you got it....

I have a Canadian friend who moved to England about ten years ago (five years before I had ever even been there). Prior to me moving there, when I talked to her on the phone she 'sounded British-y' and used words like rubbish and bin liner and etc and I, at one point, thought it was an act. She sounded fake to me... and yes, it pissed me off too. I felt that my friend was not being real, not herself, with me.

And ... thinking....

.... to be perfectly honest I still think her accent and use of English words is somewhat an act as she sometimes uses phrases and words that are not very contemporary (ie - she can sound like a granny when she's only 37 - something noticed by my English friends).

I think there is an element of 'an act' because she has always romantised the UK and has always been very much a (period drama) Anglophile. I think thre is a large part of her that wish she had been born there. She has no desire to return to Canada.

I do think the bulk of her accent change and use of words is genuine but there is a tinge of pretension in how she speaks and yes, it bothers me.

I'm not sure if I have a point.

Thank you... at last someone who knows what Im on about...

My Wife (whom is Filipino but was living in Canada) moved back to England with me for 12yrs and still says "innit' "bloke" "wot's on the other side" (referring to changing the TV station) etc etc, she even calls me a stupid "git".

It's only natural over time to pick up the local lingo 'eh.

I'm just wondering... have you noticed that the fakeness comes more from people who 'hate the UK' and never want to return?

Absolutely......
Personally I would feel like a bit of a traitor to lose my accent. I dont buy this "you have to do it to fit in" stuff.
back home my parents had Scots and Irish friends who had been in England for donkeys' years, they never altered their accent one iota.

I *am* Canadian though honney..

I have the citizenship certificate in my wallet to prove it..... ;o)

Annie34 just doesn't get it!!!

I came to Canada nearly 40 years ago. Of course I have a Canadian accent now. I never intended to. It just happens. Canadians think I sound English and English people think I sound -- American -- they can't usually tell the difference and I can understand that.

Like Steve P says - it just sort of happens over the years. After a while you stop calling trucks "lorries" because you sound like a twit when everyone else calls them "trucks". However, things I don't say very much I often use English words. I still say "bed clothes" which I don't think is what Canadians call sheets and stuff only I can't remember what it is they do call them!

Mind you, I have noticed over the years that things also change in England. When I first came here, people used to laugh at my "you guys" and now when I watch English TV shows, they all say "guys". Mind you its always those house improvement shows so perhaps its just those shows that the hosts say "guys" of course I can't speak for EVERY UK show!

My husband still says things like "Reginerinn" for Regina Inn. Once someone pointed out to me that Brits change an ending "a" into an "r" I felt stupid and I deliberately stopped doing it because I chose to.

But, dear Annie, you've said that you think people who have to work at, or choose to "put on," accents are fakes and you despise them for it. What happens when, in the natural course of events, your frightfully jolly English accent starts to slip and you let a few accidental Canadianisms past your lips, eh? Will you work hard to keep your English accent, effectively "putting on" your Britishness despite the natural tendency to localise? Won't you then be just one of those people you despise? I think we should be told.

They may not have altered it conciously but I bet it was "toned down". See my post about my father. He never made any attempt to change his accent but it did change. He stopped using NE words such as; cree, canny, claggy, fema, spuggie, as no one understood him. I suppose you could say he evolved.

Awesome fricking post.

I'm good with foreign languages and have a musical ear, and have always thought those were the reasons my accent morphs. My parents said it first happened when I was 3 - after a weekend in Surrey I started saying "yah" instead of "yes", just like the cousins we were visiting

I don't have the accent of either of my parents, and despite receiving the same kind of education in mainly the same place, I don't sound anything like my brother (Canadian on paper only, he's never left Scotland).

I do modify some of my vocabulary for ease of understanding amongst Canadians, but make a joke and a point of not doing it in here.

So I'm a "fake" and you "despise" me? Awesome

yep.... you guys got it. Totally kewwwl....

cree, canny, claggy are brilliant words....

I can't believe someone would be pissed off over an accent - and who decides that it's a fake one? After all, we all started out with different dialects from the UK, and I sure don't speak the same way I used to when I first landed. Over there they say I have a Canadian accent, here they say I'm Brit/Scottish/Aussie - I don't take offence at either. I do, however, seem to take on the accent of whoever I am talking to!! A little chat with my niece in Bristol last weekend, and I was speaking Brizzle for days. My cockney friend has the same affect on me.

Anyway, how do you know it's fake? As Steve said - get over it.