Sounding off

Every day when I get home from work I turn on the Food Network and catch a little cooking action to inspire the creation of dinner. More often than not I end up sitting on the couch, tummy rumbling, wishing I was in their kitchen or that James would get home to make our meal. Today was no exception, however, there's been a line-up change and I'm now welcomed home by Jamie Oliver and his 30 Minute Meals. Fantastic.

Today's meal involved two things I really can't stand: yogurt and pita bread. That's a lie. I do actually like both of those items and eat them consistently. The problem is that I can't stand the way that most Brits say either of those words. They don't sound palatable to my ear (god, that's a bad visual). In London I will, of course, be surrounded by people who say these things in this manner and a whole slew of other pronunciation variations I've never had to contend with daily. And you know what? I'm going to be the one with the accent. I'll be the visitor from away and I'll be the novelty. This will be a new phenomenon for me. 

Anyway, I'm going to live. It's fine. I'll probably end up coming home with some sort of bastardised accent akin to Madonna's. Though, if I'm honest, I'd really like to attract as little attention as possible for my accent. Lucky me that Londonist had a clever little article about pronunciation pitfalls and that many of the comments were, in an uncharacteristic move for the internet, also helpful!

Yup. That's what I'm thinking about today. My funny accent. Not Occupy Wall Street. Not my carbon footprint. Not the soul-crushing reality of my shattered dreams. Just accents.