Poppy girl

Had a Pakistani lady (checker) today in Walgreens tell me she liked my accent, so I asked where hers was from, she looked dumb founded that I had asked her ..so I asked again as the shock on here face was to good not to play up to....result 'Oh I am coming from Pakistan as a child" so I said "I guess you kept your accent like me then, accept there are so many of you here that you didn't lose it over the years, and I was to old to lose it by the time I moved here 10 years ago" ............The conversation came to a abrupt end

She reminded me of the chap from it ain't half hot mum.

Ryano72

Not all places in the States are equal in immigrant populations. I've met dozens of folk here in Wisconsin that have never met an Englishman. The US has two neighbours, Canada and Mexico. They're just curious. enjoy it

Egg and Cress

Kansas City - No. Feel certain I could pick out a Chicago, Wisconsin and Minnesota accent. (I was born in Chicago, so I can hear that one easily.)
Los Angeles - No.
Confident I could tell the difference between Boston & Main.
East vs. West Mass - No.
Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia - yes. Northern Florida - doubt it.
Baltimore - No.
Philly - No.
Delaware - No.
Pittsburgh - most assuredly yes! My mother always told me I could mimic that one perfectly.....after spending a couple of weeks in the area during summer vacations from school.......many years ago.

Chaunticleer

This is an easy enough question to answer if you think about it. The English accent most Americans hear on TV and in the movies tends to be pure RP, or some similar posh accent. They might also recognize an Eliza Doolittle style exaggerated Cockney. And possible Liverpool, because of the Beatles.

English accents, in all their variety, can sound very different from the above . . . and it's not really that surprising that an untrained ear might guess Australia. Phonetically speaking, Australian, English, and South African tend to be closer to one another than any is to an American accent, which makes the confusion even less strange.

My advice is to relax. Most Americans aren't 1/100th as obsessed with accents as we are, except for Southerners. It's not really an expected context for sarcasm, so it's not wonder your "humour" was lost on the shopkeeper. No doubt he came away from the encounter thinking the same thing about you that you thought about him.

robin1234

This might have been true decades ago, but now most British films they watch tend to be gritty regional dramas set on council estates with dysfunctional families etc. Then you get the Netflix reviews giving it two stars and whining "I couldn't understand it why wasn't it subtitled."
You recommend relaxing, but if everyone did that the traffic on BE would plummet.

Chaunticleer

That's true! Though not many Americans will watch those movies. I was thinking more along the lines of adverts or evil-movie-villains-with-an-English-accent.

And that's not a very serious recommendation! I've been annoyed with the whole Australian thing too, I only calm down after reflecting on it for a while . . .

cindyabs

you mean after we tie your kangaroo down sport?

Kaffy Mintcake

I confess that I have mistaken Australian, Kiwi, South Africa and English. In my defense, I don't speak to people from those countries on a daily basis (aside from the computer). I can tell the difference when they are spoken one after the other, but not otherwise.

I can tell Scottish and Irish for some reason, however.

cindyabs

Had some folks on different days this week-when I asked where they were from in the north (which surprised them, ) they said Manchester, and then said, well not really, we're from Blackpool. Mind you, this was two nonrelated groups on two different days. I've never been there, only have Bill Bryson's description to go by, but is it really that bad?

Then had some folks that once again surprised me, thought they were Dutchketeers, but were Boers.

kimilseung

Blackpool is quite nice. It's seaside drag is crass and corny, but fun. It's downtown bars can get boisterous. My wifes aunt and uncle loved it when they lived there (or very close by) when they worked for British Aerospace, but as foreigners they did not have the class prejudice blinkers on which seems to blind some to even the posh middle class areas like St Annes. There is a small but not insignficant plying of trade skills between Boeing, in Seattle and BAE in Warton just outside Blackpool.

Jerseygirl

When Americans ask us where we are from we often say Manchester or Liverpool...rather than Chester. Most recognise Liverpool...home of the Beatles.

redglade

It's not so much the comments and the questions - it's the constant comments and questions. I try to be friendly and polite, especially when the questioner is a friendly and over enthusiastic teenage shop assistant, but sometimes I just don't want to have another 5 minute conversation on the topic of accents/where I'm from/where they've visited/would love to visit etc. My son has red hair and has the same issue with perfect strangers commenting on it. He gets asked "where did you get it from?" all the time. When he was 5 he just gave the questioner an uncomprehending stare...now he's 11, he just scowls. (I don't encourage this but my efforts to teach him just to smile or say "thanks" have so far been in vain.)

Poppy girl

Classic one today!!
"I love Dr Who" check out clerk
Please say Daleks it sounds so cool with an accent FFS (Feed me some fish while you are at it)

Kar98

Oh god, yes. This, so very much.

robin1234

You could have simply "exterminated" the offending check out clerk, with appropriate dalek accent & hand gesture.

I've noticed, for decades Americans had not heard of Doctor Who. Now most college age youngsters seem to be world experts on Doctor Who minutiae and history. At the library, I've helped more than one who is writing an Honors Thesis on Doctor Who..