OnionPrince wrote:

On the other hand, I speak Japanese with a Kansai accent because I deliberately trained myself to do so.

I also want to get a Kansai-ben when I eventually teach overseas. I just think Kansai is waaaay better of a region than Tokyo, which is overrated. Everything I've seen of Osaka people, I've liked.

As for my quirks, even though I'm Cajun, don't act me to ever imitate a Cajun accent. Even though it gets worse the more I stay here, I really cannot at all do it justice--as it is, people in the larger Louisiana cities pretty much recognize that we can't do it very accurately, just that we have a twinge of it. And about half the time when I'm subbing, I've had a kid or a teacher ask, "Where are you from?" Apparently, I've picked up something mysteriously big city North Carolina, which two have said sounds "slower." This is totally insane since I'm living in about as deep South as you can get. I can go on and on about how bizarre the Cajun accent is, but for a shorter version, just watch Rene on TrueBlood, Poopoo Broussard on youtube, or this Cajun Onstar video that everyone down here loves:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb9bsy0DOR0

My boyfriend right now has a pretty thick Cajun accent, and I think it's adorable. As for personal quirks, I will make a song out of anything. ANYTHING. Shopping for groceries, telling children they can't go to the bathroom, an ode to how much I hate you, etc. Just whenever the mood strikes me. I also have random noises which, thankfully, people tend to think are cute rather than annoying. I also tend to use big words that confuse people, but often inappropriately, like calling one of my friends an egregious slut. My accent also gets waaaaaay more Southern, with a possible hint of black from god only knows where, when I get angry.

Forgot to mention: I am one of those abominable twats who says 'lol' and 'winrar' and shit IRL. Which is funnier cos I'm an English undergrad and used to be the sort of autistic grammar nazi that everyone loves to hate.
Of course, when I say 'funnier', I mean even more irritating, if such a thing is possible.
Everyone also gets 'mate' and 'man'. This, for bonus points, especially pisses off my girlfriend.

OnlyInThisLight wrote:

Putting pants onto the ends of words.

Yes.

I do this in real-lifepants.


(I also pretty much stole a lot of my online and rl speaking habits from allegoriest and Lady N and a bit from Naji here on IRG.  )

Thing must be preeeetty delicious over there.


...I get my online writing habits from being so freakin delicious.
My sister and I say lol to eachother. Once I said brb in person, and it was like, WTF HAPPENED TO MEEEEE

Epee_724 wrote:

Bluesky wrote:

Forgot to mention: I am one of those abominable twats who says 'lol' and 'winrar' and shit IRL. Which is funnier cos I'm an English undergrad and used to be the sort of autistic grammar nazi that everyone loves to hate.
Of course, when I say 'funnier', I mean even more irritating, if such a thing is possible.
Everyone also gets 'mate' and 'man'. This, for bonus points, especially pisses off my girlfriend.

Fun fact: You made me start saying winrar

OH FUCK YEAH. High-five, man.
I love spreading Internetisms to other people. Language of the future!

Epee_724 wrote:

Just today, I used "Teh" out loud to a group of friends, several times and no one batted an eye lash. Which makes me wonder exactly how many Internetisms do I use?

Oh, I hate when that happens especially around like old people and in professional settings. I really do try to avoid it though... I sometimes say 'that is teh sux'  but not very often

I rather like Southern accents. Especially from the deep South. But you should've heard my American lit class reading through A Streetcar Named Desire. Many aimed for Southern accents...many failed. Twas grand fun:grin:

My speech is a conglomerate of things. Their are antiquated word from books (thusly, indeed, quite, heretofore, fair-to-middling being some of the more common), words borrowed from friends (dude has become all purpose. also awesome-possum. and addressing people as lovely).

Furthermore my parents brought me up on British television and movies so around strangers I apparently lapse into a British accent without noticing or being able to control it.

Oh...and my one regional quirk: People from Northeast Ohio tend to start their sentences strongly and then, toward the end, kinda... just... y'know... drop *mumbles*
I'm trying to cure myself because it's awful. People have to guess my last couple words.

Last edited by Hermine (06-27-2010 01:48:56 PM)

Cherry wrote:

Oh, I say "cool" in place of "I understand" or something. Which is fine around friends and stuff, but I think it looks strange in interviews and such, when they tell me something, and I say "cool" to indicate I understand. T_T And I say "S'laters" instead of "see you later".

Oh, I do that, keep bloody forgetting it's not normal. At my work experience (in a library, woohoo) I keep accidentally responding with everything with 'awesome' like some kind of twat. 'In a bit' is good instead of 'laters', too.

I have a fondness for Southern accents myself, like Hermine I especially like deep Southern ones. My boss is from the south so I actually do enjoy listened to him speak because it's very relaxing.

My speech patterns apparently make it difficult for people to place where I'm from. Most people assume the UK which is understandable since I spent some time there, others think the Midwest which is silly to me. I'm actually from the Northeast, Massachusetts to be exact and thankfully completely lack a Boston accent.

I too also say goofy shit like "lol" IRL, mostly in silly situations at work (I'll just randomly say things like "lollerskates" and such ). I'm very guily of saying "yer" and "fer" though instead of "your/you're" and "for". I try to retrain my tongue to pronounce it right but so far no such luck.

Since moving to Honolulu four years ago, I've slowly integrated a bit of local slang into my everyday speech. I'll end sentences with "yeah?" and greet people with "howzit?" but I haven't adopted the sing-song lilt that comes with speaking pidgin (aka Hawaiian Creole English).

I also say "da kine" instead of "whatchamacallit" or whenever the word I need doesn't come directly to mind (or whenever I'm deliberately trying to obfuscate). My fellow transplant friends find it hilarious.

I like to mess up with collocations in Polish to make a speech more "visual". For example I can say someone's words blistered my ears.

I tend to be lazy when talking. Words slur slightly. Also I seem to have a soft voice which doubles in confusing people.



I can tell you right now though that Sarah Palin is an odd one. I've never met anyone that sounds like her up here in Alaska.

Well, for one, I don't swear in my mother tongue, but sometimes (read everyday) an english curse word escapes my mouth (mainly the "s" word and "damn it!") But I'd like to quit entirely. How sweet, I know.
On a different note, I use the word "like" at least 2 or 3 times per sentence, because I'm eloquent like that.
Also, when someone asks me about my opinion, I tend to start my little speech with the word "well".
And sometimes I just trail off in the middle of the sentence and start a new one, simply because I still can't express everything in English.
Plus, I just noticed i use A LOT of brackets when I write something on the forum. And I use CAPITAL LETTERS a lot, too.

Last edited by Cheerie132 (12-22-2013 01:23:59 PM)

I use "awesome" and "like" more than necessary. I also tend to pick up slang and phrases, and try to keep up with American speech - I like teaching Japanese friends proper use of words like "creeper".
The least-conscious and most potentially communication-inhibiting thing I do, though, is mix Japanese into my English. I don't really go the other way, and when I do it's usually English Japanese people understand. I also don't, unfortunately, put in the kind of Japanese that some Americans understand. Instead, probably due to how long I've been here and the level of immersion I have, I have moments when I literally can't remember the English word and it's quicker and easier for me to substitute in Japanese for everything from name of months to words like "playing hooky" (Ex: 'Yeah, maybe better to saboru today.'). Since the majority of my friends here are foreigners with at least intermediate Japanese skill, I get away with it, but then I try skyping with my parents...I never used to have so many pauses in my English speech.

ETA: in Japanese, my verbal ticks are "tabun..." (probably...), ~kedo/da kedo (but~), and using the ~nakucha form when I have to do something.

Last edited by Pratyeka (12-28-2013 06:57:58 AM)