Reports on Restaurants Need One More Thing

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Your wife and I might be related. I have a knack for languages and accents, clearly, and “blame” my genes or the talent of both recognizing and being able to reproduce different sounds very well. Which is likely also why I am a singer :wink:

I drove my PIC absolutely insane when I decided to speak with a generic (BBC) British accent one night out bc a cousin of a friend from Bristol was visiting. There was alcohol involved, and Fee pronounced hearing me speak British English vs. American English (as I had all day long) “a proper mindfuck.” :rofl:

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Yes, it’s called code switching.

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63

You also write Engish “without an accent”. It’s a rare talent, in my experience. I used to play on a history forum which attracted quite a wide range of users from different nationalities, several for whom English was not a first language. Whilst almost all them wrote in generally very good English, there would be very minor “mistakes” in the use of colluquial language or sentence construction that identified them (at least to me) as not native English speakers (including my pal, Aurel, who taught English at high school level in Belgium). Maybe it’s because of the time you’ve lived in the States but I think you have just got the knack for it.

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64

I do this too. Not consciously, of course, or with even a flicker of derision. I just parrot accents easily.

It seems to go with a knack for languages.

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65

Brooklyn fail.

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I wouldn’t be so sure. My partner will regularly confuse Oz and NZ accents for UK unless there’s something distinctly Aussie or Kiwi about the particular show we’re watching. She has no ear for accent at all.

I lived for a year+ in Wellington, NZ and a month in Sydney and 2 years in Vancouver BC, plus I have cousins from South Africa, so I’m probably more attuned to it , but it’s not hard to mistake some southern or eastern seaboard accents for Scottish or Irish lilts. If you really want an earful of confusion, try deciphering a Newfoundland conversation. It’s the North American equivalent of Glaswegian.

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67

The Southerners might soundlike they’re being polite, but I assure you, they are seething inside as much as Bostonians or Noo Yawkers.

“Bless your heart!” is just Southern for “F*ck off and die”

See also: Minnesota nice, The PNW freeze out

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68

I knew about Minnesota nice

Interestingly, Manitobans- the Canadians from the province just north of Minnesota- are known for being friendly - genuinely friendly. The license plates say Friendly Manitoba. I’ve only run into a couple Manitobans who are jerks or passive aggressive.

I didn’t know about the Seattle freeze.

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69

Oh, I’m familiar with the concept. They are being polite, but that doesn’t mean they’re not rageful or ready to kill. (I prefer my NE people for just letting it all hang out, sorry.)

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70

That’s where it gets really subtle. It all comes down to tone and delivery.

It can be truly heartfelt with the very best of emotions. (Someone has experienced a genuine tragedy)

It can be sympathetic (toddler falling down)

It can be condescending (someone trying to color their own hair and didnt do a very good job of it…usually followed with something like “she tried”)

And can be icy and truly bitchy.

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71

Try living in and around NYC your entire life and having someone from Connecticut think you’re from Boston. True story. :roll_eyes:

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72

I couldn’t possibly imagine a worse fate.

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73

Wait, I can. Being taken for a Minnesotan hahahahaha. J/k.

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74

Tempered only by the fact that my dad is an old-school Brooklyn Dodgers fan and my family doesn’t root for the Yankees :slight_smile:

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75

I do like a general idea of pricing in a review. I like to go in knowing if I’m spending $20 a person or $100.
If I go off an old review then I expect some variation.

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76

And the thread returns to its subject!

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