Oh, my ears!

[jaybee65]

I don't usually complain about such things, but...I find myself compelled to mention

Comments

[sk56]

I don't know who Genevieve O'Reilly is, so can't commiserate in a specific way, but as someone who grew up on the West Coast and spent time on the East Coast, listening to people slaughter our place names, you have my deepest sympathy.

We get cheap laughs at my house watching the local news when they have a reporter from another part of the country, struggling with our combination of Native American and Scandinavian sounds.

[jaybee65]

She's an actress, born in Ireland and apparently raised in Australia and now living in England -- who for some unknown reason has been cast to play an American. Her accent is, well, jarring. I'm normally forgiving of such things, but in this case it's bad enough to be a real distraction.

Mind you, I'd probably mangle your place names, too! ;-)

[sk56]

Yes, but you wouldn't be pretending to be an authority.

I get so grumpy when people move here from other parts of the country, and then magically think they are more knowledgeable about local history and the peculiarities of our culture than people who've been here most of their lives.

So what is this woman playing in?

[jaybee65]

I get so grumpy when people move here from other parts of the country, and then magically think they are more knowledgeable about local history and the peculiarities of our culture than people who've been here most of their lives.I've been getting grumpy about that sort of thing, too, here in the Bay Area. When I came here (20 years ago! gah!), I don't recall going around telling long-term residents that I was a local expert. And yet there's a crop of new residents in Oakland now starting blogs and generally presenting themselves as knowing what's best for the city. It really irks me, especially when they say clueless things that they would know better about had they actually lived here a while. (It's especially a sore spot for me today, in fact, because I'm going to be attending a local planning commission meeting about a huge commercial development that most long-term residents of my neighborhood oppose, but that this group of newbie blogger "experts" loves because it's going to look "new" and "fresh", or something. Grrr

[topaz_eyes]

I so sympathize. Every time I hear non-Canadians try a "Canadian accent" I want to kill something. Letter to non-Canadians trying our accent: Canadian vowel raising. Learn it, live it, love it. IOW: we do not pronounce about "aboot." It's actually about halfway between.

Okay, I'm done. :-)

[sk56]

I sat and watched your icon cycle all the way through twice -- giggling madly the whole way!

[jaybee65]

Ohhhh, fake Canadian accents! *Cringes* I had a Canadian roommate for a year, and learned a little about the nuances of the accent (not to mention, she waged her own personal "Canadian Content" crusade in our residence). ;-)

And "aboot" -- yeah, that's ridiculous. (It's always sounded somewhat closer to "a boat" to my ear. But even that varies from person to person, it seems.)

[cynaera]

I live in Nevada. The "va" syllable is pronounced like "can, man, slant." The "duh" syllable is, of course, pronounced like "duh." Anyone who mispronounces the name of my state gets three strikes. If, after the third strike, they still pronounce it as NeVawDuh - or, worse yet, NE-vaw-duh, I can't be held accountable for what happens.

Personal aside - I sorta love the "aboot" thing, as a fun diversion, kinda like listening to the Bob and Doug MacKenzie thing.

I love our neighbors to the north. It's when people who live in our own country can't pronounce certain names that I get a little hostile. Ne-Vaaaaa-duh. Learn it. Know it. Use it. Keep it close, to avoid death. *g*

[jaybee65]

I think my pronunciation of Nevada would probably avoid your wrath (LOL), but wouldn't a more Spanish-sounding pronunciation of the A's be an acceptable alternative? (It's a minefield isn't it? I was corrected when I came to the West Coast for incorrectly saying Oregon -- I was saying the last syllable with a short "O" instead of a schwa sound.)

[sk56]

The University of Oregon used to sell a bumper sticker that was a pronunciation guide -- "Orygun."

But my favorite East/West example came from a friend who had been raised on the east coast, and who was coming to Oregon to lead river rafting trips for a summer job. He kept talking about the Rouge River, pronouncing it like the cosmetic, when it's actually the Rogue, like that execrable book by Sarah Palin.

[jaybee65]

Oh no! I may have mangled "Orygun", but at least I didn't come out with something like that!

[caramelapples11]

Not being from anywhere in the United States, I really can't tell the difference of a lot of accents, but Kyra Sedgwick's accent on The Closer distracts me so much for some reason. It's not as though I can tell much about the accent, but just that it sounds just weird and unusual. XD

[sk56]

I don't think of her accent as coming from an actual region in the US, but more like Hollywood Southern. It's almost baroque, and if I didn't find it so amusing it would make me crazy.

But it helps that I don't really watch the show. My partner follows it, and I hear it from the next room.

[jaybee65]

I haven't watched this show, but I'm not surprised to read sk's description of it being Hollywood-Southern. Just because you're American doesn't mean you can do the accents, either! (I would BUTCHER any sort of East Coast accent, like New York or Boston.) Southern accents are especially prone to being imitated badly on TV.