Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

ok I will accept that - thank you

I have had my day spoiled again by the usual gang so I am prickly - they are not looking to provoke, just to insult and demean. I get really sick of it sometimes. It's a Cyber blood sport for them. I post for page after page and everyone is relaxed and joking and having a good time - then they arrive and start the foulest nastiest insults and take turns too. Of course when I push back, they say paranoia

BEP is great when they don't arrive as a group and start their nasty insults.

They haven't done it for a while (month or two actually) and I was thinking they had stopped hunting me and moved on - I was wrong. It's a pity coz winter is coming on and a good online community is worth having.
ok I will do my ironing for my birthday outing to Snoqualmie casino - should be ace. Peace to you. Alan

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Listen mate....I have read threads that you have posted in before on numerous occasions and it seems to me that you enjoy feeling picked upon...Thats cool if it rocks your boat in a sort of a cyber S & M thing. I don't honestly think that people here deliberately pick on you as most people are here for some fun. You do, however, manage to contort the thread so that it seems like you are being attacked. The last couple of pages here show that we were jokingly talking about "Moobs" then you make comments about my mother :confused: If this thread had been in the Lounge or TIO I would have taken delight in ripping you a new one.

Chill...this place can be your solace or your hell...take your pick.

Happy one...again.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

:rofl: No it was on BE in the Marriage Based forum, I was naughty and my buddy gave me a slapped wrist and rightly so too :o

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

I would not have seen it then as anything "Marriage-Based" makes my nut sack tighten painfully.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

We were doing ok until you said my birthday tomorrow takes me one year nearer to the end so I won't need to worry....
It's true of course but it won't go down well with you when you are my age -so go easy on the oldies with that stuff eh ?
My son is 40 on January 3 and sometimes he will say something about 'well at least I will live longer than you'. It's funny when you are 40 then it gradually gets less funny when it starts to get very real - I mean real - and you are wondering what happens to your dependants......
Of itself it was nothing, but I was still prickly from being personally trashed in the afternoon so no big deal. No problema. I was prickly so I took it worse than you meant it.

Let's have fun dude !

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Prickly heat-they have lotion for that.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

We were doing OK until you decided to get all defensive again. Personally I don't give a shit about the threads you get attacked in because I don't read them and don't find them entertaining, believe it or not :sneaky:

Happy B' day to your son in January and I sincerely hope that he is right...he should definitely live longer than you do. No parent should ever have to bury their child. *shiver*

Don't get prickly...its not funny and it makes you look like an idiot which, clearly, you are not.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Not told off!!! And actually, I have that piccie & it's one of my faves. Just something about the acronym that gets me. :lol:
Rational? Says who!

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

have to agree with you on this one ... I try my best to pronounce my French as close to the locals as possible when in France - all part of the fun of going there - so why would you not do the same in the US? Also, when in Italy, I would ask for a ticket to 'Firenze', not 'Florence', and in Spain, ask for a ticket to 'Sevilla' not 'Seville' - because I know that's what 'they' call it and I know it will expedite my passage ... so why not say 'skedule' (not shhedule) when talking about planning a task, and why not ask for 'wadder' (not 'waughter') when asking for a drink?

However, I think it comes naturally to some, and not to others. I suspect those who can't easily adapt to the US pronunciation also struggle with foreign languages ... not sure about that one but certainly a theory worth considering! I know that for me, if I hear someone say a word a certain way 10 times, that's the way my mouth starts to speak it, without me even trying! I do think some folks hang onto their 'UK' accent, though, fearing they will lose their identity or because of some crazy notion that their accent is 'better' ...

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Read this and other posts in the thread on the topic ... got me thinking ... so what 'is' the difference? Can you elaborate? Give some examples?

If I say, 'hello chaps, how are you tonight?' that is an English 'expression' I might use in a UK pub; 'hey guys, how's it going?' is a US expression that I might use in a US bar. But that goes beyond 'accent' and 'pronunciation', that gets into vocabulary and phraseology.

So focusing only on common words/expressions, what 'is' the difference between accent and pronunciation? To me, an 'accent' is a name given to a large collection of 'pronunciation styles'; that is - if you say 'wadder' (not 'waughter') and 'skedule' (not 'shhedule') and (... so on and so on), then you are said to have an American Accent ... etc. Obviously, it's more complex that that but is that not the case?

In my case, I would say I have 'toned down' or 'softened' my UK pronunciation of most words to the point where my 'accent' would be described as 'mid-atlantic'. I am clearly not a native US speaker, but I also do not sound like a UK resident any longer. I would say my pronunciation is "mixed" and as a result, my accent is is no longer easily classified.

In summary, I would conclude that 'accent' is a higher level term used to describe the result of individual word-pronunciation styles. Most people would also take into account expressions/phraseology before assigning an 'accent' to someone, but that does seem technically incorrect.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

I'm not sure about that one, either. I've got a feeling that I've seen reports of various studies, over the years, along the lines that things that are very different (eg foreign languages) are easier to get a handle on than things that are only slightly different (eg US English vs the type of English you grew up with).

It may be like forgers. If they're trying to copy somebody's signature, they'll turn it so it's upside down. That way, it's not writing, just shapes and they just draw what they see. Whereas, if they had it right way up, the brain recognises familiar characters and the way that they usually write those characters starts to interfere.

Just another theory. :)

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

When I was learning German, they warned us that it comes to a point that you get good enough that you make a decision to embrace the language and feel yourself to be/ become seen as a German. This can be quite a hurdle, and although I like the country I felt some resistance to this step. One's accent has a psychological value. I think that is what happens to expats in the US. I could actually perfectly easily switch over to a local accent, and maybe I would if I totally loved and admired that culture and wanted to be mistaken for a native.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

I admire the folks who can switch back and forth between one accent and another and sound perfectly convincing. There may be more Brits who've switched to Yank, then the other way around currently, but's it's pretty coolio.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Hugh Laurie? I never think he sounds very American, but apparently he does.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

More American than Brit, I think, does he sound Canadian maybe?

Also the guy in Band of Brothers-Damian Lewi, could've fooled me. Oh yes, and shoe on the other foot, back in the day when I watched Buffy :o, James Marsters seemed to be pretty authentic as a Brit. He said he was inspired by Anthony Head, who I thought was pretty hot stuff in those coffee commercials. :tounge_smile:

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

You won't believe how many of the actors in Band of Brothers are British.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Lots of actors on TV shows lately are British but are palying Americans for some reason.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Group discount on salaries?

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

the beeb pumped $20M into it so there better had been a few...shame most were the germans or played the corpses :D

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

LOL funny. No most of the American soldiers are Brits.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

on pronunciation.

the word migraine (ie the headache) I (brit) use the pronunciation my-grain. we were watching a UK drama and the pronunciation was mee-graine, my wife said ' thats what you used to call it'.

now assuming thats true i honestly thought that i had always said my-grain, the scary thing is that i didnt even realise the transition and mee-grain sounds more unnatural to me now than does my-grain!

saying that, i dont get migraines and i very rarely use the word, my wife does so she mentions the word quite a lot so i suppose ive just picked up on that in the last decade since weve been together.

i still say tum-ah-tow not tom-ate-ah (tomato) phew.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

[QUOTE=bugman;8083851]on pronunciation.

the word migraine (ie the headache) I (brit) use the pronunciation my-grain. we were watching a UK drama and the pronunciation was mee-graine, my wife said ' thats what you used to call it'.

now assuming thats true i honestly thought that i had always said my-grain, the scary thing is that i didnt even realise the transition and mee-grain sounds more unnatural to me now than does my-grain!

saying that, i dont get migraines and i very rarely use the word, my wife does so she mentions the word quite a lot so i suppose ive just picked up on that in the last decade since weve been together.

i still say tum-ah-tow not tom-ate-ah (tomato) phew.[/QUOTE]

Hubs said it "tomato" American style last night!

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Which is why I only learned to read and understand Dutch when I stopped trying to have you teach me!

I don't have a regional dialect or accent, but as you know my father does. This is in part because I've been outnumbered by non-native English speakers my entire life - what accent do I pick?!

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Update. The CEO of my husbands company who is quite a bit above his mangers boss who said he would not get ahead because of his accent met my husband at a company department luncheon last week. He really got on well with him and called my husbands manager to tell him he would like to offer him a promotion! He will be working for a new department branch just a 10 minute walk from our apartment! It's a small raise but a better position and they said he can grow from there as well. So for anyone who has been through the same situation on here think positive! :thumbsup:

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

I only found out last year that the Spinal Tap actors are American.

Turn it up to 11!

Merz

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

The guy I am dating is Dutch he was born here in the US but his parents are full blooded Dutch and he has a accent and pronounces his words really strange lol.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Is he stubborn and tight with his money? ;-)

Where was he born in the US? Most Dutch speakers have a slight accent in English, but not really "strange" - unless they have learned most of their English by reading and writing. His parents' dialect may play a part - what province are they from?

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

He was born in CA, and he still speaks dutch with his family, his mother only speaks to him in dutch :)

No idea about the province will ask him.

And No :lol: he is not tight and stubborn compleatly the opposite :thumbsup:

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Oh, the slang I could teach you - find out that province!

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Bam! What a victory, penguin!!!

That is a kickass story! rock on, Mr penguinbar! :thumbsup:

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

In these times it is indeed an excellent thing!!

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

I say alOO-min-um only these days. Alumin-ium just doesn't sound right anymore!

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Names can be tricky. My neighbour was talking about someone called 'Windy' and I was thinking, 'who's she on about?' for a while until I realized it was Wendy. Also her son is called 'Erk' not Er-ic as I say it. Another neighbour is called 'Shan' which I was thinking of as Sian but I think it's actually Shawn.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Thanks! It really boosted his confidence. It will also save us about $80 a month in subway fare!

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

If Shaun or Shawn is the dumbed down spelling of Sean.
What is the dumbed down spelling of Sian

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Lashawna?

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

It may have been said but

CRAIG is not pronounced KREG, tell all your neighbors and make sure to correct them when they get it wrong.


Otherwise the accent is always a bonus before it's a problem.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

That's like Anthony over here, for some reason most Americans insist on pronouncing it with the 'th' as in the, my oldest son has Anthony as his middle name, the 'h' is supposed to be silent, as in Antony, wouldn't bother me if his first name wasn't Nathan, if his Grandpa calls him by both his first and middle name, it sounds like he has a lisp!:frown:

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Go to Joisey, it's Ant Nee there, :thumbup:

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

I have a problem with the following two names that are pronounced exactly the same here in california.

Don & Dawn........ who'dathunk it?