does American English sound like Irish English?

Patrickwat333   Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:00 pm GMT
Something also to factor is the USA is very regionalized. I.E I am from the East Coast Central States, that includes. New Jersey and New York. Pennsylvania,Maryland and Delaware. We here are Metropolitan compared to a lot of the south until you come to Florida. We have different regional accents along with social differences. America is an extremely socially mobile country as there are people who move around a lot and with mass communicaton it blends extremes into the median. We here in the north east are for the most part educated enough to understand the differences in UK accents, Irish,Scottish,and British. Wheras the populous in the south with a "southern twang" has trouble telling my New Jersey accent from a New York City accent, very annoying. Or sometimes even Boston and thats downright insulting. The only anti-British sentiments that I ever come across is the arrogance. Compared to our hyper friendly and charismatic American attitude that sometimes comes off as childish or obnoxious. The British can seem cold cut and a bit arrogant. Any well educated American also know that's a stigma and knows it just cultural difference, besides without the British Orlando Florida would have about 30% of it current tourist market. Keep loving Mickey chip chip cheerio!
Nicholas G. MOSES   Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:18 pm GMT
Regarding the original post: I have noticed it myself, actually. Some Irishmen are evidently Irish from the moment I start speaking to them; others could have passed by me for Americans if they so chose. Spending more time around Irish people I've become accustomed to their accents and I can now usually tell the difference. But the first time I went to Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral it took me a few minutes to guess that Cardinal Egan was Irish and even then I wasn't sure until he began his homily with, "When I was a boy growing up in Dublin..."
CB from Dallas, Texas   Sun Aug 20, 2006 12:56 am GMT
Consider this a follow up question: Why do the youth of other English speaking nations think it's "cool" to sound American, therefore they pick up and use American slang and pronunciation because they believe it somehow makes them look hip? Mind you, I've yet to witness such a thing being done, however, I did happen to stumble upon a British message-board where many people were complaining about it as a (quote, unquote) "disturbing phenomenon."

WHAT'S DA DEAL, YO?! ;)
Yong   Wed Aug 30, 2006 1:20 pm GMT
As an non-Irish, I lived in Dublin for three years and did my master's degree there. I guess the English sopken in the posh Dublin 4 area sounds a bit like American English (to me). Nevertheless, I have no problem at all telling Irish accent from American accent after hearing people speak for a few seconds. They are very different, in my opion.
Yong   Wed Aug 30, 2006 1:56 pm GMT
"As a non-Irish" in my post.
HG from France   Wed Aug 30, 2006 8:41 pm GMT
As an French teacher of English, I deal a lot with phonetics, depending the classes I teach ( professional post A level classes). And as a French native, I had to stay abroad to acquire a genuine accent. I lived for a year in Northern Ireland, rural Fermanagh, and 4 months in California. From what I know and have experienced (of course, I haven't visited the whole of Ireland - from top to bottom...), some southern Irish (hiberno-English) accents have similarities with the American accent ; but there also exist huge differences such as the realisation of the letter L which is mostly dark in US English and clear in Irish, the dental pronunciation of th as d or t is so common in rural southern Ireland that it is almost impossible for a young continental European to understand an Irihsman the moment he or she sets foot in the country.

My experience in Fermanagh proved one thing, the accent or dialect bore differences in every village, every class of people (low, middle or educated; as well as among catholics or protestants)... One feature of Northern Irish English that totally contrasts with the American dialects is that vowel length is not phonemic and varies depending on sub-dialects and individual usage.

Historically, the influence of the Irish accents on American English cannot be denied, but with time it has evolved and taken another path due to other influences...
ernest   Sun Oct 22, 2006 12:31 am GMT
Some Irish accents sound similar to East Coast US. It's not just Ireland... I shared a flat with a friend from Hellensburgh, Scotland: I *never* heard a non-US accent so similar to an American one as his.
Lilly   Wed Nov 01, 2006 4:10 pm GMT
I'm from the state of West Virginia , but I have traveled quite a bit outside the U.S. I would like to argue that there are a few American *Southern* dialects that sound simlar to some dialects from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Possibly due to settlements of Scots-Irish, Scots, and Welsh in Appalachia? I certainly think so.
James   Wed Nov 15, 2006 3:20 pm GMT
Not at all. American English sounds like shite. The only way of speakin I can see as being remotely close to the way we speak is that of the Aussies. I live over here now and Gaelic words are used in every day slang usage. They picked up the soft R from the Brits though.

The Aussies however don't celebrate their Irish heritage much if at all, why?, I don't know. Must be something to do with how far away they were shipped.
Bazza   Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:18 am GMT
Maybe it's because we realise that the Irish are a pack of wankers.
lidz   Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:44 pm GMT
actually the two countries least likely to go to war against each other are probably usa and ireland, seeing as how americans totally bum irish people (like myself) because they went over on little ships a hundred years ago. oh and george bush also bums gerry adams so he is a twat. but anyway, ireland is safe because everyone loves us, mainly because we can hold our drink.
User   Fri Nov 17, 2006 3:17 pm GMT
>> seeing as how americans totally bum irish people (like myself) because they went over on little ships a hundred years ago. oh and george bush also bums gerry adams so he is a twat <<

Hmm. Your Irish-English is slightly unintelligible to this American. I'm not sure I understand the word "bum", nor do I understand "twat". Is "bum" a good thing or a bad thing?

Here's what I can get out of your post:
"seeing as how americans totally ??? irish people (like myself) because they went over on little ships a hundred years ago. oh and george bush also ??? gerry adams so he is a ???"

Something about Americans doing something to Irish people, something about ships, and how George Bush is something because he does something to someone named Gerry Adams.

Sorry, I don't quite understand.
Adam   Fri Nov 17, 2006 7:58 pm GMT
"ireland is safe because everyone loves us, "

Do they? Isn't saying that just a display of Celtic arrogance?
Adam   Fri Nov 17, 2006 8:01 pm GMT
"actually the two countries least likely to go to war against each other are probably usa and ireland, seeing as how americans totally bum irish people (like myself)"

I think the mainreason why the US and Ireland will never go to war with each other is because Ireland doesn't even HAVE a military.

The US will invade within the space of 45 minutes, unless you had the British defending you.

But we'll probably just let the Yanks invade you considering the Irish Republicans fought against us during WWI and supported the Nazis in WWII.
Adam   Fri Nov 17, 2006 8:03 pm GMT
"Compared to our hyper friendly and charismatic American attitude that sometimes comes off as childish or obnoxious."

One of the main American attitudes is arrogance. The only people more arrogant than Americans in the world are the French.