Why comments on Accents are rude. Blog marathon post 3.
We all have accents when we speak a certain language. Even if you are a native speaker of the language, the way you speak it will depend largely on the area where you spent most of your childhood years (over which you have no control ), when you first learnt to speak the language. This is true not just of English (there are so many English accents, based on which part of UK you are from), but of other languages as well. For example, a person from North Kerala will speak Malayalam in a completely different way from the one from South kerala. I am sure it is same for other languages too.
I find comments about accents rude. Even if the person who comments, did not mean it that way. (In fact, most people do not even consider it rude. They probably think it is an ice-breaker --who knows!). I especially find it rude/irrelevant/tiresome (depending on what state of mind I am in) when people try to guess where I am from, based on my accent.
When we meet a person for the first time, imagine if we made a comment based on their appearance and tried to guess their age..'Oh , I spot a few wrinkles--are you 35?' . Or if we tried to guess their weight based on their appearance-- 'You have a slight pot-belly. Is your weight 85 kgs?'
If the above is considered rude, why is it any different for accents? 'You speak with a Bihari accent. Are you from Bihar?' or 'You speak with a south-Indian accent. Are you from Chennai?'
I also dislike 'Accent snobs'. (people who make a judgement or think they are superior because of their accents).
I have had people telling me they find my accent sexy. I have also had people gushing things like 'howwwww I loooove your accent'. Then I have had people telling me 'I can't quite place that accent. Where it it from?' (If you haven't heard me speak and want to know what I sound like, you can click on this link ). If I were to get Rs.100 for each time a person made a comment about my accent, I think I would be a multimillionaire by now.
Frankly, I am tired of it. My response to that is always 'I speak six languages'. I do. (which usually leaves the person saying 'wow')
If a person wants to tell you where they are from, they will! Please don't ask! (Or rather, don't ask me!) I usually find it very tiresome to answer the question-- 'Where are you from?'. Some time back I had written a post on it.
Making personal comments is rude! Be it on appearance, be it on clothes, on weight or anything personal. (Of course, it is different between close friends.)
And I do think there is so much more to a person than the clothes they wear and the way in which they speak. There is so much more interesting stuff to talk about--like what they read (if they read) and what their hobbies are, and what is the one thing that keeps them going.
Don't you think so?
_________________________________________________________________
To Buy my books in India, click here.
To buy my books on Amazon click here
http://preetishenoy.com/
I find comments about accents rude. Even if the person who comments, did not mean it that way. (In fact, most people do not even consider it rude. They probably think it is an ice-breaker --who knows!). I especially find it rude/irrelevant/tiresome (depending on what state of mind I am in) when people try to guess where I am from, based on my accent.
When we meet a person for the first time, imagine if we made a comment based on their appearance and tried to guess their age..'Oh , I spot a few wrinkles--are you 35?' . Or if we tried to guess their weight based on their appearance-- 'You have a slight pot-belly. Is your weight 85 kgs?'
If the above is considered rude, why is it any different for accents? 'You speak with a Bihari accent. Are you from Bihar?' or 'You speak with a south-Indian accent. Are you from Chennai?'
I also dislike 'Accent snobs'. (people who make a judgement or think they are superior because of their accents).
I have had people telling me they find my accent sexy. I have also had people gushing things like 'howwwww I loooove your accent'. Then I have had people telling me 'I can't quite place that accent. Where it it from?' (If you haven't heard me speak and want to know what I sound like, you can click on this link ). If I were to get Rs.100 for each time a person made a comment about my accent, I think I would be a multimillionaire by now.
Frankly, I am tired of it. My response to that is always 'I speak six languages'. I do. (which usually leaves the person saying 'wow')
If a person wants to tell you where they are from, they will! Please don't ask! (Or rather, don't ask me!) I usually find it very tiresome to answer the question-- 'Where are you from?'. Some time back I had written a post on it.
Making personal comments is rude! Be it on appearance, be it on clothes, on weight or anything personal. (Of course, it is different between close friends.)
And I do think there is so much more to a person than the clothes they wear and the way in which they speak. There is so much more interesting stuff to talk about--like what they read (if they read) and what their hobbies are, and what is the one thing that keeps them going.
Don't you think so?
_________________________________________________________________
To Buy my books in India, click here.
To buy my books on Amazon click here
http://preetishenoy.com/
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