The Capital Letter - by BerlinBear
How did you get to have a cup of tea made by KM? I would love to have that happen. She is lovely
I was teaching her German. Honestly! It's a cool story actually. Maybe I'll make a whole post out of it one day soon.
NZers are known for picking up whatever accents they are around. My friends in radio told me that it used to be relatively easy for NZers to get work for the BBC in the days when accent was important, because NZers could change their accents easily.
I suspect it has something to do with the lack of a strong national identity, and a sort of inferiority complex about our own accents. I know a the NZers I've met here don't hold onto their accents as strongly as Americans or British or even Australians. (Although one Australian friend, on his visits back home, always comes back sounding more Australian for a while - and then it wears off again.)
But I've also noticed that younger NZers hold onto their accents more than older ones (say, over 35). I know my accent has modified a lot - when I'm visiting NZ it's always noticed.
Oh, and when my older brother was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said he wanted to be a butcher. (That was NOT the brother who slaughtered the lamb.) I thought the question meant that you could be anything that you wanted to be, so I decided I wanted to be a Maori. The gang that used come to pick fruit every year was Maori, and Mrs Tipini, the gang leader, was my ABSOLUTELY FAVOURITE PERSON IN THE WORLD, and I wanted her to adopt me, but she seemed to only adopt Maori children.
@ BadAunt
Ha! I love that "I want to be a Maori when I grow up" story. That's touching. As for NZ accents being easily lost, you may well be right, though I also know plenty of NZers who've spent time overseas and not had their accents change at all. Also, is it just me, or is the NZ accent getting stronger as time goes by?
Your weird and random facts digressed to not so weird and random.
*pouts*
I've got some funny accent stuff going on myself. There was a time when I would astonish my German friends with a well spoken phrase that left them astounded at how 'Hessich' I sounded. Probably the most 'interesting' accent I've ever sported was a combination of Arkansan and British mixed into my usual regional non-specific American. Ick.
As for Kylie... heh. I sang a little chant about knowing that one already. *grin*
Number 4 sounds just like you and number five isn't about you at all. *snicker snicker* But it was lovely of you to share it with us. *wink*
@Lindy
Thanks for the feedback. Number 5 IS about me though. It's about MY response to and experience of TM speaking and reading. It's perfectly possible that other people in the room were considerably less impressed or less moved, but I wasn't writing about them.
If you feel you can come up with 5 random things (and maintain the randomness and focus on YOU throughout) I'd encourage you to pick it up and run with it. I'd be very interested to read the results.
I'll try this:
1. I have a small, harmless but medically unexplainable hole going into my head just above the one I'm meant to have in my left ear.
2. Staying with my ears (of which I'm inordinately proud - does that count as one?): If I pull my ear out as far as it can go, then squint at it out of the corner of my eye, I can see it.
3. I feature in full glossy colour on the cover of a coffee table book about Shrewsbury, despite only having spent about 5 hours of my life there.
4. I once spent an evening on the prairie singing Sioux Indian songs with a man named Thunder Horse.
5. I cannot stand touching or being touched by sponge (the washing up kind, not the cake kind, which I like).
There you go. It is quite hard to stay focused on yourself isn't it?
@Twiglets
Excellent job, sir! I particularly loved "staying with my ears (of which I'm inordinately proud)..."
Classic.
Ooooooh, the pressure!
Grrrrrrr....
You know how I despise the obligation... ack.
I'll have a think about it.
If it weren't for the assignment aspect of it, I should think random would come fairly easily to someone like me... we shall see. *wink*
Oh, and well done Twiglets! I'm quite baffled by the second ear reference...
@lindy
Well, there's no pressure at all. If you don't fancy it, don't do it. This is not an assignment at all. As for the second ear reference, wel, let's just say that, unlike an actual Twiglet, Twiglets has, ahem, prominent ears.
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