If you relocated to another region, did you develop the accent?

[Diznygrl]

Haha, oh wow I know for a fact that if I ever moved to another state/country that's known for its prominent accents that it would not take me long at all to start unconsciously mimicking it. I can't even watch BBC America for a few hours without suddenly speaking with a British accent.

I have relatives in North Dakota, and whenever I go visit them it only takes about a day before I start sounding like an extra from the movie Fargo.

 

[mamamary]

Moved to Maryland from New York about 17 years ago. As everyone tells me I still have my NY accent. There are a few words here and there that I've noticed that Marylanders pronounce differently but I've never sounded like that.

 

[lil mermaid]

I moved from Mass to California and lived there for two years, and then moved to Texas where we have been for nearly six. I haven't developed an accent, although I often do use the y'all.

My Boston accent was never particularly strong, however. My mother grew up in Iowa, and she always made me say my "r"s when growing up. I am glad now that she did.

 

[Mrs. H]

Heck, I went to Nashville for a weekend, and came back with a Southern accent! It only lasted a day or two, though. Then I went right back to sounding like a Mainah.

 

[sasywtch]

7 years in Oklahoma from CA, picked up the DAWG instead of DOG, y'all (cause it's so much easier than saying "all you guys"). Did not want to say "fixin to" though. I still have people in CA ask me what my accent is even though I've been back here for 7 years.

 

[fall08CP]

Just moved to the South and I'm picking up new words and talking slower, but my family up North hasn't noticed a change in accent yet. I like being picked out as a Yankee! I don't want to change

 

[Owl's Friend]

My dh and I never ended up with a southern accent. We went from MI to TN. My dd doesn't have the accent, but uses southern phrases. Soda, y'all. She also says a few others with a southern drawl.

 

[minkydog]

I guess this is a "spin off" from the other regional thread!

My sister moved to Tennessee from NY almost 40 years ago. She started talking "Tennessean" almost immediately! On the other hand, my other sister and I moved to the South from NY and we sound about as southern as Tony Soprano...

Did you adopt the accent or the "way" of speaking? Or did you hold on to your twang or drawl? And why or how?

Neither my sister nor my brother have adopted new accents. We were raised in the deep South, so deep into Lower Alabama (LA, as we say ) we were almost in the Gulf of Mexico. DBro spent a good chunk of childhood in west Texas and his accents sounds very twangy, very Texan. The rest of us sound softer, like rural Alabama. DSis moved to the Pacific Northwest about 10 years ago, land of the TV Announcer Accent. She's been out there 10 years and people still make fun of her accent and tell her that she sounds "backwards." WTH? Trust me. She has a degree in Chemistry. DBro moved to the Outer Banks(NC), which still has pockets of it's own very distinct local accent. He picked up a little of the OBX accent when he was living with my grandfather, but he still sounds like straight Texas to most people

 

[tcox82]

I've lived in GA all my life except for college in Alabama, a summer in England, and a summer in Michigan. I really don't have an accent--Mom grew up in St. Louis, Dad grew up in Georgia but lived in NYC for 8 years...for most of my life, I didn't think he had an accent at all, but recently I've noticed that there are a few things he says like I remember my grandma saying them when I was a kid.

During my summer in England, one of the locals asked where I was from. I said I was in a group from Alabama, and he was astonished that I didn't sound Southern.

I use all of the Southern colloquialisms (except fixin' to...my mom didn't allow that), but my accent is very neutral. DW is pretty neutral too, except when she talks to certain friends

 

[Simba's Mom]

I grew up in MA, and in the eighteen years since we moved to Texas, I still haven't lost that Boston (or should I say Bahstin) accent. Like a PP said, if anything my accent has gotten worse. It's been kind of embarrassing-lots of people I've met have looked at me funny, saying "WHERE did you say you're from?" I certainly don't talk like they'd expect a Texan to!

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

When I moved to NC from Southeastern Massachusetts 16 years ago, it seems like I couldn't go a day without someone asking where I was from. I rarely get asked that anymore, so I assume it means I've lost a lot of my accent.....except when I get angry It's much easier to bless someone out with a MA accent!!

Now, it's important to note that not everyone in the south has the same degree of accent. Around here, if someone has a very strong accent, they're just more " country" than the rest of us. My husband was born and raised in NC and I think he barely has an accent but when we first met all of my friends practically swooned when he spoke and begged him to "say something." When I talk to these friends now, they say I sound just like him.

 

[NikitaZee]

Still have my New York accent, can't imagine not ever having it!!! This is after living in Kentucky, Connecticut and Massachusetts

 

[fairestoneofall]

i'm originally from an area of Ohio with no accent. i now live in SC. i still don't have an accent.

 

[bdcp]

I moved from TX to MD when I was 8. I gradually lost my southern accent and now sound just like anyone else from the mid-atlantic region, no accent. As my uncle says, I sound like a "yankee" lol. When I go back to TX I quickly pick up my accent on some words and I'm 51 so it's been 40+ years since I lived there. So, for me and my family, we didn't pick up a new accent as much as we lost one.

My mom didn't work (or go to school like we did) so she still has some of her accent.

 

[DeaverTex]

English accents? What about Scots? When we were in Germany, Mrs. Tex worked with an LVN who was a Scot -- Maureen, as I recall. She had a very distinctive and rather charming accent (OK, so I'm a pushover for cute ladies with accents.) most of the time, but when she got on the phone with one of her friends back home, none of us could understand a single word. She insisted she was speaking English, but you couldn't prove it by me.

And I hope that I NEVER lose my Texan/Southern accent!

 

[Michelle67]

Still have my New York accent, can't imagine not ever having it!!! This is after living in Kentucky, Connecticut and Massachusetts

My husband has mostly lost his, with the exception of a few words...which the rest of us often ask him to repeat for out entertainment when they come out. My favorite is "aaaaahhhhh FIGYIZ!" when something doesn't go as planned.

English accents? What about Scots? When we were in Germany, Mrs. Tex worked with an LVN who was a Scot -- Maureen, as I recall. She had a very distinctive and rather charming accent (OK, so I'm a pushover for cute ladies with accents.) most of the time, but when she got on the phone with one of her friends back home, none of us could understand a single word. She insisted she was speaking English, but you couldn't prove it by me.

And I hope that I NEVER lose my Texan/Southern accent!

That reminded me of a friend's dad, when I was in college. Dad was from Finland, and most often spoke an amalgamation of Finnish and Swedish, but did...in theory...speak English. Dad also seemed to like me, and would always try to chit chat with me when I was over there. One day when we were leaving I asked my friend why his father always insisted on trying to speak Finnish/Swedish to me, and he started laughing and informed me that his father ALWAYS spoke English to me. Oh REALLY? That was ENGLISH???

 

[mtblujeans]

I was born at an Air Force base in Mississippi but I have lived in northern states most of my life so, yes, I guess I have a northern/regional accent.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I can pick it up in about 2 sentences.

Lived in Jersey or go home to visit family, I talk like I'm from Philly.
Lived in GA and just got back from Nashville, southern twang. Even DD picked it up.
Worked in NYC or go into the City for the day, I sound like I'm from Brooklyn.
When we lived in Hawaii, OMG that was crazy!! I think I had every accent under the sun.
Talk to someone from the UK, I'm all over it! DH really really wants to move to England so I can have a British Accent. And DD would just be too cute for words with one too.

My speech has multiple personality disorder!!

 

[The Orchid]

I was born and raised in Ohio, but moved to Washington State when I was 22. I never thought of myself as having an accent at all, but my best friend in college would tease me about the way I talked. After about a year, he looked at me funny and sighed and said, "You don't talk like a hillbilly anymore....now I can't make fun of you." So yeah, I guess I lost the accent. The teasing was all in good fun, of course, but I seriously was unaware of speaking different from the natives in Washington. I was really, really, really happy the day I was told I sounded like I lived in Washington all my life!

 

[Goofyluver]

Since moving to Texas from New Mexico, my twang has increased dramatically. Although for the most part, it's only when I'm speaking with someone else who is really twangy.

We also don't believe in -ing's here in Texas...so everything ends in 'in...

Everybody is always fixin' to do somethin', eatin', sleepin', or workin'...

Many years ago, I was visiting a cousin in New York. She was speaking with her thick New York accent, and I sort of giggled and said: "Listen to your accent." She looked me dead in the eye and said, "Honey, you're in New York. I don't have an accent. You do."