Thursday, March 17, 2011

Great things about being blind. Listening to accents.

Happy saint Patrick's day to everyone. Being of Irish descent, I had to comment on something Irish today. And what do I love that is Irish? Well I'm not a beer drinker but I do love Irish music, stories, and of course the accents. My grandparents had traces of their Irish accents even after more than 50 years in Canada. My gran would sound especially Irish when she got excited or furious. I've always loved accents and wish I was good at imitating them. I am not. Several years ago, I visited Ireland. I stumbled off the plane in Dublin and I didn't stumble because I am blind but because I was so jet lagged. And then, right there in the airport, was a beautiful lilting announcers voice talking about lost luggage, and delayed flights, and I thought it was poetry. I thought I'd never heard anything so beautiful. I love talking to and listening to people speaking english with accents. Maybe it is a little like people looking at other people. The colours of their clothes and hair, their facial expressions. The lilting irish accent, the wonderful burring scottish accent, the lovely british variations, I love listening to african accents with their musicality and wonderful stress on words, I love the musicality of indian accents, caribean accents make me feel like I'm somewhere on a beach. I love the asian soft accents and the variety of european ones. I don't mean to leave any accent out. I try to determine the differences between australian and new zealand accents with little success. And yes I love american accents too. And of course, we Canadians have varieties of accents and speech patterns which I love to listen to as well. Thanks to everyone for providing me with a wealth of colour and variety in your voices, accents, and speech patterns.

1 comment:

  1. So I'll bet you loved Clare Murphy's voice tonight, right? What a lovely Irish accent she had (and she could do so many voices and sound effects, too!)

    Yeah, I was there. I didn't get a chance to say hi, but I saw you and Tulia leaving after the show...

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.