Do You Have an Accent?

As the father of young children I frequently am quizzed about anything and everything. During a recent trip to the supermarket my youngest asked me to explain why some people sound funny when they talk. It wasn’t hard to figure out why she asked because the people to our left were clearly British.

This led to a long conversation about speech and how people speak. Born and bred in Los Angeles it was always clear to me that other people spoke with an accent. We heard everything British, Australian, Irish, German, Japanese, Hebrew, Russian etc. If they spoke it anywhere, chances are that we heard it in Los Angeles.

But it wasn’t until I went to work for a company in which I was the only native born American that I realized that other people think that I have an accent. I can blame this revelation upon a couple of my coworkers who were teasing me about my accent in both Hebrew and English.

I wasn’t surprised to hear them tell me that I speak Hebrew with an accent, but English, that threw me. When I asked them to give me more information I was told that I sound like I have a New York accent. That really made me laugh as my parents are from Los Angeles and the midwest.

So I spent a few minutes thinking about it and realized that over the years I have had a few conversations about this. I pick up on a Southern drawl. Can’t tell you why but if I hear it sometimes it starts to come out and every now and then I’ll be asked where I am from. Fooled a few crazy Texans here and there.

One of the funnier episodes was at a wedding I once attended. The bride was Irish many of the guests were flew in from Ireland.

Midway through the reception I decided to get a drink. I walked over to the bard and place my order. The bartender smiled and began preparing it. While he was preparing my drink he told me that he had Irish relatives and asked what part of Ireland I was from.

I laughed and told him that I was from Hollywood.

He scratched his head and said “we have a city here called Hollywood too.”

I want to say that it was an easy mistake to make. I’d like to tell you that he was competing with the band and that some trombonist was especially loud, but that wouldn’t be true. The band was on a break and it was quiet.

I couldn’t help myself and said ,”Begorra, this ale do taste mighty fine.”

I probably sounded more like a pirate than Irish, but it fit my mood. It was lot kinder than asking him if I looked like Lucky the Leprechaun from the Lucky Charms cereal box.

Image via Wikipedia

All of this leads back to the conversation with my daughter about accents. The hardest part about it was trying to explain to her how and why people have accents. I suppose that the real lesson here is that I need to research the topic so that I understand it well enough to explain it.

Fortunately she was satisfied with what I offered her, but I won’t be surprised if the question arises again.