The Borg.....Better or Worse

[Sionnach Glic]

Yeah, probably.

[Mark]

Maybe I should just pretend New Zealand has its own version of English like the Americans do. That would solve a lot of my problems...

"What 'r yall tryin' ta say? That us folks currupted da mudder lingo?"

[Mikey]

The problem is, there's about a hundred different American Englishes.

[Mark]

And they are not always compatable. One of the funniest converstaions I ever overheard was a guy with a superthick New England accent trying to talk to a local guy speaking Hawaiian pidgeon english....................CLASSIC!!!!

[Captain Picard's Hair]

The problem is, there's about a hundred different American Englishes.

In the first week of the linguistics course I'm taking, the prof showed a video called "American Tongues." That put on display a lot of dialects in America, of course with academic analysis of all of it. The deepest accents (at rather isolated islands off the Virginia coast) even the professor, a linguist, couldn't make out.

I once asked this prof after class what he thought of my accent; he said I speak "like everyone else" or something to that effect, which I understood to mean a more or less undifferentiated (American) accent. I'll look into getting a headset so that I can speak to you at some point. My speaking voice has been complimented many times (I'm too reserved to really sing, so I can't speak to my singing voice)

[Mikey]

The deepest accents (at rather isolated islands off the Virginia coast) even the professor, a linguist, couldn't make out.

Interestingly, those accents distinctly mimic the accents of East Anglia in England, which even the BBC deems necessary to subtitle.

[Mark]

Let us not forget Cajun and Creole accents.

[Mikey]

Actually, even though I'm born and bred in the Northeast metro corridor, I had no problems at all with the French-Carribean creole in New Orleans. The Cajun accent didn't give me a hard time, but I know very little French vocabulary, so that tripped me up a bit.

Funny enough, the vernacular of the US that most surprised me was the first time a stranger said, "Howzit, cousin?" to me.

[Sionnach Glic]

Damn Yanks, standardise your language!

[Mikey]

Meh. You'd have the same issues if your country was bigger than one of our smaller states. What's funny is that there are state-specific idioms, even among groups of states with the same vernacular background. For example, people in New Jersey use the phrase "down the shore," meaning at (or to) the beach resort area. However, people from New York - even New York City, which is just over the river - do not.

[Mark]

Hell, we have Pidgeon to English dictionaries in Hawaii. Yes. It's REALLY that bad.

[Tsukiyumi]

Surprisingly enough, you don't really hear much "southern drawl" around here. Head to the smaller towns in any direction from me, it's a different story.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Hell, we have Pidgeon to English dictionaries in Hawaii. Yes. It's REALLY that bad.

Pidgin. It may be REALLY that bad but it won't crap on your windshield.

[Tsukiyumi]

Hell, we have Pidgeon to English dictionaries in Hawaii. Yes. It's REALLY that bad.

Pidgin. It may be REALLY that bad but it won't crap on your windshield.

I was going to say something, but I'm already running the spelling enforcement division. Thanks, CPH.

[Teaos]

Strangely enough I dont have a NZ accent. I have and English one despite all my family being New Zealanders. I just happen to watch a lot of British TV and had a few English teachers growing up that really effected my speech.