The last couple of days I have been listening to a lot of Celtic punk/rock music. I normally don't like punk music but for some reason I enjoy this. As I was working today I suddenly realized why...it is the accents. Just as I had come into this realization a guest came up to me and asked for a fitting room. Guess what he had? An Irish accent!!! Irish accents--oh, how dreamy!!!
(Schmaltzy Steph, really schmaltzy...)
So while I worked the rest of today I began to ponder about accents themselves. Irish accents, Scottish accents, British accents, Australian accents...what IS it about them that are so appealing? The only answer I have is that they are just different. I don't mean different in a negative sense but different like unfamiliar to what we're accustomed to.
And then I began to ponder about my "accent". When I worked at JC Penney there was this girl who moved here from Brooklyn, New York. She had a very strong Brooklyn accent and (until I found out she was psycho) I enjoyed talking to her and listening to it. The funny thing is that she told me that she really liked Utahn accents. She said it is funny how we say "cool" and thinks the "oh my heck" is hilarious. Now, the only Utahn accent I've ever been aware of is the occasional removing of the "T" like in "Lay-in, moun-in," and so on. But I've never really thought I had a definable accent like that.
So the question I ask is do I have an accent or do I just not think I have one because I am used to it? Did that Irish guy from work yesterday think my accent was "dreamy" as I did his? (Unlikely) Do people in London think that they don't have an accent while everyone else does, like how I think?
Oy gavalt! My mind is schlepping like a schmeared bagel!
9 years ago
4 comments:
Ah, ya done good Ralph. Now ye know what ye have to do, ye have to burn the house down. BURN THEM ALL!!
Sorry for the last comment, it was the first thing that popped into my head. I think the truth is that everybody has accents to certain degree. If we think that the germans have an accent, they think the same thing. We are all products of our surroundings, whatever they may be.
People in Wisconsin have accents - it has a special name in linguistics, too. It's called the "Northern States Vowel Switch". Basically what this means is that people up here mispronounce vowels by putting long vowels where short vowels should be and vice versa. If you want to know what it sounds like, just think of the mom on that old cartoon "Bobby's World", or Frances McDormand's character in that movie "Fargo". It's a very infectious accent, and I like it a lot. People think that I've started talking with a Wisconsin accent. I think I have been, too. I don't mind, though. I think it's endearing. :-)
as a true blooded Californian, I can say utahn's DO have an accent. not too strong, but it is different... just like Brooklyn or Ohio! lol so don't fret. accents are a part o life my friend!
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