The accent and dialect thread!

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The accent and dialect thread!

Post by rivetlicker_ » Thu Jul 22, 2010 11:48 am

Ok, so continuing on from the "comments about your hair from the general public" thread, I introduce you to the accent and dialect thread!
Strictly no racism to be posted in this thread.

Now... For the fun!

What kind of accent do you speak with? What's your dialect? What accent have you been mistaken to speak with? What's your favourite accent? etc...


I'm Australian, as you all know. I'm not a typical "Steve Irwin" or "Crocodile Dundee" Aussie dialect, known as the ocker accent. I grew up in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (which has a mid to high end social class, my accent isn't too formal but I have been mistaken to be British by the "bogans", whom are our version of the "redneck"), my parents migrated from Poland, mum came here as a child, learnt english and started speaking with an Australian accent. She has been mistaken for a Brit or a South African at times. Dad came to Australia as an adult, so he still has a bit of the Polish accent. Some of my mum's friends have been here as long as, or even longer than her yet still retain their accents from where they grew up (mostly Polish/Russian people). I mumble sometimes, when I get nervous/socially anxious (like in my video tuts rofl), but for the most part, I speak well and can easily be pointed out to be the Aussie that I am!
I like European accents :)

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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by ScarletLady » Thu Jul 22, 2010 11:58 am

I have an Essex/London hybrid accent which can sound awful...especially when I'm drunk...but I still love it - it's who I am!

Whenever I'm outside of the area people always assume I'm from London - especially in the North of the country as to them Essex and London sound exactly the same.

I love the Australian accent. I used to have a hard time telling the difference between Australian, New Zealand and South African accents (especially Aussie and NZ) but after spending 2 weeks in a surf lodge in Cornwall with loads of people from all 3 places I can spot the difference a mile off now
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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by MrsEss » Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:05 pm

When I'm drunk my South African accent comes out :D

Apparently I have a little geordie in my accent - but that's cos I married a geordie, so I guess I picked up a little of his twang. I DON'T sound like Cheryl Cole, I hate her accent. *shudder*

I'm a Northerner....not Manchester northern, "proper" up north northern :lol: umm, Paul Daniels & Roy chubby Brown are from a few miles down the road :D
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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by ScarletLady » Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:08 pm

I picked up my London twang from Dan - he's so "London" it hurts sometimes - uses rhyming slang more than is advisable but somehow it doesn't sound silly
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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by Flick » Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:17 pm

I'm an Aussie, true and true. I live in country NSW, which is about 7 hours into nowhere from Rivetlicker, so we probably sound completely different. Its so amusing hearing that SA, Aus and NZ sound similar.. I guess you have to be an Aussie to hear the difference. Maybe.

Anyway I use a lot a lot a lot of slang. I speak Australian not english.


And I have never ever ever in my life met someone who speaks in that typical Croc dundee/Steve Irwin way. Never ever ever. I am probably the biggest bogan I know, (as I sit here in my singlets, shorts and thongs .. flanny on top, it is winter after all!) but I do not speak like that! I say Crikey in jest, but I do refer to everyone as mate.

Oh my, its hard to analyse my accent. You would need to hear it.. anyway, I love southern USA accents.
Last edited by Flick on Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by BossyLibraryLady » Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:19 pm

I'm Brisbane born and bred, so I have that awful nasally Queensland thing going on that Pauline Hanson and Tegan from Doctor Who are both noted for. :shock: My step-family are old-school Invercargill (New Zealand) sheep farmers with borderline Scots accents, so every so often a bit of rolling of the rrrs or saying 'theng' instead of 'thing' slips out.

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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by ScarletLady » Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:23 pm

Flick wrote: Its so amusing hearing that SA, Aus and NZ sound similar.. I guess you have to be an Aussie to hear the difference. Maybe.
I can tell the difference now, having spent time with all 3, especially together - SA is obviously different and although Aus and NZ can sound similar I can tell the difference.

To be fair though I know a lot of people (maybe yourself included) who can't tell the difference between the London and Essex accents (even people in this country can't always) and to me they sound totally different, although I can see similarities :)
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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by Flick » Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:27 pm

I am so definitely of the opinion that all Brits sound *exactly* the same :D

Australias pronounce their vowels much more.. Hard to explain but where an Aussie may say 'thing' with a distinct 'i' sound, a New Zealander will say 'theng'.. six becomes sex.. you get the idea lol. But then you have Melbournians who will say bag with a much more pronounced vowel than a brisbanian.. it goes from 'baaag' to 'bag'

Woah, Im confusing myself, I apologise if Im speaking rubbish.

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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by ScarletLady » Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:31 pm

I get what you mean...generally I just have to imagine them saying "New Zealand"...if they would say it "New ZILLIND" then they're normally from there - I know what I mean anyway, sorry if that's a bad explanation :lol:

I lived with a couple from NZ and since then I can tell the difference easily - and I know NOT to call them "Kiwis" as they hate it :lol:
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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by Love Bunny » Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:39 pm

I am oringinally from Nottingham but not live in Derby and we very much have our own language here :lol:

I would say a typical midlands accent is quite fast as most of are sentences are shortened with slang!

IE: Instead of "I am going to the shop for a bag of crisps" it would be "Am goin' t' shop forra bagga crisps" :lol:

Its strange for different areas here because we all have our own slang, I don't know anyone outside of here that calls a cob a cob ! (what other people call rolls, barms, baps etc type of sandwich) And I don't know anyone else thats not from Nottingham who knows what mardy means or "having a mard" :lol:
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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by ScarletLady » Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:44 pm

I know what mardy means but I don't use it in everyday language :D

Typical Londonisms I use are the term "murders" - as in "I had murders getting here". "Jokes" - as in "That was Jokes". I say "man" all the time. I've also started saying things like "yard" instead of "house" which is Jamaican but Dan uses it all the time - he has a lot of Jamaican friends :oops:

You can always tell if Dan's been talking to his Jamaican friends as he starts using patois which sounds so funny in his accent :lol:
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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by Stilldawn » Thu Jul 22, 2010 1:16 pm

Hmm well here I have no accent, I speak very good and clear english. I am from the midwest, lived in Montana for a spell which I did pick up a bit of an odd accent in my voice that took me a couple years to shake. Mosty when I got excited or angry. I am sure though if I were to hop across the pond or wherever any of the rest of you are it would seem somewhat southern(ish). I would say I sound like any typical non descript actor on american tv or movies. NOT the ones meant to sound like southern fried rednecks. lol

As with most Americans I have a terrible weakness for accents but no ear for heavy ones. I seriously am scared to death to call customer service lines for some companies because I know before I answer, even if they speak really decent english by most standards I wont have a clue what they are saying.

I absolutely love the sometimes subtle and sometimes crazy differences in the everyday slang we all use.

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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by pinky » Thu Jul 22, 2010 1:43 pm

i have a southern accent >.< thankfully the one i have isn't as thick and strong as other states (north carolina and kentuky have heavy heavy accents) i hate to hear myself talk because i hear myself saying "ah" instead of "I" and "worsher" instead of "washer". i've been told my accent in cute but i hate that it's usually connected with not being intelligent >.<

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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by fustmuffin » Thu Jul 22, 2010 1:49 pm

Love Bunny wrote:
Its strange for different areas here because we all have our own slang, I don't know anyone outside of here that calls a cob a cob ! (what other people call rolls, barms, baps etc type of sandwich) And I don't know anyone else thats not from Nottingham who knows what mardy means or "having a mard" :lol:
Ay up me duck!! I'm from Nottingham too!

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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by Love Bunny » Thu Jul 22, 2010 2:04 pm

fustmuffin wrote:
Love Bunny wrote:
Its strange for different areas here because we all have our own slang, I don't know anyone outside of here that calls a cob a cob ! (what other people call rolls, barms, baps etc type of sandwich) And I don't know anyone else thats not from Nottingham who knows what mardy means or "having a mard" :lol:
Ay up me duck!! I'm from Nottingham too!
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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by NaturalistDesigns » Thu Jul 22, 2010 2:21 pm

I really don't know what sort of accent / dialect I have.. I live in Northamptonshire but am originally from Devon so (will have to do a video and let you all decide :lol:)

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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by cherrygloom » Thu Jul 22, 2010 2:52 pm

I was brought up in Chester (which I'm told is one of the posher northern cities) and always felt I had a pretty bland, nondescript accent. I did have the northern 'short a' e.g. for the word 'grass' I'd say 'GRAHss' not 'grAAHss' (if that makes sense!).

However, I've been living in Bath for five years now, and my accent has changed substantially. Now I sound like a proper plummy southerner! I say 'batter' (butter) and 'castaahd' (custard), the city I live in is called 'Baaahrth' and the word 'splendid' is in my everyday vocabulary.

Last time I went to visit my parents my dad actually took the piss out of my accent :cry:

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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by Miss Liberty » Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:26 pm

I was born and raised on Long Island, NY until I was nine years old. Then, my entire family (aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, everyone really) moved south to Florida.

It is really hard to describe my accent. My family never had a heavy accent and not the typical NY that you often hear the mob guys talk like on TV. It was more of a blend of old fashioned NY sprinkled with a bit of New England and Long Island, since that is were most of the older folks in the family came from.

Being in Florida for the majority of my life has pretty much hammered out most of the NY influence. If I had to describe it, I would say I probably sound flatter now am more typically round about American. There are still a few words that will always give me away, especially if I am tired or tipsy. For example, I don't say Floor- i-da, but rather FLAA-RID-A, even though it is clearly not spelt to be said this way!

Orange is ARRange, and kettle is KET'L, is that makes sense. I have long since lost the awww sound in words like coffee (cauuuffee) and dog (dawg), but one of my sisters still pronounces them that way. I tried to find a video that sounded like my family but really couldn't

My husband is from Maine. Again, he doesn't have a strong accent unless he is re-exposed to Maine or tired or drinking, but it is very amusing to me when he slips into his Mainer. His mother has a pretty strong Maine accent. You can get a pretty good representation of is here:

http://www.lobsterfrommaine.com/cooking ... aspx?vID=8


I have always admired English accents. I can't say I know the names of them all, but can tell they are different. I suppose the one I like the most would be sort of posh. It just sounds "right" to my ears. However, I do have a bit of a soft spot for the traditional southern gentlemen accent. Not your more common southern drawl, but more of a Virginian dialect. I have a Cajun friend as well, and his accent is very playful and flexible, and I think that's pretty cool.

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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by starlotus » Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:32 pm

I don't think I have much of an accent, but when I went to college people told me that I cursed more than any girl they've ever met. People from Philadelphia use an awful lot of profanity.

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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by Miss Liberty » Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:41 pm

thanks forthe link, Madii! I think I found one that sounds pretty close to me:

http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.p ... kerid=1224

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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by MrsEss » Thu Jul 22, 2010 4:06 pm

I'd like to point out that afrikaans number 4 on that website is NOT an accent from SA at all.....it also lacks a "proper" afrikaans accent, those on there are definitely south Africans who speak english as their first language

This is probably close to me: http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.p ... akerid=516 (hehehe, this dude sounds a bit like Sharpe!)
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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by Bomber » Thu Jul 22, 2010 4:08 pm

Love Bunny wrote:I am oringinally from Nottingham but not live in Derby and we very much have our own language here :lol:

I would say a typical midlands accent is quite fast as most of are sentences are shortened with slang!

IE: Instead of "I am going to the shop for a bag of crisps" it would be "Am goin' t' shop forra bagga crisps" :lol:

Its strange for different areas here because we all have our own slang, I don't know anyone outside of here that calls a cob a cob ! (what other people call rolls, barms, baps etc type of sandwich) And I don't know anyone else thats not from Nottingham who knows what mardy means or "having a mard" :lol:
ere pet, a cob is a cob, even asda says so (I had to take a picture in the asda at Spondon because my Londoner ex housemate refused to believe we call cobs cobs). And mardy is the only sensible term for a strop!

I have wandering accent syndrome myself. My "natural" accent is a mild east midlands accent as I'm from not too far from Derby. I use east midlands slang, and drop le'ers in t'mi'le o' words. When I'm in Nottingham I have the most terrible Nottingham accent, but if I spend more than a day in Liverpool I end up with a perfect Liverpudlian accent.

I can also do a rather impressive BBC English impression :lol:

Most people from around where I live speak like this - http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?fun ... eakerid=68, however, I speak like this normally - http://audioboo.fm/boos/108955-stellaaaaaa

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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by tr1angl3 » Thu Jul 22, 2010 4:19 pm

I'm from southern California and I'm pretty sure you can tell by listening to me talk. I have that sterotypical spacey surfer/stoner drawl and I say dude way way too much >< Actually I use a lot of that type of slang, like saying awesome, totally, like, gnarly (only for bad things though). I don't hear my accent obviously. And like most Californians, I pronounce all of these words identically: "pen" and "pin", "cot" and "caught", "Mary", "merry", and "marry". I also tend to drop trailing g's, so freaking becomes freakin' etc.

I HATE it when people say "hella" though. Goddamn Nothern Californians ><

We should have everyone with a mic or webcam read a paragraph or like introduct themselves or somethin so we can hear the reguional differences...


Rivetlicker I thought you were British for the first couple of minutes of one of your videos. I like your voice! It it cute ^^

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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by NaturalistDesigns » Thu Jul 22, 2010 4:32 pm

http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?fun ... akerid=439

My Nan's boyfriend sounds like a much thicker version of this :) (as in heavier Welsh sounding :lol:)

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Re: The accent and dialect thread!

Post by iamtheparty » Thu Jul 22, 2010 4:46 pm

*waving from the Black Country*

I don't think I have very much of a Black Country accent at all, because my dad was raised in a terribly middle class family in Birmingham and my mum's side of the family is all Irish. Madii can confirm/deny this for me :P

It does slip out occasionally on certain words but I will never ever ever use words like 'wor', 'day', or 'ay'. As in "I wor there" (I wasn't there) "I day do it" (I didn't do it) or "I ay bin" (I haven't been). I think I've posted this before and it confounded people :P
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However I say 'dunno' 'wanna' and 'summit' (something) and I'll sometimes pronounce, for instance, Sunday as 'sun-dee'. Which may or may not be Black Country, it may just be laziness.

I have been told that I'll phrase things in an 'Irish way', which I suppose comes from my mother.
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