ladyfoxxx | Voicepost! LOLmerican Accent Quiz

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Voicepost! LOLmerican Accent Quiz

So

mizubyte did a voice post of her doing an American Accent quiz where you answer questions about your pronunciation and the quiz gods try to figure out where you are from. Obviously I am not American, but the pull of the quiz was too much, so I decided to do it anyway, just to see what might happen.

Direct link here if the embed below isn't working:

Accentquiz by ladyfoxxx

So apparently when I try to do quizzes that are not designed for non-Americans when I have just woken up I spend most of my time saying "how could those two words EVER sound the same?" And then I burst into hysterical laughter when I find out my quiz result.

No really, I found my quiz result to be VERY VERY FUNNY. So if you want to skip forwards to where I start to make sense again that is at around 06:10. And if after reading these disclaimers you still decide to listen to this, um, sorry?

Questions:

3. We're going to start with two ordinary words, "cot" and "caught." Do you think those words sound the same or different?
Same
Different
Same, no wait I mean different, well, I don't know...

4. What about "don" and "dawn"?
Same
Different
Same...ish. Maybe a little different.

5. OK, what about "stock" and "stalk"?
Same
Different
Almost, but not quite, the same

6. Now then how do "collar" and "caller" sound?
Same
Different
Almost, but not quite, the same

7. Do you think the word "on" rhymes with "dawn" or with "don"?
dawn
don
Well, I don't think don and dawn sound any different in the first place so on would obviously rhyme with both

8. Moving on, what do you think about "Mary," "merry," and "marry"?
All 3 sound different
Mary and merry sound the same but marry is different from them
All 3 sound the same

9. Our next word is "horrible." How does that first vowel sound?
It's just like in the word "whore."
It's the same "o" sound as in "hot."
Neither one

10. Now for "pen" and "pin." Don't worry about what others say is correct, just tell us how they come out in an ordinary conversation.
Same
Different
Close. Pen sounds almost, but not quite, like pin.

11. What about "feel" and "fill"?
Same
Different
Well, I think they're different even though they sound very, very similar almost to the point of being the same

12. When you say "about," does the "ou" sound like the "ou" in "loud"?
No
Yes

13. Last question. When you say "bag" does it rhyme with "vague"?
Yes
No

If the quiz sounds like fun you can do it yourself! Link is here!

I am maybe a little ridiculous. Also I am enjoying voice posts way too much so if you have any questions or things you would like me to say or read maybe leave them in the comments and if I get enough I'll do another voice post! Because voice posts are fun!

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Lollllllllllllllllllllllllll, I totally cracked up along with you when you read "North Jersey". Oh maaan.

Oh my god, your laugh is ADORABLE.

(Oh my god, WORD on Thames. Seriously.)

IT WAS VERY AMUSING. Oh god I was CRYING with laughter over that, I don't even know how it was so funny.

(YES. I don't UNDERSTAND how Thames could be TEMMS. I mean WTF. Weirdo English folk.)

I ACTUALLY know the answer to this. See it USED to be Thame-s (to rhyme with James) but then one of our imported German kings pronounced it Temms and well, you can't tell the King he's saying it wrong, right?

HEY YOU OVER THERE, STOP BEING RIGHT SO MUCH.

(Heee, thank you! That is very interesting.)

I LIKE KNOWING THINGS!

(Me and my bff are banned from being on the same pub quiz team)

(also HI I am back home from the states it can be time for Rayfest soon?)

RAYFEST!

or does TOROFEST sound better? IDK, I can't decide.

But YES. We should discuss like, tactics for how to do it?

I like Torofest 2012 for maximum awesome.

And yes! Email?

Email! yes!

I have no idea what this is yet I still feel compelled to express my COMPLETE ON-BOARD-NESS. :D

a) I got the "Don" reference, lol.

b) a Kiwi here in the office pronounces "pen" as "pin" and "pin" as "pen" :D

also, your accent sounds EXACTLY like mine, and I'm from an Aussie dad, a NY mom, grew up in DC which is part of the NE accent family, live in Sydney, and work with a British boss. [giggles]

a) Yay! I facepalmed after I said that because wow, not only is it an Aussie-only reference, it's also rather out of date now. Showing my age!

b) LOL Kiwi pronunciation is WEIRD, yo.

Oooh you should do the quiz and see if you get the same result as me! I don't have any real excuse for the American twang in my accent since I've never lived there for any real period of time, but it just got in there somehow, but the British thing I can blame on living in London!

no chance for me to do this one yet or listen to your voice post. but i did lol at the very idea!

Apparently I talk like someone from North Jersey? LOL...

Oh god, as a former actor from North Jersey who spent a LOT OF TIME thinking about accents in general, I have MANY FEELS about this post.

Because the thing is that as much as a Jersey (or Northeast) accent sounds nothing like an English-Australian hybrid accent, we DO distinguish vowel sounds much, MUCH more than other areas of the country do. A lot of American accents flatten out all the vowels, and there's generally not as much variation between different vowel sounds. So like, my answers for 80% of this quiz are exactly the same as yours are, but HOW I pronounce many of those words isn't the same as how you do.

I'm also just totally fucked accent-wise though, because I grew up in Jersey but I don't have a Jersey accent like the MCR boys do, mostly because my PARENTS are from New England (but not Boston) so I'm like a cross between the two. And once you start playing around with your speech for performance purposes it totally fucks up EVERYTHING, both because I mimic whoever I'm talking with to some degree, ALWAYS, and also because I'm aware of the different ways to say all of those words, and so I can do it, and it's hard for me to concretely say THIS is how I always say this word. And some words just CHANGE, like "orange" - if I'm saying the fruit, I say it more like you probably do, but if I'm talking about the Jersey town South Orange, I say it much closer to the way that Frank does, because that's how I ALWAYS hear that town name pronounced.

/FEELINGS

And once you start playing around with your speech for performance purposes it totally fucks up EVERYTHING, both because I mimic whoever I'm talking with to some degree, ALWAYS, and also because I'm aware of the different ways to say all of those words, and so I can do it, and it's hard for me to concretely say THIS is how I always say this word.

OMG THIS THIS THIS. I do this ALL THE TIME. I actually have to make an EFFORT when I am in other countries to NOT mimic accents, or when I am hanging around people with accents to NOT copy their accent because I do it WITHOUT EVEN THINKING ABOUT IT. I get so concerned that people are going to get annoyed with me for ripping off their accent and I SWEAR I don't do it on purpose.

I even had a moment when I got my result on this quiz where I was worried that because I'd just finished listening to Miz's recording that I'd riffed her accent somehow.

It's also been a thing since I've started making podfic - I have to specifically make sure I record with my own accent, because it's so easy for me to slip into a kind of near-American thing when I'm reading off the page and one of my first draft recordings I did of Bulletproof I was totally doing American pronunciation without even being AWARE of it til I listened back so I had to scrap the whole thing and start again. I ALSO have to be careful not to go the other way though! On a trip to America once for work, I remember my boss (who is American) just STARED at me after I'd finished telling her something and when I asked what was up she said "I'm sorry, it's just your accent is so broad I was having trouble understanding you" - I'd been so concerned about 'turning American' while I was in LA, I'd actually gone too far the OTHER way and was bunging on a Russel Crowe very ocker Aussie accent. I can't win!

LOL /FEELINGS. APPARENTLY I HAVE THEM TOO!

When I've been in the UK, I can USUALLY keep myself from going full-out mimicry (which I do try to keep myself from doing because lol I do not want to be Madonna or Gwyneth, thanks), but what I can't keep myself from doing is using vocab or English phrases that would make me sound like a hipster in New York but are common over there.

I'm actually running into that a bit with podfic myself - like, I DON'T sound like the MCR boys do, but I know how Frank DOES sound, so if I put on a bit more of a (genuine) Jersey accent, is that BAD? Or does it help the story? I JUST DON'T KNOW.

OMG I just went and creeped on the BBB podfic claim post and saw what fic you are doing. ALL THE YAYS. I bet you do an awesome job, god I can't wait to hear that one spoken aloud.

I DON'T sound like the MCR boys do, but I know how Frank DOES sound, so if I put on a bit more of a (genuine) Jersey accent, is that BAD? Or does it help the story? I JUST DON'T KNOW.

I TOTALLY THINK IT WOULD WORK! I mean, if you know how to pronounce it the way Frank would then why the hell NOT say it the way he would if it's a story in his POV? I don't see how it would ruin the experience unless it sounded put-on or mottsy, but it sounds like you would do it RIGHT.

It's kind of like, if someone were to do podfic of

tuesdaysgone and

fleurdeliser's OT3 verse (DEAR GOD PLEASE) if they could do Grant's dialogue in a NOT-mottsy Scottish accent it would work SO WELL. But only if they could actually DO IT properly and not like somebody doing an impression, you know? Which in the case of a Jersey accent w/ the MCR boys you TOTALLY could.

LOL SO MANY FEELINGS.

You totally riff on how I saw Boston, btw

LOL oh god, so we are the OPPOSITE. Because I grew up in New England, but my parents are from Jersey, so I have a weird mix of accents. Add to the fact that I had five years of speech therapy to correct a lisp while living in Philadelphia, and my accent is just fucked six ways to Sunday.

I answered quite a few of the questions the same as C, but for different reasons. (Also, I don't care what she says, they DO sound different, and I can feel the difference when I'm saying them, whether or not crazy Oz girl can hear the difference)

Your laugh is the greatest. *g* I would have answered this in exactly the same way, and North Jersey, what??? "Is Don, Is Good" cracked me up as well. It's probably weird how often I reference that in real life...

Also, I realised I haven't friended you, so I'm going to do that if it's alright with you. I really like your fic and meta posts!

Oh god I sound HYSTERICAL. I think I WAS a little hysterical by the time I'd finished that, holy hell.

Cool! I need more people who understand Is Don Is Good on my flist. I just went and creeped your journal and saw that you have Frank at Seaworld photos in a recent entry and I was like HA, yeah I like this girl. I think I saw a Sherlock reference there to (COUGHNOTMYNEWFANDOMCOUGH)

HI!

I don't remember to post an awful lot, because tumblr has kinda eaten my soul... but I'm trying to do it more. Hello! *waves* :D

You are GREAAAAAAAAAT.

NO YOUUUUUUUUU!

Haha! I had the broadest grin on my face when you cracked up! So catching!! :-)

Accents are so much fun!
I remember when I started being able to really discern between various accents in the English language a few years into learning it in school, and how excited I was about that.

I'm not particularly fond of my own accent because of the German twang to it ;-) But I usually adapt to and incorporate what I hear spoken around me (without even meaning to) and have ended up with a funny mix over the last few years.

After I spent a year in Alabama during High School, I can't quite say it was a pretty thing to listen to... Imagine a German-Alabamian mix? :-P
But after living in Ireland for four years it has (luckily) changed somewhat. But who knows, apparently I'm from 'The Inland North' according to the test. Like, Wisconsin. Hmmm.

I am CRYING laughing. and also remembering all the years of living in the UK where people made me say things in my american accent at them :D but mostly crying laughing.

North Jersey! My mom is from North Jersey, but then went to college in Boston and then moved to California and had kids, and so I had a SUPER WEIRD accent when I was little and said things like kaaah instead of car. But she can (and does) say Mary, merry, and marry all differently, and they all sound exactly the same when I say them.

HEEEEEE, this was adorable!!! <333333

This meme is fantastic *g*

BOSTON.

LOL oh god, they don't sound the same! STOP MAKING FUN OF ME.

Also your Mary/merry/marry all sound the same.

Pen/pin only sounds the same if you're from the South I think. My nana sounds like that. (don't worry, none of us understand that either)

I can totally hear how you'd be... Northeast if you're clearly not American... um... sure! (true story, I once had someone ask me if I was from England because of my accent. Me: "... uh.. NEW England...?")

The Jersey thing though? Not in the slightest, LOL. Sorry love.

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