They start talking like someone from Britain would sound, as opposed to someone from America.
Englander, I know there are various British accents(or dialects, whatever), but I honestly can’t distinguish any of them so I couldnt tell you.
It could be a Geordie accent, or Glaswegian, they are generally incoherent and indisipherable when sober, so when drunk I could understand why your friends would sound similar.
It could be also that they are taking more effort in pronouncing their words, which would mean they appear to be speaking proper Queens English, unlike that bastard offspring you fellas speak. ;-)
It could be a Geordie accent, or Glaswegian, they are generally incoherent and indisipherable when sober, so when drunk I could understand why your friends would sound similar.
It could be also that they are taking more effort in pronouncing their words, which would mean they appear to be speaking proper Queens English, unlike that bastard offspring you fellas speak. ;-)
Interesting you say that. I heard on the radio a guy Dennis Prager was talking to said that OUR dialect is the original version, and the dialect that people in the UK speak is a changed version. He said the first settlers actually kept the dialect and old europe changed. It was an interesting theory he supported with a few anthropological/linguistic facts that would seem to support his premise.
There is no “American” accent. Those New Englander’s and people of the south talk differently.
Yeah.... just like people from London and Manchester speak differently, or Prince Charles speaks differently than Michael Caine, but we generally refer to them as having “english” accents.
Even though people from various parts of the US speak differently, we all generally sound “american” — as in, people can tell us from Brits and Aussies.
If you really think there is no such thing as an “american” accent, you should ask some of the non-americans on this board. ;)
There is no “American” accent. Those New Englander’s and people of the south talk differently.
Actually, there is. It’s call standard US English or something. It’s what you hear on TV and news shows, etc. Up here they have accent removal classes for Bostonians to learn to speak that way (it can help further your career in certain fields)
On English accents. I can hear the differences, and it’s quite obvious you guys have wide variety of accents. I can’t name or place most of them geographically though.
There is no “American” accent. Those New Englander’s and people of the south talk differently.
Yeah.... just like people from London and Manchester speak differently, or Prince Charles speaks differently than Michael Caine, but we generally refer to them as having “english” accents.
Even though people from various parts of the US speak differently, we all generally sound “american” — as in, people can tell us from Brits and Aussies.
If you really think there is no such thing as an “american” accent, you should ask some of the non-americans on this board. ;)
Accents are a funny thing, I can tell American from Australian, a New York accent from a New Orleans accent and so on, but there are some hard ones, Canadian accents sound similar to northern American accents, so I guess it’s hard to spot the subtle differences.
As for English accents, the one you are probably familiar with is the ‘posh’ accent, or Recieved Pronounciation, which is your Prince Charles/John Gielgud/Lawrence Olivier accent, that the minority of English people have (very small minority), then the dialects are generally London/Cockney (Micheal Caine), Manchester (Christopher Ecclestone), Liverpool (the Beatles, obviously), Newcastle and Birmingham (errr....). Obviously there are other regional accents, and they sort of vary between the main accents.
Personally (as a Manc) I don’t have that much of an accent, to the point where I’ve been accused of being Dutch, Australian, Scottish and Irish. So it can be confusing…
I’m pretty good with American accents, being from here and all..... I can generally tell the more obvious english accents apart (like the difference between Prince Charles, Michael Caine and the Beatles), but the more subtle ones that any brit would probably get I am not as good at.
Additionally, I can kinda tell the difference between someone who is from Australia and someone from New Zealand, but only on certain words. Scots and Irismen I can’t tell a whole lot of difference (I can tell them apart from each other, but can’t find different accents within the group, other than noticing one person having a “stronger” than another). That’s probably because I am not as familiar with them.
And Zzip is right, there is standard American english, which I usually refer to as not having an accent. It’s obviously American, but you generally can’t tell what region the person is from. (There’s no y’alls, no koowa-fee, no wor-ter, no cahs to be pahked) That’s basically how my accent is, since I’ve moved around and my parents are from new england, but I do say certain things in a southern way. Generally speaking I could be hard to pin down, but if I said certain words you’d be able to guess my region ;)
Zzip, in one of the Ben Folds’ Five songs, there is a line “Do you think I should take a class to loose my southern accent?” My family is from New England, so I have heard of those classes. And unfortunately, I was thinking American when I posted that, since I have no actual accent besides the general american one.
german dialects vary so strongly that while its easy to tell where they’re from its oft imposible to understand what they’re saying. which could be why drinking is so popular there.everyone understands it.........
Accents are a funny thing, I can tell American from Australian, a New York accent from a New Orleans accent and so on, but there are some hard ones, Canadian accents sound similar to northern American accents, so I guess it’s hard to spot the subtle differences.
That’s how they sneak in here, and next thing you know, they start hosting our news shows (Peter Jennings) and our game shows (Alex Trebek), etc. Of course if you suspect someone of being Canadian, there are certain words you can get them to say that will trip them up. (At least those from Ontario, which is the majority of them) Words like ‘about’ (Americans say A-bout, Canadians say A-bowOOt) ‘against’ (Canadians pronounce it the way it’s spelt, Americans give the ‘ai’ a short ‘e’ sound.) and ‘house’. Actually, many words with ‘ou’ get the owOO tree. Sometimes the accent is strong, sometimes subtle. I worked with a Canadian guy for a couple of weeks before I noticed the accent.
It’s only when I started living in London that I realised how strong my New Zealand accent is. Sometimes I have to repeat myself to be understood. Especially when talking to Welsh people for some reason.
On the phone at work I constantly have problems with the word ‘letter’, as it comes out sounding like ‘litter’. People get very confused when I refer to the ‘litter’ I have sent them.
In February this year I went home for my sister’s ‘widding’.
It’s only when I started living in London that I realised how strong my New Zealand accent is. Sometimes I have to repeat myself to be understood. Especially when talking to Welsh people for some reason.
On the phone at work I constantly have problems with the word ‘letter’, as it comes out sounding like ‘litter’. People get very confused when I refer to the ‘litter’ I have sent them.
In February this year I went home for my sister’s ‘widding’.
Are you sure you’re not South African? ‘Litter’ instead of ‘Letter’ is a SA thing isn’t it?
New Zealand and Australian accents are really hard to tell apart, but it’s more the way that words tend to rise at the end, as opposed to drop, which is more an English and US thing. It’s really hard to explain in type, but I am sure you understand. Everything tends to sound ‘cheery’, because of the pronounciation.
The only drunk American’s that I have noticed talking in British accents are my American friends when they are trying to make fun of me. Actually though, it mostly involves saying stuff like “Get in mah belly” and “If its not Scottish it’s crrrrrrrap”
I usually reply with something along the lines of “Sure, U Betcha!”
I find myself sounding more American when drinking, possibly because I get lazy and start copying those around me. Although I also seem to say “Dude” and “Awesome” a lot when trashed, and I don’t know anybody else that says that shit.
