Sudden Accents

scargill · 04-07-2007 10:33AM

A friend's brother went to London for 6 weeks to work in a bar over the summer months. When he came back he sounded like Derek Trotter. the guy is a tool btw.

This same friend has developed some sort of posh Dublin accent recently. I don't know where the hell it has come from but it's a bit strange. I'm no psychologist, but I think he is trying to appear "posher" and more well off. He thinks he is some sort of businessman / dealmaker when we all know he is a sales rep.

I have another friend from Cork - been living in Kildare for years so we have flattened his accent in Kildare. If he goes home for the weekend his Cork accent is recharged....but after a few days we drag him back down to our flah haccent.

*meant to go unreg...ah well !

MrPudding · 04-07-2007 10:37AM

nipplenuts wrote:

My sister assimilates in a couple of days. It's very funny really - almost like she has no identity of her own. Ever see the Woody Allen film "Zelig"?

My 8 year old daughter is the same. I have a northie accent, my GF has a french accent and my daughter has a Dublin accent, though she use to have a northie accent.

The thing is her accent will start to changes with a few hours of exposure to a new accent. It is very funny.

She speaks French with a Normandy accent mostly, but after having a sleepover with a Friend from school who is from Belgium we could hear a difference in her French.

If she spends a weekend with my sister in Teddington she will have an Englisg twang at the end of it.

It is very worrying as we are now living in the UK and I think her accent when she speaks english is lovely, she will have a sh1tty english accent in a matter of weeks though.

MrP

oneweb · 04-07-2007 10:42AM

giddyup wrote:

Answer - Tralee. We were a little surprised and asked her the shtory with her accent.

<snip>

well...you're just looking for a shlap.

Thanks for that, needed a giggle

Apparently I don't really have any sort of discernable accent so I'd be horrified to realise that I'd picked one up somewhere. (lol, sorry, I realise I make it sound like an STI or somethin

) I've had 3 mates go to Oz and come back *exactly* as they sounded before. Some places just have infectious accents, but it's a good point that those who pick them up really quick seem to be a bit, umm, odd!

Slutmonkey57b · 04-07-2007 10:43AM

OP: Your friends dropped their NI accents in favour of something else - surely that's a good thing? Listening to the northern accent is like having sandpaper dragged across your ears. Did they stop shouting everything at the top of their lungs and arguing with people too?

Tar.Aldarion · 04-07-2007 10:46AM

MrPudding, that is one huge signature.

biko · 04-07-2007 10:46AM

Fwaggle wrote:

I get people asking me all the time if I'm from Donegal

A Sottish accent can sound like an Ulster accent.

galah · 04-07-2007 10:52AM

interesting discussion...

Actually, picking up accents is one way of blending in, and trying not to stick out - call it integration if you will. I don't think it has anything to do with low self-esteem or anything. It's probably easier if you have an ear for languages, and if English is not your native language - simple because you're more susceptible to the accents, and not fixed on one in particular.

I'm originally from Germany, lived in Ireland for a year, came back with a very strong Galway accent, then moved to Australia for two years, picked up 'Strine, and then moved back to Galway - now, 4 years later, it's a messy mix of rather strong Galway-isms plus a couple of words still pronounced in an Australian accent. (and the odd word pronounced with a German accent, but that doesn't happen all that much...)

_blank_ · 04-07-2007 10:56AM

cormie wrote:

This is what I've heard too.

I also know somebody from Kerry who's been in Dublin for the past 30 or so years and every time she speaks to somebody from Kerry, her accent is reborn:)

My gf is from just outside Tralee, and everytime she speaks to her parents or siblings on the phone, I struggle to understand her.

connundrum · 04-07-2007 11:08AM

I used to have a strong South African accent, but quickly lost that when I moved to Offaly and developed a bogger accent. Once I moved up to Dublin that was lost in favour of a Northsider accent.

But all is lost when I'm in the company of different groups of people ie. if I'm standing on the Hill you can be sure that its Northsider all the way, whereas when I'm down in Offaly on the beer its bogger all the way.

I guess its a natural reaction to change accent. I can stand having to repeat myself, and would rather speak in a manner that people around me can understand.

FlutterinBantam · 04-07-2007 11:10AM

I unfortunately have developed a Dublin accent from speaking in gutteral tones through clenched teeth and in words of one syllable.

Giztwoadembleedinpakeracrispantwentyjohhniebluederepale huhuhuh

bandit*baby · 04-07-2007 11:17AM

nice1franko wrote:

It's the sign of a feeble idiot

Hardy .... i study in Cork and the majority of the people i communicate with on a daily basis are from - come on now guess where - Cork, I've always had a relatively neutral accent just a bit of a Dublin twang so its obvious that after 2 years of living, studying and working in cork that i start to pick up the accent
now i've returned to dub for the summer it took 3 weeks before my accent returned to normal
and its not delibrate i don't even realise that i'm speaking with an accent whether its a dublin one or a cork one

_feedback_ · 04-07-2007 11:52AM

thelordofcheese wrote:

i'm guessing a southern ireland accent. or maybe a southside accent. One or the other.

Ah yes! the OP is from Antrim!

WindSock · 04-07-2007 12:02PM

I have also manually adapted my accent, so as not to pronounce things like-Whash, and thashh. One thing that really makes my skin crawl is the irish conversion of t's to sh. And it's particularly prominent in females.

Unpossible · 04-07-2007 12:35PM

I had to tone down my accent when I moved over here. It took a few months but I managed to speak slower and made my accent more flat. Its worked to my advantage because now I automatically change speeds depending on who Im speaking to. When Im talking with other native english speakers I speed up a little and if they are Irish then my old kerry accent starts to come back. The only problem is when I go home I usually spend a week speaking slower than I need to

I have also started to pronounce the word "finland" the way the finns do.

jdivision · 04-07-2007 12:41PM

Some people say I get an American twang on certain expressions. I'm really surprised by that because I don't think I do. I tend to mutter a bit and it usually happens when I'm trying to speak as clearly as possible. Don't know whether it's related or not. the sudden aceent thing drives me mad too (particularly country girl becomes Dort girl in two months) so being told I have a bit of an American one was a bit annoying!!

Fratton Fred · 04-07-2007 01:08PM

I still have my English accent (Actually, I don't have an accent, you lot do:D ) but I have started to use irish words, such as press for a cupboard or laneway for an alleyway. My daughter's accent is changing and she has developed a lovely English/Irish accent, but I have told her i will never ever be Da! the day she calls me Da is the day we move back to Berkshire. My wife is getting her Irish accent back and gets asked where in England she is from less often, which really pleases her:)

I have to say, some people in the Sandycove/Dalkey area have the wierdest ****ing accents ever (and dress sense). This "Mid Atlantic" accents just sounds false and put on..roish. wtf is that all about

tolosenc · 04-07-2007 02:25PM

I grew up with my mum having a Dublin accent, and my dad having a strong British Colombian accent. I speak to my mum with a Dub accent and Dublin mannerisms/Idioms, and speak to my dad with the Canadian English I got from him. I read somewhere that that is akin to bilingualism at a more simplistic level.

Those of you who say picking up an accent is a sign of weak character, I'd question that. If I went to live in Cork, I'd pick up a bit of Cork in my accent. If I went to Germany I'd pick up a bit of German. What you hear and read everyday influences your speach patterns.

Tzetze · 04-07-2007 02:36PM

Those of you who say picking up an accent is a sign of weak character, I'd question that.

I'm of the opinion that it stems from a desire/need to fit in with your peers/surroundings. I wouldn't equate this to having weak character. It's more a survival instinct.

Sheep in wolves' clothing, if you will.

zuutroy · 04-07-2007 02:44PM

I found myself saying 'eh' an awful lot after living in Toronto, and then the usual ones like 'garbage', which you got used to using just to be understood.

Mr. Presentable · 04-07-2007 02:49PM

zuutroy wrote:

I found myself saying 'eh' an awful lot after living in Toronto,eh and then the usual ones like 'garbage', which you got used to using just to be understood,eh.

zuutroy · 04-07-2007 03:10PM

LOL....I'm still at it and I didnt even realise...

Mrs. MacGyver · 04-07-2007 05:52PM

I have a really strong Cork Accent (like the characters in soupy norman) however i have a northside dublin accent on some of my words (comes from living there 9 years (north Strand and Darndale!)

04-07-2007 06:07PM

Tzetze wrote:

I'm of the opinion that it stems from a desire/need to fit in with your peers/surroundings. I wouldn't equate this to having weak character. It's more a survival instinct.

Sheep in wolves' clothing, if you will.

+1

I was born in the Irish part of London, when I was 5 we moved to a rural area, The locals thought I had just got off the boat! soon changed accents.

Lived in Ireland two years now, accent is still the same as it was the day I moved here. But my children have switched accents!

magick · 04-07-2007 06:13PM

She now talks like she has lived there, like, all her, like life.

These people should be killed by using a spoon to tongue and voice box, im hoping for a bill to be passed

Pompey Magnus · 04-07-2007 07:31PM

I'm from the midlands, I lived in Derry for a year last year, since coming back I have had loads of people think I am from the north. I didn't believe it until I saw a video of myself and heard me talking, and I do have a definite northern accent. Mind you I always thought the north has the best accents in Ireland.

aidan_dunne · 04-07-2007 07:52PM

Hermione* wrote:

It's like people who persist in calling their mother mom.

This is something that annoys the absolute fúck out of me! You hear all these feckin' pretentious kids and teenagers going around now with some sort of put-on half D4/half 'O.C.' American accent calling their mothers "mom". It drives me fúcking nuts! :mad:

You're Irish, you little twáts! You don't call her "mom". You call her "mammy" or "ma". Even "mum" is just about bearable. But not "mom". Never mom!

I swear, sometimes when I hear someone Irish saying "mom" it makes me want to go over, grab them by the shoulders, shake them vigourously and shout at them, in time honoured Boardsie fashion, "She's not your "mom", she's "YORE MA", "YORE... FECKIN'... MA! Get it into your thick skull you O.C. wannabe!" :mad:

Ahem, sorry about that, folks, I just needed to get that out of my system. Normal service will now be resumed!

J.S. Pill · 04-07-2007 08:01PM

Next time you're standing next to a bunch of EMO kids have a listen to the accents. There will always be a few who sound genuinely american. And I don't just mean the odd 'like' or 'oh my god' thrown in, I talking about proper american accents - Perverse, f**king perverse.

I can certainly understand how if english was your second language that it may be influenced by movies and TV but your mother tounge? Its going to come to the stage where we're going to have to correct this through our schools, are we going to have to cut out Shakesphere and replace him with voice coaching?

I come from Wexford. I, like a lot of my friends, don't have any discernable accent. I live in Cork now. Because I don't have an accent Cork people invariably assume I'm from Dublin. Cork people don't like people from Dublin. I sometimes wish I had sudden accent syndrome.

Awful Scut · 04-07-2007 10:36PM

boreds wrote:

I have also manually adapted my accent, so as not to pronounce things like-Whash, and thashh. One thing that really makes my skin crawl is the irish conversion of t's to sh. And it's particularly prominent in females.

Ha ha ha. I never noticed that myself until a Spanish lad I was living with (who I had told to copy the natives as much as possible in order to better his English) started pronouncing 'right' as 'rightch' and 'what' as 'whatsss'.

I asked him what the hell he was at and he told me he was imitating his Mayo-born female boss.

Red Hand · 04-07-2007 11:14PM

aidan_dunne wrote:

This is something that annoys the absolute fúck out of me! You hear all these feckin' pretentious kids and teenagers going around now with some sort of put-on half D4/half 'O.C.' American accent calling their mothers "mom". It drives me fúcking nuts! :mad:

You're Irish, you little twáts! You don't call her "mom". You call her "mammy" or "ma". Even "mum" is just about bearable. But not "mom". Never mom!

I swear, sometimes when I hear someone Irish saying "mom" it makes me want to go over, grab them by the shoulders, shake them vigourously and shout at them, in time honoured Boardsie fashion, "She's not your "mom", she's "YORE MA", "YORE... FECKIN'... MA! Get it into your thick skull you O.C. wannabe!" :mad:

Ahem, sorry about that, folks, I just needed to get that out of my system. Normal service will now be resumed!

I don't know where you get that. My mother who is in her fifties always called my grandmother "Mom" and so did her 2 of her sisters (two didn't, it was "Mum"-strange:) ), and they were from a lower to middle class background from rural Cork. I call my mother Mom as well.

Echelle · 04-07-2007 11:25PM

Has anyone noticed the "croak"that has now become the norm when younger American women speak? Don't know where it began but it is now appearing in Ireland. Not nice.

Sudden Accents

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