accents that most irk you

[foxyfox31]

Re: accents that most irk you

I hear all kinds of southern accents here in the Richmond/Williamsburg Va area. I don't think I notice too much as I hear them on a daily basis.
What I really dislike is people who move to a place with a different accent and then they suddenly "pick it up" in a short period of time. I have a friend who moved to England and a month later, she had an English accent and was using all the local vocab (mum instead of mom). I'm quite sure she was faking it to fit in, or show off maybe.
I've been in the south for 6 years and I have as yet to pick up local accent (maybe I'm unconsiously trying not to).

[GeckoGeek]

Re: accents that most irk you

I have friends from Pennsylvania that say "warsh".

OK. We're probably 2-3 generations removed from that area.

[Peshkwe]

Re: accents that most irk you

I hear all kinds of southern accents here in the Richmond/Williamsburg Va area. I don't think I notice too much as I hear them on a daily basis.
What I really dislike is people who move to a place with a different accent and then they suddenly "pick it up" in a short period of time. I have a friend who moved to England and a month later, she had an English accent and was using all the local vocab (mum instead of mom). I'm quite sure she was faking it to fit in, or show off maybe.
I've been in the south for 6 years and I have as yet to pick up local accent (maybe I'm unconsiously trying not to).

6 years?

Heh...you got the accent, it's mild enough and you hear it around you every day, that you just don't hear it in your own head. I used to live in the C'Ville area for about 8 years.

Accents are like colds, be around enough people with one and you gonna catch it whether you want it or not....move around enough and it'll morph into something completely unrecognizable.

[kamuelakea]

Re: accents that most irk you

The worst "accent" in the world is the profanity laden plantation pidgin used by someone as their primary language. They never switch back to something closer to English because they can't. It's not an option.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe versions of “Hawaiian Pidgin” are far superior in communicating certain feelings and ideas. Not just in efficiency but in knowledge transferred. I love pidgin as complementary language.

But profanity filled plantation pidgin is the language of fools. They look like fools, sound like fools and usually are fools.

Amazingly, this language is not limited to the young and ignorant. I see it with college graduates, lawyers, doctors, etc.

The only other accent that comes close is the American Black Hip Hop Ebonics trash talk. Just as bad but interesting seems to be more limited to the young and dumb crowd as opposed to the older African American population.

[1stwahine]

Re: accents that most irk you

But profanity filled plantation pidgin is the language of fools. They look like fools, sound like fools and usually are fools.

So very TRUE!!

Auntie Lynn

[Karen]

Re: accents that most irk you

I've lived here for over 13yrs, and never once have I had any professional I've dealt with talk even a hint of pidgin, no dentist, doc, real estate agent, banker....nor people that work for/with them.

Reminds me of Jeff Foxworthy in one of his acts! He talks super-hick like, horrible southern accent as he mimics a doctor saying "now what we gonna do now" to someone's brain or something. It drives this point home oh, so very well.

[foxyfox31]

Re: accents that most irk you

6 years?

Heh...you got the accent, it's mild enough and you hear it around you every day, that you just don't hear it in your own head. I used to live in the C'Ville area for about 8 years.

Accents are like colds, be around enough people with one and you gonna catch it whether you want it or not....move around enough and it'll morph into something completely unrecognizable.

Yeah, I catch a word or two that comes out of mouth sometimes and I think "did I really just say that?". My husband says ya'll sometimes. I don't think I have much of an accent because my family back home would have mentioned it when I visited...in fact my siblings would have taken the chance to make fun of me

[1stwahine]

Re: accents that most irk you

I've lived here for over 13yrs, and never once have I had any professional I've dealt with talk even a hint of pidgin, no dentist, doc, real estate agent, banker....nor people that work for/with them.

Hard to believe? But they do exist.

Foa shame....yeah.

Auntie Lynn

[OahuGirl]

Re: accents that most irk you

Everyone on the other end of the Jack In the Box drive-through intercom

This so reminded me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qEVLu0zQFc

[Peshkwe]

Re: accents that most irk you

On the other hand, when you obviously aren't from a place with a particular dialect, like pidgin is to Hawaii, and the other person has the ability to flip between using 'proper/professional english' and the casual type of speech used with family and close friends. Forgetting and slipping into the 'local in da hood' speech patterns, letting the 'us and them' walls down, can be a sign of being super comfy on a personal level.

[Karen]

Re: accents that most irk you

Howdy, Auntie!

Yeah, a bit hard to believe but I know people are telling the truth about it. I'm just sharing my experience and it really hasn't happened, but I live central Oahu and have to keep in mind that if I did use professionals from all over the island, I might have run into it by now.

huggz~

[Peshkwe]

Re: accents that most irk you

Yeah, I catch a word or two that comes out of mouth sometimes and I think "did I really just say that?". My husband says ya'll sometimes. I don't think I have much of an accent because my family back home would have mentioned it when I visited...in fact my siblings would have taken the chance to make fun of me

To my ear, the accent in Maryland (I think that's where you said you grew up) and the area in Va you're at now isn't all that dissimilar. I guess the proximity to DC tends to even it all out for me. Until you get to the smaller areas along the coast, then it changes up again.

[1stwahine]

Re: accents that most irk you

Aloha Karen!!

They're not hard to find at all. Well, I take dat back. For those who know their way around the social circles in town (hee hee hee) and they are many. The so called uppity class can be found socializing in many clubs and whatchamallits. (cough, cough) It is there that you can hear and see dem act in a most uhhhh...well, let's say unbecoming civilized manner. Some which would make their mother's and spouses cringe with anger.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Mahalo

Auntie Lynn

[buzz1941]

Re: accents that most irk you

The groundbreaking book Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress by Mary Edwards Wertsch points out that military kids who move around a lot pick up the skill of dialects quickly, so they can blend in. It's a survival skill.

[foxyfox31]

Re: accents that most irk you

To my ear, the accent in Maryland (I think that's where you said you grew up) and the area in Va you're at now isn't all that dissimilar. I guess the proximity to DC tends to even it all out for me. Until you get to the smaller areas along the coast, then it changes up again.

The people in more rural areas in Md have stronger accents as do the people from just outside of Richmond. The people from outside of Richmond are the ones I hear most often at my job. It's so strange because they live in towns that are 15 mins away from Richmond, but their accents are amazingly different. There is also a town just outside Williamsburg where people have a strong southern drawl whereas people in Williamsburg generally don't.
I guess the cities have more people from all over the country and the small towns have more people born and raised there that stay there.
I'm curious how I'll sound to people in Hawaii...