Gerry- <BR>Off the topic but... <BR>My mom was born and raised in Scranton, and her paternal grandparents moved there from Ireland. I can completely relate to the "Scranton" accent that you are talking about. Whenever we visit there, my mom picks it up again for a few days!

KC, <BR> <BR> You've piqued my curiosity. <BR>If by any chance your mom was from <BR>the West Side section of Scranton, <BR>I'd like to know her last name. E-mail <BR>me at the above address. My last <BR>name is Kingdom. <BR> <BR>Happy Travels, <BR> <BR>Gerry K <BR>

Ah but Joanna, do you know what the Proclaimers meant when they said 'haverin' ?

This is a fascinating conversation. As a Brit who has lived in numerous different parts of the UK and now living in the US, I have always picked up the local accent to a degree without ever trying. As I child/teenager my accent transitioned over the years as we moved from Liverpool to Cornwall to Ayr to Hereford to Marlow followed by college in Sheffield - all very distinct accents. I've now lived in both Utah and New York and while I sound like a true Brit still to most people, I find on the phone to UK friends, they tell me I'm starting to sound American, but can't quite definte what it is that makes me sound different. Yet ask me to "do" an accent and I can't. <BR> <BR>It's true that we Brits can pin point each other's place of origin pretty easily - and of course jump to conclusions about people's status based on that. It still facinates me that accents can change in the UK over such a short geographic area. <BR> <BR>Having lived in the US for 7 years now I still would struggle to answer the original question of how to describe an American accent. The interesting thing is watching old movies from the 50's, how many of the actors sound "British". I actually think Gwyneth Paltrow does an excellent English accent although her own accent to me is typical of the non-regional American accent that is so hard to define. <BR> <BR>As someone mentioned, I think the general British disdain for the accent comes again from stereotyping of the "loud" American tourist rather than the actual accent. Personally, I love all the accents and I'm glad that at least the original writer recognises that they do have an accent. It amazes me the number of Americans (admittedly mainly in Utah based on my limited experience) who would comment on my accent and point out that they don't have accents!

I'm American, & lived in England for a couple years in my early twenties. I grew up in North Alabama -- where the local accent does NOT sound like what most people think of as a Deep-South drawl (that's South Alabama & South Georgia) -- but oddly & sadly never had a strong North Alabama accent. I've lived all over the U.S. at this point, and no one can ever figure out where I'm from. <BR> <BR>A few observations from my experience: <BR> <BR>* I think Kavey's right on track. British English has a quicker rhythm than American English in general. That applied both to individual words (the "lord" vs. "law-wud" distinction) and to the rhythm of the whole sentence. <BR> <BR>* I've gotten interesting insights into how British ears hear the American accent by listening to parodies of Americans on radio, or on British TV shows like Spitting Image. British parodies of U.S. English come across with hugely exaggerated flat A's and hard R's -- a Midwestern accent on steroids -- and a very slow drawn-out rhythm. Think John Wayne on a lazy day ("Waaall, Pil-grum, ya go daawn bah the rih-ver..."). <BR> <BR>* Hans, I was interested to read your post about enunciation. German seems to me to be a much more clearly enunciated language than just about any form of English. When I hear spoken German, I can often tell what's being said, even if I don't know what the words mean. I can't do that with French, a language I supposedly know much better. <BR> <BR>* I find it surprisingly hard to identify the parts that make up an accent. A few months ago I was on jury duty with someone here near Washington, D.C. At a break, I went up to him and said "I think you're from where I'm from." Sure enough, he was from North Alabama. I have no idea how I can tell the difference from other Southern accents, but I can.

Americans have the worst nasally accent. I cringe whenever I hear what I call the "sorority girl" whiney annoying voices. This coming from an American who has been living in Europe (and married to Brit) now for sometime. After a while you really notice just how nasal sounding Americans are.

Tony--is haverin' like yammerin'? <BR>Do other people think of Carol Burnett's impersonation of the queen when they hear an upper-crusty English accent?

Judy, <BR> <BR>Yes there is a difference in southern accents. The guy on "Yes, dear" doesn't sound like Jeff Foxworthy (Georgia) and neither of them like Dolly Parton (Tennessee). I know some people in North Carolina who speak in the softest voice. You really have to listen to hear what they are saying. <BR> <BR>To further confuse the issue, if you watch NASCAR listen to brothers Jeff and Ward Burton. They grew up in the same house, but sound VERY different. Ward has more of a mumble quality in his speech. I think Jeff has been to broadcasting school. And talking about broadcasters, Larry McReynolds one of the Fox network's NASCAR color commentators has the most unusual tone. I can't explain it you just have to listen.

As an American living in the UK for the past three years, it was explained to me that the reason that Americans (and Australians) are so loud in comparison to the Brits is the size of the countries! I'm told that it's because we have to shout to our neighbors in order to be heard because of the space between the houses. I'm not sure thats altogether true, but I haven't heard too many Americans that talk louder than the Brits when a football game is on in the local pub.

Kavey, you must only hear Americans from the south talk. Those of us from the north and midwest (and west coast) also say "Lord", and "long" is certainly one syllable. <BR> <BR>When I lived in England for a couple of years, I found after about 6 months, I could pinpoint where someone was from in England, based on their accent. It's a skill I've lost since I've been back in the US for a few years. <BR> <BR>Particularly compared to the Irish accent, the American accent does sound flat. My theory is the standard American accent is a combination of all accents from around the world, since our country is made up of people from all around the world. It's the non-accent accent. <BR> <BR>I've found in the US, it's the words people use, rather than the accent, that often clue you into where people are from. For example, those who drink "pop" are from the midwest (western PA is included here). If you "red-up" the house, you're from Pittsburgh, etc.

RE: American accents grating on your ears. <BR> <BR>Recently, having been in Ireland and the north of England for 2 weeks, we spent our last 2 days in a hotel in Central London. On the tube going up to my Aunt's for lunch, we sat across from <BR>2 American girls who were about 18; they were giggling over some novelty book they had purchased, and their upper Midwest accents hit my ears like sandpaper. I actually cringed, not having heard any other Americans speak for a full two weeks. <BR> <BR>I'm an accent chameleon as well, and after two weeks my childhood Irish accent was well and truly reestablished. <BR>However, after a 3-hour layover in Newark it faded amazingly fast. By the next day it had nearly disappeared altogether.

Interesting thread. <BR> <BR>As a Canadian I notice some subtle differences between US and Canadian accents. I find NE US accents to be very nasal, and drawling to be a very widespread characteristic of more than just southern US accents. <BR> <BR>My hunch is that non-Maritime Canadian accents are incredibly flat. The most compelling piece of evidence I know is the fact that many US newscasters are actually Canadian (Peter Jennings, John Roberts, etc.). This is particularly telling because newscasters are supposed to have bland, middle-of-the-road accents. <BR> <BR>Oddly enough, I've never noticed the "oot" and "aboot" Canadian pronunciation, though I've had many Americans and Brits tell me it's noticeable (even in my pronunciation). <BR> <BR>Now if we could only get Americans spelling things correctly. Perhaps an institute of some kind (how about, "The Centre for Colour and Orthography"). <BR> <BR>Rob

My best friend, who is English, says that an American accent sounds "lazy" to her. She likens it to the way many Americans hear a southern accent (such as I have been known to have) which Americans stereotype as dumb and lazy. She lives in the states and as time goes on, her British accent becomes less and less pronounced (so, more "lazy"?).

Just curious: Which US state/town has the best American accent i.e. which one in your opinion can be best understood by no American/English natives? <BR>

Ursula, <BR>According to Emma Thompson, who had to assume an American accent to portray the presidential candidate's wife in the film "True Colors", she was aiming for a "Chicago accent", as she felt that could be best understood. <BR> <BR>BC

Emma was almost right. A true Chicago accent is a bit "hard". The American English accent that used to be taught in radio schools years ago was what I would call a "mid-east" accent, from roughly western Ohio/eastern Indiana. <BR> <BR>In fact if one compares American speech to most European speech in general we (Americans) are quite lazy. The European languages (dialects not included) usually feature quite clear pronounciation, especially vowels. &gt;&gt;Every&lt;&lt; vowel in European speech tends, as a rule, to be represented appropriately. American-English is a much more "relaxed" (some would say sloppy) way of speaking.

What about Californians and Floridians? <BR>Do they have a regional accent or is it a standard one?

Tony, I have no idea what 'haverin' means, but I could hear it enunciated. Translation, please.

<BR>&gt;people sing with no accent because a <BR>&gt;different part of the brain is <BR>&gt;responsible for singing than for speaking. <BR> <BR>The two things that distinguish accents are the vowel sounds and the rhythms of speech. When singing, you stretch out (hold) the vowels and you lose the rhythm of speech completely. <BR> <BR>Unless you're rapping. <BR> <BR>Which isn't singing - IMhO!

Topping.