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[Yaardarm Monkey II]

I've never really had a problem with the what people call the Aussie accent. Boston, yes. Aussie, no.

   omfg, Boston accents are simply unreal

I was outside Boston and asked at the hotel bar where Concord was; the local had no idea what I was talking about!

I pronounced it: con (like a criminal) - cord (like twine or rope)

He pronounced it:  cawn (pawn, but with a K or C and more emphasis on the aa) - caad (like cad, a despicable person...only more aa)

 

[Feverish]

Pok the cah.

[calalily]

I understood the seagulls pretty well! 

I think most USians would understand Aussies if they saw it on movies - but movie executives seem to think you're all dimwits. I think the slang would probably be the biggest problem - being rooted means something else entirely (and often throws USians).

I spent the summer there and didn't run into a single Aussie who spoke proper English 

Speech is pretty casual here - plus there's the whole country/macho thing of trying to move your mouth as little as possible.

[Feverish]

I was chatting with an Australian years back and I told him I was pissed. He thought I meant drunk. I meant angry.

[Paden]

One year, we had an Aussie girl and boy as exchange students at our high school and I got to be pretty good friends with them. They told me some of the slang and we compared how different it was. I'd ask Alan, "Did you get pissed over the weekend?" And he would answer, "Too right, and the host parents got pretty pissed at me for being pissed!" We had so much fun with that.

[deelink]

Everything here is pretty casual. So our English reflects that. I live and work in Sydney, where the charming Australian slang has given away to more international swearwords. But pissed still remains! To be pissed means to be totally shitfaced

I just mentioned that because it's been YEARS since I have heard anyone say "rooted" in that context. I still hear "G'day" and even I use the word "mate" sometimes. I dunno if it's sexy, but I know a South African friend of mine (with a sinfully sexy accent) who remarked that Aussies always tilt the last syllable so it sounds like we are asking questions, even though we are just commenting on the weather 

[calalily]

I just mentioned that because it's been YEARS since I have heard anyone say "rooted" in that context.

It's foremost in my mind because we just got "Meet the Feebles" on DVD - that Australian crab. 

[kenmtl]

My oldest brother actually lives in Aussieland, he moved there many years ago and his 2 kids now speak English with that accent. You'd never know we where from the same family, it's kinda fun actually. Mine is more Canadian sounding because that's what I learnt and my fathers is more British because that's what he learnt. I'm the youngest of 7 kids and we're quite spread out so it's all become very UNish. I think when you're accustomed to hearing heavy accents regularly you almost don't notice any more. You develop a habit of just listening for content and the delivery sort fades away. I least that's what I find.

I remember going to Scotland once when I was young and someone was trying to speak to me, I just stood there with a retarded grin on my face nodding thinking, wtf language is he talking. Now I really enjoy the Scottish accent a lot. Like a lot (sexytime). There's a great British film maker I like but I have to watch some of his films with subtitles otherwise it goes right over my head.

[SoggyFox]

I rarely have a problem with any accents at least understanding them - what usually drives me nuts are when people try to sound american and can't - I don't mind the ones who do, but when they come short, I'd rather they just use their own native accents.

[calalily]

I don't think I've heard any bad American accents, although Coolington does an atrocious Scottish one.

I hate ads made in the US, and then dubbed over with Aussie voices.  We can tell ad companies - be less stingy and make another bloody ad.

[SoggyFox]

I remember who I was trying to think of Nicole Kidman has a horrid american accent - maybe it was the region, but....it sounded okay then she'd hit a word and it would sound like something completely clashing.

[Piratey]

After living in the UK for a few years now I've kinda developed a posh British accent, and lost my Australian one a little bit (although now everyone finds the mixture quite sexy back home ). People often ask me to do an Australian accent, it's weird though, as I can do many accents other than Australian. It's something I honestly don't know how to do; it was always something I just happened to do. Weird.

[cookiepirate]

Being from the south, slang and slang descriptive phrases are a big part of my speech.  I can't just say "It's hot outside" but something like "It's so hot you could fry an egg outside".  Not to mention all the gonna, fixin' to, and ya'll's.  Of course, when I want to make a point or comparision, I always start with "I tell you what".  Hubby, who learned British English, says the weirdest is when I say "Can I see fill in some object", when what I REALLY mean is "Pass me the...."  But he's used to my slang now, and even sounds southern himself (last visit to the states, they thought he WAS southern, and he got hit with the other southen tradition of "telling personal stuff to total strangers"), but I warned him about that one.

[mando]

I do have the weird habit of using "borrow" and "steal" when I'm speaking casually as replacements for "take" and "borrow" (i.e. saying "Can I borrow a bit of that?" when someone has food or drinks they're giving out, which is weird in that I have no intention of returning it and that no one would want it back if I did ; and saying "Can I steal that?", when I just want to borrow something for a moment, e.g. a pen). I don't know if it's common slang because I don't notice if anyone else does it when speaking to me (plus, any time I say it around my family the general response is, "Well you're not stealing/borrowing anything..."). Maybe it's a west coast Canadianism? Does anyone else use it? (And we have three versions of "pissed" in common usage in Vancouver, we're so versatile )

[LadyDea]

I do that too, Mando. I don't really think about it when I do it, but I don't really hear other people use it either. "I can steal this for a moment?" I actually think I started using "steal" in that context after PotC and my pirate obsession began. I also use "aye" and occasionally "ahoy" too. XD

From Manitoba, if that means anything.