Southern Accent in Australia!
The power of the "Accent"
A few years back I had the chance to leave everything behind and head "Down Under" with my wife and then fairly newborn son. This was not a planned vacation or long term excursion but merely a chance to experience another culture and have an adventure along the way.
Living in the United States (Georgia to be exact) my entire life I wasn't really sure what to expect. So with my wife, son, and heavy southern accent we endured the long flight to Sydney, Australia.
I have never been one to notice that I possessed an accent. This was quickly pointed out that I did in fact have one and it seemed to be very "southern" as was described by many Aussies. Accents don't tend to stand out unless they are the minority within the group!
What I came to find out was that just as I have asked people to "say" particular things when they had a different accent from mine, that the Australians wanted me to do the same. Honestly I didn't feel like what I was saying was all that slow! I was assured that it was.
Over time I picked up on phrases and developed a blended Southern/Australian accent if that is even possible. We have since moved back to Georgia with our accents in full force again. We are just waiting for our next adventure and for people to ask us - "Can you say that again?"