Pedantic question about standardisation

BrianShaw said:

Well, I'm not sure that is limited to Americans. We were recently in Las Vegas and there was a group of loud, drunk guys with distinctively "foriegn" look, speech, and mannerisms cavorting around the pool. They weren't offensive in any way but they were very "visible". We were relaxing with some Canuks wondering where theyse guys wree from. We speculated German, Finnish, then Afrikaners. We sere both wrong -- they were Dutch. Fortunately we guessed that, and were confirmed by one of the guys, before we got to speculating that they were from Mars. I'll bet guys from Mars don't wear tight speedos and drink cheap beer! But none of us would have known for sure since we are all Amercians.

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Actually tight speedos are one of Earth's main exports to Mars.

blansky said:

I was at a week long photography course/seminar/workshop back in the 80s and hung around a guy from Tennessee. Within a few days I had started talking with a slight drawl and also slower.

There is something in the human makeup where we unconsciously mirror the people around us.

Probably some primal defense mechanism to fit in or something.

I saw an interview with some guy who once worked for Microsoft. He said he walked late into a meeting of upper level guys and it was common knowledge that Bill Gates sort of rocks back and forth in his seat. What astonished him was that most of the people around the table were now doing the same thing. It was unconscious and fairly subtle but nobody was sitting still.

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Tennessee is a big place. I'm originally from the northeast corner of the state and lived there for 37 years until I moved to the Atlanta area the first time in 2000, but only remained here for about six months and moved back to TN before moving here the last time in late 2003. I don't totally sound like a native (locals sometimes think I'm from somewhere else but can't place where) but that's mostly from being in school a long time. Excess education tends to mute some local accents. But when I hear myself recorded I'm horrified at how hick I sound (but I paraphrase Jeff Foxworth and say "Hey, I'm a network engineer with a master's degree, I jest SOUND stupid!") Where I lived in Tennessee, Canada was literally closer geographically, at least by road, than Memphis which is in the diagonally opposite corner of the state.

But I sound absolutely nothing like a native of Memphis, or even Nashville, and even less like someone from southern Georgia. I wouldn't expect a non-American to necessarily pick up on it, though the difference between any of us and, say, a Bostonian are obvious to anyone.

blansky said:

Actually tight speedos are one of Earth's main exports to Mars.

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Speedos are what the Australians call " budgie smugglers"

Gawd how I love Australian slang!

It is quite like Yiddish... no need to know exactly what it means because everyone knows exactly what it means... even without knowing.

Photo Engineer said:

Valentine Michael Smith for example?

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I wonder what his accent would be like. In his older more conservative years, Robert Heinlein was actually embarrassed about writing that book...one of my favorite.

Steve Smith said:

.... uniform of non-conformity.


Steve.

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God that's funny!!

More posts than the Kodak thread. Crazy.

(Deleted. Too much wine).

Diapositivo said:

(Deleted. Too much wine).

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Impossible. On both counts.

BrianShaw said:

Impossible. On both counts.

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:confused: