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fancytalkSome telemarketer just called the house, I have a feeling it was about refinancing the mortgage but since he didn't ask to speak to me, I'll let RTL deal with him when he calls back later. Anyway, I'm polite and ask if he would like to leave a message. So he gave me his name and a phone number (but not enough info to just rip up the message). I tell him that I'll give RTL the message and before I can hang up he asks if he can ask me where I'm from "because [ I ] have an accent". Smart aleck me wanted to answer "United States", but being polite and all I said North Carolina instead. I figured it was a relatively harmless question. Then he went on to say that he knew from the accent that I wasn't from California and he was just making small talk. (Like I don't know what small talk is being from NC and all.) Then he asked me about weather - isn't that where all the tornadoes go through - umm, NC is on the east coast not in the middle of the US. So I found myself explaining thunderstorms and the weather system in NC. Annoying. He was definitely testing my patience.
So I guess my question for anybody is (especially anyone who has that NC accent) do you notice other people's accents or lack of accent and comment on it as small talk?
I don't think I do. I notice that people don't sound like me or rather I don't sound like the majority of people around me. I don't ask where people are from when they don't have an accent, nor do I ecstatically point it out when I recognize where the accent is from either. I have asked where people are from when I have trouble understanding words; that way I can decipher what they are saying by differences in speech cadence or vowel sounds. But I don't ask because it's something to make small talk about. I'm probably a little sensitve because I've had to give my NC accent speech more than a few times this week. And I've been really offended lately when those non-accented people fake the southern accent too.
I'm annoyed and homesick now.
So I guess my question for anybody is (especially anyone who has that NC accent) do you notice other people's accents or lack of accent and comment on it as small talk?
I don't think I do. I notice that people don't sound like me or rather I don't sound like the majority of people around me. I don't ask where people are from when they don't have an accent, nor do I ecstatically point it out when I recognize where the accent is from either. I have asked where people are from when I have trouble understanding words; that way I can decipher what they are saying by differences in speech cadence or vowel sounds. But I don't ask because it's something to make small talk about. I'm probably a little sensitve because I've had to give my NC accent speech more than a few times this week. And I've been really offended lately when those non-accented people fake the southern accent too.
I'm annoyed and homesick now.
