Antworten zum Universum

Today’s blog post is a 2-in-1! Wow, you readers are getting more value! Aaaaanyhooow, I work with a lot of people from different nationalities, but mostly, I have 4 British work buddies (one who looks uncannily like Zac Efron, for you interested ladies), a few Aussies, and one Indian. Oh, and my boss’ partner is Scottish.

And to those who don’t already know, I speak English with a relatively flat accent. And also, my English accents tend to change depending on whom I speak to (wow, does this mean I have Peter Petrelli’s emphatic mimickry?). In the morning, I see my workmates and chat with them, typically my English accent for the day would be formed. Then in the afternoon, when I go to see the clients, I would carry this weird pastiche of accents with me and confuse the hell out of my clients.

Accents I am typically exposed to in a day:

• Mid-west American (from my housemate)
• Scottish (from my boss’ partner – it doesn’t really shound like Sean Connery spheaking)
• Manchester (from my British colleague – feels really rough and tumble)
• North London (from another of my British colleagues)
• Received Pronounciation (from yet another British colleague from the same uni as me. You really feel like he’s Royalty or something when he speaks)
• Queenslander (you can hear a drawl towards the end of sentences)
• General Australian (most of my colleagues speak with general aussie)
• Adelaidian (my housemate… dammit)
• Indian/Sri Lankan (my workmate – he speaks general australian, but lapses sometimes)
• Hongkie (from my immediate supervisor)
• Malaysian (my own… it only exists in the timing of words, not the pronounciation)

As a result of this messed up nonsense, sometimes my clients get extremely confused. There was once I met with an Irish lady, and after an hour of discussion, I ‘inherited’ the accent, and my next client had to endure me saying something like “to-die is tius-die, we’ll shet it up within 21 dies”, with every 2nd or so syllable ending on an upward accent.

It’s irritating me as well. And I have to spend a considerable amount of brainpower to keep it within one accent (and no, I do not have a “natural accent” to fall back to).

And then.. today I knocked my head while getting out of the car. It was a big bump on the head and for nearly 2 whole minutes my vision was noisy. Then when I was talking to my customers, I found it very difficult to control the mix of accents.

Bah. Continue reading Accents; and Buying for Christmas

I consider myself to be quite antisocial. Not in a negative way, but given a choice, I don’t interact with strangers, and perhaps shun them, even.

I choose not to interact with strangers simply because I like my own peace and quiet, where I can lay my own threads of thoughts out in neat little lines and . . . → Read More: The Antisocial Me

I saw some things that I cannot un-see today at work. And since I saw it, it is only altruistic to spread it to you, my lovely lovely readers. And since I have no camera, you readers would have to imagine. I will try to describe it as best as I can.

First up: An old lady . . . → Read More: Things You Cannot Un-See