I had a lovely old lady with a heavy Scottish accent in the store this morning and it really brought a smile to my face. She had such a positive and happy outlook on life but it was the accent that made her stories so much more enjoyable.
I don’t think there is another accent that I enjoy hearing more than the Scottish. I think I first fell in love with it after hearing Billy Connolly as a young ‘un for the first time many, many moons ago. I honestly think I must now have a subconscious association of Scottish accent and laughing from his jokes that cause me to automatically smile when I hear that distinctive dialect.
I’ve even spoken to some grumpy old bloke with a heavy Scottish accent who was having a whinge and couldn’t stop myself from cracking a smile just from hearing him say “wee”. And not because of some juvenile tendency to giggle when I hear a “rude” word (well…sometimes yes) but because of the accent it was delivered with.
It reminded me how great it is that we have such varied cultural identities and how much value each adds to a wonderful country like Australia. Despite what the media would like to portray, no other country in the world so readily embraces and welcomes other cultures and their people like ours.
Sure, we love to “take the piss” when it comes to visitors from other countries (Poms, Kiwis, Wogs, Yanks etc) but that’s how we welcome people and it’s part of what makes the Aussie culture so great. We don’t take ourselves or anyone else all that seriously.
With all the hysteria in the media we can be quick to forget that this great country was built by people from many different countries and we have forged our own unique identity as a result of this. Obviously we now have our own accent that people identify with Australia as a whole but this was shaped over time with plenty of inspiration from several other dialects.
But I still enjoy hearing that Scottish accent and always have a giggle when I hear them say “wee”…maybe I AM a little childish after all. One thing I know for certain is that I’m not sure I could ever have a Scottish bar wench…I’d always be getting in trouble from giggling at her accent.
Which accents do you love hearing and why?
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