Chameleon

Now and again I hear people saying it pisses them off when people's accents soften depending on who they talk to, because it makes them seem ashamed of their roots, man. I can't help it - my accent slides. I went through a scouse-when-drunk period, which was quite amusing for my friends. I dunno, I studied foreign languages so for me, copying accents was always a good, grade-enhancing thing to do. I've been twice mistaken for an Italian by Italians and once for a French person by a French person, which is a nice head-swelling thing, so go mimick and accomodate to your heart's desire, I say.

My accent is utterly fucked up. I've taken accomodation too far. I honestly cannot work out how I pronounce things. When I am nervous I end up talking northern ish. Why, I do not know. Living with Jews resulted in my use of fairly poor English syntax and verb mess (verb mess is a recognised linguistic term). I can be heard saying 'Do you got?' for 'have you got', which is stupid and wrong. I think I just prefer other people's voices to my own.

Of course, I was merely acccommmodating my spelling to the level of the board as a whole :-) When I get more of my books into this new office I'll be able to reveal the hidden Derrida hedgehog connection!

A man in a Clapham bar asked me on Saturday if I was English after I had just said something to him. I think he was hoping I wasn't as then there would be less chance of me realising what a twat he was.

Hell, yeah. When I was about 11, we had neighbours from Australia and neighbours from Texas. My mother could tell without asking me where I had been when I returned from visiting either set.

Accents are one thing I am really good at picking up, except I can't do Irish ones (my early teen Shaw fetish must be responsible). Send me to Glasgow and I will be saying 'brell-yunt' before the end of the first day. My Cockney/Estuary one is good too, as DG will testify as he got me started in a game of Easy Geezer the other day. Oddly, though, I've never had the Minnesota regional accent though my mother and sister have it BIGSTYLE. Nick C's dad is a linguist and I often wonder what he'd make of my weird smorgasbord voice; he would not be able to do a Higgins and stick a pin in a map that = me.

This skill is not without its uses. I tend to be more 'English' in taxis late at night to avoid American Tax.

Someone once thought I was from Inverness! Crazy!

I am terrible at accents, and pretty secure in my own comprehensibility so no, actually, I probably don't do this very much.

Hey Ally, me too!

I don't think so, but I have an american friend and I see him picking up Irish phrases. Hearing someone say gobshite in an american accent is funny.

Adaptation is good thing. You wouldn't go to France and insist on your own accent. Or, ah, maybe you would. But the message would be clear: I don't like you. The same dynamic happens with regional variations and even personal language and flow I fink.

Hi :) I would love somone try to copy my accent! That would be a treat! I doubt anyone can though. Gale

― Gale Deslongchamps, Tuesday, 20 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

The only decent fiction writing I've done in the past year has risen to my mind immediately after reading oscar wilde. i don't think it sounds much like him, but he gets my imagination working with his fairy tales. GOOD THING.

Baby Chameleons pic.twitter.com/SDCvQJVlcR

— 41 Strange (@41Strange) March 13, 2019