of saying things like "OMG that's FABulous!" with a southern accent added to it.
But now I think I have gone beyond help. I am picking up accents of people by the way they type.
I just now caught myself typing a reply to someone's discussion saying things like "Spot On" and "Bloody" this or that.
Reading all 7 Harry Potter books and watching all 5 released movies didn't do it to me but 3 weeks of commenting a Brits discussions and here I am.
Please if someone sees me begin using the letter u where it is not needed like in color or honor or words such as those, please just have my laptop taken a way for a week or so until I am able to function as an American again.
Do you pick up others accents? Do you have to be in person to do it?
7 people like this
25 responses
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
18 Mar 08
I've lived all over the country (and visited a few other countries) and yes, I definitely pick up accents very easily.
I think it's to make myself seem less conspicuous when in area that is not 'home' to me. Who wants to stand out?'
I grew up in New Hampshire and of course had a (horrible?) accent, then I joined the Marine Corps at 18 and it didn't take long to lose it. I've since lived all over and don't think I have any particular accent any more, but if I talk to family from home I tend to pick it back up, or when talking to friends still in the south.
2 people like this
@cynicalandoutspoken (4725)
• United States
18 Mar 08
I promise not to ask for your number so I can call you to hear you say coffee and car :)
My ex was born and bread in Louisiana and joined the army when he was 18. He took up being a linguist.
To hear a southern boy speak viatnamese has got to still be one of the funniest things I have ever heard.
1 person likes this
@cynicalandoutspoken (4725)
• United States
18 Mar 08
Se I didn't even have to hear you say it. Just seeing it in print has me saying it out loud with the appropriate accent included.
Thanks!
1 person likes this
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
18 Mar 08
I'll bet that WAS funny!
(Oh, and I don't pahk my cah in Hah-vad yahd anymore either).
2 people like this
@devilsangel (1817)
• United States
19 Mar 08
I've never really picked up someone's text speak but I have found myself picking up accents after spending to much time in a place. I stayed in Europe for a few months and by the time I got back stateside well, lets just say it took a lot to get people to stop assuming I was British. I have still however kept up with some of the sayings lol. Granted it took me almost half my life to get rid of my southern accent LMAO.
2 people like this
@devilsangel (1817)
• United States
19 Mar 08
I suppose you might be right about that... cause depnding on what I say.. it really comes out. There are some words I just can't hide it and folks laugh at me all the time because of it. Its like I'll be talking normal then poof accent.. then normal again LMAO. Like for the life of me I can't say boots or ya'll without sounding like a freaking hick LMAO.
@cynicalandoutspoken (4725)
• United States
19 Mar 08
I have heard you can never truly get rid of a southern drawl you just become better at hiding it.
1 person likes this
@moneyandgc (3428)
• United States
18 Mar 08
I don't pick up accents unless I am in person.
I am from Michigan and people in the south say that I have a Northern accent. But now I live in New Jersey and they hear the southern accent I acquired while living in Mississippi for 7+ years. My voice goes more southern when I am down there.
Then when I visit my husbands family in New Mexico I start talking like them after a few days.
My husband is the same way only it takes him only a few minutes before his voice changes. He doesn't even realize it until I tease him. 
@cynicalandoutspoken (4725)
• United States
19 Mar 08
I loved going to NJ when I lived in MD. I would try not to laugh when the "locals" would talk to me but I always left there with this huge goofy grin on my face from trying to avoid laughing at their dialect. They probably all thought I had mental problems. lol
1 person likes this
@moneyandgc (3428)
• United States
19 Mar 08
You know, I think New Jersey is the one place that I haven't picked up the accent! I do lose some of the southern accent but I don't think I speak like they do. I don't know why. Or maybe I do...their accent gets on my nerves. I know it is just the way the people talk here and they can't help it anymore than I can help the way I talk...yet it still bugs me afterwhile. I find myself yearning to hear the southern drawl of "home".
@skinnychick (6905)
• United States
19 Mar 08
I don't do that but my sister does and YOU know how I feel about her...
She lives in Texas now and was born in Chicago..she was visiting me this week and kept saying- I'm fixin to do this and that- She also said Bye ya'll..
What the he11??
She grew up in Chicago...people in Texas probably just laugh at her. Lord knows I do.
By the end of her time here I wanted to choke her...
2 people like this
@skinnychick (6905)
• United States
20 Mar 08
LOL...I'd still be kicking and screaming!!
There is no subdueing me. :)
Besides that, I know what you look like you aren't big enough. You have to get one of those 600 people they cut out of houses then I might have a chance at being subdued or killed...ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww
@cynicalandoutspoken (4725)
• United States
19 Mar 08
I will remember that if I ever find myself in your suburb. One minute I'll be telling you I'm fixing to do that and the next saying, what in the bloddy he11 did you do that for?
You're skinny though, I could just sit on you and subdue you. I hope.
1 person likes this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
•
18 Mar 08
I keep trying to answer this one, but get side tracked to argue with the self appointed moral majority. Still they don't have the grace or manners to accept an apology so I shall waste no more time there. Anyway where was I. My accent. Or yours. I have spent very little time in the rest of the English speaking world and whenever I am in your part people keep telling me my accent is "cute" so I haven't really picked up any special inflections. But I have noticed that my typing is becoming more American. I refuse to omit "Us" etc as that is how the word should be spelt. But I am definitely noting certain expressions: "I guess" rather than "I suppose". Diaper in preference to nappy. I tried to record my voice for you but it didn't come out very successfully. My accent is classically English, my daughter calls it "posh". No flattened vowels, or missing letter, unless they are supposed to be. I talk about "an" hotel not "a" hotel and filleT steak rather than FillA steak. But I think that our accents identify us and make us more interesting.
2 people like this
@cynicalandoutspoken (4725)
• United States
19 Mar 08
Your accent is cute. In fact it is down right sexy. I don't need to hear it to be assured of this. People from your country and people from Australia just drive me nuts.
I remember we had an exchange student in high school for Australia. Her name was Ashley Marshall. I can still hear the way she said her L's and I get a goofy grin on my face just from the memory.
@gemini_rose (16264)
•
18 Mar 08
I do tend to pick up other peoples accents yes, and I also find that I am picking up on other peoples talking on here, I find myself typing words that I would not normally use, but sometimes I do this to make myself understood. But I notice that I actually use these words when I speak to hubby! I am surprised actually that I have not picked an american accent up being as how most people I mix with nowadays are! I sometimes think in an American accent when I am typing a response out, very strange.
@cynicalandoutspoken (4725)
• United States
19 Mar 08
I never checked your profile. I just always assumed you were from the US. Nothing in your comments ever led me to believe anything different. Good job!
@maximax8 (31053)
• United Kingdom
18 Mar 08
I can pick up accents easily if I spend a long time in a country where the people speak with that accent. I came home from Australia with an Australian accent. People in my home country just didn't believe I was British. My friends remarked I had a different accent. In time this weakened but then I went to university in Wales and met people with many different accents, Irish, Welsh, other English accents and some accents from overseas. So when I returned home my accent was different. Since then I had moved again to the South West but I haven't got the Somerset accent yet. Yes, my watching TV programs and movies the accents can be catching sometimes.
2 people like this
@cynicalandoutspoken (4725)
• United States
18 Mar 08
I think it is amazing how some actors can act so American and really be from somewhere else. Hugh Laurie comes to mind from the show House. He has a better american accent then I do. lol
2 people like this
@muscare (3068)
• Australia
19 Mar 08
Dropping a u from colour or honour won't be picked on by me, as that's the way we spell them, LOL! But there are so many faults with words and spelling, especially with the likes of silent letters! I mean, here, I would say 'Damn, I'm knackered'! Two words there with silent letters. Another thing I find weird with accents is that when I'm watching an American movie, and an Aussie speaks, it really sounds different, yet I'm an Aussie! I actually like all the different accents that you can hear, although some can be tricky to follow!
2 people like this
@onewickedsoul (540)
• Philippines
18 Mar 08
I think we unconsciously pick up accents to the people whom we talk to because it is what we hear and or what we see. One time, I was with a friend, all of them had an accent, they all came from the same province/state, I was the only one who is from the city. I found myself talking the way they do, and my friend called me on it. I had to laugh!
2 people like this
@cynicalandoutspoken (4725)
• United States
19 Mar 08
I did it without realizing it when I went to see my dad but now that I am back in my home state I just shake my head after I hear myself saying something I have no right saying. Like plum tuckered. lol
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
• Regina, Saskatchewan
18 Mar 08
Bloody 'ell you daft bird, wots the problem?
Yep, I guess I do. LOL
2 people like this
@cynicalandoutspoken (4725)
• United States
18 Mar 08
Methinks you gots it spot on with this colourful comment.
2 people like this
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
• Regina, Saskatchewan
18 Mar 08
Oh, you're such a Pip! lol Tea and Crumpets in Claridges at 4? I have a room key. lol
1 person likes this
@Linda4ualways (2282)
• United States
18 Mar 08
You are funny! I have picked up on people's dialect. It is so easy to do. I find myself talking like my sweetie sometimes and one day while I was talking, it dawned on me that I was sounding like my older brother; saying things that he says you know and I was like.........hold up a minute here! But yes it is very easy to pick up on other people's way of speech especially if we are around them a lot. I will look out for the letter "u" being used in the wrong context and let you know o.k.
2 people like this
@cynicalandoutspoken (4725)
• United States
18 Mar 08
I'm notorious for picking up sayings I have no right saying.
My exhusband when asked where something was, he would reply "It's down up in there"
My other ex whats his name use to define flipping out as "kirking out" and to this day I will still say Yinz as opposed to you guys or Ya'll.
And I even learned to ask for a Dark and Darius instead of a rum and coke when I was vacationing in Grand Cayman last year. Try ordering that in a bar on the east coast and see how many strange looks you get.
2 people like this
@teeaye98 (287)
• United States
18 Mar 08
I used to find myself picking up other peoples accents when I was younger. I think that due to "trying to fit in." Now that I'm older, I don't do that anymore. I just moved from Pennsylvania to Georgia and I can't understand the people who were born and raised down here. Their accents are so thick, but I haven't picked it up at all. The Georgia natives think I talk funny. I don't think I'll change at all though. Where I live is kind of a melting pot. So many people have moved here from all over, so there are so many different accents here.
2 people like this
@cynicalandoutspoken (4725)
• United States
18 Mar 08
Funny you should say that. When I moved from PA to MD I got my very first job because the manager was from PA and he appreciated that I "talked like him" I said words like, yinz and pop instead of you guys and soda. lol
I didn't go as far south as Georgia but I think North Carolina needs to change it's name. It's deceptive. Ya'll...lol
1 person likes this
@thrwbckjay67 (2870)
• United States
18 Mar 08
It happens to me on occasion.
It's a weird happening. I know it does happen to me with regards to my old dialect, because I still fall into that traditional accent when others are talking to me in that dialect or when people are trying to speak English with the accent. Some people say that I have a "California" accent, although I don't know what exactly that is. I have to admit that I have lived here all my life so I don't know what that is.
When I talk to my father, I pick up an East Coast/South accent, depending on which one he's using. He falls into the New York accent sometimes, and other times it's the Southern accent he's gotten from living in North Carolina.
1 person likes this
@cynicalandoutspoken (4725)
• United States
18 Mar 08
I know what the california accent is. I call it the "dude, which way to the beach?" accent. lol And everyone knows a New Yorkers accent. But throw a North Carolina into the mix and I wouldn't have the slightest idea where you were from.
2 people like this
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
• Regina, Saskatchewan
18 Mar 08
In L.A. they call it "Dude! Where's my car?" lol
1 person likes this
@kingcrapper (1536)
• United States
19 Mar 08
My wife was from the Colorado area and used to comment on my 'Midwestern' accent. With time spent in the upper peninsula of Michigan the habit of ending sentences with the word 'eh?' kinda gave me away!
I used to work with a young lady from Ireland with a absolutely beautiful accent! I just loved to listen to her talk. Love the way Brits talk too. Love the slang. Hmm. I wonder if they laugh at our accents and much as we laugh at theirs?
@cynicalandoutspoken (4725)
• United States
19 Mar 08
OMG a friend I talk to on the phone is famous for ending her sentences in eh? or saying, don'cha know!
I keep telling her I am moving her to Fargo!
@michelyn (717)
• United States
19 Mar 08
Hahaha! I thought I was the only one that did this. I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone. Well, with picking up accents and drawls verbally. I don't believe I have yet started borrowing such things through text. When I was 15, I was visiting some family in Alabama for a family reunion. One of the days we were there, my cousin and I went to the skating rink with a bunch of her friends and hung out the entire day. By the time we got back to her house, you would think that I had lived there all my life. The Southern drawl was as fluid as my English. By the time I got back home and back to school, I was hoarse and using a Southern drawl. My friends were freaking out. I'm a little more conscious about doing it now. If I'm around a lot of people with different accents, I will try and think through what I'm going to say before I say it, unless it's just some friends and I can do it in jest.
@MAMABLAZE (242)
• United States
19 Mar 08
I think everyone has a tendency to pick up the accents of people around them.
It has happened to me here and there in the past.I can also relate to the Harry
Potter thing as well. If you listen to anything enough you are going to have the
occassional slip up. However, I cannot say that it has carried over into my writing.
@MsEddie86 (234)
• United States
18 Mar 08
wow i caught myself doin the very same thing. my boyfriend is from mississippi and wow i live in north carolina and we are not as country spoken as they are but i find myself having the accent now even when i am not speaking to him but i didnt have to be in person i caught it from him over the phone, but it is so weird when i go visit my family in PA i find myself catching on to their northern accent its bananas i hate doing it so bad. how do we control that if anyone has any advice pls respond because it really bugs me when i do it
