TheTokenBrit

Had an odd thing happen to me when I stopped at a Wendy's in Childress, TX a few days ago. The girl behind the counter taking my order started to imitate my accent. Not in a mocking way or anything and she was EXTREMELY embarrassed about it, saying "I'm not making fun of your accent honestly! I just pick it up really fast!".

Now, it takes a while for people over here to pick up that I actually have an accent as it is pretty mild as I lived all over the UK as a child and picked up several regional accents which I then lost. The whole thing was amusing to me but she ran away and hid behind the fryers and got someone else to serve me.

Has this happened to anyone else? I'm going to venture that at least some of you have had the ubiquitous "Ello' Guvnah!" thrown at you from time to time but have you ever been talking to a complete stranger and they just start speaking like you (or at least trying to)? I just wish someone would imitate the Beatles in front of me!

Sally Redux

Presumably they mean well but it's annoying.

TheTokenBrit

I can imagine it being annoying if someone was doing it all the time. Especially if they were bad at the accent in the first place.

retzie

I have had people claim to be doing that
But yes, I get to hear everyone's wonderful Australian accents all the time

scrubbedexpat099

Just remember rule No 1

No pooftas

Pulaski

Sounds like my sister, she absorbs accents like a sponge. When she was a student she shared a house with girls from IIRC Birmingham, Liverpool, and somewhere in the North East, and you could tell who she'd been speaking to most recently by her accent.
My accent is the opposite, not strong, but distinctive, and hasn't changed since I was eight years old, when my family left Sheffield. My time living in Gloucester, London, and now twelve years in NC have contributed nothing to my accent, nor does it appear to have muted its Sheffield roots.
No, or at least not that I've ever noticed.

MidwestBob

Calm down! Calm down! I get asked all the time about my Liverpool accent by American ladies. Occasionally it has led to some interesting private elocution lessons :-)

DrNemo

I'm now in Tasmania. I'm a GP and have a patient who whenever I speak sits there and giggles saying "I love your accent", somewhat frustrating in terms of working out why she has come to see me.

(Typical boarding school/ Home Counties accent).

Weeze

Yes, I have an American friend who can't help it, but she mimics my accent. I don't think she notices she does it either. It ends up sounding like pepper pig trying to be Australian.

TheTokenBrit

Usually what I get asked is "Is that a British or an Australian accent?"

One day I'm going to reply: "I can't decide myself actually"

Bob, in these interesting private elocution lessons, you don't have to tell the ladies to "calm down!" do you? :P

"They do though don't they though?" HA!

DrNemo, Where are you in Tasmania? Hobart? I would have thought Aussies would be sick of our accents! haha

TheTokenBrit

HAHA does anyone else notice it and ask "Why are you speaking like a cartoon pig with a bad Australian accent?".

Noorah101

I'm a linguist and speak several languages, so I feel I have a good ear for accents and such. Way back in 1987, when I heard my first real-life British accent (met a guy visiting the USA from Surrey, we're still good friends to this day), I kept trying to imitate him. I kept asking him "don't I sound like a real British person?" He kept saying "no", when to my ears it sounded just like his accent. LOL I did that so many times he just flat out said "you're being really annoying now, stop it", so I did. LOL

Within the USA, I have some relatives who live in Florida, South Carolina, and Connecticut. Without meaning to, I very quickly start picking up their accents when I visit.

Rene

retzie

To be fair, I recently had a friend from home come and visit. She insisted on 'inadvertently' pronouncing place names in a very poor American accent. I can't imagine it helped anyone understand her, but I guess she enjoyed getting in the spirit of things? I couldn't bring myself to stop her, but did hope the general foreignness stopped anyone else from noticing.

These days, I mainly get people not realising I have an accent and just wondering why they can't understand me. The look of pained concentration is unmistakeable

Michael

British actors seem to be much better than American actors at imitating each other accents. The one that surprised me the most and never suspected that he was not American is Daniel Day-Lewis.

Hotscot

Mrs Hotscot has been picking up mine...it gives her students a laugh when she says 'a wee minute' or 'och naw'.

Reminds me when I was doing a presentation to a bunch of people in S.F. for Adobe.

I'm on the stage, I start speaking...
One smart a$$ at the back immediately shouts out, 'Hey buddy, do we need a translator?"

I pause, tap the mic, and reply.
'Don't think so pal, speak slowly and I can understand you!'

Much jollity ensued...