Accent on de Trini

I have officially lost my accent. My beautiful Trini accent is no more. Or so I have been led to believe. It used to be foreigners who could not tell the difference between one English accent and another who would tell me they thought I was American. They were usually Chinese or Korean. That was okay, because I probably would not be able to tell the difference between Chinese and Korean when I heard those languages spoken; and they're completely different languages! But recently American people have been telling me I sound like an American. And this hurts. Not that I don't like the American accent; I just love my Trini tongue more. The richer Trini kids who tried to be cool in school always spoke with slightly American accents. So after spending 2 years in Canada between the ages of 5 and 7, my accent was permanently changed to a more "upper class" Trini accent, though truth be told we were from the gutter. So it may be true that I never had an authentic Trini accent to begin with, but at least I had one. Why does it matter?

Well, in America, having an accent can be an advantage in some social circles, especially educated ones. In Kentucky or Alabama, people will just not understand you and may lynch you. But in more educated social circles such as university campuses or the East and West Coasts, some people enjoy hearing words said in a different accent. This leads them to listen to you more if you speak with an accent because the mundane act of listening to someone speak is spiced up a bit when there's an interesting accent to go with it. Of course this depends on the accent with which you speak. Jamaican accents are almost universally accepted as the accent of a pot smoker who is totally chill; probably not good for board meetings. German accents may not go over well with those of the Jewish persuasion; just a hunch. Indian accents are terrible. Learn to speak properly and suppress the urge to use the accent whenever possible. British accents are the creme de la creme. You can say anything with a British accent and sound sexy and sophisticated. "You are a low down nasty son of a bitch" said with a British accent is often mistaken for a compliment in America. As a matter of fact, the British accent is so damn hot that it can make being a prostitute seem glamorous. Doubt it? I looked at one episode of "The Secret Diary of a Callgirl" (don't tell Muzza) and she was discussing all sorts of whoresome details, but with a British Accent. I never knew whoring could be so chic.

My Trini accent has usually been well-tolerated, and actually the more Trini someone speaks, the more American people seem to like it. Unfortunately, I am losing it. This all began when people started asking me to repeat things. I HATE repeating myself. So I learnt early on during my first weeks here in America that I needed to pronounce my r's differently. That Connecticut was said as if there was a 'd' in there somewhere, and that 'butter' actually had no t's (budder). "Pass the budder" always gets me what I want; "pass the butter", not so much. Alas, my accent has become seemingly permanently changed due to my desire to conform. And this takes away from my specialness, which is not going over well with my ego. Popping my collar has not helped, nor has trying to undo the damage because I can't remember how it is I used to speak in the first damn place! Sigh... maybe I need to go home and immerse myself in Trini-ness for a while...