Gents! In what ways have you ever toned down or changed up your accent for work, dating or social?

19 comments

1. I’ve got a Southern British accent and a what-people-call “American accent”. I use them variably and some people do find it confusing lol

2. Have a south-east almost cockney accent naturally, I moved to Eastern Europe and now when I go back home people say I sound posh. Had to really enunciate and change my pronunciation completely for people to understand me

3. I choose to just be myself. Besides, some girls like that Chicano accent.

4. I just talk the way I talk.

   If you heard me, you’d probably think of a good ole boy for Texas.

   If you from this part of Texas, you’d probably assume I’m from somewhere else. And you’d be right. People who know my background always say they can hear the Oklahoma when I talk.

5. Grew up in the sticks in the south so I have a southern US accent and “mispronounce” words and tend to use a lot of southern slang in casual conversations. To a lot of people I probably sound like a dumb hick despite having an MBA and working in a senior level sales position for a pretty big company.

   So, a lot of times, especially in professional settings I have to really tone it down and focus on it a lot. It still slips out here and there and some of that twang still exists but it’s harder to establish professional credibility if I talk the way I do around my parents or hometown friends haha

6. I don’t deliberately try to do it, but sometimes a little accent creeps into my voice to match who I’m talking to. I always worry I’m going to piss someone off by sounding like I’m making fun of them.

7. For my particular job, it is good to speak clearly and a bit slowly. I do that naturally.

   What confuses most people though is that I usually have a Midwestern-type accent, if any. Very neutral. It’s really hard for people to know where I’m from because people have a certain perception of my home state. When I’m chillin’ though I guess I have a surfer bro kind of accent, somewhere between Hawaiian pidgin and Californian.

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9. I don’t have an accent. Ya ya, I know, everyone technically does, but I swear I speak more or less like most Americans in TV and movies speak. I’m sure you can hear little subtle tells of where I’m originally from, but nothing that’s ever interfered with communication with another native English speaker. I’ve lived East coast, Midwest, and West coast, all in the north. And almost nobody I interact with has a noticeable accent compared to mine either.

   It is wild though that Britain can have such a wide variety of significant accents in such a small area.

10. I went to different schools in both working class and rich areas.

    I started off in private school, then went to public school, then ended in private school.

    So I was initially very well spoken and enunciated clearly, then found myself in a school where everyone said ‘youse’ and swore every other word.

    Which made me stand out in a way I didn’t like, but I said “fuck conforming to peer pressure” and continued speaking ‘correctly’.

    But by the end of my time in public school I still managed to lose that more cultured way of speaking and my language slowly roughened over time.

    So when I went back to private school I had to ‘re-learn’ how to speak properly.

11. I tone the southern us accent/word choice way down when I’m working with new folks in the northeast until I have a better feel for them.

12. Grew up in a fairly working class part of the Scottish West coast, have spent time living in the US, am looking at moving down to south east England in the next year.

    I’ve always found I take on my dads (Scottish Borders) accent when I’m trying to ‘tone it down’. It’s a necessity to be understood in places.

13. I was born with a speech impediment. I went through years of speech therapy and have an extremely noticable accent whenever speaking, my words are clear and every letter in the word is pronounced.

    I’ve had it described as an American whose lived in the UK for a couple years.

    It’s not really something I think about. But I guess it’s fun for others to notice.

14. never did. i stick with my north-western tunisian accent no matter the situation, and people seem to like it. if someone doesn’t, tough luck, i don’t care.

    also, i never plan on changing

15. Moved from providence to Wis. had to tone it way down because they thought it was abrasive to have a New England accent but it makes me stumble over my words and sound like I’m uncertain what I want to say sometimes. It’s fucking annoying for me

16. People at work think my voice is high. Apparently that’s a thing with black men, raising the pitch of their voice at work unintentionally to be less intimidating. My family knows me as a deep voiced person who regularly sings bass harmonies.

17. I have a southern draw sometimes, got family in the south and if spend time with them it gets worse.

18. I’ve a Belfast accent, though I’ve been told it’s very clear for a Belfast accent. I live in London and from time to time I have to speak a bit more slowly or explain what a certain phrase means

19. Well most black people tend to “code switch” at work but I actually pronounce words normally and don’t use much slang. Has led to racist employers being shocked when I do an in person or video interview and has led dumb white liberals to saying I’m not “really black”.