I pick up accents like a sponge and have to be really careful about it. (When I was in London, the friend I was visiting said "People will think you're mocking them if you don't go back to talking like a corn-fed Midwesterner." I asked her how she [also an American] could live and work there without picking up the accent. She was baffled as to how I picked it up so easily.)

My senior year of college, I won a scholarship from a national organization that also included a trip to Washington, DC, with the other scholarship winners, who were from all over the country. When I called home after 2 days, my mom said "You're talking with an accent, but I can't figure out which one." Because (among others) there were girls from Texas, a guy from Maine, a girl from Wisconsin, and a guy from Alabama who tried really hard to tone down his accent but it didn't work, and all of them started bleeding into my speech patterns.

Self-eval done and sent to my boss. Her email listing what we needed to cover didn't include the "needs attention" section so I feel justified in leaving it blank

My sister is really susceptible to picking up the accents of the people she's talking to, but when she actively tries to speak with a given accent it ends up being a mess.

I suck at both replicating accents and understanding then. I dread when I have to call a company for support at work and their call center is overseas because I know I'm going to spend the call wanting to crawl under my desk in embarrassment because I keep having to ask them to repeat themselves.

spend the call wanting to crawl under my desk in embarrassment because I keep having to ask them to repeat themselves

This is me! And the same holds when speaking to my friends and relatives on the phone. If I am looking at them I can grasp what they are saying, but on the phone it is hopeless. IT is super embarrassing. It isn't their accent; I blame my ears.

Yup, I'm like Tep. I still have a drawl from my year and a bit that I spent in college in Tennessee. I bring it out mostly to fuck with people, though. If I move back there, I'll need to cut it out, probably!

My sister is really susceptible to picking up the accents of the people she's talking to, but when she actively tries to speak with a given accent it ends up being a mess.

Yup, me too.

Our Utah cousins are coming to town for a visit soon. Mildly dreading the political discussions that might ensue. I'm predicting that the one is voting for Hillary and the other is voting for Trump, but I guess we'll see.

My son got into the same magnet as his sister, although that was considered pretty much a given. But hey, they'll both be at the same school again! For a year, then it's off to high school. Yipes!

I also have a weird accent that I use when I sing, and I have no idea where it's coming from.

My son got into the same magnet as his sister, although that was considered pretty much a given. But hey, they'll both be at the same school again!

Yay!

For a year, then it's off to high school. Yipes!

Yikes!

It used to make me giggle a bit, these British rockers singing with a forced blues-southern accent, mimicking their musical heroes. As if that's the way lyrics *must* be pronounced.

It always perks up my ears a bit when an actor pulls out a legitimate regional south accent rather than fake generic "southern." And though I have soft consonants and the occasional slurred vowel, I don't think I have as area-specific an accent as I grew up with. But my ears do snap to attention when I hear rural NC on my teevee. Such as Leon Rippy on Saving Grace. Or the occasional NC LEO interviewed on national news.