Comments | venaja: Dr. Henry Lee

venaja

Dr. Henry Lee

Jun 19, 2005 02:29

TV is a beautiful invention. I've learned so much from watching TV. I watch science shows, forensics shows, surgery shows, shows about nature, shows about biology and psychology and law. Discovery Channel, Discovery Channel: Health, The Learning Channel, Animal Planet - they are my bread and butter ( Read more... )

prejudice, idiocy, race issues

Comments 9

Lem'me see if I understand this... astroprisoner June 19 2005, 10:37:12 UTC

The author of the page speculates that Dr. Lee intentionally emphasizes his accent, and uses as supporting evidence a hypothetical conversation between a fictitious singer and a non-existent accountant?

Am I supposed to infer from this that "ordinary 'Mr. Bill Johnson' of Memphis, Tennessee" speaks like...what? He's from New England? Or Nebraska? Is our author here implying that the entire Southern accent is a put-on?

If the author was writing about a former British citizen who has lived in the US for decades but still retains a British accent, would the author have even thought about it for one split second?

Yeesh.

Re: Lem'me see if I understand this... unshavengod June 19 2005, 16:06:00 UTC

Actually, I have a friend who came to the US from england when he was 10. His accent eventually changed into a 90% "american" hybrid.

However, when he started losing his accent, he did sometimes "fake it", just because he liked the way people reacted to somebody speaking differently. So I must say the article does have some possibility of merit: people do fake accents for attention.

then again sometimes it's just the way people talk. :)

Re: Lem'me see if I understand this... gustavolacerda June 19 2005, 21:08:14 UTC

It's interesting how much in accent change is conscious/unconscious. In 10 years, my English accent went from Brazilian -> English -> American -> Dutch/American/English hybrid (now it tends to adapt to my company).

And to me, it's still a philosophical question how to define a "fake accent".

Re: Lem'me see if I understand this... unshavengod June 19 2005, 22:12:41 UTC

Good point about adapting an accent to present company. I found myself doing that the last time I visited relatives in england... I wasn't doing it consciously, I just started using all their cool words and phrases every now and then.

I guess it's impossible to use a "fake accent" if speaking and thinking happen simultaneously (which is something I do when I'm comfortable).

I think it's safe to say an accent is fake when you think before you speak, and you actively compare two or more pronunciations and say to yourself "I'll use pronunciation B, because that's the way everyone here talks, in'n'it?"

Thread 7

marxist_thug June 19 2005, 15:03:26 UTC

Shit, you sound Asian, dawg.

venaja June 19 2005, 22:29:35 UTC

Fo shizzle.