Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Gor Blimey Guv'nor

I’ve been here quite a long time now and I am still managing to keep my English accent – kind of.  According to relatives back home, I sound like a “bloody Yank!” 

During the first few years it was a struggle – especially on the phone.  While working my first job, I’m not sure I should have been the receptionist.  Typical telephone conversations would sound like this:
 
How do you do?
            “Hello, Law Office…”
                        “Hi, Can I get your address”
            “Certainly, It’s  (blah, blah) Road, Suite K”
                        “What”
            “Suite K”
                        “A?”
            “No, K”
                        “What did you say?
            “K, for Kettle”
                        “What?”
            “K.. for Kettle….. Oh never mind, hold on…”



I also try to avoid drive-throughs, ordering over the phone or putting my name on the list in a restaurant.  Something definitely gets lost in the translation.  I stopped giving my name as I would get Sherry, Shary, Sean, Karen … nope – it’s none of those!  So I tried Dave… easy, you would think.  Um.. not so much – now its DIVE… even when I spell it out.   Oh dear…

But it seems everyone in America, no matter who or where, loves the English accent.  Even though there’s quite a lot of them who have absolutely no idea where I come from.  Over the years, I have been asked if I was from “the South,” Texas, Scotland (close, but not really), South Africa, France (wait, what?) and of course…. Australia!  Everybody thinks I’m Australian!  *rolls eyes*

Now don’t get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against Australia – but it gets really annoying to be mistaken for an Australian all…the…time.

And the worst thing ever (and it happens on an extremely regular basis) – talking to someone and having them mimic your accent in the most god awful Dick van Dyke-ish London accent. 
 
Stop it!  Stop it now!!! Please……

 

 

5 comments:

  1. Lol, funny post! I'm a Brit that's been living in Spain for the last 13 years…I've been called English, but everyone just assumes here that London is the whole of England (I'm not from London BTW!) People thought that I was Rumanian, American…never Australian though! Then when I go to my husbands country, Argentina, they all think that I'm Spanish…over there they don't notice my bad Spanish accent!!

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    1. Well, at least I only had to learn "American"... Spanish would have been a whole different matter :-)

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  2. lol yeah I get out of the car at the drive thru burger king and shout into the microphone like a loon because otherwise no one can understand my accent

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  3. lol - asking for a 'tak-o' and not a 'tarco' is a killer!! :-)

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