Losing your accent

You sound like Benedict Cumberbatch? :: swoon ::

Those are great, thanks for sharing :-)

one of the checkout girls said to another as I was leaving that I sounded like Benedict Cumberbatch.

The checkout person here said I sounded like Foghorn Leghorn....

DH says I sound more American after I've met up with American friends here in London.

Same here.  Apparently, when I hear an American accent for a prolonged time (on TV, Skype, phone, in-person, etc), my American accent comes back with a vengeance.

Then there was an odd experience I had at Wendy's where the girl taking my order started mimicking my accent. She got flustered and started apologising insisting she wasn't making fun of me and that she just "naturally picks up accents". In the end she was so embarrassed she got a guy to serve me while she ran and hid somewhere.

We had a similar experience at Wendy's when our very Northern friend came to visit.  He went to order and the server did not believe that his accent was real.  In order to prove to us that he could also do an English accent, the server proceeded to attempt the most horrific 'British' accent imaginable.  It took everything we had not to die of laughter right on the spot.  Thankfully he liked us still because he brought extra nuggets to our table.

You sound like Benedict Cumberbatch? :: swoon ::

I don't think I do and that's the only person I'd heard say that. She must have been a huge Sherlock fan like me. I wouldn't mind actually sounding like Benedict but I fear my voice is a shade higher than his.

The checkout person here said I sounded like Foghorn Leghorn....

That's a joke, I say that's a joke son! 

We had a similar experience at Wendy's when our very Northern friend came to visit.  He went to order and the server did not believe that his accent was real.  In order to prove to us that he could also do an English accent, the server proceeded to attempt the most horrific 'British' accent imaginable.  It took everything we had not to die of laughter right on the spot.  Thankfully he liked us still because he brought extra nuggets to our table.

I popped into Dollar Tree once and there was a guy at the checkout doing an awful British accent. He hadn't heard me speak he was just speaking like that to everyone, probably in the hope that people would fall for it. I decided to play along and said "Oh thank god, a fellow Brit! Where are you from?" there was a moment of panic in his eyes as he tried to decide whether I was putting the accent on or whether I really was British.

His reply after several seconds was:

"London"

I said I'd never heard of it, paid up and left. 

"London"

I said I'd never heard of it, paid up and left. 

Bravo, sir.

This is the occasion for this:  

Bravo, sir.

*bows* Thank you very much. The next song we'd like to carry on with is one from an American group, Sophie Tucker! 

This is the occasion for this:  

I'll be needing this soon methinks!

TheTokenBrit, when we lived in Austin, the husband used to get treated all the time with free stuff all because of his accent. He had been given extra donuts at the donut shop, free dry cleaning, bus passes and a few free drinks in restaurants. Now, he works as a sales engineer and I hear how people respond to him because we both work from home and share an office. He has managed to secure sales and smooth over a few prickly customers because they enjoy chatting to him and it sort of breaks the ice and reduces hostility and many times they ask directly for him. Like Sonofasailor mentioned, it does have a sort of cachet.
To be honest, I don't hear it anymore and it surprises me when someone points it out. His family keep commenting that he speaks with a slight American accent and I definitely don't hear that!
I've been told time and time again that I have a neutral American accent but thanks to the 22 years with my Brit, I confuse people a little bit because I am half-American and half-Mexican and a Texan who uses English/ British/ Mexican words and expressions in every day speech. But I think it's rubbing off on the guy. He recounted a story to me about how he went to Home Depot for cables: "Can you imagine that there were three cables exactly the same but with three different prices of $5, $6.50 and a whopping $22. Yes, $22! I was thinking, 'Están locos, $22! Are they made of gold?' Bless their hearts that they think we are a special kind of stupid". Lol

The checkout person here said I sounded like Foghorn Leghorn....

You sound like Foghorn Leghorn?  :: swoon ::

Lol longtime lurker, first time poster - couldn't resist the joke.

You sound like Foghorn Leghorn?  :: swoon ::

Lol longtime lurker, first time poster - couldn't resist the joke.

Haha :-)

TheTokenBrit, when we lived in Austin, the husband used to get treated all the time with free stuff all because of his accent. He had been given extra donuts at the donut shop, free dry cleaning, bus passes and a few free drinks in restaurants. Now, he works as a sales engineer and I hear how people respond to him because we both work from home and share an office. He has managed to secure sales and smooth over a few prickly customers because they enjoy chatting to him and it sort of breaks the ice and reduces hostility and many times they ask directly for him. Like Sonofasailor mentioned, it does have a sort of cachet.
To be honest, I don't hear it anymore and it surprises me when someone points it out. His family keep commenting that he speaks with a slight American accent and I definitely don't hear that!

I've been told time and time again that I have a neutral American accent but thanks to the 22 years with my Brit, I confuse people a little bit because I am half-American and half-Mexican and a Texan who uses English/ British/ Mexican words and expressions in every day speech. But I think it's rubbing off on the guy. He recounted a story to me about how he went to Home Depot for cables: "Can you imagine that there were three cables exactly the same but with three different prices of $5, $6.50 and a whopping $22. Yes, $22! I was thinking, 'Están locos, $22! Are they made of gold?' Bless their hearts that they think we are a special kind of stupid". Lol

I have been given free extra donuts at the donut shop, come to think of it! but the free everything else, nope. Perhaps I'm not handsome enough? Or perhaps I need to thicken up my accent to get the free drinks? Help me out Americans!

My wife is part Mexican and her grandmother speaks Spanish and as such, I have picked up more due to that and HEB with it's numerous bi-lingual signs and packaging than I ever did at school. I occasionally wind them up by pronouncing Jalapenos with a hard "J" though! :-P