accents of the damned colonials, further diaries of a pseudo-lunger

[burntcopper]

The cough's back. Yay. (not that it ever really goes away...) Deep barky version with occasional wheezing, no fits. Slight bit of blood, or at least taste of blood, tiny bit of phlegm. Already got one 'ah, the tuberculosis is back' from Gregor. Someday I really should get an indepth check, only it's a wee bit difficult to get that kind of thing on the NHS if you're basically healthy and your previous doctor never saw any reason to comment. (Dr Keast having known me since I was in junior school and having seen me through bronchitis and expecting it as part of me getting even slightly run-down) Going in and saying 'er, I have a cough that's a symptom of being run-down which becomes almost non-existent if I live in a really damp area, otherwise they're completely healthy, can I have them checked out? I've had my TB injection twice.' would almost certainly be seen as taking the piss...

Other question, for the colonials : Was wondering what the upper class accent situation is like in the US. (not that it in any way counts as actual upper class - we only just count the British Royal Family as upper class) Excluding the South (who have an accent all to themselves) is there a specific upper-class accent, like there is in the UK, which mostly results from mixing with only one class and everyone going to the same schools, or does it vary from region to region? Pretty much all the people you see on film who're portrayed as upper-class (by which I mean old money - if you're new money you can never be more than jumped-up middle or working class, but your children are allowed to be upper class - is that the same in the snobbier classes in the colonies?) seem to be theoretically from New York or Maine. And they all have what sounds like the same accent.

Comments

[ainsley.livejournal.com]

(am surfing friendsfriends)

spuffyduds is right--there are no universal accents in the States. I've lived in North Carolina my entire life, and in one county for most of it. Certain parts of the *county* have their own accent, and sometimes I can pick out which county someone grew up in on the basis of accent alone.

I just checked--North Carolina is larger than England. It probably has about as many accents as well.

I've never heard an accent from the States I'd associate with the upper class. There are a few I'd associate with specific old money, but they differ by where the old money is.

I think distinguishing between accents comes with familiarity. If you've not spent much time in the States, American accents sound broadly similar, and the same would be true of Americans who haven't visited England. The distinctions may be subtle to an outsider, but they're there.