Working titele: Finding Home

A couple of days ago I was buying chowder at Quincy market, and I had barely opened my mouth when the guy behind the counter asked if I was German. That sort of thing used to piss me off, because I didn't want to have an accent. Now it just slightly bugs me, especially when people catch it that fast.

Yesterday someone told me that I have an Irish accent, and she was the second person in a fairly short while to say this. I was there in 2002, so it's been a while, but obviously something lingers. A year or two after I came back, an Irish guy I rendomly met told me I sounded "like home", and a Canadian girl told me I spoke "Limerick Canadian" - ie, Canadian with an Irish accent. So, basically, my accent is a mongrel.

The Canadian accent thing is funny, because I can't hear it. People say there is one, and Americans continually make fun of Canadians for their accents, but I never noticed it when I was there, and have no idea what it would sound like. The person I talked to yesterday said I should be happy about the Irish thing, because at least that's better than a Canadian accent. I just smiled, because I have no idea what she meant...