It did miss a few caps tho, so, I think a day or two without a firewall will teach it too behave!

Maddie: I don’t know why anyone would “sit in a bowl of disinfectant” at all over here. Our racists are much more… proactive, lets say. And they don’t mind the British at all: you guys are white. Racial problems here tend to reach back either to African slavery, or immigration problems with Mexico and the rest of Latin America. For a snap-shot of some of the crazy people out there, check out the National Vanguard, a group dedicated to “preserving White American culture and race.” They’re considered a pretty crazy bunch by the main-stream, really, but they fact that they can carry on for the KKK (their words, not mine!) so blatantly points to deeper social issues. From the Wikipedia page on them:

“In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which struck the U.S. Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, a National Vanguard First Response Team was organized to help white families in Alabama and Mississippi [6]. Their decision to help only white victims of Katrina has been described as “reprehensible”. [7]” (Katrina did the most damage to historically “black” neighborhoods in New Orleans, neighborhoods that were too poor to even attempt to re-build. The only white people in these areas that were affected were mildly wealthy to begin with.)

In terms of typing, I think I always use a more formal tone when I’m writing, whether it’s online or for an essay, or anything, really. It’s probably because I can see the post, and so I just HAVE to make sure that the grammar and everything is perfect. Since I have time to review what I’m writing, I always feel like I have to make sure I’m saying the right thing. That’s why I prefer talking to people face-to-face; there’s less pressure. =)

The other thing I do is use internet slang when I’m talking to people, like “brb, omg, rofl, wtf, wth tyvm,” etc, but I don’t really use them that much online. I guess I just don’t like the way they look in print or something. It’s really quite odd.

Well I am gonna go to tafe and spend a full day making redneck jokes in a southern drawl.

Ben-Ah, but my ungrammatical ness is deliberate, because that’s just how i talk! of course, my essays are creepy because I write them so grammatically correct that it sounds posh when you read it.

actually, it’s like this. i talk to friends how i type to you guys on here, and I talk on the phone to strangers how I write my essays. the difference is pretty amazing.

Oh and Ben, don’t worry, I pick people’s accents up b accident and yet despite being half welsh, cannot do even a welsh accent to save me life!

Roo-Yay, you have a little bit of british in you! most americans would use that as an excuse to sit in a bowl of disinfectant for an hour every day, but then that’s only the racist little americans in my head, they probably don’t actually exist..or do they?

Justine-i don’t know how you talk, but you talk fine. not too posh, nore too slangy. I’m sure you’re the same as me and write essays differently to how you speak, but chat to internet mates as you would aloud, no?

TGJB-that’s interesting. I didn’t work out that Adam was english, yet i could’ve sworn you were. maybe those English TV shows have an effect on you? but as I said to Roo before, i can’t actually do the reading accents thing, i just..you..seemed english? i dunno…it’s too late, I’m too tired to work it out.

Easca-me too, except I don’t tend to even know what accent I’m doing. and sometimes, i act like a drunk even though i have never been drunk, simply because walking funny annoys people and talking like a drunk is amazingly fun.

In terms of randomly switching accents, Ben, I do that on occasion, as well. There really doesn’t even need to be someone with that accent speaking near me, I’ll just switch. Sometimes I find myself randomly speaking with a British accent, unable to stop. I know some of my friends do that, too. That’s interesting. =)

Ah, Chaucer. So true… it was really hard trying to get through it while “translating,” but when you just let go and pronounce it the way it’s spelt (with some odd rules you learn in the appendix), it flows so much better!

As for accents, when you read Chaucer, you’re supposed to read it in almost a Birmingham (UK) accent… the Brummies have something similar to the oldest type of British accent knocking about.

Maddy, I’m a student at Virginia Tech, in the USA (that’s in the South), so I get a lot of Appalachian accents around here. I read somewhere that the Appalachian mountain accent is the closest thing left in the world to the “normal” British accent of the 16 and 1700’s, during the imperial expansion. The divergence is astounding.

To be fair, though, I was raised in a military family, and learnt English while my family was living in Liverpool. The Brit in my speech has faded considerably, but never altogether.

TGJB: have you ever seen The Lady Killers? Best put-on Southern accent I’ve ever heard (by which I mean: I laughed till it hurt every time he opened his mouth).

Ben, don’t you think that the only way the accent can come out in the typing is the grammar though? “Proper” grammar’s proper no matter where you are, but the “improper” grammar changes by region. So thus you can tell an Aussie by his (or her) unintelligible grammar…?

TGJB, I often mimic the dominant accent of those around me.
It is annoying, I suddendly find myself talking in an accent I don’t know.
If I try and do it intentionally, I fail miserably.

Chav here means a guy who wears adidas nylon track pants and jumper, gold or silver bling, hangs out clubs/rave and sells/takes chem drugs.
Always white, normally pale and unfit. Also often considered a try-hard or wanker.

I’m not very good at telling where people are from by how they type, but then i mix up irish and scottish accents so i’m a bit of a dippy really.

Actually, we should find some excuse to study that thesis..i wonder if I can use in any of my gcse subjects..prob’ly not.

Roo, I’m sorry for being stupid, but where do you live? are you american? as i already explained, i can’t actually tell..

Maddie, has anyone ever told you that your (presumed) accent comes through, even in print? I read what you right, and I hear a British accent so thick it almost unsettles me. “It’s well funny, ennit?” Makes me wonder about the cultural phenomenon of internet slang, teenagers that grew up with the internet, and colloquialism. My fiancee’s little sister (almost exactly your age) “sounds” distinctly American on the internet, the same way you sound distinctly British. Does this hold for all teenagers raised with the internet?

Ben, do Aussie kids sound Aussie in print?

Oooh, I should’ve gone into sociology. This make a really neat thesis. Hahahaha!

Has any one heard the main two chav insults? if in an argument with one, they will be almost garunteed to say either “your mum” or “yeah maaaate” me and a mate translated these to old fashioned english, and we find it hilarious:”thoust mother!” and “yeah friend!” the yeah is prounounced “yay” of course, but in a posh enlgish accent. try it sometime, it’s well funny, ennit?