one of the best parts of this hotel gig is that, even though we don’t get out much, there is a constant supply of people coming in, and they are fun to talk with.

since my accent gives me away as a non-local, one of the first questions people tend to ask me is where i’m from, followed pretty closely by how i ended up in scotland, and in such a remote hotel to boot.

i have learned that “where are you from?” is actually code for one of the following slightly more complicated questions:

• what part of the states are you from (because your accent is obviously american. what, do you think i’m daft?!)?
• we have a bet going at our table about whether you are canadian, australian, or american, and i want you to prove to my wife that i know what i’m talking about, so please say you’re canadian…

this makes answering the question (in it’s shorter, encoded form) a bit tricky, because saying “i’m from the united states (full stop)” tends to ilicit snorts from the first group, followed by “yes, but what part of the united states, pet?” (in a slower voice, as if i have just made it clear that i need to be treated as a being of reduced intelligence).

assuming that the whole american part is obvious makes the second group feel awkward, however, because they want to do a double take and say something like “oh, really? please don’t take it personally! your accent is really quite mild!”

i have decided that the best course of action is to say “i’m from the united states (comma)” so that i can move right into “i grew up in colorado, but i moved around a bit and have lived in indiana for the last five years” if that seems appropriate. that way the first group thinks that i am just giving the extended answer, and the second group can use the extra information to their advantage by saying things like “oh! my nephew went to colorado once!”, thereby moving the conversation forward.

there are a few people who just go ahead and take their analysis for granted, starting with “what part of the states are you from?” and i appreciate those people for putting themselves on the line. the approach can backfire, though, so i guess i understand why it is used somewhat sparingly. one man asked me outright “oz or kiwi?” and i had to say “um, american, actually…” and then he had to act all embarrassed.

which is too bad, really.

the truth is, it’s just flat out hard to hear the little differences, and despite the fact that i have heard countless stories about how scottish people get angry if you think they are english, and new zealanders hate being confused with australians, and canadians shudder to be seen as american, the vast majority of people whom i’ve met in my travels just laugh it off.

there’s this rather deeply rooted idea that it is arrogance that keeps us from being able to detect regional differences in cadence (because they’re obvious to us, right?!), when actually it’s just a lack of experience, and it doesn’t really make any sense to assume that everyone should just automatically understand the way that growing up in certain parts of the world causes you to modulate your vowels.

the only people who get offended when you make a mistake seem to be the people who haven’t really travelled themselves, so they’ve never been on the other side of the table, and i think there’s something important there, but i’m not sure i’m, um, saying it right.

;)

all reflection aside, though, it really does amuse me that so many people think that i’m canadian. no matter how much i can rationalize it, a part of me still goes “whoa, seriously?” and i get all curious about what they are using as evidence. i mean, do i just say aboot sometimes and not even know it?!

sometimes, i’m tempted to go all fargo on them in the middle of a sentence, just to see if they hear a difference.

but then i start walking around saying “you betcha!” under my breath, and chuckling to myself, and that’s a bit creepy, so i make myself stop.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 30th, 2006 at 11:15 pm and is filed under introspection, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.