Accent

I'm from Califronia, and have lived here my whole life. I don't think there's a Californian accent, but I do say 'dude' and 'hella' in every sentence. (;

Some people say I have my Australian accent, but some people can't hear it, so I don't know if I have an accent.

Naturally, having been born and raised in the South (more specifically, Georgia), I have a Southern accent. However, because people tend to not take you seriously if you have a Southern accent, I take great pains to repress it. Usually, I'm successful, but there are times -- usually when I'm tired or stressed or trying oh-so-very-hard not to sound like an idiot -- that my accent slips out...with avengence. And then I can't shut it off.

However, I feel it should be noted that Southerners don't go around saying "y'all" all the time. I know that it really depends on each individual person, but most people I know only say it when a simple "you" just won't suffice -- particularly when dealing with the plural you.

For instance, one could ask a group of friends, "Are you going to the movies?" It's a perfectly grammatical sentence, but it sounds funny -- mostly because the question is posed at more than just one person. So here saying "Are y'all going to the movies?" makes far more sense because it indicates that more than just one person should answer.

Anyway, it really ticks me off when some character in a movie is supposedly from Atlanta and she -- it's always a she -- says y'all every five seconds. Very, very irritating. First, Southerners don't say the word that frequently. Second, most girls I know that come from Atlanta don't have Southern accents. I mean, they do, but it's of a different sort -- interlaced with Valley Girl jargon.

It's also really irritating when -- again, usually in movies -- they refer to a Southern female character as a "belle." It's just...no.

As anyone who read this can obviously tell, I have very mixed feelings about being a Southerner....

@ XxTrinka_TrinkaxX
She'll be right! I have an Australian accent too, mate.

People who say they don't have an accent amuse me. Everyone in the world has an accent, but your accent only becomes clear once you move away from where you were born because, most likely, everyone there has the same accent.

I'm English, from Gloucestershire and because I went to a grammar school I gained a fairly posh accent but, because I always hung around people with the same accent I never considered myself having one. Though, my dad did always tease me for it because he has a really colloquial type accent, his mum's from the forest and he gained the proper strong Gloucestershire type accent with this forest twang. It's really funny actually.

At 16 I moved to Australia with my family and every time we spoke to someone for the first, like, 6 months we'd get asked when we moved or how long we were on holiday for. When I started school the first words anyone said to me (bar teachers) were "Can you talk?" because she wanted to hear my accent.

Now, people don't notice my accent until around 5 minutes into a conversation and I must have changed the way I phrase things because no one asks whether I'm on holiday. I think phrasing is as important as accent in telling where someone is from.

It was funny at school, everyone insisted they didn't have an 'Australian' accent yet to me every single one did. I put quotation marks around Australian because they all had Melbourne accents. They all claimed there was no difference between accents around Aus (excluding bogans and the guys living in the bush and immigrants etc) but me and my family could point out a person and say whether they were from Brisbane or Adelaide.

I don't notice accents anymore. After almost 3 years in the country I can hear an accent (which backs up my first point, can't hear it but it's there). I can't even tell whether people are English or Aussie now, I hear the accents so regularly I get used to both and can't differentiate.

So, to answer the original question: I have a slightly posh English accent, but my tone and phrasing has become a little Aussie since I emigrated.

Can you tell I've thought about accents a lot? People saying they had none or not understanding that England has hundreds of different accents (say the 'English accent is hot' and I will just laugh at you, listen to a Brummy or a forester and say that again, I dare ya) annoyed me so I did a little research. I'm pretty sure people get annoyed at me for my vehemence about it, but it affects me so I like to make my point.

Sorry for the essay, feel free to tl/dr it :P

sunkissed.:

I'm from Califronia, and have lived here my whole life. I don't think there's a Californian accent, but I do say 'dude' and 'hella' in every sentence. (;

Same with me!

I was born and raised in Indiana, so I guess I have an "Indianan" accent...? It's really odd, though, because I moved to Alabama and I've picked up a hint of a southern accent, so it blends together It sounds pretty odd.

i'm from texas but i don't thiiiink i sound like that bad of a hick.
although i do say ya'll more than most :|.

I'm from Maine and my accent comes and goes (as I now live in Kansas).

In Maine, if a word has an R in it, we do not pronounce it:
Bar Harbor (a town on the coast) = Bah Hahbah
car = cah
here/there = he-yah/the-yah
and the famous Maine lobster = lobstah
sure = shu-ah

Also, we put those Rs where they don't belong:
idea = idea-r
ya = yarr

My coworkers like to ask me to say certain words because they sound cool and I find myself slipping into my Maine accent more and more around them.

For those of you from away, this is a funny tutorial on how to use the word 'wicked' in Maine/New England. :)

I'm from Indiana, so I have a somewhat-heavy Hoosier accent (if that actually exists). But a lot of my family is from the south, so my southern accent comes out when I get really excited or really pissed off. There are plenty of incidents where I get an involuntary Hispanic accent, even though I'm not Hispanic xD

I can fake an English accent pretty well. Does that count?

@ Valiente
I don't think there's such thing as a "Hoosier" accent, . I have family in Indiana and I'm in Indiana often while visiting and I've never noticed anything that would be a "Hoosier" accent. Haha.

@ Barrett
Lol. I was just wondering because I once was talking to my friend Sam and she was like, "I developed a Hoosier accent after I moved here" (she's from Kentucky) and I was like, "What the bloody hell is a Hoosier accent?"

I have an Oklahoma accent, but I don't say New Orleans like the rest of the Okies. I say it like N'Orleans or N'awleans depending on how fast I'm speaking. My dad says that I have been around the Cajuns for too long, but I have always said it like that. I had a friend who said that I have a French-like accent for the fact that my nose is always stopped up that my voice is usually very nasal. I say gonna instead of going to, wanna instead of want to, and kinda instead of kind of.

My mum is from London, she has the remnants of a Cockney accent, and my dad is from Sligo, where I currently live, and he has an Irish country accent. I have a mix of these two, along with a New Jersey twang that comes out when I sing, act, or recite poetry. I probably got it from years of excessive My Chemical Romance listening. I used to get a lot of hassle for my accent, but not really anymore.

I love my accent!

I'm from Fiji so the English I speak, while not being completely accented, might have some local lingo added in to it - especially when I'm speaking to a friend, or someone that I know understands the local lingo or just rambling.

But I guess I wouldn't know I had an accent until I spoke to someone who isn't from here.

I'm from Milton Keynes and we have a pretty standard accent, it's a very very toned down London accent. I find I talk a lot faster than most people who live near me and I also find that, from consuming a disgracefully large amount of American media, I have somewhat of an upward inflection in my voice and my vowels are quite severe.

I'm from Alberta, Canada and I can't hear any sort of accent until I talk fast, then I drop random letters and smoosh my words together.

I'm from Virginia and most of the time I have a very mild mid-atlantic accent. When I'm upset or talking fast or disoriented, I sometimes have a really heavy, crazy Southern/Mid-Atlantic accent like my Grandma. I think my accent is actually that really Southern one but I subconsciously hide it most of the time becauae its embarrassing..

Valiente:

I'm from Indiana, so I have a somewhat-heavy Hoosier accent (if that actually exists). But a lot of my family is from the south, so my southern accent comes out when I get really excited or really pissed off. There are plenty of incidents where I get an involuntary Hispanic accent, even though I'm not Hispanic xD

I can fake an English accent pretty well. Does that count?

All this. I have a Hoosier accent xD and yet, I live in the south, so...

water's cascade.:

All this. I have a Hoosier accent xD and yet, I live in the south, so...

Lol. I knew there was a Hoosier accent! I have a bunch of accents. I guess that's the perk of being an ethnic rainbow