[h4nnib4l]

That's a reasonable assumption from a Boston resident, but alas when you leave that city, dunking fades rather quickly. As a kid, I always wanted coffee with donuts even though I didn't drink it, but when I moved to Texas, I was viewed as a weirdo for that habit. Of course, the Texans also put me in speech therapy because I dropped my Rs. Like Texans have any room to complain about accents...

[BenignDesign]

Have a listen to KYA sometime. Ask him to say "Akron".

[lordofduct]

Same thing happened to me when I left the northeast. Everyone was all over me about my lack of 'r's, and my sticking 'r's in words they don't belong like "idear".

I didn't get official speech therapy, I got locker-room speech therapy...

I was also harangued for my slang, but I didn't change that. Instead I started picking up new slang as I traveled around the country. Now a days I'll say "y'all" and "pop" in the same sentence, and often get asked where I'm from.

"I'm originally from New England"
"OH, that explains the pop!"
"umm.... no it doesn't."

[h4nnib4l]

Yeah, I went from Minneapolis to Brockton to Texas to California and back to Texas. The resulting accent is actually almost totally neutral, but I've developed a tendency to unconsciously mimic any accents that I hear. The more extreme the accent, the stronger the pull.

[lordofduct]

Yep, after you've lived in every corner of the country. Southern California, Yakima WA (where I got pop), South Florida, New England, and drove truck threw out the rest... you get an adaptive accent to avoid confrontation.

New kid in school? No I'm not, I'm the wallflower who just came out of the shadows.

[h4nnib4l]

New?? I sound more like everyone else here than you do!

[jon.kiparsky]

me said:

Nobody don't dunk.

BenignDesign, on 29 January 2013 - 06:21 AM, said:

I don't dunk. />

I rest my case.

[lordofduct]

h4nnib4l, on 29 January 2013 - 10:23 AM, said:

New?? I sound more like everyone else here than you do!

This reminded me of a day in my first year in Florida.

This redneck came up to me with a crew of his friends to beat me up because I had flirted with his cousin... something she was happy to do, he was just a protective cousin. I was just sitting on the ground in a circle with my friends and him and his boys standing over us. He was yelling nonsense at me, while I just stared up at him silently letting it all come out. When he finally got to this line:

"I'm gonna stump a mud hole in your ass if you don't say sorry!"

I looked at him a moment, cocked me head to the side, and said, "Moo."

"What?"

"Moo."

"What the fuck is moo?"

"What? You don't know the sound a cow makes? Shit son, I'm more redneck then y'all ever be (eyeing his whole crew). How about I graze you in some cow patties out back?"

He just walked away.

[WolfCoder]

h4nnib4l, on 29 January 2013 - 06:43 AM, said:

...Like Texans have any room to complain about accents...

I've had a professor ask me if I was Swedish because he thought I had a little accent. This was someone who could speak American, English, British English, British English as it were in North Africa, German, Southwestern American, and endured all variations of people who taught them the proper way to speak back in the 40s/50s. It was creepy how he could just change his accent, too.

[h4nnib4l]

Quote

This was someone who could speak American, English, British English, British English as it were in North Africa, German, Southwestern American

*head explodes*

[jon.kiparsky]

h4nnib4l, on 29 January 2013 - 11:44 AM, said:

Quote

This was someone who could speak American, English, British English, British English as it were in North Africa, German, Southwestern American

*head explodes*

This was the part that got me:

Quote

and endured all variations of people who taught them the proper way to speak back in the 40s/50s.

It looks like it makes sense until you read it.

[lordofduct]

Considering your grammar and lexicon, I'm not surprised your professor thought you were Swedish. You write English likes it's your 2nd or 3rd language.

[supersloth]

his first language was barks!

[JackOfAllTrades]

h4nnib4l, on 29 January 2013 - 10:06 AM, said:

Yeah, I went from Minneapolis to Brockton to Texas to California and back to Texas. The resulting accent is actually almost totally neutral, but I've developed a tendency to unconsciously mimic any accents that I hear. The more extreme the accent, the stronger the pull.

Brockton? Seriously? City of Champions?

[h4nnib4l]

jon.kiparsky, on 29 January 2013 - 10:47 AM, said:

Quote

and endured all variations of people who taught them the proper way to speak back in the 40s/50s.

It looks like it makes sense until you read it.

My temporal lobes are bleeding. I think my brain assumes I'm reading another language so it's compensating for construction failures. Maybe it was just excited because you can rearrange the words in that sentence to almost make it say what he meant...

EDIT: @Jack - yes sir, I lived there for three years. My dad was the director of the Brockton and West Roxbury(sp.) VA hospital system and the clinic in Quincy.

This post has been edited by h4nnib4l: 29 January 2013 - 10:17 AM