Solar liseuse charger (or: "Enjoyable descent into unutterable silliness.")

[NatCh]

The biggest things for affecting accents are knowing what your own voice can and can't do -- it's like learning an instrument, to some degree -- and paying attention to how things sound. Most folks just listen to grasp what the words being said mean, rather than also paying attention to how the sound.

That being said, I've always been fairly good at picking up accents. Growing up I had a scoutmaster for some time who was British, he and his son both had fine accents. I had to consciously prevent myself from slipping into one when I was around them, kind of a verbal chameleon effect.

The accents that gave me the roughest time for a long time were the Irish and Scottish accents. I could do the Scottish relatively well fairly quickly, but the Irish one gave me fits. I could tell them apart when I heard them, but I couldn't get hold of the Irish one enough to actually replicate it.

I find Russian and Scottish the most fun to play with. Though I haven't been around Russian accents nearly enough to distinguish the various flavors of them.


Well, if you want to get into word misuse pet peeves, my biggest are imply and infer -- folks can't seem to get them straight. For those who don't know: imply is what the speaker does, infer is what the listener does.

The one I've been running into recently is misuse of juxtapose. Again for the uninitiate: it is not a stronger way to say "oppose." That's the way I keep hearing it misused: "So and so is totally juxtaposed to such and such." To those who know the word means "placed side by side," the speaker sounds like a doofus, because what he's saying is the exact opposite of what he means to say.

[Taylor514ce]

I do professional "voice work" from time to time. Then again, I write poetry, which requires a great deal of research into language, word history (etymology), and regional dialects and speech habits (witness the conversational gems in the Harv and Vera "stories"). Just to amuse myself when I travel, I will sometimes "adopt" an accent during a trip.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

I do professional "voice work"

That's something I've always wondered if I might be any good at, but never enough to actually try to find out.

What sort of work have you done? Commercials, cartoons, radio? Inquiring minds want to know!

My wife is constantly amazed that I can recognize people by their voices but not their faces, I frequently say things like, "I know that guy! He did such and such a character in such and such a cartoon!"

Of course, I'm constantly amazed that she can recognize people from their faces. I seem to have particular issues there, for some reason.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by NatCh

The biggest things for affecting accents are knowing what your own voice can and can't do -- it's like learning an instrument, to some degree -- and paying attention to how things sound. Most folks just listen to grasp what the words being said mean, rather than also paying attention to how the sound.

yes, that's true. in my defense, i can say that i do already speak *two* languages (french and english) with little or no accent (well, let's say no *foreign* accent, since "everyone has an accent" !), even if i can't really switch back and forth really quickly without starting to make sentences that are half and half (so i also would make a very poor interpreter). although i notice that speaking english increasingly needs a warm-up or transition time for me to lose any traces of accent, and also that i have a hard time controlling the verbal "tics" that i have in french, and that tend to slip through in english sometimes. swearing and counting also is usually in french.

I find Russian and Scottish the most fun to play with. Though I haven't been around Russian accents nearly enough to distinguish the various flavors of them.

i wish i could do a scottish accent !! it's my favorite accent of all, i wish i could go to scotland and just sit in a pub all day listening to people talk. although i susect i wouldn't be able to *understand* half of it. once i was watching an episode of Inspector Morse, and there was a scottish character in it ; he didn't have many lines, but they were my favorite. when he said "yon Morse" i got a little thrill. i wish i could start saying "yon such-and-such" when i mean "that such-and-such over there" but i think i would probably get beaten up if i tried.

as for russian, i have a russian friend who tried to teach me russian words sometimes (when i make him), and it's very frustrating because i can *hear* the sounds quite well but then i can hear myself massacring them !! this drives me completely loony because i grew up with my polish-speaking grandparents and could speak some polish when i was a child, but now i have forgotten it and the polish accent (like the russian one) is very hard to do, even though i think it *should* come naturally.

Well, if you want to get into word misuse pet peeves, my biggest are imply and infer -- folks can't seem to get them straight. For those who don't know: imply is what the speaker does, infer is what the listener does.

The one I've been running into recently is misuse of juxtapose. Again for the uninitiate: it is not a stronger way to say "oppose." That's the way I keep hearing it misused: "So and so is totally juxtaposed to such and such." To those who know the word means "placed side by side," the speaker sounds like a doofus, because what he's saying is the exact opposite of what he means to say.

thank god i haven't heard anyone use "juxtapose" that way in french, i would probably have an aneurism. another argument to make everyone study latin at school !!!

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

I do professional "voice work" from time to time.

yes, inquiring minds *do* want to know !

[Taylor514ce]

Originally Posted by NatCh

What sort of work have you done? Commercials, cartoons, radio? Inquiring minds want to know!

Local radio commercials (I did a LOT of that for about 1 year. Started as a favor to a friend starting a new business, then a local station started using me... and then I got bored with it). Software training videos/webinars.

[NatCh]

Heh, I was hoping you'd admit to being the voice of Mojo Jojo or something.

Of course that would rather give away your identity.

I've often wished I had Casey Kasem's voice ... the stuff I'd be able to talk people into!

[HarryT]

The chap who first attempted to classify American accents did so on the basis of how people pronounced the three words "Mary", "merry", and "marry" (which have completely different pronunciations in British English). There are, apparently, many parts of the US where all three are pronounced the same. I've noticed myself, while visiting the US, that the short "e" vowel sound seems not to exist in some regional accents - those are probably the places where "merry" and "marry" are not differentiated.

[NatCh]

A very reliable differentiator as to whether an "American" is a Northerner or Southerner is the way they pronounce the word "greasy." If the "s" has a "z" sound, they're almost always a Southerner, and if the "s" is pronounced with an "s" sound they're almost always a Northerner.

Totally worthless, of course (unless the Civil War erupts again, I guess), but it's kinda fun, regardless.

[HarryT]

Bill Bryson's written a wonderful (and as always with him, very funny) book called "Made in America" which describes the fascinating history of the development of American English. It's very well worth a read.

[NatCh]

This one? Any idea if it's available as an e-book?

I see several of his books in the Sony store, but not that one.

[HarryT]

That's the one. Sorry, I don't know if it's available as an eBook. I know it's available as an audiobook, because that's what I bought myself.

[zelda_pinwheel]

hey, thanks for the suggestion ! that books sounds absolutely fascinating. i don't usually get audio books but it could be a good choice in this one, if he does the accents. does he ? (completely sincere question). otherwise it would definitely interest me as an ebook, if anyone (*cough*NatCh*cough*...) finds it !! (by the way NatCh, you have far too many capital letters in your name !! i always have to redo it 2 or 3 times before i get it right )

[NatCh]

Nobody else much bothers, zelda_pinwheel, and I don't worry about it: the caps are there for reasons that mean "not much" to anyone but me, anyway.

I'm not sure I'd go audio book on this one, I usually listen to books while driving and flying, neither situation seems a good one in which to succumb to fits of laughter.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Nobody else much bothers, zelda_pinwheel, and I don't worry about it: the caps are there for reasons that mean "not much" to anyone but me, anyway.

I'm not sure I'd go audio book on this one, I usually listen to books while driving and flying, neither situation seems a good one in which to succumb to fits of laughter.

hee ! good point. i read on the metro as well, and while it's not as dangerous as while driving, i had to give up on "three men in a boat" because it was getting embarassing. however, the rare audio books i do have (or monty python sketches...), i usually listen to while working on a particularly mindless task. since i am a freelance and i work at home, i can laugh like a maniac all day long and no-one looks at me funny (even the cat is used to it).