Have people commented on your accent?

kobacat1981 · 14/02/2022 20:03

Yes! I thought I was the only person this happened to I also have a monotone voice which a past therapist bullied me for. My accent is different and nobody can figure out where I'm from. I'm Irish but a lot of people seem to think I'm from Eastern Europe

Original poster

ofwarren · 14/02/2022 20:05

@kobacat1981

Yes! I thought I was the only person this happened to I also have a monotone voice which a past therapist bullied me for. My accent is different and nobody can figure out where I'm from. I'm Irish but a lot of people seem to think I'm from Eastern Europe

I have the monotone voice too. I was bullied about it once when I was in one of my first proper jobs. One of the managers mimicked me.. arsehole.
Shocking that your therapist did that to you!!

OP posts:

ItsCanardBruv · 14/02/2022 20:35

I sound like princess margaret - that is, I sound like the queen but swear like a navvy.

Doric is my first language so I’m not quite sure what happened there.

Original poster

ofwarren · 14/02/2022 20:40

@ItsCanardBruv

I sound like princess margaret - that is, I sound like the queen but swear like a navvy.

Doric is my first language so I’m not quite sure what happened there.

Oh wow! I find this fascinating! Why do we do it?

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Burgerqueenbee · 14/02/2022 20:42

Yes my family have very strong Norfolk accents and I have a non-descript well spoken accent. My DH always finds this funny

JohnMcCainsDeathStare · 14/02/2022 21:18

I have always had an RP accent - which lead to people I had been to school with 5+ years asking 'you're not from around here are you?'
It has in the past been described as sounding like a cross between Margaret Thatcher and Prince Charles.

My youngest DC has complained about my monotone voice but that is how it is - I'm not putting it on. Only as an adult am I more aware that it could appear off-putting to some in that it sounds inattentive or that I'm not paying attention. Oddly, in a highly STEM-focused environment there is less of an issue.

broccolibush · 14/02/2022 21:33

@ItsCanardBruv I’m exactly the same. And I absolutely love your way of putting it so I might well recycle for my own purposes.

I sound posh and have been bullied for it for my entire life - school, workplace, extended family, hobbies etc. I’m from a family where everyone except my youngest sibling sounds a bit like me (though my accent is a bit posher) so I suppose it’s not unexpected for me to sound this way.

Am fascinated by others sounding similar on this thread. I wonder why we all gravitate to BBC English c1945

EinsteinVonBrainstorm · 14/02/2022 21:36

Yes, I’m also from Lancashire and have a very changeable accent and an odd intonation. I’ve lived all over though so that might have something to do with it.

Kitkat151 · 14/02/2022 21:48

I live in the NW but was not born there...I have a different accent to my partner and children and grandchildren

EssexLioness · 14/02/2022 21:56

Yes, I sound posh with no obvious regional accent. It sounds as though I made a deliberate effort to avoid accent but in truth I never did have an accent even as a young child. I grew up in Yorkshire and I adore the accent. All my family have lovely broad accents and I would love the same. I have thought about learning how to speak with the accent but feel the time has probably passed now and it would just sound weird or forced.

Original poster

ofwarren · 14/02/2022 22:09

I've just read that it's more common for autistic children these days to have American accents.
That can only mean then that we picked up our accents in our formative years via what media we consumed surely?
As a child I wasn't exposed to many American accents, mainly BBC things really.

OP posts:

EssexLioness · 14/02/2022 22:34

@ofwarren yes that would make a lot of sense! My friend’s autistic daughter speaks with an American accent and my friend told me it’s quite common. Growing up most people on tv had posher/ less regional accents. Can’t believe I didn’t realise that was the reason before now.

LilyRed · 14/02/2022 23:14

[quote broccolibush]@ItsCanardBruv I’m exactly the same. And I absolutely love your way of putting it so I might well recycle for my own purposes.

I sound posh and have been bullied for it for my entire life - school, workplace, extended family, hobbies etc. I’m from a family where everyone except my youngest sibling sounds a bit like me (though my accent is a bit posher) so I suppose it’s not unexpected for me to sound this way.

Am fascinated by others sounding similar on this thread. I wonder why we all gravitate to BBC English c1945[/quote]
Yes, same here, I was always accused of being 'a posho' at school.

I am also a good mimic and as part of masking behaviour I suppose, I learnt to code switch well as we have moved to so many places.

ItsCanardBruv · 15/02/2022 05:39

I wonder if it’s because we like to be quite precise. No dropped vowels, erroneous “hach’s”, guttural stops and the like.

Whilst being taught a foreign language at an immersive school, my tutor said he felt I wasn’t speaking because I knew I wouldn’t be “exact”, that made quite a lot fall into place.

As a child of the 70s I grew up on Enid Blyton so I’m all about the jolly japes, ginger beer and super adventures.

MaggieMooh · 15/02/2022 06:31

It’s not a foreign accent, it’s just perceived as one. Supposedly it’s due to problems with the speech centres of the brain, leading to unusual pronunciation that people interpret as foreign.

BoardLikeAMirror · 15/02/2022 07:11

Oh, goodness - yet another 'this is me!' thread.

I've no idea where my accent came from. My sister, who had exactly the same education and upbringing as me, has the standard accent local to where we grew up (West Country accent). I have the accent so many have described - a sort of 1950s BBC RP. I was always accused of 'talking posh' at school, but it isn't a proper upper-class accent, it's the slightly 'pedantic' sounding RP version.

I seem immune to local accents. My DH also has a West Country accent but we've lived up north now for 20 years - he's a bit hybrid now, especially in his vowels, but I just seem to stay the same.

Intonation - I monotone when I'm stressed; at other times I seem to have quite an exaggerated intonation. I always think if I hear my own voice I sound like a particularly hammy actor.

Interestingly, I can read aloud really effectively and seem to be able to put the right expression in - I've been complimented on this several times - but it only works as long as I have printed words to look at; as soon as I take my eye off the page, it all goes wrong.

Original poster

ofwarren · 15/02/2022 08:30

I'm exactly the same when reading BoardLikeAMirror. I read really well to the children but when I've heard my voice back from just talking, I have the inflections in the right place but it's monotone.

OP posts:

BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation · 15/02/2022 08:33

People have always asked where I'm from. I have a vaguely northern accent, but not a one that's local to wear I live. It's not very strong so I get accused of talking 'posh'. I try to speak so that I'm understood as I don't like people who mumble.

ShiftingSands21 · 15/02/2022 08:36

Incredible thread. I have a weird accent. My DH says when he met me he thought I must be Canadian though I’m actually Scottish. However my accent also shifts according to who I’m with and I can’t help it.

ThisTownAintBigEnoughForBoth · 15/02/2022 08:40

I am autistic and I know an autistic woman who has a VERY monotone voice. When I speak with her I unconsciously start speaking that way too! I can't help it and I'm so worried she'll think I am mocking her.

knackeredcat · 15/02/2022 09:08

I was always called a snob when I was a child. I'm a well spoken Ultonian. As I got older many people liked my speaking voice and still do, even though I often find it hard to use it publicly. Many queen bee types here (West Yorkshire) have tried to mock/mimic it but in pure defiance I strengthen it.

It's a very honest voice - if I'm in pointless meetings and forced to speak it is a bit flat. If I have to present you can hear the nervous wobble. Same as with my face - I can't 100% disguise how I'm feeling.

RainbowZebraWarrior · 15/02/2022 10:02

Wow. Well this is fascinating. I'm also a 70s child who grew up on Enid Blyton.

I'm from the NE of Englamd. Family speak with geordie accents. I never did. Another reason I was bulliedantd called posh. I think other kids thought I was a stuck up cow. They would ask if I'd had elocution lessons. I'd

I have a light accent, now. DD who is 10 has no accent whatsoever. I go to collect her from school and all her pals are chatting and saying goodbye in such strong accents yet she has never picked it up at all. It's bizarre. I think some of the theories here are right though. Sticklers for detail and 'correctness'

When I see the stereotypical Geordie shore types pop up now and again on something, urgh! They shout. And the accent is so harsh Why?

AlexaShutUp · 15/02/2022 10:09

Reading about it and apparently it's common for autistic people to have a different accent to their peers and family and also for them to pick up other accents very quickly.

That's very interesting, OP. Do you have a link?

I have weird things going on with my accent, in that I very easily and subconsciously pick up the accents of people who I am with. Whether they're very posh, full on Essex, my DH's foreign accent, Australian etc. I don't realise I'm doing it at all until someone points it out or I suddenly notice myself switching within a mixed group. My family finds it really funny but I actually find it deeply embarrassing. If I really concentrate, I can produce a nice, neutral RP accent, but as soon as my focus lapses, I start mirroring whoever I am with.

On the plus side, I have a real talent for learning languages and have been told by others that I sound like a native speaker.

Had not considered the possibility of this being connected to neurodiversity and would love to know more.

Jobsharenightmare · 15/02/2022 10:10

My stepchild is autistic and has a very monotone voice with a hint of an American accent. We put that down to binge watching Netflix. Can't deliberately put voices on or mimic other voice tones or pitch etc and always sounds so bored but has obviously unconsciously picked this accent up.

LilyRed · 15/02/2022 23:09

@AlexaShutUp

Reading about it and apparently it's common for autistic people to have a different accent to their peers and family and also for them to pick up other accents very quickly.

That's very interesting, OP. Do you have a link?

I have weird things going on with my accent, in that I very easily and subconsciously pick up the accents of people who I am with. Whether they're very posh, full on Essex, my DH's foreign accent, Australian etc. I don't realise I'm doing it at all until someone points it out or I suddenly notice myself switching within a mixed group. My family finds it really funny but I actually find it deeply embarrassing. If I really concentrate, I can produce a nice, neutral RP accent, but as soon as my focus lapses, I start mirroring whoever I am with.

On the plus side, I have a real talent for learning languages and have been told by others that I sound like a native speaker.

Had not considered the possibility of this being connected to neurodiversity and would love to know more.

@AlexaShutUp - the accent switching is called 'code switching' it can happen between languages or dialects and accents