Accents

I admire people who can switch into a believable accent at the drop of a hat. Just will start talking with an Irish brogue in the midst of a conversation or do a whole soliloquy in an Italian accent. I can’t do that. I don’t even try. My accent is as my accent is.

I was at a party this evening and there was a wood stove where they were burning peat. Of course, as we discussed the peat fire and as more peat was put on the fire, those who had the talent would launch into an Irish accent commenting on the peat. They also made jokes about the peat just such as “what did Pete do to us that we have to burn him?” and things like that. Not really laugh out loud jokes but things that are funny when you are at a party, having a glass of wine and everyone is in a great mood.

But all this talk about peat in an Irish accent made me think about accents. My accent is a product of growing up in Detroit with a little bit of Nebraska and upstate New York thrown in for flavor. Since I do have a different accent from most people in Maine, it is rather obvious that I am not from around here.

People who were born and raised in Maine do have a very distinctive accent. I know someone at my church who has such an accent. She was telling us one time about her great-grandson and she kept referring to him as Nor. Finally we asked if his name was really Nor? She said, not it is Nor. We said, yeah…Nor. She said “no….NOR”. We kind of looked puzzled so she said “Nooo-aaah”. OH….Noah! He didn’t have an unusual name, just a distinctive accent on the part of his great-grandmother.

I wish I could switch into a different accent sometimes. But, then again, I also wish I could speak a language other than English. But every time I have these longings, I just try to remind myself that I have plenty of other talents and it isn’t necessary for me to be talented at everything. I will just have to be happy with admiring other’s accent talents and enjoy the entertainment when they switch over into a different accent.

(I was trying to think of something to write that would imply that I am writing in a different accent as an ending to this posting but I can’t even do that. Oh well.)