We all have a different accent.
If you travel you will encounter a number of them. But that is not something to make fun of.
Especially if you’re not really close to that person.
Redditor cinnamon_gin encountered this very issue with a town visitor. So she turned to the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subReddit for moral judgment.
She asked:
“AITA for telling a visitor that he had an accent and not the other way around?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“Situation happened back in August.”
“I (35 female) was having guests visits me from Toronto. I live on the east coast of Canada in a small fishing town.”
“My friend and her husband came to visit me. My friend was born and raised on the east coast but moved to Toronto when she was 13. She comes back for visits every couple of years and usually spends at least a few nights with me.”
“She recently got married and brought her husband. I had only met him one other time and that was at the wedding, so we didn’t have a ton of interaction.”
“When he came to my house in the summer, it really felt like he was mocking my small town way of life.”
“He had never been to the east coast and was blown away by the differences. Everything he said was comparing my small town to Toronto and how we didn’t measure up.”
OP had a breaking point.
“I mostly let it slide. But one morning I said something and he burst out laughing. I was confused and asked him what was funny?”
“He said my accent is hilarious and repeated the sentence I had just said in a tone that was meant to mimic/mock my accent. I asked him why he was talking like that and he said that’s how I sound.”
“I could tell my friend was really uncomfortable with her husband’s behavior but she didn’t say anything. He laughed again and said something about east coast accents.”
“I finally had enough and said, ‘sorry but when you’re the visitor, it’s not me who has the accent. It’s you.'”
“There was a huge awkward silence and then we changed subjects.”
“I have thought about this situation a lot since then. Maybe I didn’t handle it very well.”
“AITA??”
Redditors gave their opinions on the situation by declaring:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Redditors agreed OP was not the a**hole.
“LMAO! NTA.”
“You’re absolutely right, and I’d never really thought of it that way.” ~ loloannd
“NTA – no mocking/mimicking should be done in a host-guest relationship (except as an ‘inside’ joke everyone gets and laughs at)” ~ shangvcxgsd
“This. My husband is Canadian (I’m English) and the way he says ‘banana’ cracks me up but we both laugh about it. I’m from Birmingham so I say plenty of words funny too.”
“That is not what friend’s husband was doing.” ~ Fox-Smol
“I’m Scottish so DH finds it hilarious the way I say some things (burger, curly wurly etc) He’s from Stoke and the way he says some things (buzz instead of bus, conna instead of can’t) and we’ve been together longer than a lot of redditors have been alive.”
“If someone else skits my accent he’s the first to defend me (as are my Stoke friends) so you’re definitely NTA.”
“I also applaud you for your come back!” ~ SueR74
“I’m from Boston, USA. Was recently in the UK (started in London, then went all around Scotland). I attempted to order a grilled tomato and cheese sandwich at a little restaurant up north and the waiter just stared at me having no idea what I just said.”
“It then dawned on me that I pronounced tomato as (toe-mate-o). when i said it again I pronounced it like (toe-maht-o) and the waiter got it straight away. I thought it was kind of funny.” ~ culperringer
OP was just standing up for herself.
“Not an accent thing but I live in Canada and usually use the word ‘washroom’ for public bathrooms. Whenever I go to the US, people give me a similar stare until I remember to say ‘bathroom’ instead.” ~ allycakes
“I once suggested to my spouse we start a tickle trunk for our son.”
“Blank stare.”
“…sigh ‘Costume box.’”
“Surprisingly, despite coming from the East coast I’ve been told I have very little accent. But every once in a while there’s a little cultural thing that pops up.” ~ Jayn_Newell
“Hah! In Australia the TOILET is a separate room from the bathroom, and if you asked to use the bathroom here………. well it ‘s a good thing we have a lot of American TV here.” ~ Oldgamer1965
“Also from Boston, and I didn’t have to go nearly as far afield to be met with blank stares. I was in *New York* and stopped a couple of guys on the street to ask if there was a liquor store nearby. They were so nice and polite and eventually just had to tell me ‘we can’t understand what you’re saying,’ and I wound up enunciating really slowly ‘b-e-e-r a-n-d w-i-n-e?’ and they pointed me in the right direction.” ~ saucisse
“I’m from Lancashire married to an American and we mock each other mercilessly, but it’s in good fun because we have a relationship. My American colleagues do it too, but again, we have built that relationship – we spent ages yesterday in a raucous debate over teeter-totter vs seesaw and how I sound like a Bond villain when I say teeter totter.” ~ TequilaMockingbird80
“Omg I’m English and my daughter is American English and will randomly shout “Banana” at me because she thinks I say it funny. “Water” is her other favorite word and she’s trying to teach me to say it American style (my accent is Leicester meets Yorkshire).” ~ knit_stitch_ride
“Everyone thinks that someone else has an accent. This reminds me of one of the Step Up movies (don’t remember which one, but it wasn’t the one with Channing Tatum) where there are these European twins and an Asian character says to them, ‘I like your accent,’ and one responds, ‘Thanks, I like your accent too,’ and she looks at them with confusion and says, ‘I don’t have an accent.'” ~ Lanky-Temperature412
Everyone has an accent when we leave our home.