So changing your "gender" is fine, but changing your accent is *weird*...

All they need to do is switch ‘American’ for ‘woman’ in their replies

When are we going to fit in Goldsmiths Student Union?

I'd suggest a later slot, but the Communist Party of Britain Mulled Wine And Mince Pies is then.

It might clash with the planned Kiwi farms mixer.

Remember the roasting Hilaria Baldwin got for pretending to be Spanish and forgetting the English for cucumber, because she'd been to Spain on holiday? Or Rachel Dolezal presenting as black?

Genderists get annoyed when you bring up examples of "identity hoaxers", because they say that people pretending to be from a different culture or race has nothing in common with gender identity, which emanates from a deep inner authentic wellspring.

However they have everything in common - they're just very inconvenient, because the public clearly view these examples as ludicrous and the people involved become laughing stocks.

Of course the stories behind the front pages are more complex and interesting - Helen Lewis did a good article exploring this, which contains the marvellous phrase (not hers), "Munchausen by internet".

"The Identity Hoaxers: What if people don’t just invent medical symptoms to get attention—what if they feign oppression, too?"
Helen Lewis, The Atlantic, 16 March 2021
archive.ph/KQp4X

The Ulcabhán gives me Catholic guilt . Or Protestant work ethic vibes. I've paused it for a while. I'll just have to do an immersion course. Osna mór...

But, to quote the Izzster

"We say 'herbs' because there's a fucking 'H' in it"

We really need the laugh reaction back because I miss being able to laugh at jokes 😂

Linguistics "the schwa is an unvoiced vowel sound, and is the shortest vowel"

Kiwis : the schwa isn't ivin in thi tup five bru

I rule of thumb I picked up in travelling, was if you hear an "Australian" accent, you are safer to assume it's actually NZ. This was told to me by a New Zealander on safari in the Masai Mara when I asked if they were Australian. They were very gracious and commented that given how little there is to do in NZ, they are more likely to travel than Australians.

Amusing or not, I did then notice that for a while every "Australian" in Earls Court was actually a New Zealander.

And Ireland may be a small island, but I am trying to think of a corner of the world where I haven't met someone from the Island.

As an American with a Swamp Yankee accent (a Boston accent’s country cousin), I find the whole idea of a monolithic American accent funny in the extreme. I’m vehemently non-rhotic, driving a cah, and rhyming the Latin puella with cellar. My Oxford First Latin teacher couldn’t stand it, visibly wincing at times. Most trans women sound like Valley Girls with constant rising intonation.

Or this from the Lonely Planet guide circa 1999…
NZ—Fush and Chups
Aus—Fiish and chiips
I love the NZ accent. From watching Shortland Street (anyone else remember it?) “Munnie…Mun!” (someone’s daughter was called Minnie).

Now getting a different choir flashback, to singing panis angelicus...

Flashback to my school choir days! I could hit it but it wasn't good. 😁

For a football game in no man's land?

The very definition of someone with way too much time on their hands.

I mean, there's navel gazing and then there's whatever this is.

😂

If I'm watching GAA on TG4 and the commentator is from Munster, I haven't a mission when it comes to understand anything 😳 To me, Munster Gaeilge almost sounds like a dialect of Welsh.

To be honest, Donegal/Uladh Gaeilge leaves me fairly clueless as well, as does the dialect taught in the Belfast Gaeltacht. At school, I learned from teachers speaking three different dialects, as well as learning An Caighdeán Oifigiúil, and my Mam taught me at home too from her schoolbooks that used the old Irish alphabet (which made more sense to me than modern spellings). So I have the most mixed up pronunciation and spelling going 😒 Duolingo is not helping things get any better - that bloody Ulcabhán haunts me.

Accents are almost guesswork for Estuary English and other big conurbation speakers. Not only are they unable to guess which southwestern county I come from, they are just as likely to think that I have an East Anglian accent. But, to be fair, I can't tell someone from Milton Keynes from someone from Canterbury. The only time that I have been freaked out is when a Danish guy told me that he couldn't tell if I was from Dorchester or Bournemouth.

@Cailleach1

Ask them to say "Amphetamines". Australians sound like Unphutemynes, NZ like eenfeeteemeens.

I learned this from watching Border Force.

I’ve been asked if I’m Canadian. Mind you, when young I was asked if I was Danish. When I chat a bit more, they get the accent though.

OH usually gets asked if he is German, or sometimes American. This had happened in a bit of an unfriendly way when we were in Crete. So, before we returned to Greece, I got him a nice Ireland jersey. A little shamrock insignia and all. Interestingly, it didn’t really do the job as Panathinaikos (Athenian football club) use the blasted shamrock as their emblem too. Their nickname is ‘To Trifylli“ (The Shamrock).

I think it is just that Ireland has a small population, so people meet those from the big countries more frequently. There is no excuse for a native English speaker though. However, I must confess I can’t really tell NZ and Aus accents apart.

My Japanese teacher was Polish, and she was surprised when we got to the word for bread and I said that at least that one would be easy to remember. Pan makes perfect sense to someone familiar with French pain/Latin panis; less so to someone who thinks of it as chleb.

Similarly, knowing arigato meant I had no trouble remembering obrigado. There are links everywhere when you start looking.

Which makes the fact that they think you can "change" it, ridiculous, no?