What Accent?

Whenever I get back to Australia I’ll go into a shop and they’ll ask if I need any help, of course when I respond they almost always say ”oh, what part of the states are you from”?

WTF!   I then try and explain that I was born and brought up locally to which they often shake their heads and with a look of disbelief think I’m taking the piss out of them…

It’s particularly strange because when I’m here in either Canada or the US that’s the first thing people say to me “where are you from?  Are you Australian?”   Quickly and often followed by how long have you been here as if I’d just got off the boat.  And its then that I endeavour to explain that I’ve actually lived in Canada for many years, to which they invariably shake their heads and say “yeah right”.

Clearly I can’t seem to win on where I actually belong based on my accent. 

Very useful on your trip to Australia
Read it before you arrive though as you
don't want to look like a "dag".

Now occasionally it works to my advantage, there was the time I got pulled over by a female police officer for speeding on the ramp to Richmond Street from the DVP here in Toronto.  When she strode up to the window she asked me why I thought she had pulled me over.   I sheepishly said, “was I going too fast officer”, at which she leaned into the car window and smiled and said are you Australian?   This is the best part; I blushed and stammered, “well yes I am”.  She said she had always wanted to go to Australia and asked me what it was like there.   As I smiled my best smile, she handed me back my license and insurance and told me to slow down.  I’m going to give you a warning today she said smiling, she then nodded knowingly and slowly walked back to her police cruiser…    Technically I used my evidently and supposedly “sexy” Australian accent to my advantage on that one.

As well, I may have used it to my advantage once or twice over the course of my lifetime, always for good and never evil! ☺

Now Zach and Sami have become accustom to my odd naming convention and unique “home-made” words for everyday items, actually most things tend to take on a rather Aussie tone.   For example when use the word “wooly jumper”, they know exactly what it means…yes a sweater here in North America.  And the fact that I use the word “mate” in most sentences is a bit of a novelty, yet they now translate it with ease, often having to help their friends navigate and translate the idiosyncrasies of my lingo whenever they’re around me.   

A few others include: Barbie (BBQ), bloke (guy), chook (chicken), bush (countryside), footy (Aussie rules football), ute (pick up truck), milk bar (corner store), uni (University), mozzie (mosquitoes)....yes, the list is endless!

The interesting thing about my accent is that when I speak I think it sounds the same as everyone around me, with no hint of accent but stock standard Canadian, but when I tell others that they mostly just laugh and exclaim “really????”

The urban myth is that if you spent your childhood in one country its very difficult to actually lose the accent, which would be true for me as I left Australia when I was almost 30 years old so it was well and truly cemented before I departed for my adventures backpacking or indeed Canada.

The mix of accents...interesting!

Often times when I go to Sami’s school for an event or to watch her play school sport, her friends will circle around us and fire questions at me so I can say words in “Australian”.  I think Sami is okay with it, initially she was embarrassed but her school friends have all seemed to embrace it and have fun with it, which has made it easier on her.

Zach uses some of the words to his advantage at times, selectively deciding to use the odd word here or there to either confound or impress people depending on the audience.   In fact, he’s pretty good at the accent when he wants to put it on although I laugh at times when he puts it on because he sounds as though he’s part Irish and part English, but rarely Australian...although to him he sounds just like me.  ☺

Surprisingly even my family back home in Australia now think I sound funny…and I suppose at some point I’m just going to have to give into the fact that I have Canadianized Aussie accent or is that an Aussie Canadian accent...whatever!