ManicGenius Senior Member United States Joined 5482 days ago 288 posts - 420 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, French, Japanese
| Message 41 of 64 10 May 2010 at 6:03pm | IP Logged |
Lucky Charms wrote:
I know I'm probably preaching to the choir here... actually, the thing is, I just met a dumb, showoffy American like this yesterday and my blood is still boiling, so please excuse my rant. :) |
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SO DEH-SEW K-AH? OH-MOY-SHE-ROY DEH-SEW. HAHAHAHAAHA, KAh-Wah-ee-ee-ee DEH-SEW. FIGHTO. GAM-BAtte.
Sorry. Just had to do that.
Yes, I hate those people too, but personally I'm pretty sure my accent is still god-awful, though I try to improve it everyday.
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Americano Senior Member Korea, South Joined 6847 days ago 101 posts - 120 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Korean
| Message 42 of 64 10 May 2010 at 6:14pm | IP Logged |
quendidil wrote:
kmart wrote:
quendidil wrote:
examples of such "errors" include using "toilet" for the room rather than just the machine and one particular pet peeve using "maths" as an abbreviation of mathematics. |
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Hmmm, I don't know any Americans who use the word "toilet" for the room - it's usually "bathroom" which can cause problems here in Australia (where we DO use "toilet" for both the apparatus and the room) when we direct them to the room containing the bath and handbasin rather than the smaller room containing what they really want!
BTW, if you used the word "lavatory" here - we'd probably laugh in your face...
;-) |
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Yeah, I was referring to Commonwealth usage being "corrected" by Americans or American-wannabe locals; the original post got a bit ranty and twisted so that may not have been clear. |
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In the States we use bathroom, washroom, and restroom the most, but I hear people say I'm going to the toilet every so often, and it's not something strange to us. I usually say toilet or bathroom. What kind of jerk would try to correct someone over which word they use for the room? Haha if someone said lavatory to me i'd probably instantly start laughing too.
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horshod Pentaglot Groupie India Joined 5771 days ago 74 posts - 107 votes Speaks: Hindi, Marathi*, Bengali, Gujarati, English Studies: German, Spanish, Turkish
| Message 43 of 64 14 May 2010 at 6:52am | IP Logged |
I have been here in the US for two years now and am getting used to the American accent but still it does sound sexy to me. But if you are talking about having an American accent while speaking another language (I have heard Hindi and Spanish), that is pretty annoying for me.
On a side note, here (in USA) I sort of get an impression that the Indian English accent is one of the least pleasant to hear. Is that true for most of you guys? Most of the Indians, I believe, think that their accent is sort of regular and the Brits/Americans/Australians speak fancy...and it sounds totally cool btw. (Most of the Indians won't be able to distinguish between these three though.)
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Tenebrarum Groupie United States Joined 5407 days ago 84 posts - 115 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi
| Message 44 of 64 14 May 2010 at 7:10pm | IP Logged |
horshod wrote:
On a side note, here (in USA) I sort of get an impression that the
Indian English accent is one of the least pleasant to hear. Is that true for most of
you guys? |
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Hmm... this might be the case for a lot of Americans... can't be completely sure
though. But it's not for me as I love the sound of it! And of course everyone has
his/her way of speaking so there will be minor/major differences between people. I
know Indians who's accent is very heavy and others who are able to get closer to an
American accent. But either way I think it sounds completely awesome and can be a joy
to listen to. I love everything associated with the general/standard Indian accent
with the way consonants are retroflexed being one of them.
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Derian Triglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5309 days ago 227 posts - 464 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, German Studies: Spanish, Russian, Czech, French, Mandarin, Japanese
| Message 45 of 64 14 May 2010 at 11:06pm | IP Logged |
cordelia0507 wrote:
Some American accents sound terrible to me but some are very attractive.
The sexiest English accent is South African though. :-) Anyone agrees? ] |
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I AGREE!!
Women speaking with a SA accent are mesmerizing. I adore it.
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Lasciel Groupie United States Joined 5374 days ago 55 posts - 81 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese
| Message 46 of 64 14 May 2010 at 11:36pm | IP Logged |
I'm not sure how a native accent can sound "uneducated" though. I see this said about Southern American English a lot, but really, it's just ways of saying words. Bad grammar can give that impression, and a poor accent in a foreign language, which implies it wasn't studied much, but I am curious about what it is to many of you that leaves the impression "uneducated".
Also, LuckyCharms and Manic, as someone who gets their English pronunciation made fun of on a weekly basis, it just feels GREAT to have your accent mocked, because of course I and other people are just so dang LAZY and we don't spend enough time listening (19 years of hearing English on a daily basis has clearly fixed all my pronunciation problems...) please accept my apology for opening you to ridicule in the eyes of stereotyping, pre-judging people.
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Saif Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5613 days ago 122 posts - 208 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Levantine)*, French
| Message 47 of 64 15 May 2010 at 2:15am | IP Logged |
Derian wrote:
cordelia0507 wrote:
Some American accents sound terrible to me but some are very attractive.
The sexiest English accent is South African though. :-) Anyone agrees? ] |
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I
AGREE!!
Women speaking with a SA accent are mesmerizing. I adore it. |
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Same here! =)
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Gosia Diglot Newbie Poland Joined 5321 days ago 6 posts - 9 votes Speaks: Polish*, English
| Message 48 of 64 16 May 2010 at 1:10am | IP Logged |
I would not say that American accent is sexy... Maybe because it is too much common, you can hear it all the time in the movies. But for me American accent is easier to understand than British accent, that's for sure. British accent sounds a little... hm, gravelly...? But lately I found it really interesting to listen to. It's more demanding to get all words while British is speaking fast.
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