jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I find accents fascinating. I think it's fascinating that everyone who grew up speaking a certain language will sound basically the same when they learn English. I listened to a bit on YouTube about actors and accents. Gary Oldman has done so many accents in so many movies that he had to hire a language coach to get his English accent back.

Years ago, my wife and I spent a day in Manhattan, and every single person we dealt with had an accent. The Great Melting Pot.

fourg1b2006 Loc: Long Island New York

I love listening to the English people and the Irish people. I love their accents.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Yes, I would imagine that can be interesting. I also note the related phenomenon, regional name differences and differences in usages. This tends to come up a lot in the common names for plants and animals. An example, Mountain Lion, Cougar, and Puma are all names for the same large (new world) cat. For example most people in California go to "Mountain Lion" first, but that may depend on where your parents grew up. Having a biology background, I readily know they are all Puma concolor, and that they are also known as Catamount and Panther (incorrectly). In fact there are 40 different names for P. concolor in English alone! A more interesting example it the odd creature Armadillidium vulgare, commonly known as Pill Bugs, Roly Polies, Butchy-Boys, or Doodle Bugs. They of course are not bugs at all but a type of terrestrial crustacean in the order Isopoda. The Common Pill Bug or Armadillidium vulgare is in the family Woodlice. These grey little guys roll up in to a ball when disturbed.

Going back to Jerry's comment, I visited Buffalo, NY back in 1977. My parents came from there. Though I've always lived in California near Los Angeles somewhere. While in Buffalo, I was surprised to find that no one living there seemed to have an accent, let a lone any of the NYC ones. Everyone sounded the same as in California in 1977. Oddly, while there and hanging out with a cousin I had my first Buffalo Wing. I never hear of it before but they were already famous locally.

Doddy Loc: Barnard Castle-England

Marty, unfortunately many of our large towns and cities have large populations of "Non" English speakers!!

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Why should that be unfortunate?

Here in Barrow Alaska perhaps half the population speaks English as a second language. But that can be very interesting

A few years back I met a young woman whose mother and aunt had been good friends of mine for a few years, both born and raised in Korea. They had come to the US when they were the daughter's age (mid twenties). So while talking to the daughter I noticed that to me she had no accent. I mentioned it and she was offended, saying she was just as American as me. I said yes, exactly! Her English had no accent, and I wondered where she grew up.

Turned out we grew up about twenty miles apart, with only the Tacoma Narrows bridge in between.

Jazztrader

After being a "House" fan and watching almost all of the episodes, I was amazed years into the show, when I saw Hugh Laurie on a late night talk show. His English accent is there and thick on the talk show, but his American accent on "House" is so good that I would have never known that he's English.

Dannj

I had the same reaction to Hugh Laurie and other actors as well.
On the flip side, my wife and I went to see a performance of an American musical (can't recall the title) in London several years ago and she was surprised they weren't using English actors. They were.😊

Dannj

Re the comment about Buffalo, NY:
Folks in NYC would disagree. People from Buffalo talk funny😊

byjoe Loc: Stillwater, OK

I grew up in Oklahoma and after joining the army I was sent to Fort Devins, Mass. After about a year there I went home on leave and was talking like I was one of the Kennedys. First day in Boston at the bus station I ordered a chocolate milk shake, which in OK was ice cream, choc syrup and milk. What I got was choc milk. Had to order a frappe to get what I really wanted. Cultural experience.

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

Some folks just naturally pick up a local accent in no time at all. My wife is English and came to the US in 1960. She had the WNC accent in a week. Everyone thought I had married a local gal. She can lapse into: Tennessee, Californian, Floridian, Norwegian, and Australian so fast that I get left behind. I always sound like a Pakistani no matter what accent I try to imitate. I hasten to add I am native of WNC. (Those who think that Australians speak with an English accent have never had a conversation with both nationalities at the same time. LOL!)

Thruxton Loc: Indiana / California

Since this thread seems to be wandering around a little I don't feel that I would be off topic by mentioning that American Sign Language also enjoys a variety of what you would call "accents". While the basic signs are the same, some (100 miles away) have to be re-learned: like "Pizza", for instance. We can tell where people hail from by their signs. In some ways it can be frustrating but mostly it's fun and a good way to build relationships. Learning ASL has been an interesting and rewarding experience for this deaf old man.

ab7rn Loc: Portland, Oregon

Some years ago I was working on a fish dock. One of the Porta Ricans asked Me where I was from. I told him I was from Oregon. He said "That's why you talk funny.

canondave1 Loc: Houston, TX

We had an Irish nun as director of pharmacy at a Houston hospital where I worked. I loved her Irish "lilt".

muysabio Loc: Mexico DF

I think that it was Churchill who said the U.S. and England are Two great nations separated by a common language.

chrisscholbe Loc: Kansas City, MO

When we were in Edinburgh, I was waiting for my wife to come out of a shop.

There were 6 Scotsmen standing around talking.

I couldn't understand a word they said.

HA