I've always had an interest in the way people speak. Not sure why I'm into it, but I am. Imitating various accents is fun, too. British is my favorite. I blame Harry Potter for that one, because when I first saw The Sorcerer's stone, I was both confused and intrigued by how the characters spoke. It was neat and organized, and not so barking and straightforward. I was awestruck when Hermione delivered the line to Ron, "Besides, you're saying it wrong. It's leviosa, not leviosaaaa." After I'd heard her say that, I tried to copy her. It's leviosa, not leviosaaaa. My mother, who was sitting next to me at the time, was very impressed.
Later on I discovered I could imitate a southern accent. Thank you, Sandy Cheeks.
Eventually I find out I'm actually really good with accents: English, southern, New Yorker, Jamaican, Australian (though I frequently get that and English confused), Russian, Austrian, Irish, Minnesotan, etc. French can be difficult for me because I have a stuttering problem, which sucks because I enjoy speed rap, and when I attempt to rap it sounds like I'm choking on popcorn.
And I highly doubt this... "talent"(?) was hereditary because neither of my parents can speak in different accents. My uncle Steve's pretty decent, though. He's an English teacher so it's not surprising if he's articulate.
I'd also like to take a moment to brag that I can sort of wiggle my ears. My grandpa on my mom's side can wiggle his ears, and nobody that's been born since his birth in our family could wiggle their ears. And then along came Addy. I'm not as skilled, but I'm proud to be an amateur.
Back to accents, about a week ago I watched this episode of How the States Got Their Shapes on the History Channel, and they did a special on how accents originated in the U.S., and why, even though we live in the same country, we have different accents. There's this guy that the host of the show interviewed who coaches actors on accent-imitating for a living. He was very impressive; I want to have lunch with him at Cracker Barrel someday.
There have been whispers that a lot of people believe Long Island should become a state, and not just a piece of New York. This Long Islander apparently carries around in his pocket a replica the Long Island flag. Here's a photo:
It's decent. I remember him saying the 4 stars represent the regions(?) of New York City.
I'm getting off topic here. Anyway the episode just interviewed random people from certain regions of the country, and that we're weird for having diverse accents. Not languages, but accents.
Congratulations, U.S.A. for our bizarre-ness!
No comments:
Post a Comment