Accent inferiority complex?

But some weird things have happened to my brain, like for example an American's been on TV and I actually think they sound Irish (I don't mean on obviously American programs). Or for a while I can't even figure out where the heck they're from, until my boyfriend points out they're American. Duhhhh.  Very weird. 

That is weird. I have this sort of English/American combo accent and people are always asking me if I'm Irish!

Me too!!! I work with a man from N Ireland and he thought for the first month after I started I was from the Republic, but he "couldn't place where". 

I have had t o convince other people that I am american and not irish as I even have rad hair and green eyes

That is weird. I have this sort of English/American combo accent and people are always asking me if I'm Irish!

Me too.
I have a mid-Atlantic accent, with a lot of Scottish words and inflections... people quite often mistake me for Irish. 
If they dont ask, though, I dont tell... Im in no hurry to advertise my being American!

At work, alot of people can't place my accent until I say thirty or forty.  For some reason that always gives me away.   

But some weird things have happened to my brain, like for example an American's been on TV and I actually think they sound Irish (I don't mean on obviously American programs). Or for a while I can't even figure out where the heck they're from, until my boyfriend points out they're American. Duhhhh.  Very weird. 

Same here. I have to ask Jon what accent that is. I've gotten used to both accents so much that I can't recognise the difference.  In fact, unless they have a very distinct regional accent, I don't think about it at all. Helps when I answer the phone so much.

Mindy, to go back a few pages and clarify something:

I've lived here five years, and have been a freelance editor for American clients, exclusively, in that time. So I write and edit the American way, and given that I work at home, more often speak to Americans over the phone than Brits face to face. Some Brit terms have become part of my normal speech (for example, "take the piss/taking the piss"), be it with Brits or Americans. But thank you, balmer and hopster, for saying it's okay to be true to your normal speech. My mother-in-law (a lover of language, as am I) play Scrabble and other word games, with the only rule being that words and spellings from both British and American English are allowed.

Of course, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. So, as I said, if speaking to Brits, you should use British terminology. But I think it's pretentious to speak to other Americans with words that trip off your tongue. That's why people take the piss out of Madonna and Gillian Anderson--"I live in England--SUDDENLY I have a British accent."

And, on a different note, I've heard Anne Robinson mispronounce Spanish words dozens of times on "The Weakest Link," and have the nerve to correct people who pronounce them correctly (contestant pronounces "Jose" appropriately--ho-zay; Anne Robinson cuts on her and says, "It's JO-zay"). Neither Mexicans NOR Spaniards pronounce it that way, just as filet IS pronounced "fill-ay," regardless of how it's spelled. It's a matter of knowing basic pronunciation rules of other languages...

The Portuguese and Brazilians say joe-zay versus hoe-zay.

I didn't know that, but even so, the vast majority of the Spanish-speaking world pronounces "j" as "h". Just as nachos is pronounced "nah-chose," not "naa-chose"--my point is that just because Brits think it should be pronounced a certain way, doesn't make it so (the pronunciation of pecan, an American nut, being a case in point).

I didn't know that, but even so, the vast majority of the Spanish-speaking world pronounces "j" as "h". Just as nachos is pronounced "nah-chose," not "naa-chose"--my point is that just because Brits think it should be pronounced a certain way, doesn't make it so (the pronunciation of pecan, an American nut, being a case in point).

Sure, I see your point. But don't Americans botch a lot of foreign words, too?  Take "lawn-jer-ay" for instance. That really bears very little resemblance to the correct pronunciation of lingerie.  I mean, I'm just saying that most countries tend to sort of "adapt" foreign words to suit themselves. And sometimes Americans and Brits don't adapt them the same way.

I agree, belinda. But, using your example, and having taken French from ninth through 12th grades, I'd pronounce lingerie as "lon-zher-ay."

it's okay to be true to your normal speech.

And after you've lived here a long time, you might find that this *is* your normal speech! 

My mom asked my husband, when we were visiting a few years ago, and while she was still lucid, whether he thought he'd lose his accent if he ever moved to the States. Both he and my dad simultaneously said no (because you can't undo 30-something years of having a specific accent/pronouncing things a certain way, just because you move to another country). To pretend otherwise is pretentiousness (again, I refer you to Madonna's attempts to speak with an English accent). Hell, I can do a great, verbatim impersonation of Monty Python's sendoffs of women, but I'd never try to delude anyone into thinking that that's how I normally speak.

The most usual British pronunciation of some words has also changed over time.    Herb has already been mentioned.  If you look back a couple of hundred years, you'll find that the "h" was silent, as in current American pronunciation.      

Take laboratory as another example.    Most Brits these days pronounce it as "la-BOR-atory,"  although the final vowel is more often clipped so it sounds more like "la-BOR-atry."  If you look at a British dictionary from about a hundred years ago though, you find that the normal pronunciation stressed the first syllable: "LAB-oratory."    

There are many such examples of pronunciation, spelling, and word usage  in which the current American version is actually the original British version as well.   You'll run into people who'll never believe that though, and will insist that Americans have corrupted the language.  

There are other cases where two or more variants were in use and time has just resulted in one form becoming dominant in America, the other in Britain.  Zed vs. zee is such an example, with both forms being used in Britain in the 17th century.

(because you can't undo 30-something years of having a specific accent/pronouncing things a certain way, just because you move to another country). To pretend otherwise is pretentiousness

I lived in the US for 23 years, I've lived here 19 years.
It can happen.  Without pretense.

Paul,

You're my hero (seriously)! A classic example of different pronunciations comes from an episode of The Simpsons. The family was at some kind of food fair, and Marge was looking through an herb-and-spice rack. She said, "Look, Homey, they have or-ruh-GON-oh [oregano]." In the States, people would find that funny because it sounded illiterate (Americans pronounce it "or-REG-an-no"). I was watching the show with my husband, and when I laughed, he asked what was funny, and I told him that how Marge pronounced the word would be a sign of naivety/illiteracy in the States. (On a tangent, considering that so much of the humor in The Simpsons basically consists of inside jokes about American culture, it's amazing the show's been such a worldwide phenomenon. At least a third of the references in it wouldn't make sense to anyone other than an American.)

Suzanne