NAME THAT PATOIS
Our appearances often do not match our voices: I recall being surprised when I first heard David MacDermott's working-class New York accent, and Lincoln, despite his stately appearance, supposedly had a high, reedy voice.

Some of you had mentioned that they were trying to listen past the translator's voice to hear my own during that Arte TV interview this week. One of you even expressed a certain relief that I did not affect a British accent. I make no bones about my plebian origins, and they are possibly most evident in my everyday speech: It's a Mid-Atlantic accent with a slight Delaware Valley/Philly flavor tinged with Appalachian figures of speech and other such lapses in judgment--oh, and I've always slurred my "s"es. I am not particularly enamored with it, and if I was truly a reinventor I suppose I would take steps to efface it--but I find it a humorous contrast to my writing and appearance. While dining with a friend in Seattle during my self-inflicted book tour, an Australian waiter (never shy with their opinions, those Aussies) poked fun at the way I spoke, specifically my broad "a"s. So there you go--me no talk pretty any day.

So how about you, dear readers: how would you describe your own mode of speech? Do you like it? Is it an asset or a detriment? Is it a good "fit"?

PS: Here is an interesting site on the subject.

(Post a new comment)

ngakmafaery 2007-02-17 06:05 pm UTC (link)

...people consistently ask me if I am from England (and yes, I have lived there), but I'm from Noo Joisey, and do not sound anything like it...I'm actually more famous for my laugh, which is on many tibetan buddhist recordings and has earned me a certain buddhist title which is a bit too exalted to advertise widely (because in context it sounds exceedingly vain, rather like calling one's self "the laughing saint")...but it's sweet that people enjoy the laughter... (Reply to this)

wordtravelsfast 2007-02-17 06:22 pm UTC (link)

Since leaving new jersey, a good number of people have told me 'you don't *sound* like you're from jersey' I'm sure on the rare occasion I slip up with a few sounds that reveal my roots, but for the most part, since my days on college radio, I've lost the accent/dialect. Now I didn't go and create a "broadcast voice" I just simply started speaking more clearly and a bit slower. However, if you immerse me in a pub full of native Irish or Ireland itself, I confess to picking up the lilt and cadence and a bit of an accent. From what I've been told, it's rather convincing (though unintentional) and charming!! (Reply to this)

cap_scaleman 2007-02-17 06:24 pm UTC (link)

I dunno why I thought "British" the very first time I heard of you. Anyway, I do sometimes have a low, slow and "uncharacteristic" kind of voice (which someone pointed out once) which makes people often ask "What?" when I am speaking to them. Or, either I have a highspeed, loud voice... I dunno when I switch either. And I tend to change from street slang to more formal language from time to time. It depends on who I am talking to at the moment. (Reply to this)

	charleshatcher 2007-02-17 06:33 pm UTC (link)
	At least you don't sound like a Brussels sprout. (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

(no subject) - lord_whimsy, 2007-02-17 06:47 pm UTC (Expand)

	stereo6633 2007-02-17 06:35 pm UTC (link)
	Although I am from Michigan, I've managed to escape having the Michigan Accent. (a good thing too, since it's not very pretty) (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

(no subject) - cianxylona, 2007-02-20 05:25 pm UTC (Expand)

(no subject) - stereo6633, 2007-02-20 11:41 pm UTC (Expand)

erinzdad 2007-02-17 06:51 pm UTC (link)

I was raised in Memphis Tennessee by parents from Northern Illinois, moved to Texas at 18, and love to collect colloquialisms with which I liberally sprinkle my speech in relaxed company. I also am an unconscious mimic, and will pick up speech patterns when traveling. I once went though a drive thru in Atlanta and had the attendant say, when I got to the window, "Daaammmnnnn, boy! I could have swore you was black!", and that was a long time ago before it was stylish to assume that patois. Oh, and I also did the college DJ thing on the campus radio station, and picked up some of that, too, on purpose. So in General, I don't sound like much of anything and a bit of everything, though the most telling influence is rural Texan. I've always thought it would be nice to live in the UK for a bit so I could come back with a "legitimate" British accent. One of my dirty little secrets. (Reply to this)

my_name_is_anna 2007-02-17 07:15 pm UTC (link)

American accents - I know the difference between North and South, and that's about it. Oh, except comedy New York accents from Seinfeld, Sesame Street and that. I grew up inbetween Crouch End (posh) and Tottenham (not posh) in North London, and my accent sounds more towards the Crouch End side (where I went to school) but with a bit of Tottenham as well sometimes, mainly because everyone who went to my school who actually came from Crouch End / Muswell Hill / other posh bits were busy trying to sound like they were in Eastenders, and not posh kids after all. I suppose it is beneficial to sound middle class, isn't it. Also about the words you will chose and the way in which you speak, as well as your accent. Because a lot of society is run by the middle class so if you can talk to them in their own language then everything is easier. (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

(no subject) - lord_whimsy, 2007-02-17 07:24 pm UTC (Expand)

(no subject) - my_name_is_anna, 2007-02-17 07:33 pm UTC (Expand)

estuary english - lord_whimsy, 2007-02-17 07:45 pm UTC (Expand)

(no subject) - my_name_is_anna, 2007-02-17 07:58 pm UTC (Expand)

(no subject) - lord_whimsy, 2007-02-17 08:08 pm UTC (Expand)

(no subject) - fredchook, 2007-02-18 06:17 am UTC (Expand)

	niyabinghi 2007-02-17 07:26 pm UTC (link)
	I have a fairly deep, low voice, which sometimes gets people mistaking me for a man over the phone, but some folks find kinda sexy. Am also prone to preferring deep low voices in others, too. (Reply to this)

	bricology 2007-02-17 07:29 pm UTC (link)
	Whimsy, I disagree with your self-assessment. The first time I heard you speak (on the phone), I thought "now that's a pleasant voice!" Hearing you speak in person confirmed this. Your voice (or more accurately, your manner of speaking) is well-modulated, musical -- but not sing-song, and with very even dynamics. It's almost Japanese in that respect. (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

(no subject) - lord_whimsy, 2007-02-17 07:43 pm UTC (Expand)

(no subject) - butterflyrobert, 2007-02-18 07:07 am UTC (Expand)

droserary 2007-02-17 07:56 pm UTC (link)

Interesting subject, Whimsy. I don't pay much attention to my own speech but I do notice changes over time as I move around the country. I'm originally from northern New Jersey, so I tend to have a normal base speech with only a few hints of the assumed "Jersey accent". (Coffee is cawfee and water is wudder.) When I moved to Pennsylvania Dutch Country, I noticed I picked up some of their local colloquialisms and pronunciations. Three months in Ohio and I found myself producing a broad "o". And now that I'm in the Pacific Northwest so close to Canada, well, you get the idea. And no matter where I live, I still can't pronounce Nevada correctly. (Reply to this)

thistlelurid 2007-02-17 07:58 pm UTC (link)

I was born/raised in Michigan...where the accents are somewhere between chicago-ish and canadian, although when I speak to my parents now, they sound like theyre from Wisconsin! I moved to San Francisco in 92 and was there until 99....due to immense ridicule, a la my prominent "youre choking a chicken" vowels, I made a focused effort to break myself of the accent. That, coupled with developing clean, concise speech for business meetings, has mixed and mashed everything up! Now, I dont know WHAT I sound like....my vowels are lower and longer...people back home say I talk funny...people in Portland haven't really commented...but a word like poppy will still, completely, blow my cover. (Reply to this)

reggie_c_king 2007-02-17 08:31 pm UTC (link)

At home, I am continually presumed foreign, mostly English or Canadian. The Northern Irish accent shares its vowels with the Northern Atlantic states and Canada, so, I imagine, when one speaks clearly, the mistake is an understandable one. I think that vocabulary has a lot to do with it as well; if you don't use the local slang, you must be from somewhere else. The same confusion is made about all of my dearest, the above Mr Hatcher included. However, my voice is really too deep and monotonous to come from my slender, dwarven body or to characterise my ludic mop of curly hair. (Reply to this)

itsmagnetic 2007-02-17 09:31 pm UTC (link)

I grew up in Los Angeles but by virtue of my mother's family I have acquired a distinctly Canadian accent. I didn't notice it until I was older, but even when I was in elementary school I would get asked "Where are you from?" by other kids, who somehow assumed I couldn't be from Los Angeles. A year ago, one of my professors asked me this and added "You have a perfect East-Central Ontario accent!" which makes sense, I guess, as my mom spent her formative years in Toronto. I don't have a completely Canadian mode of speaking, but the -ou- dipthong has always been difficult for me to pronounce in the American way (I usually end up saying something like "heus" for "house") (Reply to this)

agentdanger 2007-02-17 10:17 pm UTC (link)

People constantly ask me if I'm British, or as one woman recently put it: "You sound like you were raised in England until you were six years old, then you moved to America and belatedly attempted to learn our way of speaking." People never believe me when they learn I was born and raised in Georgia. "Ah, Atlanta," they say. But no! I have rarely even visited Atlanta! I am really quite Southern, and I have no idea what happened to my accent. Apparently my voice also sounds rather childlike. When telemarketers call, they sometimes ask to speak with my mommy or daddy. (Reply to this)

	jermynsavile 2007-02-17 10:20 pm UTC (link)
	I'm British, from Sussex. I therefore don't have an accent. Everyone else has an accent. I just speak English properly. Glad to have been able to clear that up. (Reply to this)

lupoleboucher 2007-02-17 10:32 pm UTC (link)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English_regional_differences Re: historical personages, Patton had a high reedy aristocratic voice as well. Amusing, since we think of him as speaking like a 2-pack of winston a day asthmatic meatpacker, like George C. Scott. I sound like someone who used to work on cars in Maine or New Hampshire for a living, and only modulate it a bit when speaking in public. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine-New_Hampshire_English (Reply to this)

missfrost 2007-02-17 11:28 pm UTC (link)

Although I grew up in Manchester and did have an ordinary northern accent, it seemed to disappear after moving to London in 2000. Most people assume I'm not from London but can't place where, but then say "oh I can hear it now you've told me." My northern vowel sounds are still intact, to me bucket sounds like "book it" for example, I just speak more clearly now. This wasn't a conscious effort, it just evolved after having to repeat myself a few times when I moved here. I'm quite surprised when I visit home and realise how much my accent has changed. (Reply to this)

lost_ligeia 2007-02-17 11:59 pm UTC (link)

My natural accent is Bostonian. However, I've learned to turn it on and off. I didn't consciously learn to do this- the change in my speech is probably due to my theatrical training. I've been told before that I have a "theatre voice." In fact, during the public speaking class I took in my senior year of high school, the teacher told me that my one flaw was that I spoke with a little affectation, as though I were on a stage. I've never been mistaken for a Brit, although I do use many English expressions in my conversation. I love English swear words. They're much more colourful than ours. I usually only lapse into my natural accent when I'm very angry or tired and unguarded in my speech. (Reply to this)

double0hilly 2007-02-18 12:01 am UTC (link)

I hate my voice! Normally, I sound fine to my own ears but when I hear it played back on tape (or recording), it sounds so high and false. I loathe recording voicemail messages. As for accent, well it's tough to tell. I grew up in California, but moved to Virginia, Montana, Boston, Manchester (England) and Canada in my teenage and college years so I've picked up some of those speech characteristics. I'm a bit of a mimic as well; I've been told I sound Canadian now, by both Canadians and Americans alike. I think my inflection tends to change depending on where I am, rather than my accent. :) (Reply to this)

ffarff 2007-02-18 02:38 am UTC (link)

I have an australian accent, being Australian. I was born in a rual area where the Steve Irwin-isms are high but since moving to the city, I have seemed to collected alot of English/welsh friends. the harsh Australian sound has been softened a tiny bit with a borrowed camden/welsh lilt [as strange as it sounds] An Australian accent seems to be a hinderance to acceptance everwhere. It suggests my intelligence to be as high as a peanuts. (Reply to this)

niddrie_edge 2007-02-18 02:41 am UTC (link)

When I lived in London, ladies in charity shops thought I sounded like Sean Connery. Ladies, I was merely trying to impress you. I am pretty much hardcore Edinburgh housing scheme. Nasal verbal handbrake turns and the like "Fire a bitty choona oan that pizza then". Connery was too Transatlantic twang. Ewan McGregor of Trainspotting fame was too posh to cut it. Ewan Bremner, "Spud" in Trainspotting was close. Even he had too much theatre school enunciation and became a parody. Robert Carlyle and Peter Mullan tried their best to get uneducated monotone but betrayed their West Coast melodic. Its a hard one to pin down. I modified mine over the years by hanging with the New Town art set. The Momus accent worn down. Exemplified by the actor Dougray Scott od Mission Impossible 2 I think. (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

(no subject) - niddrie_edge, 2007-02-18 02:45 am UTC (Expand)

threw_a_spark 2007-02-18 03:47 am UTC (link)

I haven't lived in California since I was eight-years-old, but so help me, I still talk with complete pepperings of terrible Clueless-style valleygirl slang. I use "like" and "totally" far to frequently, and not in the super obvious sense, but I can pick them out if I pay attention, and it sort of makes me want to die inside a little, especially when it collapses into my writing. I also hedge just about everything I say. See? Did you see right there? I almost wrote "I also hedge everything I say." And then I thought, no, not everything. (Reply to this)

	electricwitch 2007-02-18 04:52 am UTC (link)
	I talk like the posh British version of Nico. It fits my origins, I think. (Reply to this)

	electricwitch 2007-02-18 04:53 am UTC (link)
	In Dutch, I sound like a moron, though. My accent is very messy, I should get some lessons to improve it. (Reply to this)

fredchook 2007-02-18 07:00 am UTC (link)

I speak in a mish-mash of Received Pronunciation and Melbornian English - no suprise, and I blame exposure to Monty Python during my formative years. I'm assured it's pleasant to listen to, though I worry I sound too much like an excited eight-year-old - that is, even when I'm not trying to, which is often. I also swear like a Catholic. I'm not sure why.. it's just so emphatic! (Reply to this)(Thread)(Expand)

(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2007-02-19 07:31 am UTC (Expand)

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