Possible culprit...too many hours understanding Sir Humphrey?
First time it happened was before I saw my first British Comedy (see previous blog.) My mom (apparently) remarked that certain words brought it on. Was it my Dad’s grandmother from Lincolnshire being about? Was it my mom rehearsing her lines in amateur stage plays?
All I can swear is that most of the time it’s not intentional. My normal west coast Canadian…born in the Kootenay town of Cranbrook…accent goes inexplicably British. One actual English lady who (as many from the U.K. can) placed the dialect as being more Cockney than from the Shires so maybe it is just too many episodes of Rodney and Del-boy from Only Fools and Horses.
Watched with Newcastle Brown for additional mental infiltration?
One person noticed that the accent does appear when I’m asking a question and I’m not sure of the answer. Like if I’m a nice English gentleman people will not help but be friendly in kind. Historically I’m not sure how well that works but somehow it’s there. It does sound far more educated (classically used by characters like Giles of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and perhaps that appeals to some appearance of strong reasoning skills. Not sure there. I just do it. There is every possibility that it comes also from my love of music from the U.K. I have watched Depeche Mode 101 a number of times amongst others and the band’s accent is East London which is certainly in that Cockney range.
Alan Wilder givin the skinny.
It most embarrassingly flares up when speaking to someone from the U.K. I have been called on it before which usually makes me blush and scuttle away like a crab. Sideways. Ok, I don’t do that. But the embarrassing part happened. One time I played it out with people who were Canadian but had just come from traveling the Isles and I decided I had just moved from Brixton (had just been reading about that area…or something like that) and I was still finding my way around. It worked. Or at least it seemed to. I take it as some kind of win.
Always hinging on whether he should just stay in London in a year and finish the job…
Tom
🙂
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Tom's Creativity Blog 
This post made me laugh. The other night my husband, who is originally from Merseyside, was teaching our Canadian children Scouse while sitting around the dinner table. Certain phrases could actually throw our children into a Liverpool accent. If you want to watch something funny about British accents Google “Jimmy Carr” and speaking “scouse”…….it is so funny and you will never think of chicken and a can of coke the same way again. Of course we may just “get” it having lived in the culture.
Also, thanks for liking my Handmade in Canada post! ( http://www.handmade-canada.com ) We are trying to get the word out. Much appreciated.
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