What About Me 2014-02-28

[Fairportfan]

West Texas is what i hear for Eurayle - as i said before, in my head she sounds like Mike Nesmith's older sister.

[kingklash]

For some reason, some people have asked me if I have spent my youth in New York. I never could figure out why, until Ma had told me that according to her mother, I seem to have been born with a Comanche accent, particularly elders who had English as their second language. Something about the way my "R" sounds are kind of blurred, which I guess sounds "New Yawk"-ish to certain people. Never been to the east coast, and nearly the first ten years of my life were spent in the San Francisco Bay Area, mostly in Oakland.

[Wyvern]

Certainly not connected to any Wapsi Square character, I read that a drug lord named Guzman has been arrested. Apparently he's in his fifties and has at least ten children, maybe more, the eldest in their thirties. Imagine that.

[Hansontoons]

Oh fer criminy cripes sake.

Don't cha know!

[MerchManDan]

Certainly not connected to any Wapsi Square character, I read that a drug lord named Guzman has been arrested. Apparently he's in his fifties and has at least ten children, maybe more, the eldest in their thirties. Imagine that.

A rather satisfying case of life imitating art. Good find, Wyvern!

[jwhouk]

Oh fer criminy cripes sake.

Don't cha know!

Not quite dere hey.

[Julie]

Nor do I have an endearing Southern accent.

Say what? I thought that came natural to Texans...

Depends on where the said Texan was raised, from my observations. I have lived in the Houston area (with a few years in Hunstville, outside the Walls that is...) since 1973 and had opportunity to meet and get to know folks from the city and the edge of East Texas to central Texas. The accents are certainly different; city more laid back, somewhat slow (as in speed, not mind) and easy to understand with hints of SoCal at times (lived there too) and rural with the stereotypical mouth-full-of-marbles slow drawl to the nasaley whine. And DO NOT make disparaging remarks about the state to the natives, you WILL be asked to leave...

And I have relatives in Iowa, the accent to me is difficult to describe but I love the people enormously! Listen to the Music Man song "Iowa Stubborn" to get an idea of the way they can be. Also have relatives in Wisconsin, different again.

And to top it off, my city-raised with country relatives Native Texan daughter is engaged to a a young man that came to the USA from Russia at the age of 12, so he retained his accent. When they have kids, talk about the opportunity for some messed-up accents!

Uff da, y'all!

What Hansontoons said. And also...

Texas has four main accents.

East Texas, which is what you heard from the Sheriff of Marshall, Texas, during the Shuttle disaster recovery searches. He should NOT have been allowed near a microphone, to prove to everyone in the rest of the country that everyone in Texas sounds like an inbred moron. It's a slower drawl, and when they get irritated, it gets slower and deeper.

West Texas. This is more of a twang.

Houston. This is an amalgam of the East Texas and every carpetbagging northerner possible, mixed with a good leavening of Mexican and New Orleans.

Mexican - this is from San Antonio south, due to the enormous influx of illegals in the last 25 years.

...what Bookworm said.

Although, as a native of the Dallas area, I have to say that I have none of the "main" accents associated with Texas. Apparently my accent is fairly location-neutral (I've been mistaken for someone from the Midwest on many occasions). I sound like a generic American, but I pick up accents very easily. If I spend enough time in East Texas with family, I pick up that drawl. When we visit my husband's family (from South Dakota and Minnesota), I pick up their accents...and it's practically a game for the hubby to guess how quickly I'll end up spouting off some phrase or word thick with the local accent.

Kind of makes me wonder what accent the supernaturals who haven't been written with an obvious accent actually have. Are they generic American like me? Or are they more British since that might have been where they picked up the English language in the first place?

[Catawampus]

I sound like a generic American, but I pick up accents very easily. If I spend enough time in East Texas with family, I pick up that drawl. When we visit my husband's family (from South Dakota and Minnesota), I pick up their accents...and it's practically a game for the hubby to guess how quickly I'll end up spouting off some phrase or word thick with the local accent.

From my accent, I've had people guess that I'm Canadian, Dutch, Scottish, Irish, Russian, German, South African, Australian, or several other possibilities. It doesn't help that I tend to speak English words with the accent of the people who I first heard speak those particular words, so in one sentence I might have Cockney, Aberdeen Doric, and Turkish pronunciations going on.

Then there's the little matter that much of my initial knowledge of the English language came by reading Tolkien's works, so my word usage and arrangement often seem a tad odd to the people around me. . .I get the whole "you're not from around here, are you?" thing so many times a day no matter where I am, I've thought about printing out a tee-shirt with appropriate answers displayed on it to save time.

Kind of makes me wonder what accent the supernaturals who haven't been written with an obvious accent actually have. Are they generic American like me? Or are they more British since that might have been where they picked up the English language in the first place?

And the British accents of English from a thousand years ago will be much different than the current ones, just to make things even weirder. You might be able to hear Beowulf in the original by having Nudge read it aloud.

[illiad]

Kind of makes me wonder what accent the supernaturals who haven't been written with an obvious accent actually have. Are they generic American like me? Or are they more British since that might have been where they picked up the English language in the first place?

well, it could be something like the tardis does.. (telepathic field? nanites?) or similar to this!!

They are speaking a million year old dialect, but using telepathy, it sounds very much like English, including personal taste and regional variations...

[jwhouk]

My suspicions:

• Monica: A bit of a hispanic accent, laced with a touch of Irish brogue (but the boss says she's got a high-pitched voice, which I don't quite get)
• Amanda: Midwestern, not quite Minnesooooootan but not regional. Maybe a bit of New York Aristocratic because of how she described mom.
• Shelly: Rather bland American accent, with a touch of Southwest and maybe a few Minnesoooootan pieces. I hear her voice change depending on mood and whether she's being referred to as "The Sage" or not. In fact, her most recent dialogue comes across as very low-key and matter-of-fact, where in the past her voice may have gone up an octave or two.
• Phix: Dame Judi Dench. That is all.
• Nudge: A bit of Brooklynese, combined with some Minnesoooooooootan to try and "fit in".
• Atsali: Melissa Joan Hart.
• Tina: A bit hispanic like Monica, but with more of a typical-American accent. Usually high octave (probably what Shelly could achieve on her worst days), but when grey text comes in, she sounds like Shelly's "Sage" self. She might actually have an "echo" sometimes if you listen to her intently.

[Fairportfan]

Hasn't Paul said his choice for Phix is Alex Kingston? That would fit with the fact that he English sounds to me (sometimes, at least) as if she learnt it from British soldiers in Egypt.

I.e.: "Bollocks, Monica! The girl's fainted!"

[Catawampus]

Tina: She might actually have an "echo" sometimes if you listen to her intently.

That's just when her belly belly belly belly is empty empty empty empty.

[Jabberwonky]

Tina: She might actually have an "echo" sometimes if you listen to her intently.

That's just when her belly belly belly belly is empty empty empty empty.

Or her eyes....

[Julie]

My suspicions:

• Monica: A bit of a hispanic accent, laced with a touch of Irish brogue (but the boss says she's got a high-pitched voice, which I don't quite get)
• Amanda: Midwestern, not quite Minnesooooootan but not regional. Maybe a bit of New York Aristocratic because of how she described mom.
• Shelly: Rather bland American accent, with a touch of Southwest and maybe a few Minnesoooootan pieces. I hear her voice change depending on mood and whether she's being referred to as "The Sage" or not. In fact, her most recent dialogue comes across as very low-key and matter-of-fact, where in the past her voice may have gone up an octave or two.
• Phix: Dame Judi Dench. That is all.
• Nudge: A bit of Brooklynese, combined with some Minnesoooooooootan to try and "fit in".
• Atsali: Melissa Joan Hart.
• Tina: A bit hispanic like Monica, but with more of a typical-American accent. Usually high octave (probably what Shelly could achieve on her worst days), but when grey text comes in, she sounds like Shelly's "Sage" self. She might actually have an "echo" sometimes if you listen to her intently.

Huh...I'd have given Monica a rather neutral American accent (due to her scholarly background/career) with a smattering of Minnesotan and Latina (depending on the people around her and the words being spoken). I kind of doubt she'd have much Irish brogue just because her grandfather was Irish. Accents don't always linger in the family past one or two generations.

[Sidhekin]

Well, she was close to her "g'pa".

[Julie]

Well, she was close to her "g'pa".

And I've always been close to my grandparents, but I don't sound a thing like them when I speak.

[Fairportfan]

Well, she was close to her "g'pa".

And I've always been close to my grandparents, but I don't sound a thing like them when I speak.

Well, depending on how much of her childhood she spent in Mexico, Grandpa Aaron may have been the main influence on her English in her formative years.

[Opus the Poet]

Another take on "Does you choker hold your head on?" meme. http://somethingpositive.net/sp04222014.shtml Just as hilarious as we all thought about Tina.