Until I learned to drawl, which took about a year, I simply could not engage in conversations with Texans. I did frequently hear, "Oh, honey, I didn't understand a word you said, but I could listen to you talk allllll day!"

It was a shock coming to Canada and finding that, not only could everyone understand me perfectly well, but they also had no particular patience for my rambling on and on.

I miss Texans.

Quote - Americans (females especially) really dig a British accent...lol.

As for me, I've never had any trouble understanding even the thickest British/Irish/Scottish accent. I spent my whole life watching PBS which was almost all British programming :P. We didn't have cable - what can I say ;). I could understand those thicker accents after watching Red Dwarf...lol. I watched a lot of Fawlty Towers, Allo Allo and Are You Being Served too ;).

Laurie

Ah well there you go.  The accents you heard on there aren't representative of the way most Brits speak.  Craig Charles - Lister in Red Dwarf - has a fairly light Liverpool accent in comparison to the way most of 'em speak there.  By and large, Brit - make that English - tv uses relatively "neutral" accents.  Scotland, Wales, Ireland use regional accents mostly for their local programs and go for lighter versions for stuff that's to be shown across the UK.

At one time, tv over here wouldn't feature regional accents much in their entertainment shows and not at all in newsreaders or links.  Unless you had a middle to upper class "Home Counties" accent, you didn't get on tv.  Even movies play it safe because they'd have to be dubbed or subtitled for international audiences.  It's not just the sounds, either.  We have some unique usages and phrases from region to region.  In some respects, you may find it easier with our Northern accents - once you get used to the sounds - since linguists say most US word usages are by and large, old fashioned compared to their Brit equivalents, except here in the North, where we still have many older words and phrases.  One which springs to mind is "gotten".  It's hardly ever used here and mostly survives in words such as "begotten".  Brits almost exclusively say "got".  I use both, mainly due to being in close contact with many people in the US for years.

It's strange to think your accent(s) have their roots here, mainly from the West Country, Ireland and Scotland, then consider how they sound now.  I wonder what would have happened to both our versions of the language, had there been no communication at all since Mayflower landed. 

Well, the US is a melting pot of nationalities. As I said previously, it was Germans around here, Irish and Italian in New York and New Jersey and up into New England, Norwegians and Danish in the Northern Midwest, French in the south, etc. In fact, the New England states probably have the closest to British accent that we have. Think JFK, if you've ever heard him ;). Oddly enough, its the original British colonies in that area -  Massachusetts.

Laurie

Yup, I read that and several people have mentioned it.  Me, I don't believe it, having heard the accents around there.

As for the melting pot of nationalities, I did once read you almost adopted German as your official language, since there were a lot of German settlers and anti British feeling was very, commonplace.

Funny, when you think about it, since English itself at the root is derived from a couple of proto Germanic languages. 

"Then : a point in f***** time" :: i.e. :-

Q: What happens at the moment of sexual climax?

A: The telephone rings.

Quote - "Then : a point in f***** time" :: i.e. :-

Q: What happens at the moment of sexual climax?

A: The telephone rings.

:lol:

Which is why they invented ringers with a volume control, voicemail and wall sockets.

Can't leave your phone off the hook these days, since they send a horrible tone down the line if you do. 

I think it was Churchill who said we are two nations divided by a common language.

*It may have been GB Shaw, but then, who cares!...;)

The phrase that always bugged me was 'same difference', with a comparison implying 2 subjects, or objects...meh...;)

I like that one and use it from time to time.  :)

You may be right about Shaw, though. 

I say same difference a whole lot...lol. I'll try and refrain pakled :P

Laurie

It's strange to think your accent(s) have their roots here, mainly from the West Country, Ireland and Scotland, then consider how they sound now.  I wonder what would have happened to both our versions of the language, had there been no communication at all since Mayflower landed.

Ya doon suppose we'd all be talkin' like Shakespeare,  do ya?  On both sides of the pond even.

Nope.  I think our respective versions would have drifted even further/farther apart and we wouldn't even be as closely linked as, say, Spanish and Portugese.

English is a magpie language, which is probably why there are so many, valid, variations around the world.

BTW, great to read you, Pat.  Haven't seen you here for ages.  Hope you're well. 

Nope.  I think our respective versions would have drifted even further/farther apart and we wouldn't even be as closely linked as, say, Spanish and Portugese.

i reckon you're right.  To be honest,  i was thinking more along the lines of Australian and Californian Surfer,  instead of Spanish and Portugese.
English is a magpie language, which is probably why there are so many, valid, variations around the world.

It's been my experience though that only the good folks of Staffs speak true english.  lol (long story)
*BTW, great to read you, Pat.  Haven't seen you here for ages.  Hope you're well. *

All's good.  Just waitin on a friend and my cousin to get back in the saddle.  How are you and you're family gettin along? 

Quote - The only thing funnier than the transcripts of the Watergate Hearings are the transcripts of the Iran-Contra investigation. 

Frankly, I don't remember that...