I got asked.....

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May 2nd 2010, 12:48 am

#16

scrubbedexpat097

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Re: I got asked.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poppy girl

Thats the 12th time this week I have been asked "Where are you from", I keep a running count just for my own boredom in my mileage book in the car I just put a check mark in there next to the day and add them up every week

May 2nd 2010, 12:55 am

#17

MsElui

L2, GC, Surrey, OH, TX!

Joined: Aug 2007

Location: Surrey to Dallas (via Ohio)!

Posts: 6,363

Re: I got asked.....

ive also been asked on many occasions whether my baby will talk with an american accent.

May 2nd 2010, 1:55 am

#18

cindyabs

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Joined: Sep 2002

Location: Richmond Hill, GA USA

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Re: I got asked.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by MsElui

ive also been asked on many occasions whether my baby will talk with an american accent.

I'm wondering whether my granddaughter will have a southern one.

May 2nd 2010, 2:37 am

#19

rebs

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Joined: Nov 2007

Location: Beautiful Dorset, UK

Posts: 2,195

Re: I got asked.....

I was buying strawberries in the supermarket the other day and the lady on the checkout asked if they grow stawberries in England...

I said the best strawberries in the world grow in England as the slightly cooler weather means they take longer to ripen so the flavour develops... I don't think she believed me

May 2nd 2010, 2:38 am

#20

expatasia

Joined: Mar 2010

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Re: I got asked.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steerpike

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ... I seem to remember that now. So I guess using 'British' or 'Great British' is an insult to the Irish (northern irish) then! So the Northern Irish get special treatment ... Scots and Welsh are fully integrated, the N. Irish still have a hope!

Why do we compete in the Olympics as 'Great Britain'? I've forgotten. I remember Mary Peters though.

May 2nd 2010, 2:45 am

#21

Mummy in the foothills

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Re: I got asked.....

Ds (16) was asked by his friend the other day, Why he didn't talk like his Mom seeing she had an accent (must be the first time I'm spoken to this kid). Ds said "hello I was born here dude"

May 2nd 2010, 3:46 am

#22

N1cky

Joined: Mar 2009

Location: Google Town

Posts: 7,532

Re: I got asked.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by penguinsix

When I was having dinner as a guest at one of the Inns of Court in London someone asked me, in all seriousness, whether Baywatch was a realistic portrayal of Southern California.

I have been asked if Snatch is a realistic portrayal of England

Also, if people really speak like they do on Harry Potter. I hadn't noticed they spoke any different

May 2nd 2010, 4:07 am

#23

S Folinsky

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Re: I got asked.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by PepsiChic

If British people speak English as well as British?

Im not even joking about these questions, a girl I work with asked them. She was deadly serious about each question.

some of the questions I've been asked about America. "Why is the National Association For the Advancement of Colored People? They are black!" once asked of me by a "Cape Coloured" from South Africa.

Lack of knowledge knows no boundaries.

Nonetheless, I keep hearing Rex Harrison singing this.

May 2nd 2010, 6:16 am

#24

penguinbar

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Joined: Apr 2008

Location: Manhattan

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Re: I got asked.....

My husband was told at a barbershop that his English was terrible. My husband is from Scotland and the barber was Eastern European. My bosses wife asked me if he knew how to speak English before he came here. I said "What language do you think he speaks ?" She said Scottish.

May 2nd 2010, 6:36 am

#25

expatasia

Joined: Mar 2010

Posts: 3,890

Re: I got asked.....

..in the Tokyo metro by stray North Americans after brief convo "you must be from Ireland/Australia/Canada"

Are those accents really that similar?

May 2nd 2010, 11:36 am

#26

AlienUk

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Joined: Jan 2007

Location: Maryland

Posts: 485

Re: I got asked.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rete

Yup if the infant only associates with their mother who speaks with an accent then the infant will acquire that accent when learning to speak.

Well here's a weird one....My husband is American, my older son got rid of his English accent about a year ago, my American mother in law keeps my two year old all day while I work, and yet my US born two year old doesn't have a an American accent.....He definitely seems to have an English accent...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxrkllObeI0

May 2nd 2010, 11:39 am

#27

AlienUk

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Re: I got asked.....

Oh...my worst one??

Nurse at my doctor's office upon being told I was going back to London for a week said 'Oh I am so jealous you're going to London, I've ALWAYS wanted to see the Eiffel Tower!'

I was at a loss for words. Don't think I ever did reply...

May 2nd 2010, 11:49 am

#28

Juswus

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Location: Maine - the "Deep South" of the Northeast

Posts: 5,004

Re: I got asked.....

I got a Brit film off Netflix recently and one of the reviews said they were disgusted because they were "expecting the film to be in English but it was in "English" and there were no subtitles" so therefore they couldn't understand any of it