I ain't from around nowhere, Setanta. <smile>
Shewolf, I have a neighbor from Georgia, and there's no denying where she is from, but East Virginia accents are quite different than those of the deep South. I love ethnicity.
Y'all know I speak Southern. :wink:
Didja ever notice how people from Northern states LOVE to hear a woman speak with a Southern accent and find it completely charming, but they assume any man who speaks this way must be stupid...?
I think it's funny, but it really pisses off my husband!
Eva wrote:Y'all know I speak Southern. :wink:
Didja ever notice how people from Northern states LOVE to hear a woman speak with a Southern accent and find it completely charming, but they assume any man who speaks this way must be stupid...?
I think it's funny, but it really pisses off my husband!
Eva, I think it true about women too. (Thinking that they're stupid, that is.) It's why I dropped my accent lo those many years ago.
I look forward to hearing your accent in person.
Prior to my one and only visit to the American mainland, I was told by one of my friends, to put on an upper class English accent and just watch the reaction.
During our trip, my wife and I were in Washington and walking through a shopping mall. I was holding a big glass door open for the better half, when I noticed a group of women behind us.
I continued to hold the door as they approached, and the lead lady said "Why, thank you" in that chirpy American accent. I replied (trying to sound as much like Prince Philip as possible) "Think nothing of it ladies, it is my pleasure". My wife, at this point, was standing in the background, rolling her eyes.
"OH MY GOD, YOU'RE ENGLISH!"....The reaction was immediate. A loud twittering erupted as we were physically surrounded by this group of ardent shoppers, all firing questions at once. Were we on vacation? Did we like Washington? Where in England were we from? (reply...London) "OH MY GOD....LONDON!"....More twittering.....
About half an hour later, we were sitting in a lovely cafe, having a sandwich and a coffee (bloody sandwich? More like a sodding banquet between two loaves of bread) when the group reappeared and started waving at us through the window. They came into the cafe, plonked themselves down at our table, and proceeded to interrogate us for another half an hour. One even asked my wife where she got her shoes, and then asked if we could send her a pair!
Wonderful women! We had quite a laugh, and if we hadn't been moving on the following day, one of the ladies said that she would have invited us round for dinner!
We came away with her phone number, and strict instructions to phone her if ever we re-visited Washington.
My tip to any young single English guy who is half decent looking and wanting the time of his life:- Buy some smart clothes, hop on a plane to Washington and practise your posh accent. Then go and hold open a couple of doors for rich looking women.
I wish I had discovered this before I got married.
I'm sure you're right, LordE. I absolutely love that accent!
Mac...I'm sorry you lost your accent. We will just have to practice that next weekend in Chicago.
Honestly, Yankees have never treated me as though they thought I was dumb. Not at all. My husband, however...(who is at the top of his field)...only has to open his mouth, and they start talking verrrry sloooooowly and overexplaining everything. There really is a double standard.
BTW, my accent is more of a Texas-type accent, but not quite as pronounced. I probably sound just like everyone you know in Houston. I really love the Southern accents in Tennessee, though. So soft and gentle. When I'm there for any length of time, I start sounding that way, too. I pick up accents very easily.
It's that whole Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof vibe. Wow! She was hot, even if her accent left a little to be desired.
But whenever I hear that Southern lilt in a female I think of that movie.
When I hear it in male tones, I think of Strother Martin in Cool Hand Luke...
"What we got here is... failure to communicate!"
Well then, thank ya, Liz darlin'!
My kids are of Irish ancestry from my side and Chinese ancestry on their
mother's. My youngest refers to it as "Chirish". Funny thing is, each
side of the family thinks they look more like the other side. I guess
features that are different from your own are what stand out to you.
ossobuco wrote:NEXT week in Chicago?
Oh. I said "next weekend," didn't I. Well, it IS the next weekend, isn't it?! I always confuse people that way. I should have just said "Friday."
My fingers have finally thawed enough to type. It is amazing how missing just one tiny exterior wall will allow your house to become so frigid.
It sounds like perhaps I should be a bit more careful with my questions. Most people don't seem to mind but enough do that my behavior falls outside the lines of proper.
Southern accents, I agree, sound better on women than on men for the most part but then someone like Al Gore can change your perception. He has a beautiful voice, I think.
I call my sister "Miss Texas" because her voice mail message just drips with honey. She is absolutely teeny and absolutely darling and she has that honeyed voice but behind that facade is an investment banker who will nail your balls to the wall. She cracks me up! What a bitchin' belle she is.
My accent has disappeared until I visit home and then it comes back with a vengence.
And when I'm mad! My staff used to warn each other that I had "gone south" when I was in a bad mood.
OK, so what happened to your exterior wall...?!
Oh man!
We're getting ready to put in a patio and Mr. B decided we needed a new door and a new window in our living room that will lead out to the only in our imagination patio.
So he tore the door and the window out on Saturday.
Then yesterday he went and bought a door.
And ORDERED a window.
The door weighs hundreds of pounds so the installation has become a bit more complex than he anticipated. The window won't be here for another .... oh..... 10 days or so.
Everything would have been fine if the weather had held but it got down to 39 degrees last night!
Someone is coming to install the door tomorrow and the window is covered for now.
I kept myself warm today by spring cleaning and rearranging the furniture. The house looks damn good.
Good grief!
Sounds like it will be way cool when completed, but for now, good grief! (Does "covered" mean "cold air stays out and warm air stays in" or, like, a sheet...?)
It isn't as bad as it sounds. We typically sleep with that door open whenever possible because the old, sick dog can't manage the dog door anymore and it keeps us from having to get up several times each night.
Nobody expected it to get that cold last night. It really isn't any different from camping but the bed is more comfortable. I think it's just that you don't expect to be that cold in your very own home.
At least we don't!
Stuff like this really makes you sympathize with the homeless and the poor. I'm a total frikken pansy to even complain.
I know what you mean. The furnace has gone out for one reason or another nearly every winter for the past several years, it seems (furnace problems or power outages) and it's amazing how bone-chilling an in-house temperature of 50 or so can get. Outside it doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but...
Definitely a perspective-giver.
Eva wrote:Didja ever notice how people from Northern states LOVE to hear a woman speak with a Southern accent and find it completely charming, but they assume any man who speaks this way must be stupid...?
So true, so true...sho nuf true
