Prejudiced people and accents

Share on Facebook

Anonymous

#250553 Sun, 30 Jul 06 07:45 PM

Hello,

Has anyone maltreated you because of your accent? Does your accent prompt laughs or invite to unnecessary (although harmless) attempts to imitate your speech?

Anonymous

Accents

CalifJim

#250664 Mon, 31 Jul 06 04:52 AM

No.

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (17,790)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Anonymous

#250804 Mon, 31 Jul 06 01:28 PM

CalifJim wrote:
No.

Lucky you.

Anonymous

nona the brit

#250901 Mon, 31 Jul 06 06:06 PM

It would be quite rude to do that to someone.

If this is happening at work then there are things you can do about it.

Who's been taking the mickey out of you anon? What sort of accent do you have anyway?

nona the brit

Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004

England

Veteran Member (11,450)

The name says it all.

Accents

Anonymous

#250907 Mon, 31 Jul 06 06:27 PM

Hi Nona the Brit,

I hope you'll permit me to quote you to make it easier for me to reply your message:

It would be quite rude to do that to someone.

Who's been taking the mickey out of you anon? What sort of accent do you have anyway?

I agree. It is, indeed, rude to mimic other people's speech, in particular in front of them (and in particular if they're foreigners learning a language). However, if it's playful, I wouldn't mind. I find that people very seldom make fun of people with clearly foreign accents. You previously stated that people find upper class accents funny. Therefore, if you speak with a remarked RP (or near-RP) accent there may well be smiles.

Anonymous

Accents

Anonymous

#250911 Mon, 31 Jul 06 06:37 PM

Nona The Brit wrote:

It would be quite rude to do that to someone.

If this is happening at work then there are things you can do about it.

Who's been taking the mickey out of you anon? What sort of accent do you have anyway?

I agree when you say that it's rude to mimic other people. However, if it's playful, I wouldn't mind. I think it's especially rude to mimic non-native accents of English; how would a Brit trying to learn German find it should German people constantly mimick them for speaking German in a funny way, for instance? Nonetheless it's the truth that some accents of English sound pretentious and uppity to many people. Having an accent like that mightn't be so fun in the long run, but it's still all right to play with accents, isn't it?

Anonymous

Accents

nona the brit

#250926 Mon, 31 Jul 06 07:06 PM

I think most people would mind, even if it were 'playful' so no, I wouldn't advise making fun of people's accents unless you know them very well and are sure they won't be hurt by your joke.

nona the brit

Accents, Jokes