Toe-MAH-toe, Toe-MAY-toe

With only a short time left here in Australia, there are a lot of things that I've been pondering /noticing /writing about. Not all of these things are important, as is evident by my post on HTs. For me, this blog is a nice way to look back at my trip and remember (as I've admitted to having problems with that lately). For you guys, hopefully it is mild entertainment when there's naught to do. If it isn't sufficient entertainment then check out http://news.bbc.co.uk/ or google "Dolphin Olympics 2". Just don't blame me for the addiction to the latter. Blame my brother.

Now that I've got that out of the way....Toe-mah-to, Toe-may-to. Accents are funny things. In the UK, it gives away where you are from and your class. In the US, there are distinctive accents across the country- most notable (hard to understand) are the deep south ones. In Canada, it's mostly a matter of small town, big city, or Newfie.
Everyone picks up on accents different from their own such that it's often one of the first questions asked. If it's not asked, you know they're thinking it anyway! I don't mind people asking. What I love are the accent assumptions. They almost (NB) make me want to talk to strangers just for statistical purposes: 21.5% of people think I'm from....
Here are the best ones yet:
"Are you from California?"
- My guess is that he was stereotyping my blond hair and tan. Wrong! Stereotypes are bad.
" You're..Irish, right?"
- No... I'm Canadian...(you are sorely mistaken and need to go watch some English mystery movies; the Irish are the bag guys. I kid). This person has clearly never heard an Irish accent. I can't even imitate one.

"American?"
-Ouch. Most of the people who guess that I'm from the US are very quick to apologize with "oh I'm sorry, that was probably insulting". Yes, yes it was, but you're forgiven because you didn't know better. Now go visit Canada. Please.

Over the months there have been the occasional pronunciation challenges. Thing2 and I had a conflict over the word "can't". I say it like the bug "ant" and he says it like the relative "aunt". Everytime I said "can't" the Canadian *coughrightcough* way, he would persistently correct me until I said it the Aussie way. Here's the twist:
I adapted the Aussie "can't" to ease his 4 year old confusion but, ironically, he now says it the Canadian way. His mother wasn't too pleased. Oops.
Oddly enough they say "can" the same way we do which made me wonder why they don't just add the "t" sound at the end and call it quits rather than throw a "u" in there as well to give them "caun't".

Regardless of all the accent and pronunciation differences, we all understand each other. This is good news considering we're all speaking English.
Korea will be another story. I'm slightly nervous about going to a country where I cannot speak or read the language. I've always been able to speak the primary language in the countries I've visited (Cuba 2004 I knew how to speak Spanish). There will be no blending in in Korea for me.

And with that, I'm off to blend into the night in my bright orange running shorts and white reflective shoes.
xoxo,
F