accents
 

Not the same thing but I can't stand it when someone tells you that so-and-so is "out to lunch". "Out to lunch" means they're crazy, doesn't it? It does where I come from. I have asked my secretary to tell people I am "at lunch" not "out to lunch".

Also, "out of pocket" means out of money/broke, not unavailable. At least it does in my world.

It makes my ears hurt when someone says "route" as "rowt" not "root". And "roof" pronounced "ruff".

Grating accents
 

Is "DC accent" a euphemism for ebonics? BC almost nobody is from DC except for the black population. Or so I have been told. This nasal thing you speak of sounds like the rural Pennsylvania accent. An ex had this and it came out when he drank. That twang was almost enough to drive me away. .

I also do not like ebonics. The word axed as in I axed you a question really really bugs me.

Where it's at.
 

WOW. Scary.

accents
 

Go ahead and mock Long Islanders, CtD, but at least do so accurately. This joke makes no sense, because Long Islanders do not generally make that particular verbal error. In fact, I never heard anybody end a sentence with "at" in that way until I went south.

Edited to add: not everybody from LI talks like Rosie O'Donnell, and Joey Buttafuoco ... unless they're pissed off.

Grating accents
 

I can't even do my old accent when sober because I've tried so hard to lose it, but when I'm drunk it comes right out - I can't control it. It's like an evil beast lurking within.

accents
 

Accents I find amusing:

(1) South side of Chicago: The SNL Da Bears skit is NOT a caricature. It is not hyperbole. It is dead on.
(2) Southeastern (Charleston, Savannah): dignified and sexy. Good stuff.
(3) Louisiana: My great uncle chews ice while he speaks cajun. I can't understand a word he says. My dad has to translate. It's great.

Accents that suck:
(1) Cincinnati(sp?) area: When someone doesn't hear what you say, instead of saying "excuse me?" or "what?", they say "please?". It's annoying.
(2) Maryland: it's just weird.
(3) Long Island.

accents
 

Worst (Men): Philly. I mean South Philly, not Louis Winthorpe III's Philadelphia.

Worst (Women): West Virginia.

Best (Men): Midwestern. I'm not a fan of hardcore Minnesota, but the chirpy, helpful, dead-honest quality that's just too much in women generally works in men. Note that the definition includes Missouri, but excludes Missoura. Runner up: Maine.

Best (Women): Charleston, S.C., or Tidewater Virginia. I'm a connoisseur of southern accents, and there's an eerie parallel between these two, at least among the upper-crust women of each region. The languid pace, and honey-dripped tones. "Why, that'd be soo-pah." The drawn-out vowels are dripping in sex.

Edited to add: Coltrane is right; Savannah should be included in the Best (Women) category.

Grating accents
 

That would also be my vote - anyone speaking "trailer."

In general, accents don't bother me so much as incorrect usage of language. Irregardless, it's just something one learns to deal with.

I have an neutral accent, but will very proficiently do a Texan drawl to fit in with clients etc. if need be and will lapse into a mild proper British accent if I'm with my family for too long.

-TL

Grating accents
 

I'm not aware of a DC accent either. It's not possible, given all the out-of-towners. There is a Maryland rural accent, particularly from the eastern shore/DelMarVa area . . . as in Bal-mur.

Grating accents
 

No, it seems to be pretty white-specific. I associate it with mid-level bureaucrats & civil servants - the lifers, who are just staff and so aren't important enough or disposable enough to come and go every few years. They may or may not be from the immediate area, but they sure pick that shit up and it bugs the hell out of me. Maybe it is just a jumbled wash everyone else's accent acquired by listening to accents from all over all the time. Anyhow, it is much more whiney than Sandra Bullock's accent appears to be (I haven't heard her interviewed that I can remember to know if she uses her "real" accent or not).

GWNC, do you know what I mean when I say it is like the Ottawa accent? Just sort of flat and affectless?

Grating accents
 

Funny.

Not surprisingly, I find most northeastern accents grating.

Speech habits that annoy me are insistence on using the absolutely correct term at all times, particularly if they attempt to force it on other people. For example, correcting people who call bubbly wine from California "champagne."

accents
 

Why should post differently than I practice law?

Unless they raised you in a basement with no sunlight or television, like that freaky pale kid in powder, I find that hard to believe.

yeah but Rosie O'Donuts and Joey Buttafuoco are annoying enough for the rest of the Island.

25th Hour
 

I think I saw this comment in a review on Salon, but the conclusion was different. The reviewer indicated that the gimmick seemed like Lee's thinly-veiled racism in Do the Right Thing, but was a much more honest, self-loathing character portrayal in 25th Hour.

I think it worked better in 25th because of the final line in the rant where he gets down to what's really bothering him: himself.

Anyway, I loved the show. It's in my top 5 list.

Grating accents
 

So, when you get drunk do you say things like
"Zed Zed Top" and "That's a nice Zed28 you got there."
and "Rush is the best fucking rock band of all time, you hoser!"*

Eh :D


*Not intended to personally comment either way on Rush.

Grating accents
 

Mine as well. And when dealing with my own kind. I scared the crap out of a friend of mine who came to visit me a few weeks ago. We knew each other when I lived in California, and she'd never heard me in my natural habitat. I started negotiating with an antique dealer, and I could see her trying to figure out who the hell was talking with such long vowels.