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OT: Let me ask our British posters a strange question
Maybe it's not politically correct, but --
Why is it that British people seem to find it very easy to speak with an American accent (of any kind), but from what I've heard, very few Americans can pull off any sort of British accent?:confused: |
And why can't any of you (British or American) do an Australian accent? :p
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Please don't take this personally but I avoid most commercial TV network programming here in Australia because I am absolutely sick and tired of hearing American accents punctuated with canned laughter. It makes my skin crawl. I do regularly watch some American programs but they have a particular flavour that I like - NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles and The Unit to name a few. And some American sci fi series are top notch too. |
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the other side of the ear
I, too, have always wondered what the several American regional accents sound like to a non-native ear, and just what changes are required by the non-native speaker to torture English into 'Merkan?
I do remember a very old version of Dracula produced in England back in the '70s that had someone trying very hard (and failing) to produce a Texan accent as one of the characters. Now we have Hugh Laurie (as "House") and Damian Lewis (Capt. Dick Winters in "Band of Brothers" and Charlie Crews in the series "Life") who have quite aptly mastered the art of phonically fooling the Colonial ear. |
We have secret classes on it in school so that we can blend in when we come over to re colonise the Americas :D
Honestly though, I've no idea, although I know that in England my Belfast accent is regularly taken for Scottish or American. I also pick up and lose accents very quickly. |
Whilst I personally don't think that I can mimic any accent (with the possible exception of South African), I think Targan hit the nail on the head - it's probably got a lot to do with the influence that American TV shows and cinema have. Especially the TV shows...I get around 30 different TV channels, and honestly have no clue how many different episodes of the various CSI and Law and Order franchises it would be possible to watch in a week, but it's a lot!
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I agree, I used to have an ear, especialy when I had roommates from the sotuh or new england, or dated a girl from Oz, I would be able to mimic and pass somewhat, often just to mess with them. Exposure and developuing the ear and of course to mimic what you hear.
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My mother speaks seven languages -- and she says that English was by far the hardest to learn. |
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Truth be told, I'd be happy to have a million or more English-speaking immigrants arrive. The English learner (EL) situation in California's schools is becoming a real crisis. I don't have a problem with (legal) immigrants per se, but the system isn't set up to handle the sheer weight of EL in the public schools. California has a population of about 38 million in a nation of approximately 300 million. We'll round this to 10% of the nation's population. One third of the EL in the nation's public schools are in California. In some school districts, EL are 90% or more of the school body. Again, it is what it is. It would be nice to be able to mix in a few more native English speakers--even if their English is a bit dodgy. Webstral |
Web, you should try coming here to Texas -- not only is our state the king of "teaching to the test," the Texas legislature is currently considering replacing all the history books in our schools with ones that remove whole swaths of history, putting in sections that are essentially complete bullshit, distorting other sections (did you know that McCarthy was actually right about communists in the US and that he was run out of office without justification? These clowns think so...), and in some cases, just making stuff up. This is because Texas is the state where the Tea Party runs riot and Texas is the headquarters of Right-Wing Wackos Central. Texas kids are already some of the most poorly educated in the country -- and it looks like it's just going to get worse. It's not like our kids aren't going to school -- it's that poor education methods are institutionalized in Texas.
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I've been following the developments in Texas education. It does not seem like a pretty picture.
The Tea Party confuses me. If the electorate doesn't like what their elected officials are doing, why not put more pressure on those officials? With the number of people flocking to the Tea Party, they easily could bury the incumbents with letters demanding a particular policy. Special interests can provide funding, but they can't provide votes. How a legislator votes on given issues is public record. Wouldn't it be simpler to hold a legislator accountable for how s/he votes than create a whole new party? If the numbers involved in the Tea Party were to sign documents representing a unified position, neither Democrat nor Republican incumbent could ignore them. "We'll vote you out" is the one message to which our elected officials really give their attention. I understand that most republics have the same problem. We're too busy with our everyday lives to get involved in politics until things go south. Ounces of prevention... Webstral |
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In his parting address to the country, George Washington warned of the danger of forming political parties. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were already forming the ancestors of the current Democratic and Republican parties. I really wish that the country had listened to him. |
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Just to defend one of my heroes
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FWIW, political stupidity is all over, I think the GOP candidate for governor in Ohio is going to run on repealing the income tax so he can attract businesses to the state. I don't think businesses will come to a state with no schools.... |
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Just a weird thought that popped into my head: do you think Alexander Hamilton's friends called him "Ham" as a nickname?
Actually, Alexander Hamilton's Federalist party died out after the War of 1812. For that matter, John Adams was a Federalist, so I did screw up there. |
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what about AL?
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Governors, of course, are elected every four years. I ought to know what the legislative cycle is in every state, but I don't. I suppose it's easy enough to look up, what with the Internet and all. I'm guilty of encouraging a thread that is becoming political. I may not be the best moderator to moderate or make a decision about where the line is drawn. Perhaps one of the other moderators might make an assessment? Webstral |
assesment
Yeah - I will give it a try :
The thread was about accents ,somehow politics got in .It seems civil enough .Anyways .The assessment : Try to say your pieces with a New Zeeland accent . ;) It is WEIRD but beautiful. They change the E with an I or some such so that the word EXIT will sound like IXIT etc . No try to do this with the legislative measures towards which the tea party is currently protesting Anyone from down under that feels I have misrepresented their wonderous English ,please I will take no blindfold .Just let me finish my last fag and get on with it . ;) ( yes ,it is a joke -and Yanks ,fag is slang for a cigarette in case some of you raised an eyebrow ) |
For some reason, I've always had this idea that Headquarters and General Pain are actually the same person. Hmmm...maybe this post belongs in the Conspiracy Theories thread...
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hehehehe
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( have you seen his picture ?!?!?!? ) But we have been gaming for 18 years and our brains "absurd recepteors "are finely tuned in sync . Other than that - I would love to be at the heart of a conspiracy theory . As for GP -he already thinks he is in one.... :D |
heheh
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I would have to strive to attain the same mastery of grammar and misspellings that the good General has . Really put an effort in to work my way down to that level. ;) |
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Americans trying to do British accents seem to choose one of two accents - very upper-class, or cockney. This annoys a lot of Brits, since there are plenty more accents to choose from. I do wonder, though, is the opposite true? Do Americans get annoyed that Brits always choose the same American accent? Russ |
I always caught a lot of flack in the military, because my strong northern accent. They used to call me a Canadian. When I was in Thailand a Australian guy in a Mc Donalds there thought I was a Canadian too. He said I can always tell the Americans from the Canadians. I was going to tell him that I wasn't a Canadian, but decided to forget about it.:p:D
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Never mind, that's an old reference -- put "Magnum PI" into Google or Wikipedia and you'll understand...:rolleyes: |
Slightly OT
What annoys me about US shows is that the British/English bloke is always the bad guy - and usually talks like the Royal family! A mate from my neck of the woods (NW England) was on holiday in the US and another tourist from the US (he was @ grand canyon or something) asked my mate 'what part of the US are you from?' - obviously he couldnt have been English because he didnt talk like the Queen or the dodgy chimney-sweep in Mary Poppins :) And finally - what amazes me is the Dutch and Scandanavians, they speak English better than us English! Many with perfect, if neutral, accents. |
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