“Y’all Towk FUH-ny”

Accents are a funny thing. When my wife and I lived in North Carolina we were sometimes recipients of this comment. To us it was ironic. They were telling us we talk funny in a way that we found hilarious. One time I was leading a group of teenagers in a “get-to-know-you” exercise. We were taking turns sharing with the group what we thought our biggest weakness was, amoung other things. Eddie, a strapping young man who won everyone over with his good looks and genuinely humble disposition said his was “mah ack-say-yunt.” I thought he said “my accident” so I replied, “Really? What happened?” We shared blank stares for a moment or two until a third person figured out what was happening and stepped in as an interpreter.

But his accent wasn’t a weakness at all; it was endearing. Sometimes when I hear someone speaking with a heavy accent I find myself audibly observing every word and replaying certain ones over in my mind. Like the way the Dakotans say “yeah” in . Oh yah? Yah!

I’ve always wondered what leads to accents being formed. At one point, a wave of English speaking people from places like England, Scotland and Ireland moved over to this “new land.” And none of them then spoke English the way people do now in New Brunswick, Newfoundland, New England, or New Mexico. Very gradually Californians ended up sounding like surfers. Southerners in the US started sounding like Jeff Foxworthy. Canadians started sounding like Bob and Doug

McKenzie. And New Englanders just started messing with any word ending in R or A. (Right Melisser and Jennifah?)

There are even small pockets of people with their own accents. People in New York City make fun of the speech of people in New Jersey, Queens, Brooklyn, Long Island, etc. And this isn’t unique to only big metropolitan areas. Sometimes I can even pick out a North Shore Nova Scotian in a crowd.

I still contend that Maritimers don’t “towk FUHny.” But I’ll tell yuh rate now, we like to talk a-boat how cheap our clothes are that we got at Frenchy’s and how supper was some good when we was up to the Island.

Congratulations . This is your week.

Best Actress:

The award winning Frances McDormand. She is one of my favourite actresses and this is my favourite role of hers. Very deserving of her Best Actress win (the real one) back in ‘97.

Best Actor: Jack Klugman. To me he will always be Oscar from , and sometimes Dr. Quincy. But I just adore and loved seeing him in it.

Best Quote: “Ah, hon, ya got Arby’s all over me.” – Marge Gunderson ()

And then there’s Australia. Don’t even get me started.