Not that I have anything against ol' Jack (I don't), but I think I'll join ehBeth in a toast with some Canadian Crown Royal Whisky.
I've often wondered how long it took Americans to develop their own accent after leaving England.
I used to think it would take a long time, but now I'm apt to think by the 2nd generation born here we sounded strange to British ears.
I had to make a concerted effort to diminish my original birth accent as I couldn't hear it. Since then, it doesn't take long at all to start sounding like the locals.
Since there were 13 colonies, what would the prodominent accent have sounded like? New York? New Jersey? Virginia?
Maybe some Southern Comfort.....
Don't forget, Chai, that the makeup of the colonial stock, so to speak, was not all that homogeneous. Those who settled Virginia were primarily of Cavalier stock. Their accents would have been somewhat different from the Puritans who settled New England. New York and New Jersey were originally Dutch colonies, not English, and I suspect that after the Brits acquired those territories, intermarriage and other social contact with the Hollanders would have affected their speech patterns. Maryland started as a Roman Catholic colony. Most of the Catholics left in England after Henry VIII's reformation were apt to be more posh than the largely rural Puritans.
Chai Tea wrote:I've often wondered how long it took Americans to develop their own accent after leaving England.
I used to think it would take a long time, but now I'm apt to think by the 2nd generation born here we sounded strange to British ears.
I had to make a concerted effort to diminish my original birth accent as I couldn't hear it. Since then, it doesn't take long at all to start sounding like the locals.
Since there were 13 colonies, what would the prodominent accent have sounded like? New York? New Jersey? Virginia?
The really interesting question is what we and the British sounded like in the 18th century. Did either then sound like either now?
Chai Tea wrote:pushchairs????
foo*in A!
lol aka Pram or Baby Stroller...
I crack up at the word Vehicle..Americans pronounce it Veer-hi-kill
we pronounce it 'Veer-kill'....
but then Australians pronounce all their A's like Americans....example the city Cairns...we pronounce it as its written but Australians pronounce it as 'Cans'
hmmm food for thought all this English word pronunciations and spellings!
I always think that Australians sound like cockneys, more or less...
As for "whiskey" and "whisky": In the U.S., Scottish single malts are "whisky" and all other booze has the "e".
yes you are correct with the Whiskeys etc...I work in the Liquor industry and that is correct...10 points for D'artagnan :wink:
carry on folks
most amusing all these irish americans canajuns kiwishaggers trying to speak
English
Right as rain, mate... er, luv!
Personally, I love the little differences. Wouldn't the world be a boring place if we were all exactly the same.
I know, when talking to someone who has English as their native tongue, roughly what part of the world they originated from in a matter of seconds. Most of the time.
I think a Canadian accent sounds like the USA accent, but with a fair dollop of Scottish in there somewhere.
Australians probably sound like Cockneys, because they are basically descended from London convicts, evidenced by the fact that, when they come over here on their backpacking holidays, they make straight for London, as if by instinct. Thousands of the buggers....swarming about, taking all the summer jobs and sitting on street corners crying, because of the cricket.
(puts pith helmet on, waiting for mouse and smoking rabbit)
The sexiest "foreign" English has got to be either Aussie/NZ, or Southern Belle American, IMO.
South African does nothing for me, I'm afraid.
Even sexier, an Eastern European female of the nubile variety, speaking English as a second language.
.and spelling? Who cares, as it is very similar, so everyone knows what is being said.
Differing words can cause confusion though, as I found out in Boston once, when I asked someone for a fag.
As the old English phrase goes......"Vive la difference"
I suppose my Dad was, seeing as my Mum was born in Balclutha.
..your Mum was an an 'Otago' girl! LE
Chai Tea wrote:I've often wondered how long it took Americans to develop their own accent after leaving England.
I used to think it would take a long time, but now I'm apt to think by the 2nd generation born here we sounded strange to British ears.
I'm betting that it didn't take that long.
My wife was born in the Newcastle part of England. Her family moved to Australia when she was young, lived there for several years, and then moved back to England for a while again.
Back in England her and her brother sounded "funny" to English ears. They didn't sound "local" at all.
Now, when the family moved to Canada, no one had a clue where they were from!
It's very hard -- next to impossible, in fact -- to distinguish between an American and a Canadian accent. To me, at least, they sound identical. Except, of course, that Canadians give themselves away when they say 'eh?' at the end of the sentence. Never heard a true Yank do that.
kiwishagger?