Accidental Accent

Sorry to revive a topic that has been dead for awhile....but i really enjoyed this.  Growing up all over the US my accent always changed.  I was a kid and it was hard speaking differently from the other kids.  When I moved to NYC, it was just short of my 16th birthday and I was relentlessly teased about my midwest sometimes southern accent so I changed the way I said somethings.  I have been married to my hubby now for over 8 years and with 6 trips my accent slowly changes while I am in the UK to visit.  It starts off with the inlaws saying i sound Irish...then welsh...then proper scouse   When I get back to the states it lasts for awhile but then goes back to my "normal" accent.  With the hubby over there, when i speak to him on the phone it comes back a bit.  I guess with living together for 10 years it is hard not to pick up some accent.  I actually was asked by a customer in the bar lsat weekend what part of England I was from (I had just gotten off the phone with hubby).  I don't do it on purpose, just little dribbles that sneak in.....tho I have found when I write angry texts or posts on facebook they tend to sound british Glad I am not the only one this happens too

I had to laugh at this one! I've been in north Wales (close to the England border) for a few months and although my accent isn't changing, I've found myself picking up British sayings all the time.
Has any one else noticed that British folks ask a lot of rhetorical questions in their sentences? Example: "Well we were over by Manchester the other day weren't we and we had the best sausage roll I've ever eaten!".... It's obvious the question isn't supposed to be answered, but when I first came here I struggled because I kept trying to! Needless to say, I'm adopting this little quirk and I'm getting annoyed at myself for it haha!
Also, I went to a Manchester United match the other night and ran into the first Americans I've seen since I got here! We started talking and they asked me what I was doing in GB... Now, I'm so used to answering this for British people I replied with.. "On holiday" and immediately cringed at myself! What happened to vacation?? I left Old Trafford thinking they must've thought I was the biggest poser in the world hahaha.
 

Also, I went to a Manchester United match the other night and ran into the first Americans I've seen since I got here! We started talking and they asked me what I was doing in GB... Now, I'm so used to answering this for British people I replied with.. "On holiday" and immediately cringed at myself! What happened to vacation?? I left Old Trafford thinking they must've thought I was the biggest poser in the world hahaha.
 

Funny.   

I've had a similar thing..... writing emails to family.    After writing something, I go back and 'American-check' it..... so I change 'colour' to 'color' so my family doesn't think I can't spell.    Not sure what spelling to use when writing to Americans living in the UK, though.... but I figure either US or UK spelling should be acceptable. 

I made a post on Facebook the other day about where I went to Uni. One of my American friends said my posts were becoming more English all the time. I replied that I had made a point of using "Uni" because the post was more directed at my UK friends. Otherwise I use College.

My accent isn't changing but I am starting to use more English words. Although at work I will make a point of using American for things like "Holiday" just to poke at some people.

I try not to use "Bless" or "Bless him/her" as I never get the intonation quite right for the situation. And my husband always makes fun of me when I use "Cheers."

Yeah, Meghan I agree on 'bless'... I feel like I *kind of* have a handle on it but tend to second-guess myself, I feel like there is something I'm missing about it

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I've been here for 8 months and I don't think my accent's really changed at all. My family says I "still sound like Karlee" (always a good thing, natch). Though my English BF can hear a tiny difference every so often. On two different occasions I said "I'm not being grumpy" and "it's not half bad," to which he told me I sounded a bit English when I said them.

I use British terminology most everywhere- visiting UK friends/family, out running errands, etc. I switch back to my American terminology when speaking to my friends/family, and it's about... 80% American terminology and 20% British terminology when it's just me and my BF. Occasionally my American terms do rub off on him! Funny thing: the other day we were visiting friends and he said trash instead of rubbish. We teased him about it and he was a little reluctant to admit that that was what he said!  

And I still retain American spelling. Except for grad school and professional things like the CV  

This is something I really struggle with internally, probably more stress than most people should have about it!

I never want to lose my American roots and how I speak, but I find it is easier to say certain words differently here and then I don't have to explain what I mean or get teased. It really does make you self conscious all of the time. I am constantly thinking, will people think I am pronouncing the word "wrong" or will they know that it is said differently in the US? (words that come to mind are: process, schedule, herbs, garage, route)

I work as a Teaching Assistant and I definitely have to use the British words for things otherwise they will look at me with a blank stare.

I do think that the Americans in the UK probably have it easier that the Brits in the US, where there is not a big popularity for British TV shows or movies.

I definitely switch the words I use when I am speaking to British people or Americans and I change my spellings as well. I sometimes feel like I am fluent in another language!

My family visited for a week earlier this month and I wasn't sure which English to use!  We're in the UK, so we walk on the pavement..... but they're American, so they walk on the sidewalk....... 

The worst word is 'route'.... well, 'router'.  Both my father and my DH are computer guys and I never know whether to say 'roo-ter' or 'row-ter'.    In the end I forget which is US and which is UK and just use the one that comes to my tongue first. 

There was a funny moment on their visit when SIL pointed to a pasty shop sign and giggled.    I was very confused until she said those are usually what are used to cover special lady parts.    Ahhhh...... ok.    It never occurred to me that pasty in the UK is spelled the same as pasty in the US.    They are very different things. 

My family visited for a week earlier this month and I wasn't sure which English to use!  We're in the UK, so we walk on the pavement..... but they're American, so they walk on the sidewalk....... 

The worst word is 'route'.... well, 'router'.  Both my father and my DH are computer guys and I never know whether to say 'roo-ter' or 'row-ter'.    In the end I forget which is US and which is UK and just use the one that comes to my tongue first. 

There was a funny moment on their visit when SIL pointed to a pasty shop sign and giggled.    I was very confused until she said those are usually what are used to cover special lady parts.    Ahhhh...... ok.    It never occurred to me that pasty in the UK is spelled the same as pasty in the US.    They are very different things. 

OMG YES router has been a point of argument for us lately as I (USC) say row-ter and he (UKC) says root-er so annoying
 

I work at the London office of an American company, but before that I worked for a UK company.  When I was with them, I had to make sure 'official' things I wrote used UK spellings and terms.  When I started with the American company, I found it difficult to change back - I'd just write in British automatically, and I'd actually forgotten some of the differences.

I noticed a little while ago that my brain seems to regard 'football' and 'soccer' as two different things.  When I'm talking about MLS, or me playing the sport as a kid in the US, I automatically say soccer.  And when I'm talking about the Premier League or something else about the sport here, I say football.

My boyfriend jokes that I go into some weird Canadian/Irish (combination of the two) accent whenever I speak to him -- especially if I'm there visiting for a few days. I don't realize I do it -- it'll be interesting to see what happens with my accent when I'm actually living with him.

My bosses husband has told me that I sound Scottish after I come back from my visits with my boyfriend, but no one else has mentioned it.

I don't think I have gotten any new accent from being around DH or in the UK  Though I did notice when I spent a month in London last summer,
I had to consciously stop and think at times of what words I wanted to say, in American or English!     
Sadly, on the plane home I did have a very weird and slightly embarrassing moment when I said tomaaaato instead of tomato juice to the flight attendant, aaaack! Where did that come from! She must of thought, uggggh here we go, another Madonna fake accent!  

I don't think I have gotten any new accent from being around DH or in the UK  Though I did notice when I spent a month in London last summer,
I had to consciously stop and think at times of what words I wanted to say, in American or English!     
Sadly, on the plane home I did have a very weird and slightly embarrassing moment when I said tomaaaato instead of tomato juice to the flight attendant, aaaack! Where did that come from! She must of thought, uggggh here we go, another Madonna fake accent!  

I do the tomato thing every once in awhile. My boyfriend works with food, and absolutely loves to tell me about things he makes... so I hear the word "tomaaato" a lot. After I came back from my last visit with him, I was showing my mother one of the recipes he gave me, and I said something like "and then you take the cherry tomattto's,....", she gave me a strange look.

Now, I remind myself to say tomato the American way when I'm not talking to my partner, but I ALWAYS read the word as "tomaaato."

After living in the UK for over 20 years, I hadn't realized until I got back to the US that I had picked up the British pronunciation of leisure with a short 'e' sound as opposed to 'lee-sure'.  Someone at work was talking about living in the UK and having worked in a leisure centre and I realized that 'lee-sure' centre just didn't sound right 

I will always say 'vite-a-min' though!

I've only been in England for 2.5 years and more over than the accent are the words in general. The way I word things has drastically changed, though I say it all entirely American with my inflection. The boot and bonnet on the car. The bin instead are garbage. It's a lorry not a big truck or 18-wheeler. Has the post arrived? She's feeling poorly, so they took her to hospital. I'll ring later. The damn car park is full. Your pants are worn under your trousers (unless you're a super hero). My mom loves to point all the British-isms out in what I say. I've stopped noticing them, it flows that naturally now.