I Say, You Say... (Accents and quirks)

[jaznbonnie]

[Dotsie]

[Quatermass]

Agreed.

[Broccolee]

Since we have a lot of-uh, immigrants living here in Germany,we have a lot of different accents going on.The most popular at the moment is street-German with a strong Istambul dialect.
To explain how much we are linguistically influenced by this,let me remind you of the quote :'What is the biggest current community of dwarfs?' 'Let me think,that must be up at Copperhead...' 'Lots of people think that,but no,it's Ankh-Morpork.'
We have the same problem.There are more turkish Moslems in Berlin than in Istambul atm.If they would all adapt,that wouldn't be a problem at all,but because of their history,Germans generally tend to be too polite by half,so instead,they start to adapt the other way round.It's a bit like Southhall,just bigger.

So you get german kids talking street German with a strong Istambul accent.THEN imagine these kids trying to learn- or,in a lot of cases,not learn- English.Additionally,they are absolutly convinced that they cannot pronounce the 'th',no matter how you try to teach them how to.
There is no one word or phrase I specifically don't like,the whole sound of it sets my teeth on edge.
Accents generally,however,I really love.My dad was from around Edinburgh,then went to school in a Cockney district and ended up in Glasgow.He made a point of speaking perfect oxfordian,as he thought similarly to Del's Dad.But sometimes he let fly to make me laugh.My elder siblings are half 'barbados-ese'.

My mum was born and raised in Thüringen but in the war fled to Aachen.Her accent,while normally exeedingly faint,broadens considerably when talking on the phone to my great-aunts in Weimar.I always think that very funny.Finally,the parents of my ex come from Hamburg.
People have been rather stumped when trying to place my origins,whichever language I speak.For some queer reason,lots of people seem to think I'm from Ireland when they hear me speak English though.Why,I don't know.

[Errata]

Accents are funny things. A lot of people think my dad is from New Zealand - despite his never been to that country in his life. He even had a New Zealander convinced he was from New Zealand! He was born and bred in the English Countryside, but having lived here for 20 years has taken on a slight Shetland twang that has blended in with his English accent.

[Ghost]

I'm half Brummie half Blackcountry plus when I was about 7 I accidentally bit the edge off my tongue
and the combination of these three means I sound northern

[chuckie]

Broc, my paerents came from a small town in Aberdeenshire called Turriff. They moved down to Corby to work in the steelworks which neutralised their accents. Whenever we went up to Scotland on holiday my parents accents would get stronger the further north we went untill none of us kids could understand what they were saying

[janet]

Not really a pronunciation thing - but I have noticed that the word 'absolutely' (actually - ab-so-lutey!) gets used a lot by people in conversation. Whatever happened to the word 'yes'?

Guilty.....I've caught myself doing this , but there's another mangling of the word which has crept in recently and that is missing off the ending. So we hear nonsensical statements such as, 'The weather was absolute awful'. It's done all the time and often by people who are supposed to be well-educated

[Del]

I'm half Brummie half Blackcountry plus when I was about 7 I accidentally bit the edge off my tongue
and the combination of these three means I sound northern

I have been wondering... where is Blackcountry?

[janet]

West of Birmingham.

[Watchman44]

Wiki entry for Blackcountry Del.

[Catch-up]

I just have a boring Midwestern U.S. accent. I love listening to most Southern accents. They sound soothing and take their time talking. In some parts of the U.S. I think speed-talking is a sport. Still fun to listen too, but not exactly soothing.

[Broccolee]

Broc, my paerents came from a small town in Aberdeenshire called Turriff. They moved down to Corby to work in the steelworks which neutralised their accents. Whenever we went up to Scotland on holiday my parents accents would get stronger the further north we went untill none of us kids could understand what they were saying

I looove a nice scots accent!I always have to laugh when I hear my mum on the phone with the aunts.Have you ever heard east-german accents?You can sort of understand it but you constantly feel they're taking the mickey!

[Catch-up]

I agree, LOVE listening to Scottish accents.

[Ghost]

I think there is a certain member here who would be more than happy to demonstrate his accent for you