ExpatinUSA:
Don't get upset, please keep up with your post, some people are rude, some are sensitive about their "accents", or what
they perceive as "lack of one".
You have to remember, the USA grew to be the "Great Melting Pot"
because of people like you, and my ancestors who came from different countries. There are differing dialects or accents across this Great Country, no one in particular is "right", as this WAS a British colony, and we could all be speaking with a British Accent.
I assure you, your "proper English" was most likely taught British style {many foreign countries teach British style English, or it is learned from a former or current British colony}; and, no matter how long you studied it, or where you have lived,
YOU, too, have an accent.
I am from Upstate NY, where WE think WE have no accent. We certainly DON'T have the "
New YAWK city or
LonGGGGIland" accents.
I have been to, and have relatives who live, all over the USA.
I once moved to Massachusettes, well outside Boston, and worked in a retail store for the summer. One young girl brought back a chair, disassembled, and said it had "no pots to it". I looked quizzically at it and {probably rudely} said "it's a chair, of course there are no pots to it" {thinking of the pots and pans sets we also sold}. Se again confirmed for me it "had no pots to it". I finally realized what she meant, and I said "oh, you mean it has no
paRts to it". She said "yeah, it has no pots"...apparently she understood me better than I did her. I learned the mass-ite, or more correctly the Bostonian accents very quickly. They add "R"s to words where they don't belong, and don't pronounce the "r"s where they should be. They really DO "
pahk their cahs in Hahvahd Yahd" {Park their cars in Harvard Yard}. But they will also eat a "
Bananer" {banana}.
My father is from the "Midwest"...meaning Southern Illinois, and has been "north" in Michigan and Upstate NY long enough he has an entirely different accent from his brother, who has always been a southern Illionisan, who has a southern drawl. My father still "
waRshes" {washes} things, watches "
wrasseling" {Wrestling}, and drinks "
pop" }{soda} however. My mother was from the "midwest" too..meaning southern Michigan, and has/says/pronounces words similar to here in Upstate New
YoRk, which I am SURE to others NOT from HERE, is an accent unto itself...
My grandmother {Rest her soul} was born in the very beginning of the last century, was from south Eastern Appalachians, and had a "southern" accent. She drove through the "
Calinas" {CaROlinas} on her way to Florida, used the "N" word towards all blacks she saw {African Americans, though I still use the word "black" to describe them, as I grew up with that}, among other "things" {coloquialisms, regionalisms or accents} in her speech.
I have a friend who was raised in Denver, Colorado, the first time we spoke, I had some trouble understanding
his accent and speech patterns, as I have never been there. He had moved here.
I work in a hotel here, and can tell you we get travelers from all over the USA, as well as foreign countries; whom I may have trouble understanding, either in person, or on the phone when they call for a reservation.
I know some people in, lets say Tennesee {?}, "
mash" a button, instead of "
pushing" or "
pressing" the button, like the button on an elevator, for instance.
I was once, I think age 6 or 7, and we went to visit my grandmother in her retirement home in Florida. When we got to Georgia, we stopped at a rest are/welcome center. A black gentleman was cleaning the glass on the door, and moved aside saying "
Yawall come git along, now, I'll git outta yawall's way" {you all come along, I'll get out of your way} with a very HEAVY southern drawl. Out of the man's earshot, I said to my father "did you hear that FOREIGNER back there"? My father laughed and said "no, son,
WERE the foreigners"!!!!
Ultimately, you are in THEIR territory, you have to learn HOW they speak, and HOW they communicate. YOU have the accent to THEM.
My mother always said she'd like to hear a Bostonian try to communicate with a deep Southerner!!!!
Language, area, dialect, speech patterns vary in every region of the world, by anyone who is "not from there". Learn and respect is the best advice I can give you, ExpatinUSA.
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