BLOG: Bobcat Abroad
Accents are simply 'wicked'
By Heather Irish, Staff Writer
January 30, 2007 | 12:41 a.m.
There's this huge uproar in the U.K. about "Celebrity Big Brother."
The Brits are quite obsessed about it. There's even a channel that videotapes them sleeping, and people watch it! But to get back to the point: two girls have been in the news recently because they have been making comments about their Indian housemate. They refuse to touch anything she touches and make fun of her accent. It's such a problem that the Indian government spoke to Tony Blair about it. This uproar spawned discussions about different cultures and eventually this week's blog.
The Brits and Americans have very similar cultures, so it only makes sense that we get so excited when we can point out a difference. In this case the accent makes a huge difference, although it makes great conversation in pubs and when picking up guys.
Each place in the U.K. has its own accent, just like in the U.S. In Wales they have a thicker "English" accent, and it's really exciting when you meet someone who speaks Welsh. The other interns and I spent our first day in Wales trying to find people who spoke Welsh. We'd ask them to pronounce this crazy train station name that only the very confident Welsh speakers can pronounce: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Yeah, good luck with that.
We met some Welsh girls in a dance club in Swansea, Wales. When they heard our accent they got so excited and said it was "just lovely." Of course I think my Cleveland accent is awful and that theirs is wonderful. So in the bathroom, away from the strobe lights and throbbing music, we turned into amused little kids and talked to each other in our respective accents. They thought mine reminded them of Clueless...as if! I thought their accents reminded me of a BBC miniseries.
Of course the difference in accents causes imitations of each other’s accents. Especially after a couple of hours at a pub. Whenever the interns and I tell a story involving a Brit, we don a pathetic British accent. It's definitely no Bridget Jones, but if we're in vicinity of a Brits it's fun to look at their faces. They try to look like they're not eavesdropping, but you can tell they're slightly amused. I'm not sure if it annoys anyone...perhaps that will be another question for another pub.
Sometimes I find myself picking up some of the accent, just like when in Athens I picked up the townie accent. It's inevitable, really, but so are those confused looks from the Brits when I slip into my bastard accent.
I leave you now with some reminders: it's "wicked," not "awesome." It's "football," not "soccer." And not every British person says "pardon me," according to my boss here in Cardiff. Oh, I learned a new phrase. When complaining about a gossip say, "She/He is a right Larry Looselip." Perhaps the slang is our major faux pas when imitating one another and not just the horrible accent. I'm off to enjoy the Cardiff nightlife. Until next week, cheers from Cardiff!