Oh right.

 

I always imagined him as middle class.

 

A bit like a white Cliff Huxtable.

I have to say in defence of the colonies that they actually make *much* better coffee than their lords and masters. If you want to point a finger at caffeine crims, look no further than the British.

From my, admittedly limited, experience the Swiss don't have much to brag about either.

My experience of American coffee really is of little better than dirty dishwater: thin, pale brown, largely tasteless, and you need 15 cups to feel anything. But YMOV.

Presumably your experience hasn't extended to Nespresso, then.

Having said all that, I much prefer tea to coffee anyway.

Nespresso, the Apple Mac of coffeemaking. How can we charge customers ten times as much for their coffee as it actually costs? Ah, by persuading them that emptying a portafilter into the bin will give them leprosy.

Emptying a filter into the bin causes leprosy? ZOIMG!!!! :O

 

(but for those of us who like stronger coffee than your bog-standard, and are too lazy to go through all that 'proper coffee maker' shit, and/or who like to have different flavours without storing masses of beans, Nespresso is just fine enough. Ask my missus.)

I'll have to practice my white trash talk!

Fine, don't have a poptart, you're only depriving yourself!

The original poptart:

ugh, you can keep that one!

Oh good god, no. I prefer my sleazy strumpets not to sing like Minnie Mouse.

But she has a pretend accent that fits in better over that way than it does here!

I wasn't aware she was pretending, except pretending to be 20 years younger than she really is, that is.

Well as an American I can tell you that we aren't born talking that way. We do pick up an accent depending on the area we live I suppose but IMO I don't think I'd pick up a British accent if I moved over there. Especially at my age. I could be wrong I guess because I've never tested this or even looked it up. I'm just shooting from the hip. Mostly because I hate Madonna.

I have to agree with this - it might not be THE ultimate word in coffee, but I can go from "hm, I think I fancy a coffee" to actually having a coffee in my hand (while sitting on the sofa) in about 2 minutes, with no further cleaning etc to be done.

However, this makes me realise that I seem to be very middle-aged (or more :-O ) in my habits, and not under-30. Ah well, who cares, I like it.

No, you most likely wouldn't pick up an accent. I'd be surprised if you would change your accent at all to be honest!
Most people's brains seem to change a lot before they hit puberty, anything that comes afterwards tends to just wash over..

So she's faking it but in reality she's like a virgin!

Some people's accent change with location and/or depending on who they're around, even when they're very much adults. It's rare it'll go the full way but there will usually be a degree of change. I know I was relatively young at the time (18-21) but whilst at Uni my accent changed slightly between home and uni, and some other people's changed quite drastically.

Don't stick up for her unless you want to claim her as one of your own!

I'm with you on this one - my wife's brother went to uni in London. His Yorkshire accent gradually dwindled and although there's traces there, he's started using the long 'a' sound in words like grass and bath.

 

One of her cousins went over to Tasmania after her post doc and has got a heavy Australian accent now with hints of British coming through. She's been there for around 12 years.

 

Conversely we've got Londoners at work here who've not lost their accents, so the whole thing must come down to who/what you're around, like you say, and the susceptibility of the individual to those outside influences. Also if you're proud of your accent you'll probably be more conscious of trying to preserve it, likewise, if you come from Romford (and have any wits about you) you'll be trying your best to disguise it.

I think you'd be surprised. It took less than a year and a half in Australia for my already confused accent to start changing. Nearly a year after I got back to the UK, people still thought I was an Australian. Which was annoying, as I thought I was sounding more and more British the longer I stayed in Oz.

 

Mind you, I met a couple of ten-pound tourists in Vancouver who had been there for nearly 40 years but who still sounded like they'd just popped over from Liverpool and Essex. The poor sods.