Accents

Yes, but people from Jersey go out for Berr-gers and Cough-ee...

No, you really don't want to go to Staten Island....trust me.[].

I am SO going to New Jersey and Staten Island on my next trip over there!

Back on topic- a real pet peeve of mine is when people do terrible terrible fake Chinese accents (for some reason radio stations over here LOVE using it for their ads), partially because I am Chinese but mostly because Chinese people do not actually talk like that!

I dislike when American actors use a foreign accent....like when Gwenyth Paltrow,Winona Ryder or Claire Daines try to do an English accent.  I don't care how good the critics think it is...I can't stand it.  It irks me.

On the other hand, I do like when actors like Catherine Zeta-Jones, Nicole Kidman, or Naomi Watts do American accents.  I can't explain it.  It's just what I like......

ORIGINAL: Vinia

I am SO going to New Jersey and Staten Island on my next trip over there!

Back on topic- a real pet peeve of mine is when people do terrible terrible fake Chinese accents (for some reason radio stations over here LOVE using it for their ads), partially because I am Chinese but mostly because Chinese people do not actually talk like that!

 
that is SOOO true!! i really wanna know how westerners get the notion that chinese people speak english like that? seriously..? they actually CAN pronounce the 'r'. they have it in their language. heck here in beijing they add it to every single freaking word, which can be quite irritating...
 
about southern accents. i do feel that they are the stronger accents within the states and when i hear it in movies i always have a hard time following... i'd give up the subtitles for german or chinese dialog (always the bad guys, by the way) any day to have subtitles for the southern accents.. lol

Having lived in different parts of the south, I think its hard to say that there is a specific "southern accent". Within the same state you'll find many, many different accents.  None are "right", they just are indicitive of the area. I kinda sorta dislike the cajun accent around New Orleans, but only because I find it so difficult to understand.  BUT, there are some parts of West Virginia, which isn't really southern southern, where I find it difficult to understand what those folks are saying.
 
When I lived in Portland ME, the lady next door had a kid named MAK.  She parked her CAH in the YAHD and wouldn't have known an R if it walked up and bit her in the butt.  Youngest DS's teacher had to make a real effort to include R's in her speech....he had trouble using R's....which is not cool when your NAME begins with R......I remember quite the conversation with my son about monach butterflies......because that's how Ms H pronounced it.
 
Regardless of the area, I think if you spend at least a month immersed in the society, you can at least figure out what's being said. 

I've known a few kiwis in my time and that's why, probably, I can hear your accent when I read your words.
 
I think my accent is similar to that of comedian Ron White. I could be wrong. You'd have to ask Jaime since I have actually talked to her, or Schlep, since I have met him in person.
 

I love an Austrailian accent I can listen to that all day long.

I can do a pretty good southern accent, my girlfriend who is from Memphis says I can do it better than she does LOL

When I lived in NY I got pretty good at telling where someone was from by their accent, Long Island, Bronx, Queens, New Jersey. Doubt I could do it any more but at one point I could.

Years ago I worked in Canada with a show stable, I would go out to dinner with my new friends and invariably someone would ask "are you from the states?" I would respond yes and they would say "I thought you had an accent" (I am from MI). My response would always be "that's funny I never had one before?"

I know I am a cheeky sucker.

Until the day I die, I will always fall head over heels for a guy with an English accent.  Aussie/Kiwi comes in a close second, but those British men make me swoon.  I spent some time in Ireland and we had an Irish friend live with us for a bit when I was growing up and for some reason I'm not quite as enamoured with that accent.
 
I had an interesting experience vacationing down in the Bahamas last year.  My mother and I were sitting at a table chatting with a couple from Pennsylvania and out of nowhere the gentleman says, "You must be from Wisconsin."  Nothing in our conversation gave this away, so I asked him how he guessed.  He said that he had lived in Milwaukee for a few years and that the Wisconsin "accent" really stuck out to him now.  Honest to god I didn't think we HAVE an accent and I thought we spoke the same as him.  lol  Guess not.
 
I have a friend in Canada and we always make fun of each other for the way the other speaks.  It cracks me up every time he says "about" and similar words.

ETA:
Ed, maybe you can pick out a kiwi accent, but can you imitate one?

 
I'd have to be exposed to it a few more times, but I'd be able to pull it off almost convincingly.  The other thing is that I'd have to hear more colloquialisms as well.  That's what sets everything into perspective.  There's no better way to sound convincingly Aussie than a properly placed "good onya then."  Or a "Roight oh" when one is approximating English.  But I'm revealing all my spy secrets and should probably stop now.  []

As someone who has a very pronounced southern drawl

 
You can call me anytime!  I guarantee that pronounced southern accent will put me into a trance.  (I'll PM you my digits!)

Being from Mexico makes me not to have 100% USA accent, but i also do not have an accent where you just dont know what the hell i'm talking about; i find really frustrating when people just dont get what i'm saying, example:
 
We are talking about me cutting my own hair, i tell people that i use an electric razor and i cut my hair as easy as when you trim a sheep's hair also with an electric razor
 
Well since i'm Mexican, i pronounce the word "sheep" as "ship" (you know like a boat), well when that happens the people turn their heads to eachother and have a face like if i just came from mars and started to speak "martian"
 
I mean why would i start talking about cutting a "ship's" hair??????? that just does not make any sense!!!!, i mean i have found that some people just dont get what you are saying if you dont pronounce the word 100% correct, even if is 98% correct, they dont get it, just like "sheep" and "ship" [:'(]

He said that he had lived in Milwaukee for a few years and that the Wisconsin "accent" really stuck out to him now.  Honest to god I didn't think we HAVE an accent and I thought we spoke the same as him.  lol  Guess not.

Friend from WI and it was only certain words that have an accent on them.  []

I mean why would i start talking about cutting a "ship's" hair??????? that just does not make any sense!!!!, i mean i have found that some people just dont get what you are saying if you dont pronounce the word 100% correct, even if is 98% correct, they dont get it, just like "sheep" and "ship"

Ah but I think part of it is not necessarily what you are saying, but kind of guessing what the person is going to say.  If they've never thought of sheering sheep, then saying sheep with an accent would be like coming out of left field for them.  I find myself almost guessing what people are saying before they say it.  I don't know why I do that but I do.  So when they say something totally off the wall that i was not expecting, it might take a minute to re-interpret what they were saying!  lol...

I too love the english accents but the Aussie or Irish/Scottish gets me more.  []  Especially if it's Scottish from a guy wearing a kilt.  heh....

Here in my town, there is the "hick" accent and the "town" accent.  Back in NY I didn't notice it so much where I lived, though some people (kids as I was a kid back then) would try to talk like someone from NYC or like a gangsta'.  [8|]  That's the only thing I noticed.  Well aside from the cawfee and tawk out there.  []

Penelope Cruz has just about the most adorable Spainsh accent in the world... I've never been to Madrid so I don't know if everyone is as cute as she is when she talks!
Having just moved away from Boston, I must say that it is very nice to hear people pronouce their "r" again. []

I *love* all accents... By accents, I mean the way in which people who speak other languages sound when they are speaking English (I also love to listen to other languages, but thats diffferent).

I teach English as a Second Language and the children are so incredibly cute with all their different accents (there are ten languages represented in my group of kids, so there are TONS of different accents!). Its great!

I can't really choose my favorite.....

I also like accents from different parts of the US, and different English speaking countries.

Im a linguist, so this stuff just tickles me!