My family are pretty solidly Irish in descent, but we're a long time from the homeland, so not full of the Irish culture. Or it's been fully incorporated into Newfoundland culture. But, St. Patrick's Day is just a ridiculous drinking fest here and to be avoided at all costs. When I was little my mom used to try to get us to go to mass, but we were having none of that.

I basically identify as Irish-Australian. There's a bunch of other stuff in there too, but Irish heritage predominates. When I was growing up, my dad used to play Irish revolutionary songs in the car. (Prior to about the 1970s, the primary faultline in white Australian society was between descendants of the English and descendants of the Irish, which split on religion, social class and political allegiance.)

We had good friends who live in Auburn AL visiting us recently. The parents have no discernible accents (father is from MI and mother is from tidewater VA, and can slip into the accent, but generally you'd not say she has an accent), and neither does their 6 year old. The 9 year old has a very strong accent though!

DH has the type of accent that results from spending his first 20 years traveling around the world. If he is talking to you he unconsciously adopts your accent. It is amusing, but I sometimes wonder if the person he is speaking with feels mocked. He doesn't do it purposely, it just happens.

My central NY accent isn't detected readily, perhaps because I picked up a few words here and there from living elsewhere for all my adult life. Seriously, how did I live for my first 20 years without y'all in my vocabulary? The boys speak much slower than I do and if anything have more Caribbean phrasing than we do. Their school and friend environments have a high percentage of Bahamians, Haitians, Jamaicans, and South Americans. Minor Oriental and Indian influence. Yeah, I think it would be hard to figure out the boys accents. They don't sound like us. I hear bits of many influences.

This story was part of my word-a-day email, and I think it's hilarious! [link]

Cruz has a lot of solemn stuff about 2nd Amendment rights and patriotism that makes me turn down the radio.

I'm impressed that Cruz is actually kinda to the right of the NRA on 2nd Amendment issues.

My accent is generally upper Midwestern. As in, those Internet tests peg me as Madison, Wisconsin/Rockford, Illinois/Milwaukee. Which makes sense because I grew up between Madison and Rockford. But my accent has become a little less Midwestern over the years. And I've picked up a little Southern here and there.

We basically woke up got dressed and took a car to the airport this morning. We both slept some on the first flight and I am falling asleep waiting for the second one. How I am tired I do not know. Maybe traveling without anticipation of anything on the other end just exhausts me.

Traveling is tiring. And when you've been Going and Doing on vacation, coming to rest at all is probably a giant signal to your body to sleep while it can.

The whole accent conversation reminds me of when I was in college and some of my friends tried to tease me about my southernisms but I couldn't even hear the mockery, it just seemed like they were repeating me for no reason whatsoever. Sometimes my obliviousness is a real blessing. Probably a lot more often than I even know.

I need to finish my self-eval today. shrift, you finished yours, right? I'll take that as inspiration.