What did you say?

by Tina~in_ut

'New In Town' Emergency Contact @ Yahoo! Video

I had a chance to see New In Town over the weekend. It was a cute chick flick/feel good movie. One of the things I liked the best about it was the accents of the characters. At work, I get to speak to people from all over the country and all over the world. I hear every kind of accent there is. I can usually tell after the first few sentences, where a person is from. I love to hear different accents and colloquialisms. I am hard of hearing so I close my eyes to make sure I don't have any distractions and I visualize what people are saying. I've done this for so long, that I now find myself talking to people using THEIR accent.

I am very good at sounding like I'm from Texas. I'm even better at sounding like I'm from India. I can pronounce almost any city in India just like a local. My favourite is Calcutta. I can't explain how to say it, but it's cool. I talk to a lot of people in our Dallas office and have learned a lot from them. It isn't just all about the y'all's.....although I love that. There is the long drawn out Thaaaaaannnnnkkkkk Yoooooouuuuuuuu~ Followed of course by the long drawn out Fuuuuuuuuucckkkkkk Yoooooooouuuuuuuu! (I didn't hear that from anyone in the Dallas office....I'm just sayin'~)

I talked to a passenger from Florida the other day and I could have sworn she was from New York. She had a slight New York accent. I asked her where she was from and she said Amsterdam. I was baffled. I know that they learn English at an early age there, but she really sounded like she had at least lived in New York. It turns out, when she was in her teens, her family did move to New York and she didn't move to Florida until she was in her 20's. I knew it!

Jodi is one of my favourite people to talk to, not only because she's such a hoot, but also because of the fun ways she pronounces words. I have so much fun with her. "We talk aboot almost anything, even the cooch in the living room!" That's one of our jokes. It makes me wonder if I have an accent or if I sound different to others. Do you think you have an accent?

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