Today's post is not so much about an inability to understand each other, but focuses more on the English accent. Or more accurately, the American obsession with the English accent. The following is a true story.
Last month, Chris and I went on a camping trip (the one where the giant bug attacked me) up in the beautiful Rocky Mountains, and stopped off to enjoy a small town 4th of July parade. Being from a similarly sized town, I felt right at home and loved every minute of the parade and our time in the town.
When we first parked up, we grabbed our camp chairs out of the boot (aka: trunk!) and found a nice sunny spot on the curb quite close to where we parked (LOVE that about small towns!). We were about 30 minutes early for the parade, so Chris set off in search of bathrooms (toilets!) at the local visitor's center, while I held down the fort.
While he was gone, a very friendly (and chatty, it turns out!) lady asked if the spot next to me was taken. I slid my chair over a bit to make room for her and told her it was all hers. I was feeling especially talkative myself, so I struck up conversation with her, learning (among so much else!) that her and her husband had recently retired outside of this small town. We had been chatting for close to 20 minutes, nonstop I might add, when Chris returned. I introduced them and they exchanged a total of maybe 20 words before the parade started.
As the parade was winding down, our new friend leaned over and told us that we were welcome to stay with her and her husband anytime we wanted to come up to the mountains, even if we had other plans while we were there, and proceeded to give us her phone number. She followed that by saying (I'm paraphrasing here) that we were welcome because of Chris' handsome accent.
Um, hello?! I just learned everything there was to learn about you (I won't share all the details here, you will just have to trust me that I know this woman better than some of my work colleagues!), and apparently that wasn't good enough for her because I have a boring American accent (which means no accent at all).
Chris often downplays the love for his accent here in the states, but I am telling you, he could sweet talk a black bear if we ever encountered one on our camping adventures. Not. Fair.
Happy Monday!
