Sibling Differences

[sarongsong]

Listening just now to an extended address by Florida governor Jeb Bush, one cannot fail to note the speech pattern differences between him and his presidential brother---night and day. Henry Kissinger's brother once remarked he was confounded by Henry's insistance on retaining his thick foreign accent. How do these things happen?

[ToSeek]

To some extent, it may be what accent you want to have. I know I lost my southern accent not long after I started college (much to my father's disgust). But I'm sure I could have kept it if I'd made the effort.

[Halcyon Dayz]

I know I lost my southern accent not long after I started college...

Without training people almost never completely loose there accents.
If you have a keen ear, and experience, you can hear where, and in which
circumstances, people grew up.
It's a lot more reliable then how people look and dress.

Now, why some adults assimilate the modes of speech that surrounds them
more rapidly and accurately then others eludes me.
Maybe some people just have a knack for it.

[NASA Fan]

I have lived in the US for about 21 years, and I still have my Danish accent. My older brother has no accent left, and now speaks Danish with an American accent.

[Trebuchet]

My late uncle came from the same background (Germans from Russia, rural North Dakota) as Lawrence Welk. They were the same age, give or take a year. Yet my uncle had no accent such as Welk retained all his life. As has been said, I think it's what you want to sound like to a great extent.

I've also noticed that G.W. Bush, when he's giving a campaign speech or trying to be down-to-earth, drops his g's. When he's giving a serious speach, he doesn't. And he likely isn't even aware of this.

[mugaliens]

To some extent, it may be what accent you want to have. I know I lost my southern accent not long after I started college (much to my father's disgust). But I'm sure I could have kept it if I'd made the effort.

A drawling Spock - now that would be a sight to behold!

"Cap'n, I do believe, Suh, that I've found the culprit yor seekin'. It says here on my monituh, that the aliens have ensconced themselves on this planet heeyaw, below. It's high time we cast aside the Prime Directive and blast that planet beyond all recognition!"

[sarongsong]

"Sufferin' succotash!"

To some extent, it may be what accent you want to have...

I think you might be on to something here, ToSeek. My dad did the same thing with his Tennessee [Cumberland City] accent after leaving home for Detroit---he really stood out from his seven brothers when we visited them years later. Also, am I the only one who hears a John Wayne influence in the senior Bush's voice? And Tom Wolfe recently described how Chuck Yeager's easy drawl began to permeate the speech patterns of pilots everywhere.