Oh, JZ, now I'm imagning that, too. Tiny heaven!

One of my former supervisors once met a guy at Harvard who had grown up in NYC's Chinatown, the only child of an immigrant family who was determined that he would Make Good if it killed them all; even though literally no adults in his neighborhood spoke English and he was the only English speaker in his family, his parents forbade him to learn Chinese because he had to be an American or else, even though it meant none of them could really understand each other.

He grew up speaking fluent English with a strong Chinese accent that he could not train himself out of no matter how he tried. Apparently at not quite twenty he was already deeply tired of having to explain that no, he couldn't translate for you and yes, he knew he had the accent but no, he really couldn't speak Chinese.

Oh, that's just tragic. O'Henry sort of tragic.

My dad immigrated at age 5 and learned English in Elementary school via immersion and luck has no accent (or, I suppose, a California accent) but his younger brother who must have been 3 when they got here has quite a strong Russian accent. So IDK.

My dad was born in this country, but because he grew up in a swedish community here (to immigrant parents,) he didn't pronounce his Js until he went to college.

My grandmother came here at 12 and had a slight accent. My grandfather, 21, and he always had a hard time with english, and had a very heavy accent.

Today was really not worth it. I was in some weird mental fog all day, and really unable to interact with people. Then, at a retirement party, my nose went all bionic and I could smell EVERYTHING. The deodorant people were wearing, their shampoo, the detergent they washed their clothes in, their sweat, what they had for lunch, their breath from 5 feet away. And some nasty pervasive smell of crap. It was completely overwhelming and revolting and I had to leave.

And then the cramps started.

And you guys talked forever about the disposable temporary organ you aren't born with!

"And apparently, clowns kill."

Bev, I don't think I knew H was Ukrainian! Kewl.

bonny, never Skyped, wish I could help.

I managed to screw up a frittata, IDEK. But! I always put Frankie in "place" when I eat, especially since I eat on the couch; tonight he put himself in place! Goooood boy.

I'm trying to remember if my Swedish grandpa pronounced his Js. I think he did, but he did have the most appealing lilt to his voice. He always called his granddaughters "my little sweetheart," and he said it in such a beautiful voice, saying "sweetheart" like "sweethot."

He came over from Lulea when he was in his late teens and lived outside of the Swedish neighborhoods, so he lost most of the stereotypical Swede accent early on.

bonny, never Skyped, wish I could help.

Thanks Hon.

I'm just frustrated because it seemed like such an easy thing to use...and yet, fail.

dcp suggested google video chat. Which also looks easy, but may only work with gmail accounts. Ack.

Where is my flying car and the tech person to make it go?!

On topic, I believe my great grandparents came here from Ireland via England. While none of us have anything but California accents, I get a lot of comments about Anglo-isms in my vocabulary. I trace this back to my great aunt, who called me Pet, and spoke very proper English, with zero accent, despite spending most of her teens in Mississippi.

eta to add the salient point about accents.

bonny, I have skype, so if you want to play around without, you know, a client, I'm more than happy to help.

You don't have to eat what comes out of your cootch.