English Accents

English is spoken in accents and dialects depending where and by whom you were raised. I find it interesting to hear the same words spoken differently.

I grew up in ear shot of lots of Irish, Bostonesque, North Jersey and New York accents. So, naturally I needed to prevent the sloshy soup that might become the words leaving my mouth. As well as the undeniable label I’d get being from New Jersey or New York. I did this by watching, listening and mimicking the news reporters.

At that time, there were but a few channels; each reporter sounding the same. The first time I knew my practice had paid off, I was eleven and in Chicago. I met some friends of friends and they’d no idea where I was from. Once they learned I lived in New Jersey, they wanted to know where I lived before. Where was my accent from. Or, where did my New Jersey accent go.

This has been the case my entire life. I've prided myself on being able to fit in, by remembering which vowels sound like which, etc. It’s also come in handy for detecting where others come from; I've won bets.

A few years ago however, I brought back the occasional cawfee, dawg and yo, etc, in defense of the state that I realized I’d been silently denying. New Jersey is where I was raised and I'm proud of it.

Do you have a noticeable, detectable accent? Have you ever wished you had a different one?

#AtoZChallenge