I was never there, I only read the book, I only saw the film

[sovay]

A double-header at this afternoon's medical appointment: the tech not only expressed surprise at my calendar age, but assumed from my voice that I was either foreign-born or had spent significant time out of the country, specifically she thought in the UK. Given the current climate, I should be clear that she was curious, not hostile; one of her children had been a staffer in the Obama administration and two others had been some kind of federal employee and she had considerable feelings on subjects from vaccines to tanks. But after I had gone through the standard litany clarifying the rather pathetic fact that I have lived my entire life in New England and the Boston area for most of it, she still thought I sounded British. "You should go over there. You'd blend right in." She herself had an old-school Boston accent. "People from anywhere, they can tell where I'm from." I am not good at other people's ages, but I don't believe that I look younger than my early forties, especially after the last few ravaging years, and I expect to be heard as American by anyone who actually has one or more of the plethora of accents on offer in the UK. Weirdest instance of trying to place my voice remains the time I was told by a very drunk Australian that I sounded like a Norwegian. Someday the question of my vocal origins will come around again because it has been doing so since my childhood and I will answer "Lisson Grove" just to see what happens.

Comments

[asakiyume]

You have what I consider a highly educated way of talking. I have known other people who speech shares something in common with yours, and for all of you, there's a kind of fervency and a clear articulation of your words.

... I've never heard a Norwegian accent, but my mother had a Danish friend, and I adored her way of speaking.

[sovay]

You have what I consider a highly educated way of talking. I have known other people who speech shares something in common with yours, and for all of you, there's a kind of fervency and a clear articulation of your words.

That's fascinating. Thank you for suggesting some of what people might be hearing, since in terms of strict phonetics I shouldn't clear the mid-Atlantic: in which case it would be more a cultural ghost than an actual accent. I couldn't have picked it up from academia because I was being asked as early as elementary school.

... I've never heard a Norwegian accent, but my mother had a Danish friend, and I adored her way of speaking.

I have heard a Norwegian accent and it isn't an insult, I just don't think I have one!

[asakiyume]

Right; I don't think it's based on, e.g., your elementary school or higher education or even any one thing: it's *you*, basically, the you who watched cool movies and TV shows, who listened to radio shows, who has educated, involved parents, who as a child (and to this day) has broad interests, which meant/means listening and talking to people from all over the world who have expertise in those things.

And yeah, as Genarti says, it's great! And not even really attention worthy unless someone cares to call attention to it. I guess what I'm saying is, it's no big deal but it's not a nonexistent thing: people are noticing something that's noticeable, the way having distinctively long hair is noticeable.

[genarti]

I agree -- I don't think you have any other regional accent to my ear, but I do think you have a very precise and clear articulation of your words, which is what could be pinging people? And, yes, highly educated with a kind of fervency puts it very well. Most people speak with much less precision. (To be clear, I think your way of speaking is great! But in terms of trying to pin down what some people might be speculating based on.)

[sovay]

(To be clear, I think your way of speaking is great! But in terms of trying to pin down what some people might be speculating based on.)

I don't feel insulted by the analysis! I think of myself as having a comparatively uninteresting speaking voice and my personal impression of my diction is that it used to be precise and thanks to factors beyond my control is now sludge, so this conversation is probably doubling as a reality check on top of a discussion of American dialects.

[selkie]

lol u thot whut about ur diction
*brings the elegance*