When I visit a strange place, I tend to pick up the accent (or at least the speech patterns) of the people around me. Likewise, I adopt writing styles without meaning to. I can't help it, although the effects are usually temporary.

How about you? Do you hear echoes of other people in your written or spoken words? Does it bother you? Do you make an effort not to do it?

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2001

Answers

Oh, I'm such a copycat. When I lived in Mass when I was a teen, I used "wicked" and conveniently forgot that the letter "r" was indeed an integral part of the alphabet.

My 7 years in Virginia have left me with permanently saying "y'all" till the cows come home.

Writing wise, sometimes. Depends on what I've been reading before hand. It doesn't bother me too much - I think that if I do it, others must too. It's hard to be yourself all day long ;)

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2001

Oh hell yeah. There are still days when I literally forget the American English words for things - I open my mouth and Britain falls out. I have stood, snapping my fingers, asking for help, "That thing. . . you put babies in . . . it's not a pram, I know it's not, what is it called?" Had I lived there longer than 3 months, it might be more understandable. I feel bad because I think I must come across as a terrible poser and that's not it. My brain just does its own thing.

As for writing, I find that I am most influenced by "The West Wing" - in terms of style. Toby, CJ, Josh and Sam inform my vocabulary and style. That my brain is processing the verbal into the written is pretty freaky. Oh, and of course: "Buffy". Mostly in the form of adding "the" to words, such as, "And then there was the moving." "Because of the laughing."

It doesn't bug me, this penchant for language pickpocketing. Language is and should be a living, evolving thing. And it's much better than being perpetually tongue-tied.

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2001

I pick up styles too, which I don't mind if I'm reading PG Wodehouse or EM Forster, but can be dangerous when I'm poring over ESL essays. At best, I sound like I am stupid; at worst, I sound like I am making fun of people just learning English.

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2001

I tend to pick up accents around others, especially southern. I don't know why and I am always afraid the other person thinks I am making fun of the way they talk.

the weirdest experience for me was when I traveled to india to meet my husband's family. not only do they speak english with a heavy accent, but their sentences are always choppy. they just use the necessary words to get their point across. I found myself speaking in broken english so they would better understand me. then on the way home, we stopped over in london for a few days. I was embarrassed because in the land of the "queens english" I sounded illiterate. people must have been thinking: "damn american: so improper!"

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2001

I do this all the time, and it's worse with writing than with speaking. But it's pretty bad with both.

I'm trying to write fiction right now and have had to ban myself from reading novels. So while Beth and others are all on this amazing Literary Education kick, I am in the opposite situation. It's turning into a punishment/reward system: if I finish a short story, I can read a novel. This works very well.

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2001

I had my biggest accent problem when i was doing theatre. I was in two seperate plays - in one i was English and in the other i was a Southerner. I developed accents for each which my teacher claimed were "marvelous, so real!"

Unfortunately i worked on the som hard that after rehearsing either one, i would find myself practically unable to stop. I'd go out at night, sounding like a Brit. Two days later, you'd swear i was from the South.

It got worse when we started doing the full rehearsals which meant doing both accents in the same day. Then i would go out at night and fliip back and forth - i drove my friends nuts for those three weeks.

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2001

Oh God ... you've got me. The Chameleon Accent Adopter ... I speak like whomever I'm with, just like my mother.

This means picking up Southern, Irish, French and New Englander accents whenever I'm around people speaking English with those accents.

I even started rounding my vowels in the MidWest.

I'm terrible. Horrible at noticing if I'm doing it too, so I'm deathly afraid that people might think I'm making fun of them. But really it's just my 'I learned to speak French by being dropped cold into a classroom full of non-English speakers at age five' ear.

I learn language by mimicing and I don't even realize I'm doing it until I've already done it.

As for writing ... it's more subtle, but yes it's there. My high-flown verbosity is no doubt owed to an overabundance of 19th century authors in my literary diet between ages 8 and 12.

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2001

I've been hanging around with a friend of mine from Alabama this week, and my Texas accent has come back with a vengeance. I imagine listening to George W. Bush on TV might have the same effect, if I ever listened to anything he said...

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2001

And lo, my written speech holdeth not any remnant of tongues spoken before me.

... now back to my daily Bible devotional. ba-ding!

-- Anonymous, March 13, 2001

I don't develop accents, but I do adopt (and keep) the speech patterns. I spent three years in Viginia and now, like Claire, I can't get out of the habit of saying "y'all."

I also regulate my use of profanity without really noticing it. When talking to my elderly relatives, I automatically substitute "hurt" or "disadvantaged" for "screwed," etc. I don't even think about it and I've only slipped up once. That once I swore at another car while I was driving my mother around, but I was 25 so she only grounded me for a week.

-- Anonymous, March 13, 2001

I pick up slang expressions, but not accents.

I actually try not to do it because, I dunno, I think it sounds kind of phony. If it's an expression that people will understand and think "that's a good one - gotta use that" it's probably okay, but if they're going to have to ask you what you mean, it's a bad idea.

I think Madonna sounds like a jerk with her English accent - I just want to smack her. But then, I do anyway.

-- Anonymous, March 13, 2001

Yet again, empirical evidence that "y'all" is one of the most useful contractions around. Migrates and attaches like no one's bidness- while I'm certainly southerner, I initially picked it up in- Hawaii.

~

As to those who consciously try to effect regional accents, that just annoys the hell out of me (within the native language, that is). There are some exceptions, but artificial accents are pretty clear to everyone around but the speaker. Even with a decent accent, miscues on syntax are often glaring.

(thus spake the most inarticulate poster here, I'm sure)

-- Anonymous, March 13, 2001

Writing, not so much. Speaking, though, I really pick up - slang, phrases, etc. If I really spend a lot of time with a person, our speech tends to blend and we sound like each other when talking.

I now even *laugh* like my most recent ex-boyfriend. How annoying is it when you're trying to forget that? =P

-- Anonymous, March 14, 2001

I usually find myself doing Homerisms. D'Oh! But occassionally I find myself quoting my four year-old niece. She says things like 'fordagot', and 'my likes dat moovie.' I think on the whole, it's more embarrassing to be imitating a four year old.

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2001

I have lived in several states in the U.S.A. I note that despite my best efforts I always pick up local colloquialisms. Often I alter the lilt in my voice, develop physical mannerisms such as the( the one finger wave(a stranger) verses the four finger wave(someone you do know). I now have friends from other countries and find that I do the same the same thing. "Mind Yourself" when departing. "off with you". get going. I believe it is human nature for me and I utilize it to enrich my daily life, my writing, and most of all my ability to communicate.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001