the way people talk

[gaygay33]

I'm just wondering about the different way people use words deppending on where they live. If your from Ireland, why do you say "I got me cherries" instead of "I got my cherries"? What does the word my mean to you?

Does everyone in Australlia say mate? I was in a chat room before and someone kept calling me mate.
If a friend is a mate, then what is your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband or wife?

The same thing with songs. Sometimes, I would have never known that certain singers were from different countries. Natasha Bedingfield is from (UK?) I think but you can barely hear her accent.

Does anyone know any other words that are used differently?

[fredv3b]

In America the Postal Service delivers the mail. In Britain the Royal Mail delivers the post (or rather it doesn't in the current industrial inaction).

[sox-and-the-city]

Right. *Language Nerd Mode: ON*

I could talk about this for hours. See in my englisgh linguistics class we're talking about linguistic chagne a lot at the minutem which means discussing stuff just like this. There is no really easy answer. What it boils down to is that different groups of people are different and over time the way the use language will also differ. On a massively grand scale think about how different all the romance languages are, thogh they all share latin as a common source. On a smaller scale one of my mannerisms has become a word that everyone who knows me accepts as a word in its own right. If it catches on enough it might end up in common usage one day...

That's generalising massively, but the gist of the most basic ideas of it.

Also Natasha Bedignfield was bron in New Zealand, but moved to London, where she spent most of her childhood...

[marshlander]

I was born in London where it is not unusual to hear people say "me" for "my". The sound is not a long "ee", but a shorter sound of "i" as in "dick" In Norfolk one might hear "mi", "maai" or something like "moy". The part of the Norfolk Fens where I live is an interesting place for accents. Locally we have a definite rural Fenland accent. Five miles away, across the River Nene and into Lincolnshire, the vowel sounds are completely different and much more northern sounding.

[joseph]

i got gordy acsent from newcastle

[libertylove4]

If you want to hear a wide range of accents come to the states. Every corner of the nation has a different accent and pronunciation of words. New Englanders drop r's and the letter a comes out as an 'ah' sound. Where I'm from in Northern Michigan we pick up a bit of the Canadian accent, also our A sound is much harsher. For instance when people around here say the word ask, it comes out sounding more like axe. The sounthern accent is the most fun though mile:

[Yosuke]

If you want to hear a wide range of accents come to the states. Every corner of the nation has a different accent and pronunciation of words. New Englanders drop r's and the letter a comes out as an 'ah' sound. Where I'm from in Northern Michigan we pick up a bit of the Canadian accent, also our A sound is much harsher. For instance when people around here say the word ask, it comes out sounding more like axe. The sounthern accent is the most fun though mile:

I agree...and yes the southern accent is the most fun! We replace 'you all' with 'yall', instead of saying "I'm about to go to the store," we say "I'm fixin' to go to the store," our 'for" is usually pronounced 'fer', ect. Apparently we speak slower than the rest of the country as well. I'm going to have SO much fun when I move up north

[fredv3b]

If you want to hear a wide range of accents come to the states. Every corner of the nation has a different accent and pronunciation of words.

In America you have to travel for hundreds of miles to find a different accent. In Britain it is only tens, or even less than that.

Apparently we speak slower than the rest of the country as well.

Absolutely true, I'd love to be able to speak as relaxed and slowly as you do in the American South, however I just can't help but talk at breakneck speed.

[Mr.Dude]

I know Germany is crazy with dialects and regional accents, but the same is true for most of europe. My accent is a bit messed because Ive been around alot of different cultures and languages, though originally I come from the South. I dont think I had much of a twang or anything though but its thick in my family. My grandmother has this kind of genteel Southern gentry kind of accent wheras my uncles and such all seem to have a more stereotypical redneck kidn of accent.

[libertylove4]

I love that gentile Southern Gentry accent, it's really awesome. There's a guy in one of my classes that has it and I almost died when I heard it. I think it's a very hot accent.