Current mood:

OMGWTF

Drop the phony accent!
Oh kay... the California recall election has of course been a source of WTF for non-Californians everywhere and it's bringing the dummies out in droves.

In my local newspaper, there's a Speak Out column where people can call in and are given sixty seconds to spout off an opinion. This one made the paper.

Drop 'phony' accent
"Everyone is so excited about Mr. Arnold (Schwarzenegger) running for governor. I hope he will drop that phony accent. How long has he been in America that he talks so strange?"

I don't know about "everyone" being "so excited" but "phony accent"? That sound you heard was my head hitting the keyboard tray.

(Post a new comment)

	daijinryuu 2003-08-16 04:37 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, those weird-ass foreigners and their accents. How dare he come from Austria and not sound like us?! (Reply to this)(Thread)

moonjaguar
2003-08-16 04:59 am UTC (link)

No kiddin. When are they gonna asstimulate like the rest of us gawdfearin' Amerrycans?

An East End born friend of mine came here when he was sixteen and was suggested by his guidance counselor to take an ESL class at the college to help him get rid of his accent and to change his spelling habits. What the...? He basically said, I already speak English, I have to learn it a second time? and Thanks but no thanks but the girls like his accent.

Any Americans remember the Olympics being subbed everytime an Aussie started speaking? All I could think was Jeez, they're speaking English, if people have problems due to lack of familiarity, a case of tin ear or else the jelly brained-ness that leads to people suing fast-food chains for their obesity, they can turn on the closed-caption so that those of us who can understand Australians don't get an English/English translation.

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	mirabellawotr 2003-08-16 01:58 pm UTC (link)
	Snort. I once had a friend who was British and every now and then people would tell him that he needed to drop the accent because it wasn't fooling anyone. People have no brains. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	moonjaguar 2003-08-16 04:48 pm UTC (link)
	People are so dense. My grandpa had a German accent was sometimes asked when he was going to start speaking English (when it was quite obvious he was speaking English). Sigh. He was a lot nicer to these people than I was. He managed to make them look like idiots pretty quick with a one-liner. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

rhi_silverflame
2003-09-03 07:08 am UTC (link)

I can do you one better in terms of incredibly stupid ethnic-commentary gaffes, though it's not specifically about accents.

My aunt and uncle and my mom and I were staying at a Motel 6 in Mammoth Lakes, California one night while on vacation, and out of curiosity while taking a walk that evening they stopped in at the nearby Travelodge to see if the rates there were lower. The night desk clerk was an American Indian from one of the tribes in the region, and wearing a lot of the traditional tribal clothing.

My aunt said, "If we spent the night here, you wouldn't commit hara-kiri on us, would you?"

*headdesk headdesk headdesk headdesk headfuckingdesk*

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	rann 2003-09-07 10:05 pm UTC (link)
	What I find funny are those (generally those who lean towards the Left) who snicker and point and call him "unintelligible" or say he speaks "broken" English. Who the hell can't understand Arnie? (Reply to this)