It's definitely not the accent
Contrary to earlier thoughts, it's definitely not my accent that's afforded me such wonderful customer service (yes, that's sarcasm). How do I know this? Well in recent weeks I've discovered I apparently no longer have an accent - a Canadian accent that is.
Before we go any further - I just gotta tell you - I find this very distressing.
A few weeks ago I was at a friends' for dinner and met a bunch of his friends for the first time. I thought the evening was going pretty well - they were all pretty funny and we were having a few drinks and laughs - there were a bunch of nationalities there so I didn't feel like odd man out for a change - until I got up to get myself a drink and from across the room, one of my friend's friend (the cute one) asked me where I was from.
How tired am I of that question????????
But before I could answer the friend then asked me where all my accents were from and how many did I have? (Huh??)
So I answered: "one for each personality".
The consensus of the party goers was that although I don't quite sounds Australian (this being the verdict of the Australians there....) I certainly don't sound Canadian. Apparently I either sound a little Irish or Dutch.
What?
Then the last week I was in one of the local malls (actually getting my makeup done by the 'international makeup artist' at Bobbi Brown - how girlie is that???) and since I was there for a while, I got to talking to him. After about 20 minutes or so he asked me if I was from the States (a common question) to which I replied, no I was from Canada. His next question kind of surprised me though - he asked how long I'd been here - had I been here since I was a teenager.
"Nope. 2 1/2 years"
"Wow - but your accent is hardly detectable! I could have sworn you'd been here at least 10 years."
So as of last week, I still had a faint accent - albeit an American one.
Then Monday it all changed. A couple of things happened - I actually asked someone "How you going?" (instead of "How you doing?"), used the word 'reckon' in a sentence and got mistaken for an Australian.
I still sound Canadian to me, but I'm worried that when I get home I won't sound Canadian to my Canadian friends. And if that happens - I'll never hear the end of it...
Before we go any further - I just gotta tell you - I find this very distressing.
A few weeks ago I was at a friends' for dinner and met a bunch of his friends for the first time. I thought the evening was going pretty well - they were all pretty funny and we were having a few drinks and laughs - there were a bunch of nationalities there so I didn't feel like odd man out for a change - until I got up to get myself a drink and from across the room, one of my friend's friend (the cute one) asked me where I was from.
How tired am I of that question????????
But before I could answer the friend then asked me where all my accents were from and how many did I have? (Huh??)
So I answered: "one for each personality".
The consensus of the party goers was that although I don't quite sounds Australian (this being the verdict of the Australians there....) I certainly don't sound Canadian. Apparently I either sound a little Irish or Dutch.
What?
Then the last week I was in one of the local malls (actually getting my makeup done by the 'international makeup artist' at Bobbi Brown - how girlie is that???) and since I was there for a while, I got to talking to him. After about 20 minutes or so he asked me if I was from the States (a common question) to which I replied, no I was from Canada. His next question kind of surprised me though - he asked how long I'd been here - had I been here since I was a teenager.
"Nope. 2 1/2 years"
"Wow - but your accent is hardly detectable! I could have sworn you'd been here at least 10 years."
So as of last week, I still had a faint accent - albeit an American one.
Then Monday it all changed. A couple of things happened - I actually asked someone "How you going?" (instead of "How you doing?"), used the word 'reckon' in a sentence and got mistaken for an Australian.
I still sound Canadian to me, but I'm worried that when I get home I won't sound Canadian to my Canadian friends. And if that happens - I'll never hear the end of it...
posted by lala at
8:52 PM
1 Comments:
I just think that Aussie's don't know what an accent is. In 8 months in Australia I was asked if I was british, irish, scottish, American, Canadian, Scandanavian and South African. I must have that strange thing known as a variable accent... weird.
By
Mitch, at 8:36 AM
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