Hmmm...I never really understood it to be honest..I've lived in IN for ten years now (boooooo!! :() and I STILL get told I have an accent ... Not heavy or real pronunced, but I guess certain words just come out different. I'm originally from Upstate NY so it's not like I ever had some crazy thick accent going on. I do, however, firmly believe that there are New England ways of saying things. ;) I guess that's where I get it.

Yes, it DOES happen! I was in speech therapy for over 7 years!! I just had a stronger accent than everyone else did. I had a much harder time with my "r's"and whatnot. Later they finally realized that I really didn't have a speech problem, just I pronounced words much differently than they did. *shrugs*

On the actual subject, I depise when people mock southern accents or any accent for that matter. :mad:

You do say Pop instead of Soda. ;)

The Upstate NY dialect sounds like a strange combination of New England and Southern. There is almost a drawl in some places.

I do a good New York City accent although I don't have one in real life.

PM Mama is right about the Italian Americans that I know. They start to make their sauce by growing the tomatoes in their gardens and then canning them. They laugh at me when I use canned sauce.

No I don't, I say soda :p

My friends and I got in a heated debate on proper american english. Is there such a thing as proper american english??? Almost every part of the country has their own dialect. In some professions do you think having a stong accent impairs your job? I have a friend that had to drop her accent when she got a job at a major accounting firm. Is this right? I think its like changing your identity.

ugh...i HATE when people try to imitate NY accents. especially when they say "nooo yawk".

don't they realize how stupid they sound?

even people on here write it thinking they're being clever, and it makes my blood boil.

most people don't speak like that.

and if you HAVE lived here and say it like that after you leave, you have other issues...

From the Accents thread...

Allow me to quote myself:

http://www.greekchat.net/gcforums/sh...%2A#post104640

Paging Carnation!
 

I hope Carnation sees this one! She is a Linguistics Guru!!

well said :cool:

CutiePie2000: all people are born with the ability to make the sounds of all languages and can do so until about age 15, when the upper palate hardens. Then it's next to impossible to pick up a foreign accent.

Sometimes what a parent wants to eliminate with speech therapy depends on the parent's language. One of my Belgian ESOL students told me that when her son was little, she paid a lot to have a speech therapist get rid of his "th" lisp because their language has no "th", just a "d". Then they moved to America when he was a teenager and he couldn't make a "th" in English!

Some accents are harder to eliminate than others....Vietnamese people, for instance, have a hard time toning down the nasality of their language and some Asians really do have a hard time with substituting "l" for "r".

I absolutely hate the "OOOt in a BOOOT". Like CutiePie said that may be what some Canadians sound like, but not all.

I agree! :D

this kinda relates
 

TOP TEN WORST MOVIE ACCENTS
1. Sean Connery in The Untouchables (1987)
2. Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins (1964)
3. Brad Pitt in Seven Year in Tibet (1997)
4. Charlton Heston in A Touch of Evil (1958)
5. Heather Graham in From Hell (2001)
6. Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
7. Julia Roberts in Mary Reilly (1996)
8. Laurence Olivier in The Jazz Singer (1980)
9. Pete Postlethwaite in The Usual Suspects (1995)
10. Meryl Streep in Out of Africa (1985)
Source: Empire magazine

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_795416.html?menu=

Re: this kinda relates
 

The thing with Sean Connery is that he NEVER does an accent. it does not matter the role he is playing he has never tried to put on an accent. You will always hear his Scottish accent.