My accent

..and so the evening got off to a fine start of deep, intellectual conversation 

LOL! Just like when my coworkers thick husband noted that I am not the average American because Americans are all so thick. Gee, thanks for insulting my family and friends, because of course I think all Americans are stupid, too, and I take it as a compliment that I am so freakin' intelligent in comparison to them.  Great conversation starter, buddy! Why should people look at me as an exception, rather than an average American?! People have said I'm not the "average American" because I'm "not fat" or because I have liberal views on things, and other ridiculous reasons. There are plenty of American people I know who I would say are very much like me in attitude, beliefs, education, etc., and some of them are even much thinner than me! I guess they get their impressions of Americans mostly from shows like Cops and Jerry Springer, though, so I don't suppose I can fault them too much for it. It's so ironic for someone to say that all Americans are ignorant, when they are actually the one being ignorant by passing judgment on a cultural they don't understand.

The funniest part about all of this is that people certainly wouldn't ask those sorts of questions to an Asian person or other nationality or make fun of the way they talk right to their face, so why do people feel free to do it to us?

Actually, some people would. My ex was a nurse and told me the story of how a patient said to her Asian colleague "And what do you have for breakfast where you come from?" and she replied "Cornflakes, I'm from Derby!"

LOL! Just like when my coworkers thick husband noted that I am not the average American because Americans are all so thick. Gee, thanks for insulting my family and friends, because of course I think all Americans are stupid, too, and I take it as a compliment that I am so freakin' intelligent in comparison to them.  Great conversation starter, buddy! Why should people look at me as an exception, rather than an average American?! People have said I'm not the "average American" because I'm "not fat" or because I have liberal views on things, and other ridiculous reasons. There are plenty of American people I know who I would say are very much like me in attitude, beliefs, education, etc., and some of them are even much thinner than me! I guess they get their impressions of Americans mostly from shows like Cops and Jerry Springer, though, so I don't suppose I can fault them too much for it. It's so ironic for someone to say that all Americans are ignorant, when they are actually the one being ignorant by passing judgment on a cultural they don't understand.

Lately I am getting  sooooooo fed up with this kind of thing. When we were in Alton Towers, we were in line about 3 spaces in front of this obnoxious man who was just making fun of Americans the ENTIRE TIME. He would just say stupid things in a fake accent, and kept comparing all Americans to Lindsay Lohan. The worst part was, the little boy he was with was eating it up and joining in.  Way to pass on your racist beliefs to the British youth.

This happened again when I was on the bus the other day. Vincent got pretty mad at the theme park, but now it seems like he thinks I'm just being oversensitive. It just sucks when people are constantly drawing attention to the fact that you're *different*. Not to mention insulting the culture in which you were born and raised... But I'm finding the recent situations to be even more irritating, because they don't even know there is an American around. They really just do this for fun! I can't imagine anyone I know from the US doing similar "bits" about British people.

I can't imagine anyone I know from the US doing similar "bits" about British people.

My parents are Brits, been living in US for the last 40 years and it still happens ALL the time.  People do their accents at them.  They say inappropriate things.   

It's a universal ex-pat experience.    

My ex was a nurse and told me the story of how a patient said to her Asian colleague "And what do you have for breakfast where you come from?" and she replied "Cornflakes, I'm from Derby!"

When I was in the military, my friend Adam and I were giving a tour to a group of visiting foreign officers from a variety of countries when the following conversation took place:

Foreign officer of unknown origin:  Is it ok if I sit here?
Adam:  Yes, sir, and may I say, sir, you speak English very well.  Where are you from?
Foreign officer of unknown origin:  Ottawa.  So do you.

When we got back to our office our boss asked how the tour went, and I said, "Real well, until Adam insulted the Canadian Colonel."

Adam said, "Man, I'm going to hear that in my nightmares for the rest of my life.  'Ottawaaaa, sooooo doooo youuuuuu.'"

 

My parents are Brits, been living in US for the last 40 years and it still happens ALL the time.  People do their accents at them.  They say inappropriate things.   

It's a universal ex-pat experience.    

Yep, my cousin does a marvellous Dick Van Dyke impersonation when mimicking my husband.

Yep, my cousin does a marvellous Dick Van Dyke impersonation when mimicking my husband.

LOL.

I have a really good friend who thinks her "English accent" is perfect, and I don't have the heart to tell her it isn't.  Fortunately, she had the sense not to use it in front of DH when she met him. 

I second whoever it was that said people here should not have trouble understanding an American accent, considering how many American television shows are shown here, how many American films people here have undoubtedly seen, and how many American celebrities are interviewed on talk shows and other programmes here. Yet, I have to ring an Asda store to check something for work and they pass the phone to 4 different people because they obviously can't understand me. Sheesh! I have a non-regional accent. I sound like any one of the 6 Friends for crying out loud! How can it be that confusing?! I was even speaking slowly and distinctly to make myself understood. I know for a fact I HAVE to be easier to understand than many of the dialects here in the UK. It's like they hear a foreign accent, and don't even try to understand what the hell I'm saying! I even make minor adjustments like changing the way I say herb, tomato, banana, and garage, just to make myself easier to understand. Grrrr.

Last time we drove down to Cornwall from Bristol it took about 3.5 hours. And then it's another 3 to 4 hours between Bristol and Manchester. Manchester to Penzance is about 360 miles in total, so I would guess it would take somewhere between 6 and 8 hours (depending on traffic and your speed).

Sorry for the late response on this one, I meant that it would take probably around 7 hours and I used to drive 8 hours (round trip) for one silly meeting.  It would seem insane to me to break a 7-8 hour trip into two days (when the sole reason is because of the distance). 

I was even speaking slowly and distinctly to make myself understood.

        M      A      Y      B      E            y      o      u             s      h      o      u      l      d            t      r      y             t      a      l      k    i    n    g           f      a      s      t      e      r         a    n    d           L      O        U       D        E       R                                                     Sorry I could not resist       

When I was in the military, my friend Adam and I were giving a tour to a group of visiting foreign officers from a variety of countries when the following conversation took place:

Foreign officer of unknown origin:  Is it ok if I sit here?
Adam:  Yes, sir, and may I say, sir, you speak English very well.  Where are you from?
Foreign officer of unknown origin:  Ottawa.  So do you.

When we got back to our office our boss asked how the tour went, and I said, "Real well, until Adam insulted the Canadian Colonel."

Adam said, "Man, I'm going to hear that in my nightmares for the rest of my life.  'Ottawaaaa, sooooo doooo youuuuuu.'"

 

Oh my, that cracked me up - probably because it made me think of my own faux pax my first week of university - I'd probably been in the UK a total of about three weeks by that point.

In one of my classes, I got talking to a young black man - we'd done some group exercises and he and I just seemed to end up with the same opinions and ideas on some of the topics, so that got us chatting.  Of course, I asked him if he'd lived in the UK long - because I thought he had a Jamaican accent!  He told me he'd been born and raised in the UK, and was my face red! 

I've learned a lot since then, but what Lloyd learned about me was that I wasn't afraid to apologise and he wasn't afraid to get to know me better - when he realised that I'd come from an extremely rural, 100% white part of the US, he was totally intrigued because, overall, he expected me to act 'different' towards him and other 'non-whites' in our classes.  i didn't act different, I just sometimes asked really stupid questions!

LOL, Bob! Maybe I should! 

LOL @ BOB

LOL.

I have a really good friend who thinks her "English accent" is perfect, and I don't have the heart to tell her it isn't.  Fortunately, she had the sense not to use it in front of DH when she met him.  

Yep, I have an English friend like that. He travels to the states a lot on business and insists, when relaying every conversation he has with an American, in doing the "American" accent. I'm so busy trying not to take the piss out of his accent that I forget to listen to what he's saying LOL

I always have to make sure that I enunciate when I speak, because when I speak at my "regular California" accent/range, no one understands me-not even DH!

When I first moved here, people would look at me funny, like they never expected me to be able to speak English "so well"(retail shops, the bank, etc). Then, they'd hear the American accent and it seemed like it was sorted, but, also like they were trying to work it out, like I could see the cogs moving-"so, she's clearly from America, because she clearly speaks English, but, she's...Asian/Filipino/brown/coloured! Wow!"

DH always thinks that I'm exaggerating/being paranoid/seeing something that's not there, and I may well be, but, I know I still felt it. Some days I still do, but, I just put it out of my head most of the time!

my southern accent is so pronounced even people from other parts of the US have a trouble hearin me my 6 year old is worse then me, when we move to UK in a few mos it'll be a hoot for them to hear us, I work in labor and delivery and when I get a job over there Ill be like the singled out southern american nurse..lol