Comments on: Weekend Fluff: Chahlie Bit Me!

By: sumac

sumac — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:44:55 +0000

I know a woman who’s a children’s speech coach. On the first day of school she brought in a jar of grape jelly and asked each kid what it was, trying to pinpoint their speech pathologies by how they pronounced the word “jelly.”

When she got to the last kid, she asked him what it was and he said, in a perfect little British accent, “Plum preserves.” I like to imagine him wearing a tweed sportcoat and short pants.

By: riddlebiddle

riddlebiddle — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 00:18:05 +0000

Yes, Sniper it worked! But did you see the tags? “Harry”, “Charlie”, etc. As much as I love the idea of big brother being a “Simon,” looks like he’s more of a Harry…

By: Sniper

Sniper — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:27:14 +0000

Did it work?

By: kateharding

kateharding — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:18:48 +0000

Aw, man!

By: Krista

Krista — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:16:12 +0000

Oh no!!! I went to re-watch the video, and it said it was no longer available. :(

By: Krista

Krista — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 22:11:38 +0000

I have a California accent, and was amazed the first time I was told so. I did not know California had an accent, but it is apparently like a toned down Valley Girl in the way syllables and sentences are accented. Also, I use like entirely too often while speaking, as well as saying Oh. My. Gawd. with that distinctly CA emphasis.
http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/californian/

By: Tishie

Tishie — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:46:10 +0000

Midwest people most certainly do have an accent – one that a quiz like that doesn’t pick up, IMO. I don’t think it’s the Midwest accent that is used on TV. I think it’s more of a west-coast accent that is used on TV.

Regarding the US accent sounding nasally and higher pitched, I couldn’t figure out what people were talking about, until I tried to do my version of an English accent, and noticed that I took it way down. That’s part of the reason the accent sounds snooty to a lot of folks over here – when you deepen your voice, it makes it seem like you are trying to sound more important.

I love Scottish and Irish accents. YUM!

By: kateharding

kateharding — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 06:19:21 +0000

So I walked through the zoo with a 5 year old British boy saying in his perfect accent “But I don’t fancy a lemon ice – I fancy a proper ice cream.”

OH MY GOD, that would KILL ME.

By: sweetmachine

sweetmachine — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 05:43:46 +0000

FJ, I knew you would score differently from me, because as I was taking that quiz I kept thinking, “Well, all these words sound the same to me, but I know they don’t to FJ because we used to argue about it all the time in college!” I (like Kate) got Midlands, which is a bit weird since I don’t have any Chicago or Canada in my accent, but whatevs.

By: liberty

liberty — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 05:24:26 +0000

In college I nannied for a family that was here from the UK.

One of my favorite memories of that time was when I took the kids to the zoo. The 5 year old wanted a huge ice cream sundae for a snack and I didn’t want him to ruin his dinner so I offered him a lemon icee instead.

David did not approve of that option. So I walked through the zoo with a 5 year old British boy saying in his perfect accent “But I don’t fancy a lemon ice – I fancy a proper ice cream.”

I knew he was upset – but with that perfect little accent and turn of phrase (‘fancy a proper ice cream’) I just though it was hysterical.