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[SonicMegaDrive]

What are you talking about, I don't have an accent, you do, commie.

Southern accents? I despise people with southern accents, but that's because they're different than me and I don't accept them.

 

[MetatronM]

Whenever I hear someone with a heavy Southern drawl, I instantly think "god, what a moron." It's a big problem.

I know the obvious accents are pretty easy for non-Americans to spot, but do you guys also hear the difference between accents that are slightly less subtle like, say, a New York accent and a Boston accent?

And, yeah, it's very tough to stop yourself from using "like" randomly in a sentence. Usually it's really just a sign that someone is thinking of what they're saying as they go along. When your mouth goes faster than your mind, the likes started to pop up. The Japanese do the same thing actually, but they replace the "like" with "ano." It's just a default word that gets thrown in when your brain is trying to fill in blanks as it thinks.

 

[Diomedeskun]

Even the rather small Puerto Rico has different accents and word usage between the east and the west of the island.

 

[M3wThr33]

My girlfriend has live in Alberta for all of her life (20 years). Her accent is not noticable unless she's talking to relatives. (Extend vowels, like o's or long a's) I've been told I do a great Canadian accent, and that makes me proud. Of course, she also digs the fact that I naturally sound like a surfer from all the surfer movies and it's a big trip for her, to be dating a surfer boy (Who has never owned a surfboard).
I lived in southern California for 18 years, then I moved to Redmond, Washington.

My roommates have been from Connecticut, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan and other states to the east of me. I can tell differences in their slurring.

It's really interesting being around them all because they're adapting to my West Coast dialect. I pick up very little, but these guys inevitably change.

 

[BugCatcher]

And, yeah, it's very tough to stop yourself from using "like" randomly in a sentence. Usually it's really just a sign that someone is thinking of what they're saying as they go along. When your mouth goes faster than your mind, the likes started to pop up. The Japanese do the same thing actually, but they replace the "like" with "ano." It's just a default word that gets thrown in when your brain is trying to fill in blanks as it thinks.

"Ano" has nothing in common with the usage of "like" in colloquial American speech.

The "like" being talked about in this thread is used in two ways:
1) As a focus marker (I am like, never going back there again!)
2) As a substitution for the verb "to say" (He was like,"That's no moon...")

It's a bit more complicated than that, but I think you get the idea. gofreak has conveniently provided a sentence that illustrates both of these meanings. I should note that "is like" and "is all" are both used to mean "to say", but what we see in gofreak's sentence is "is all like", the bastard child of these two verbs.

"I was LIKE, YOU KNOW, TOTALLY into him, and HE WAS ALL LIKE..."

"Ano" is used:
1) As a filler (sore wa, ano, higuma ja nai ka)
2) To get someone's attention (ano, eiga wo mitteiru kara, mou chotto shizuka ni shite moraenai?)
3) When hesitating (ano, warui kedo, ichi man en karite ii?)

If anything, "ano" is more akin to the interjection "uh", but it is definitely not related to "like".

 

[Comfort_Eagle]

the only cool american accents are southern accents

Southerners have the worst sounding accents. They hurt my ears.

 

[Ristamar]

Being born and rasied in Pennsylvnia, I'm very familiar with the Western PA/Pittsburg/Eastern Ohio accent and dialect... thank god I somehow avoided developing it (probably because I moved closer to the southeast part of the state at a very young age).

 

[Red Dolphin]

The only differences in accents I can tell between people of the same country are ppl of different "socioeconomic" backgrounds. The worst accents in the world are the lower class or country(ppl not in main cities) accents of any country. They are usually really strong or extreme accents too that even people of their own country think these ppl sound funny.

 

[Blackace]

Yeah, like "keeannt".

A little better than the Kiwis version... kunt...

 

[speedpop]

I can't really make out each American region accent, but if someone says "oh that person's from such-and-such" I will usually remember. However I know I am talking to someone from Boston because they seem to have the same style to my hometown (Newcastle) in Australia. Whether this is due to Newcastle being a rather worker's man city or not, who knows.

People have often said that they can hear Scottish and Irish accents in me though which is kinda weird but understandable somewhat when you take into account that my main blood is Scot, Irish and Aboriginal.

As for Kiwi accents, I think they're pretty good. Most Australian's say that you can't understand them but I am pretty fine with it.

 

[White Man]

I've always wondered if I have an accent (Seattle, WA).

Probably not. After moving here from 2600 miles away, I was kind of disappointed and surprised that people pretty much talk the same here.

My favorite American accent is New York, but let's face it, there aren't many hawt choices.

 

[teh_pwn]

American accent? It changes per region, just like it does in any other nation. Like the UK has Ireland, southern England, Northern England, Scotland, and Wales. There's much more than that too.

The US is much bigger and consequently more diverse. We have people from many nations in the world.

 

[Red Dolphin]

You know I never really notice the American accent (I'm Australian) when I watch any films or tv shows from America (generally speaking). They just sound "normal". Not sure how to put it. It's always blatently obvious with american news reporters though. They always have such strong accents. And they are annoying ;p

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

American accent? It changes per region, just like it does in any other nation. Like the UK has Ireland, southern England, Northern England, Scotland, and Wales. There's much more than that too.

The US is much bigger and consequently more diverse. We have people from many nations in the world.

This is true but if I listen to Lennox Lewis or Prince Charles I can tell they have different accents but, they still sound "Brittish" to me. Some one from England can tell the region but, I'm not going that far.

 

[Culex]

I don't think us Connecticut folk have an accent. We're about as neutral as you can get.

 

[Warm Machine]

Well I think hollywood has done a good job of making it sound like no one in the US has an accent. Then you actually get there and most people you run into have a heavy to light texan sort of twang to their voice. Just crossing from BC into Washington state I can hear it.

Yes there is a Canadian accent though you only really begin to hear it starting in the praries where people sound like those in the movie Fargo and then heading to the east side of the country is where you get the aboot shit. Finally reaching the Atlantic ocean you'll get the Canadianized Irish Scottish mish mash that is the accent heard in newfoundland.

When I travel to England I always hear a pretty clear distinction between all the different accents.

 

[Blackace]

The lady who tells you the time... on the phone in the US is from Seattle...

 

[Guzim]

I don't think us Connecticut folk have an accent. We're about as neutral as you can get.

You're right. Connecticut rules!

 

[DaCocoBrova]

Americans have butchered the 'Kings English'. I thought it could get no worse, but it has.

My real issue is that most of the world thinks all Americans talk like George Bush... *shudder*

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

Americans have butchered the 'Kings English'. I thought it could get no worse, but it has.

Probably becasue we aren't subject to the King's rules on diction.

 

[Mama Smurf]

This is true but if I listen to Lennox Lewis or Prince Charles I can tell they have different accents but, they still sound "Brittish" to me. Some one from England can tell the region but, I'm not going that far.

Lennox Lewis chooses whatever accent he wants to depending on who he's talking to/where he is. By most accounts his British accent is fake, his actual one is Canadian as he grew up in Kitchener.

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

Lennox Lewis chooses whatever accent he wants to depending on who he's talking to/where he is. By most accounts his British accent is fake, his actual one is Canadian as he grew up in Kitchener.

Hmmm, fooled me. When I think of fake accents I think of Tina Turner. Her Mississippi-London accent is horrid.

 

[Matt]

You're right. Connecticut rules!

Yea, linguists agree that the geographic location of no accent speech in the English world is in Kent, Connecticut. I live in Westchester County, so I don’t really have one as well.

 

[scarybore]

My real issue is that most of the world thinks all Americans talk like George Bush... *shudder*

Heh I wouldnt say thats true in the UK, but I would generally say we can certainly tell if a guy is american from his accent.

To turn this around, we do love to take the piss out of how there only appears to be one extremely plummy english accent in use in the whole of america for TV shows and Holly wood movies (good recent example of this would be the 3rd series of 24). The same could be said of Scottish accents aswell.

I daresay that if most Americans heard a Aberdeen or Newcastle accent they would probably think the bloke is from Nigeria or something

 

[djtiesto]

Yea, linguists agree that the geographic location of no accent speech in the English world is in Kent, Connecticut. I live in Westchester County, so I don’t really have one as well.

Really? I could've sworn it was from Ohio... Westchester people have accents that aren't nearly as strong as LI or NYC, but it's there, slightly... You can definitely hear the difference between a Westchester and a Midwest person's accent.

 

[Matt]

Really? I could've sworn it was from Ohio... Westchester people have accents that aren't nearly as strong as LI or NYC, but it's there, slightly... You can definitely hear the difference between a Westchester and a Midwest person's accent.

Well yea, Midwesterners have Midwest accents, which is not a lack of accent.

 

[Blackace]

Seattle... very little accent...

 

[Koshiro]

Scottish accents > all.

Fixed.

 

[ChrisReid]

Hmm, supposedly the definitive American accent is found in central Ohio (Columbus)... I have a Lawn Guyland accent which is pretty ugly sounding, honestly...

Yeah, the Ohio area down to like Nebraska and then up northwest again is supposedly the most neutral sounding of the American accents. This probably extends to Oregon/Idaho/Washington.

 

[quin]

I grew up in North Dakota and when i moved to Denver everybody asked if i was from Canada

 

[MetatronM]

"Ano" has nothing in common with the usage of "like" in colloquial American speech.

The "like" being talked about in this thread is used in two ways:
1) As a focus marker (I am like, never going back there again!)
2) As a substitution for the verb "to say" (He was like,"That's no moon...")

It's a bit more complicated than that, but I think you get the idea. gofreak has conveniently provided a sentence that illustrates both of these meanings. I should note that "is like" and "is all" are both used to mean "to say", but what we see in gofreak's sentence is "is all like", the bastard child of these two verbs.

"Ano" is used:
1) As a filler (sore wa, ano, higuma ja nai ka)
2) To get someone's attention (ano, eiga wo mitteiru kara, mou chotto shizuka ni shite moraenai?)
3) When hesitating (ano, warui kedo, ichi man en karite ii?)

If anything, "ano" is more akin to the interjection "uh", but it is definitely not related to "like".

The way "like" has come to be used by Americans is not unlike "uh." It's pure filler most of the time. Yes it has other uses as well, but you'll also hear it used like this: "Like, there was this guy, and he like did all this magic shit and there was like this huge explosion."

I was talking more about situations like that, not situations where we add "like" for emphasis or as a replacement for other words.

 

[BugCatcher]

The way "like" has come to be used by Americans is not unlike "uh." It's pure filler most of the time.

"Like" has been used as a filler as far back as the 50s. In fact, it is its use as a focus and quotative marker that is more recent. This, I think, is now the more popular usage. Most (if not all) American dictionaries include the definition of "like" as an informal substitution for "to say", but list its role as a filler as nonstandard.


In your sentence:

"Like, there was this guy, and he like did all this magic shit and there was like this huge explosion."

Only the first "like" could be a filled pause, and even then someone could argue against that interpretation. Regardless of your intended meaning, because the last two are said without hesitation, their apparent function is emphasis.

My purpose was not to debate the popular usage of "like" in American English, only to point out that it is not accurate to equate it to "ano" as you have. Your assertion that the American-specific "like" serves the same function as "ano" in Japanese is misleading, because none of the examples of "like" given by other posters could be replaced with "ano". Thus, all you are really saying is "the Japanese have a filler word." Which is correct, if not particularly relevant. If you want to suggest a Japanese equivalent to "like" as a discourse marker, "toka" would be a better choice.

 

[Loki]

Whenever I hear someone with a heavy Southern drawl, I instantly think "god, what a moron." It's a big problem.

I know the obvious accents are pretty easy for non-Americans to spot, but do you guys also hear the difference between accents that are slightly less subtle like, say, a New York accent and a Boston accent?

Well, NY and Boston's accents aren't too dissimilar in general, but on certain words, it's really noticeable. For instance, Noo Yakwahs pronounce "car" as "k-are" (where "are" is pronounced like the stand-alone word), while Bostonians say something which sounds more akin to "k-ahh". Weird. I have a couple of friends in Boston, and only on those kinds of words is the difference noticeable to my ears (I'm from Brooklyn, NY-- btw, Brooklyn has its own infamous accent/dialect here in the states, quite apart from NY's. It's called "Brooklynese" ).


British accents ROCK. It's my firm belief that mere possession of the accent raises one's IQ by an average of 25 points. Seriously though, it definitely makes you sound more educated than your typical American accent does. Kudos to the Brits on that.