this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2026
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I used to fuck with my mom every time she answered the landline, she'd get all high pitch and neutral and business like.
Now that I know better, I was just one more fucker lol
Hell of a way to start a sentence
Could be spicier, mom wasn't into me like that unfortunately
unfortunately
Love is love
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My gen-z coworker always laughs at me for how my voice changes when I answer a call. It's just how it was back in the 1900s okay?
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Funnily enough, that's how Americans are, too. When we come home, we speak with an English accent.
I had a friend who worked at a wine shop. He was also 1/4 french, though with no accent at all.
Some other friends went in to see him at work. They found it hilarious that he had this excessive french accent. It turned out he did it as a joke 6 months before, and got a good reaction from customers. His subconscious apparently ran with this, without his notice. The more he racked it up, the better the customers respected his opinions on wine. He was, however, completely unaware he was doing it!
sacrebleu !
Mon touche.
Omelette du fromage!
Hon hon hon!
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Funny thing is, there are thousands of UK accents that are as different from each other as they are from the generic American accent. Granted, there's variety in the US as well, but the concentration is higher in the UK, as we've had towns and villages for thousands of years within 20 miles of each other that had their own unique way of speaking that often only locals can understand without effort.
So yeah, when you say 'British accent' that means basically nothing to anyone in the UK.
when you say 'British accent' that means basically nothing to anyone in the UK.
Yeah, you have to say "Bri'ish" or they won't understand you.
If anyone doubts this, keep in your head what your idea of a British accent is, then go and find some vids of people talking in the Black Country accent. The old black and white videos are the best - its thought to be the nearest surviving accent from 'Old' English.
Saying "generic American accent" is about as valuable as someone doing a cockney accent and saying it's generic British.
I remember seeing some claim they did a study of English accents around the world and when they tried to average them all they got something similar to how people talk in Boston. Which I must say that's hard to believe, but fuck do I know
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It's the same with Scottish accents - the English think there's just one, but there's an big range. Living here for 30+ years I can identify Orkney, Highlands, Western Isles, Weegie, Reekie (posh and non-posh), Aberdeen and Galloway. That last one is odd, it sounds almost Geordie and the locals call it "Galloway Irish".
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UK accents that are as different from each other as they are the generic American accent.
So yeah, when you say 'British accent' that means basically nothing to anyone in the UK.
It's akin to saying "the generic American accent," Which means absolutely nothing to anyone in the US.
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"Fucking hell mate that was bloody exhausting, oh wait."
Australians only do the accent when foreigners are around. With each other, the accent goes away and the Quokkas can be carnivorous again.
As a kiwi, I only do the accent so aussies can tell jokes about the number six
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You're kidding, but the "posh" accent of the British upper classes is to a greater or lesser extent trained rather than merely acquired when one is learning the language as a child.
Also people with regional accents often actively make an effort to change their accent to RP (aka the BBC accent) when they move to places like London, though I supposed that's pretty common the World over when people whose regional accents are from places deemed "provincial" move to the big cities in more prosperous regions.
Oh, and immigrants, I almost forgot immigrants: many people with foreign accents do make a lot of effort to speak the local language with the local accent. In fact, for many immigrants in Britain this joke is pretty close to reality.
So there's actually a drop of truth in the joke.
Doubtless accurate, even here in the US I grew up in an area that pronounces water "wuhter", and had to unlearn that when I moved to a city where that would confuse people. That said, I also picked up "y'all" from a friend in college, so it's a mixed bag.
But when I visit home for a week and come back, definitely some "wuhter"s slip out before I get back into full city mode.
That said, I also picked up “y’all” from a friend in college, so it’s a mixed bag.
When I went to live in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) as an immigrant from Portugal I actually picked up the version of the Dutch "good morning" ("goedemorgen") from the south of the country even though I was living in Amsterdam (totally opposite side of the country) because some colleagues in the first company I worked in and were I started to learn Dutch, said it like that (it was pretty much the first Dutch word I learned).
After a while there learning the language and Dutch customs I eventually figured out I was saying good morning with basically a farmer accent from the south, by I just kept doing if for fun plus by then I abused the shit out of what I called the "foreigner excuse" (you can have tons of fun knowingly humouristically "misunderstanding" local expressions and "misusing" their language and if the joke falls flat get away with it because the locals hear your accent and think "just a foreigner, doesn't know our language well").
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though I supposed that’s pretty common the World over when people whose regional accents are from places deemed “provincial” move to the big cities in more prosperous regions
in statesia, a lot of what people consider a "southern" accent is just a rural drawl. when you move to the city you talk like the people you see on TV
Do they really think we all speak RP?
I'm from the North East, if I go to see my lass down in Manchester there are numerous different accents and the name of bread buns changes five times
Sounds like very convoluted roleplay then
Nope. We know some of you do that cockney thing instead, govna!
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Innit.
I totally drop my southern accent at home. I only use when I'm out just in case a tourist hears me. Don't want them to be disappointed.
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Just bout to relax by drinking a quard of mown doo.
As a British person I do basically have two accents I primarily use.
It's common in the US too, given the mashup of different cultures here. I use a different accent depending on whether I'm talking to a black person, a white person, a Latino, a native American, etc. It's called Code Switching and most people from around the world do it without even realizing it because everyone wants to fit in (however some of us with autism might think it's silly and refuse; it really depends on the person as to whether or not you do it).
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U wot m8??
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