Welsh Sparky

my welsh (north wales) accent is apparently easier to understand than a english accent. I've been here since June 1st, I've lost count how many times i've been told that.

Souvy

They were looking for a Brummie image? Jesuswept!

No offence but, OK, offence intended.

I cannot think of a more unpalatable accent, other than Ottawa Valley French.

BristolUK

Are you that wedding planner off the telly?

jimf

What do you say in reply to Mrs Supercilious?

I find most people are either neutral or moderately positive when they hear my pretty neutral English accent eg will mention their connection to the UK. Now and again though for no particular reason it can seem to raise hackles.

MarylandNed

Same here. I'm originally from Northern Ireland and had the rough edges knocked off the accent by the time I had spent 6 years in England at uni and then working. I've since moved to Canada and the US with my English wife and she's the one North Americans have most trouble understanding. I guess an Anglicized NI accent just sounds more North American to them.

One of my daughters (mostly raised in the US) was working a summer job as a hostess at a restaurant last year here in Maryland. An English woman came in with a group and my daughter conversed with her and showed her to a table. The other employees asked my daughter how on earth she had understood anything the woman said. My daughter was confused - "Well, she was speaking English so why should I not understand her?" I guess having an English "mum" had made her bilingual!

Steve_

I think it depends who you're talking to, if they're an anglophile or not. There are so many British people around here it's not unusual enough to be noticed imx. Unless of course you swear a lot, I try not to but the other day someone asked me a question and my response was: "F--ked if I know" which did cause some offence,

But on the other hand my accent isn't that pronounced, I can do an American accent to the point that people think I am American. It changes depending on who I'm talking to.

What really annoys me is when I'm on the phone and they go: "ooh, I love your accent". Especially when they're some halfwit who I don't really want to be talking to.

Souvy

Canadians don't swear? You must be freakin' joking.

cptkid89

I hope it is popular, if not, there goes my chances of getting laid. HAHA.

MillieF

I really wish I didn't sound quite 'so' English. I have spent a great chunk of my life In TEFL and enunciate pretty clearly, and my accent was never an issue in foreign parts. Here in Canada, I just wish I didn't sound different, as it does hinder communication, I feel; every blasted person on the phone or in the shops comments and asks if I've ever met their Aunty Edna who lives in the UK! People are really very nice, but just sometimes you want to meld into the background a bit more.

magnumpi

Most East Indian, Iranian, Tamil. Ect ect and Chinese folk in GTA don't know the difference between Canadian or English.

So yeh, answer would be no one cares

MarylandNed

Exactly - it depends on where you live. In Toronto, half the population are immigrants themselves anyway so no-one really cares about a foreign accent.

BristolUK

Well have you?

Back in The Cotham Porter Stores (a Bristol pub even though it doesn't sound like it) my brother's then girlfriend met someone there from Canada and, much to everyone's mirth, asked if they knew a friend of hers who moved to Canada some years earlier.

Guess who laughed last when the Canadian was at the same school as the friend.

So surely you met their Aunt Edna?

orly

It's popular right up to the moment I arrive with my irish one

MillieF

Not yet, but I live in hopes! I am pretty sure I was employed because I am English, as the lady I work for's mother was too! A few expressions I have used such as "suck it and see" and "I'm so hungry my stomach thinks my throat's been cut" and various others seem to have gone corporate viral, and all of my neighbours seem to try "Pamela-isms" such as Crikey and Blast - and rather oddly 'I'm going to knock the roof off' (I'm fitting Dormers). It's quite amusing really.

bats

Just about every shift I work someone will ask me where I am from, then want to know exactly where in England. If I ask them if they know England well the reply is usually no, but their grandfather/grandmother/great aunt was from England, or Wales, or was it Scotland.

Aagagghh