#so i had an american/canadian accent growing up | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wosowrites · 9 months

Text

Against All Odds (Jessie Fleming x Reader)

warnings: none

prompt: in which reader is a super buff boxer but gets all soft around Jessie, making Jessie’s teammates tease her.

a/n: for @woso-scotland

Growing up with 5 older brothers meant one thing. Chaos. The only time you all got along was when you were watching boxing on the TV. However, when you were 11, the middle child, Jacob, died. You had never heard the house so quiet, it haunted you to this day. He had only been 15.

But, 11 year old you wanted to make your family feel better, she wanted to give her family back the five boxers for children they had before the accident.

That’s why when you told your father you wanted to take up boxing, he didn’t say no. Your dad was your biggest fan. He came to every game, gave you tips until you were too good for them, and supported you through everything including your coming out. You were the only person in the family that had continued boxing, your brothers turning into architects, police officers and family men while you stayed nose deep in the world of boxing.

By the time you were 20, you were incredibly well known in the boxing world, and at the same time, a certain 20 year old was growing a name for herself too. Only in the football industry. However you would only meet Jessie Fleming years later at a gym…

You were ripped, to say the least. But not the kind of ripped that would go noticed to everyone. You wore hoodies and sweatpants and it made your build discreet, but the second you were in a sports bra and shorts it was undeniable you could take anybody in a fight.

Jessie met you at the supermarket in London. It was the middle of COVID and your boxing season has been cut short. You were wearing light blue Columbia sweatpants and a matching crewneck with a black mask. Your sneakers were white, but just barely as you only left your house for essentials.

You had always lived in LA which made the sudden move to London, England shocked to your family. But you knew you needed to get away from the world during this virus thing.

You turned the corner, holding a basket in your hand which was filled with vegetables, milk, fruit and some protein bars. As you did, you felt a cart come crashing into your legs and sending you flying backwards, landing on the ground.

"Oh my god! I’m so sorry," the young woman squealed, quickly leaving her spot behind the cart and rushing to your side. "It’s okay, i’m fine," you laughed, rubbing you knees and standing up. "I’m- Im so sorry I was just lost in my own mind and I didn’t see you," she apologized again. "What are you, Canadian? Enough apologies. I’m okay," you teased. "How did you know?" she asked, helping you place your own groceries back into your basket. "Know what?" you questioned, only realizing now how beautiful the girl in front of you was, or at least what you could see of her was. "That i’m canadian?" she said.

"Oh. I didnt. I was just kidding, but that makes sense now, and the accent," you laughed. "Okay American," she clapped back, rolling her eyes teasingly. "I feel like i’ve seen you somewhere," you said to her, narrowing your eyes. "Uh- no. Probably not. I’m your average girl," she said.

"So am I," you said.

The next week, you saw her again. This time, you had just come from the gym so you had on shorts and a tank top, showing off your features. Jessie was there too. "Hey!" she said to you as you met her in. the dairy alley. "Hi. How are you?" you asked her. "I’m good. And you’re jacked," she said, not so discreetly passing her eyes over your body. Usually, someone staring at you like that would make you self conscious, but the way Jessie did it made you feel good.

"Uh, yeah," you laughed. "Oh my god. When I left here last week I thought i recognized you too. That’s because you… box, right? On TV! A few of my teammates have a crush on you. They hate boxing but they love watching you," she laughed. "Oh really now? Well I don’t really care what they think but I care what you do. Because I recognize you too. Jessie Fleming, olympic athlete, two times world cup attender, and Chelsea player," you said, listing her honours.

"Stalker," she accused. "Yeah," you smiled. "Okay well how about I get to know you through another mechanism than google," you suggested. "You mean a date?" she asked, clearly blushing. "I do,"

But then the whole world went into lockdown again and your dates were more like king calls till midnight and face time dates.

Everything worked out though, because on this day of April 14th 2023, you were dating and more in love than ever.

Jessie’s Canadian teammates found out first. You had travelled to Ottawa with her for the celebration tour of winning the Olympics. Jessie had a video of you screaming your guts out by yourself in your apparement when they won the games. You were yelling, crying, and got a noise complaint the next day. But you didn’t care. All you wanted to do with your life was support your girlfriend, and that’s all she wanted to do with hers.

So, that’s how you found yourself front row in tiny little place TD stadium, sitting on a chair that was a little tight on your quads. Jessie scored a penalty, mimicking the one she did at the Olympics and you yelled for that too. You were probably the only American that loved the Canadian team more than anything.

After the game, the team walked around clapping to the fans and when Jessie got to you she stopped and hugged you over the barrier. "Come down, the security here is light," she said to you. So you climbed over the railing and hopped onto the turf. "Janine!" Jessie called, ushering over a blonde who had been talking to a man who looked like her brother. Janine jogged over and looked at you with wide eyes. You were pretty menacing to people who didn’t know you. "This is… y/n, my girlfriend," Jessie said. "You’re- your what?!! How long have you been together?" Janine asked. "Um, well we’ve been taking it slow a year but we made it official like six months ago," Jessie said. "Six. Months?!" Janine whisper yelled. "Hi, I’m y/n," you said, sticking your hand out.

Janine had clearly forgotten you were there as her her snapped towards you in confusion. "Oh, sorry. Hi, I’m Janine Beckie," she said. "Y/n Y/l/n," you smiled, shaking it. "Like the boxer?" she asked. "Uh, yeah," you laughed.

The introductions were then made in the Canada locker room which was even scarier as what felt like hundreds of pairs of eyes were on you.

"Okay. So I don’t do this… it’s not my thing but I thought after keeping our… relationship… secret for months you guys deserved to know. This is my girlfriend, y/n. And yeah she’s the boxer," Jessie said.

You blushed furiously and smiled at the girls who started asking questions all at once. "How did you meet?"

"She hit me." you said. "Okay woah! You need to add context there," Jessie laughed. "She hit me with her shopping cart," you added.

"Okay and what are your intentions. Because this is Baby Canada right here and she can’t play with a broke heart," Chappy said, summoning her motherly side. "My intentions are to never let her go a day without feeling loved and supported. My intentions are to… watch her play with a smile on my face and make sure she knows that she is the most wonderful person I have ever met. My intentions are to go broke because I buy all of her jerseys," you said, ranting a little bit.

"Okay softie," Stephanie said, winking over at Jessie and giving her a thumbs up. "Sorry to do this y/n but the post game talk is just for players. Gotta kick you out," Bev said, heading towards the door. "Oh right. Okay well it was nice meeting you all," you said. You turned to Jessie and gave her a quick kiss on the lips which she responded by placing her hand against your abs and kissing back before you left the room.

The second you closed the door chatter erupted in the room. "Okay Fleming I see your type now," Vanessa teased.

Teasing and more teasing echoed in the room, Even Bev chipped in.

But eventually calm settled over TD place and Bev started the post game talk.

The Chelsea girls found out about Jessie’s relationship at the start of the season… by accident.

You had called her after practice to let her know that your car had broken down on the side of this little street in the middle of suburb London and you were lost. She answered your call in the changing room.

"Hey Jess, can you come get me? My car broke down and the car repair people came and got it but they couldn’t give me a ride. I’m literally standing in this random street that looks like it’s in the middle of a forest," you groaned down the phone. "What? Are you okay?" she asked. "Yeah. Im fine, just… it’s gonna rain soon Jess. I was coming home from visiting a friend and-"

"Babe, I’ll be there as soon as possible. Send me your location," Jessie said and then hung up.

"Babe?" Magda asked, the whole room silent. "Yeah. I have a girlfriend by the way and her car broke down so I gotta go get her," Jessie said, quickly putting on a matching adidas hoodie and shorts and stuffing her belongings into her gym bag. "Jessie! You’re giving four people a ride home. It’s your carpool day. Which means…" Niahm started saying.

"You are not coming with me." Jessie said sternly.

"Road trip!" Niahm, Lauren, Sam, Zecira and Emily said at once. "Wait. We want to come too, meet the girl," Pernille said, pointing between her and Magda.

"Please no," Jessie groaned. "Wait, who doesn’t want to come," she asked.

No one raised their hand.

"Everyone get in a car and follow mine," the Canadian exhaled.

Turns out you were thirty full minutes away, but that didn’t discourage anyone within the four cars trailing behind Jessie’s honda.

There was music blasting in every vehicle and when rain started pouring, Jessie knew you would be in a bad mood.

"Someone grab my phone and text y/n telling her i’m almost there," Jessie said, fumbling with her device and tossing it to Emily in the backseat.

Jessie saw you the second she turned the curve in the road. You had your hood up, your arms crossed and you looked ready to kill. She knew that you were just pissed off and would never hurt a soul, but to the other girls, you seemed positively menacing.

Jessie jumped out of her car and ran towards you, hugging you tightly. "I’m so sorry, everyone wanted to come and-"

That’s when you saw the four other cars behind your girlfriends, but you didn’t care, you just kept hugging her and let the tears of frustration mix with the raindrops on your face. "It’s okay baby, they were bound to meet me one day," you said, brushing her now wet curls out of her face.

You had excepted everyone to stay in their cars due to the insane amount of rain, but before you knew it, the entire Chelsea Women’s roster was in front of you in the street. Magda and Pernille hugged you gently, giving each other a wide eyed look as they both felt your muscle mass. "Holy shit. You’re the boxer. I watch you on TV like all the time," Guro said, eyes wide.

"Well so do I- I watch you, I mean. Not myself. I watch all of you guys," you laughed.

"Your Guro’s celebrity crush is what she’s saying," Jessie teased. "Well not anymore!" The Norwegian laughed.

You spent dozens of minute talking in the rain, the cold downpour not seeming so bad when you had Jessie’s hand in yours.

Eventually, you got into the front seat and banished Sam to Magda and Pernilles car to make room for you.

You talked to the girls in the car and answered questions that the Canadian team had already asked. But you didn’t mind because those questions just meant you were lucky enough to have Jessie Fleming sitting beside you.

"She gets super focused when she drives," Emily said. "I know, I think it’s because she’s a bad driver," you teased. "I’m not! It’s just the whole reverse thing is confusing. The cars go the opposite way then they do in Canada," she said, keeping her eyes fixed on the road.

You kept on looking at her, your eyes full of love. Jessie knew you were staring, but she just let the blush creep onto her cheeks and gave you a quick smile, returning the lovey dovey eyes.

Zecira snapped a picture from the backseat. The forest was clear through the windshield, and so were the droplets of rain. You could see Jessie’s blushing grin but not who it was directed too. She posted it to her story and closed her phone, enjoying the sound of the rain… and the one of Emily and Niahms arguing.

#woso fic #woso imagine #woso x reader #woso #jessie fleming #chelsea fcw #niahm charles #canwnt

556 notes · View notes

sweaty-confetti · 9 months

Text

i got super ill about the homestuck kids’ accents and wrote a whole thing

john: your stereotypical american accent that one thinks of, californian but diluted basically. says you guys a lot. pronounces wash kind of like warsh. also sometimes uses weirdly formal language, like television instead of TV, refrigerator instead of fridge, even automobile instead of car - dad’s fault. trained himself out of it cause he thought it was embarrassing, but slips up sometimes.

rose: somewhat of a transatlantic accent, including the speech patterns. picked it up from old tv shows and movies because she didn’t want to sound like roxy-mom (who has a thick mixture of a new york/boston/rhode island accent). but growing up with roxy-mom, she has a bit of that accent too - so it’s this weird mixture of 30% stereotypical American, 50% transatlantic, 20% boston accent.

dave: texan accent, courtesy of dirk!bro, who spoke in the most stereotypical drawling texan accent ever. as he got older he started to think it wasn’t cool, so he started masking it, but it’s still there. gets stronger when he expresses emotion or when he forgets to mask it. gratuitous use of the word y’all. doesn’t say it over text but it’s a habit in real life. drops g’s at the end of words, like singin’, fuckin’, etc.

jade: obviously had no outside contact with other people other than with grandpa, so she has a slight british accent - kept up with learning to talk by watching youtube videos, so the accent isn’t very strong. also, even before going god tier, had weird canine vocalizations picked up from bec, like growling, whining, even sometimes howling, etc.

jane: very similar to john’s, but sounds…older? not transatlantic, but similar to late 19th century-early 20th century accents, with song-like intonation and faint r’s. heavy emphasized consonants and slight vowel merging with e and i, such that pen and pin sound virtually the same. all in all, what you’d imagine a canadian from the 1800s talks like.

roxy: the goddamn heaviest stereotypical new york accent ever. a weird super heavy mix of queens and staten island accent she learned entirely for shits and giggles, and also to annoy rose-mom. not very nasally though, unless she’s trying to annoy someone on purpose. a lot of the word like thrown in. doesn’t say it over text, but it’s a habit irl.

dirk: the flattest most unplaceable standard american accent ever, apart from a hint of a texan accent. learned to talk from the internet and robots, but when he was very young used to repeatedly watch videos that dave!bro left for him and programmed around the house. dave!bro had a heavy texan accent, which is where he picked that up from. drops g’s at the end of words, like singin’, fuckin’, etc.

jake: really heavy, stereotypically posh british accent that sounds like what an american thinks a british person sounds like. but he’s 100% genuine about it and there’s no real explanation for why he does it, other than the fact that when he was very young he used to repeatedly watch grandma’s favorite movies - old british movies. now it’s just a habit and he can’t be trained out of it.

441 notes · View notes

indulgentdaydream · 4 months

Note

ive had this thought for ages about jason dating a southern girl/guy/person

Thoughts?

YES ANON OH YES I HAVE

I’m not southern in an american context (which i assume this ask is in) but I am very much southern in a Canadian context (which, in ontario, is pretty similar)

I’m thinking of this as also a from the countryside! type of reader headcanons…

Here are my thoughts…

(This is gn!reader btw)

So for whatever reason, you end up moving to Gotham City. Whether for school or a new life or a new job opening.

Rent is cheap, but you’re thinking you may need to put yourself into self defence classes.

Lots of pros and cons.

Luckily!! One pro is your new boyfriend!!

I really don’t believe Jason would date anyone unless he had known them and been friends with them first (demiromantic!jason truther right here)

ANYWAYS

Jason being a little shocked at the idea that you used to have to drive 30+ minutes to get to the grocery store before you moved to Gotham

Jason getting HEART ATTACKS because you’re way too busy staring up at all the buildings in awe while walking, too busy to be looking for highly possible dangers up ahead

“That’s so huge!! Look at all the windows at that one!”

“Please tell me you don’t do this when I’m not here guiding you.”

Later in your relationship, if you’re not afraid of heights, and he knows no one will see y’all, he takes you to the top of wayne enterprises to see all of gotham

One time during patrol, he catches sight of you walking back from one of your outings.

He’s not stalking… he’s making sure his partner is getting home safe!

He watches you wait for a crosswalk when there isn’t a single car around and finds it adorable.

Like… just cross. It gets you home faster and out of danger.

He finds your differences in growing up fascinating,

He was in alleyways, broken down buildings, only got to properly see the sun once in a blue moon when the clouds were gone and it was just at the right angle.

You grew up always in the sun, able to see the stars at night in such clarity, had the choice of seeing the sunrise AND sunset every day.

Please take Jason to the country on a clear summer night so this boy can look at the stars with you PLEASE

I was going to comment on accents, but Jason has no say against yours

I’ve always imagined him with the THICKEST new jersey accent, distinctly something that people associate with Gotham (or at least the poorer people of gotham)

He’s trained it away, but it comes back when tired, pissed off, distracted, saying something familiar, etc. (it happens to me at the best of times with that canadian accent😞 i catch myself off guard sometimes)

If he comments on your southern accent, you have FULL authority to bring up the one time he woke up at your place talking about a “cuppo CAUWfee” (cup of coffee)

Feel free to add on to this with your own hcs in the reblogs!!

This is kinda messy my bad

❤️- Missy

90 notes · View notes

strangesickness · 2 months

Text

okay this started off as a bit but then it just kept getting longer. so uh. the losers as canadians, I GUESS????

for my non-canadian friends: being canadian is basically just like being american (so either imagine the US if you're american, or imagine some random high school movie) there's just less billboards and if you're french you can buy alcohol while still in high school, but i was thinking about it, if anything would be notably different about the losers if they were canadian.

and then it struck me! they're french immersion students!

derry is now derry, ontario, a rural township 30 minutes from vankleek hill and about an hour from the quebec border. they have one k-8 school and one 9-13 school that sit side by side on a river. the town has a pretty strong francophone foundation, but in recent years english speakers have been moving up from southern ontario, and the town is now pretty evenly split french/english.

but thats not what we're here for!! so: losers!

bill, eddie, stanley, and richie have been in the same class every year since they were four on account of being french immersion students (schools will typically only have enough french immersion students for one or two classes, and with derry being a small town with a growing english population i think even families who spoke french at home would begin putting their children in the english stream)

when they were five stan started crying trying to color the northwest territories with a crayon on a map of canada assignment, bill lent him his color pencils which is how they became friends

richie could not spell saskatchewan to save his life, and fits "scasckatchawan" into the space on the map in horrible squished letters, stan is aghast at this, and richie realizes his opportunity to get a rise out of stan, so he does an even worse job than normal, this is how they become friends

eddie can't spell saskatchewan either but is embarrassed to admit it because he doesn't want to be grouped in with a dumbass like richie, he announces that he thinks the assignment is stupid, and richie immediately dares him to spell it. a friendgroup is born.

eddie, ben, beverly, and mike all have english as a first language, richie and stan learned both simultaneously, and bill has french as a first language

eddie's paternal grandparents immigrated from poland, and since they wanted frank to speak both polish and english, they decided not to bother with french, sonia met frank at an english university and moved up to derry with him when they got married, they speak english at home, and sonia never learned polish. the plan was to have frank teach eddie polish but he died before he could, so sonia puts eddie in french immersion so he'll still be bilingual

ben is from labrador and had to move to derry to live with his aunt. ben had been in french immersion when he was living in labrador, because arlene figured it would give him more opportunities, so he continued with it in derry

beverly's mom was from a french speaking part of quebec, but her dad never learned french. he puts her in french immersion since he can't teach her french himself.

mike speaks english at home but the only nearby catholic school was a french school closer to the quebec border, so he's the most fluent of the four. theres no catholic high school nearby so he ends up going to derry high with the rest of the losers where he takes advanced french

maggie and went are both quebecois, but went is from montreal and grew up speaking english, whereas maggie is from a small town north of quebec city and grew up speaking french. they're both french/english bilingual and speak both at home.

richie has grown fond of speaking in an unholy sort of "franglais" that mostly consists of english words with a godawful quebec accent, french swears, and incorrect verb conjugation he picked up from eddie

maggie is an angry ex-catholic who swears a lot (most french canadian swears are religion based and lowkey sacrilegious in nature) and has a pretty strong quebec accent. richie, does not, except for when he's swearing in french (or stressed or angry), this isn't even a bit on his part, he just emulated the way his mom said the words. his friends point out that he sounds like a very angry lumberjack when he says "tabarnak" and he bases an entire Voice on it

stan's parents both grew up in derry when it was a mainly french speaking community, but wanted to make sure stanley would fit in with his peers who were becoming more and more english, so he learns both from birth

bill's parents both immigrated from france and only speak french, bill is french french and is frequently confused by the differences between quebec french and france french. he starts speaking in a pretty distinctly french canadian way because of richie, and starts swearing like a french canadian (like a sailor), also because of richie, his parents are horrified.

when they're in high school richie won't stop making fun of bill for being french and bill's like??? you're french too??? and richie's like. no. i'm french canadian, you're actually french. eddie points out that richie's thing is worse.

richie uses pretty much exclusively french-canadian swears (of which there are many) because of maggie, his friends will sometimes say these things because he says them so frequently, but none of them have quebec accents, so it sounds horrible and awkward and richie mocks them relentlessly whenever this happens

every time one of the losers turn 18 they drive up to quebec so they can get a drink lol. even for the losers who don't want to drink they drive up to quebec, and make the birthday boy/girl show the bartender their ID and ask for like. an apple juice. it is very funny.

34 notes · View notes

rreskk · 9 months

Text

First drinks

Summary: Back in the Midwest, a broke thief and criminal had found himself drinking with a lonely, abnormal Canadian drifter after an unusual... Interaction.

Pairings: Michael Townley/ Trevor Philips

Word count: 668

“So…” Michael, having no appetite for the pint of beer in front of him, tried to make conversation.

He had been sitting there uncomfortably as he watched this guy – A fellow Canadian – down a few glasses of spirits even though they both just threw up in the public toilets not even 5 minutes up the road. The stranger was fascinating… He had these creepy, brown eyes that had pupils so dysfunctional. Every time Michael dared looked into those eyes, he swore them black pearls would increase in size and it freaked him out.

“Not thirsty?” The man finally spoke after minutes of being dead silent.

“Not really.”

The stranger looked conflicted. His face was unique. A good couple of facial scars, bushy eyebrows, a growing stubble and manic, overgrown hair; an unusual mixture between mohawk and mangled mullet. Whether or not it was styled, it oddly suited him.

“You said you were called Michael?”

“Yeah… Michael Townley.”

“Ah, Townley. Mind if I called you Mikey instead?”

“Sure, I don’t care.” He responded with a quiet voice, letting the background music disturb the tension.

“So, Mikey, what were you doing with that turd back there?” The stranger questioned as he downed another shot.

Michael paused for a moment. What was I doing? He’d think before answering with short lies.

“Drifting.”

“Oh!” He had peaked the interest of the man opposite, “You’re a drifter as well? So am I. I’ve just been causing shit load of mayhem across the border. No place in mind. You?”

Fuck, he cursed to himself. Why did he have to give such an open lie? He was left to ponder only the truth.

“Nah… I’m not a… Drifter. I was just hoping to, uh, you know…”

“Hoping to what?”

“The usual… Steal and shit. I- I just didn’t expect you to shoot him in the head with a… Flare-gun?” He muttered.

“The guy was an ass anyway.”

Michael breathed out in relief. He adjusted the winter jacket around him and felt the Midwest cold get to him, even through the lively bar.

“You wouldn’t be cold if you’d drink up, Townley.”

He stared towards the Canadian and sighed. Maybe he’s right, and with that, he took a couple of sips before realising he hadn’t of asked for a name.

“Oh, hah, what’s your name? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“I was waitin’ for you to ask,” The guy smirked, “I thought you were too shy to ask. I’m Trevor Philips.”

“Trevor… Well, it’s nice to meet you… Under the circumstances.”

“You best believe it, buddy. That’s how good friendships start, ay.” Trevor murmured, his accent getting stronger at the end.

“If you say so.”

“So you steal?” He’d continue raiding the conversation with his big mouth, “What sorta stuff? Gas stations or are you a proper lad who robs banks? I’m gonna be honest, Mikey, ain’t no good robber gets chased by some lanky American scumbag to my cargo plane.”

“Woah, don’t be so fast to judge, bro. He was on my ass big time.” Michael frowned at his bluntness.

“The cunt couldn’t walk faster than 10mp.”

“I played soccer in high-school, I know what fast is.”

“Really?” Trevor snickered, “Oh, I played hockey in high-school but you don’t see me braggin’ about it when I’m in my late 20s, ay?”

“Whatever…” He rolled his eyes and sipped more of his beer.

“You’re a cool guy, Mikey. Remind me to keep in touch after this. I wouldn’t mind rolling around with your stupid circus show on the run.”

Michael raised an eyebrow at Trevor. He can’t be serious, right? His mind was puzzled at this request. He barely earned enough to live at a motel room for a week and this random guy wants to join the game like it’s nothing?

Fuck… He must be batshit insane.

“I guess I could use a partner.” He mumbled, hiding his surprise.

Mr Philips nodded his head and lifted his glass, “You won’t be disappointed, bro. Cheers.”

41 notes · View notes

commiekinkshamer · 12 days

Text

I literally did not know I had any kind of accent indistinguishable from like… general “American” and my linguistics prof said there’s this phenomenon where you grow up watching American tv and think you sound like them.

Boy was that humbling

Also, hearing Canadian accents but especially maritime accents on TV is so ??? Like I can hear those same people talk in real life and not notice it, but something about hearing it on TV is so different and it’s like oh. We really sound like THAT. Ok

3 notes · View notes

holidayvisa · 2 months

Text

23 February 2024 - Woke up in Piha at Elise's house. She had to work today, so we got up together around 6:15 am. We left her house around 7, me on my motorbike headed home and she in her park ranger uniform headed to work. I had a really great sunrise ride from Piha back to Henderson. I'm feeling more comfortable on the motorbike and more confident with the windy roads to and from Piha. They're fun to drive now, instead of scary. When I got to Henderson I was surprised to find that Arnie and Jimmy were both still asleep. Usually, they're both early-risers, but today I was up before them; needless to say, this is VERY rare 😅. I started making pancakes, something that I'd been talking about for a while. I cooked us up some blueberry pancakes, and the three of us, Jimmy, Arnie, and me, sat out on the back porch and started feasting on blueberry pancakes, banana slices, peanut butter, and Canadian maple syrup. Uncle Mitch came over from next door, and I offered him dinner pancakes; he said, no, that he'd just eaten. I got him a plate, and threw a pancake on it. After he finished the pancake, he grabbed a second one! All morning, those three were doing their best American accents talking about American pancakes 🤣 I love when they do their American accents!

After breakfast, Jimmy asked me to join him on some missions. I ALWAYS say yes to Jimmy's missions. I got in his car, and we ran a few errands. We got back home at noon, and he got a call from his work, saying that he had the afternoon off too! We went on some more missions. We bought some plants for Jimmy's vegetable garden at the local Bunnings (New Zealand's Home Depot). I planted all his plants in his vegetable garden and watered them. Hopefully they do okay.

Jimmy's really excited for Maddie to watch the garden grow. Jimmy had a bunch of chicken sausages, and I cooked those up for us. The three of us ate lunch together on the back porch.

Jimmy and I grabbed swimmies and towels and got in Jimmy's car for more missions. Jimmy had a bunch more errands to run, but eventually wanted to end up in south Auckland to go to the Chinese new year festival at the manakau sports bowl. I don't really know what I'm getting into whenever I volunteer to go on missions with Jimmy. He's got a plan, but I know what that plan is maybe 50% of the time 😅. We went to Judge's Bay and Orekei and walked around there. Jimmy showed me a couple places he likes to go to relax and get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

We went to Joshy's house to drop off some petrol. We said hi to Joshy and Essence and the doggos, Nala, Tahi, and Ace. But we didn't stay long.

We drove to Jimmy's work to park the car, and Elise was there waiting when we arrived. The three of us caught a bus from Jimmy's work to the Chinese new year festival. We walked around and took photos of the intricate lanterns.

Jimmy bought a box of 40 donuts that we all snacked on. After spending a good long while there, we headed back to the bus stop. We waited for the bus for close to an hour, but it never came! So we got an Uber back to Jimmy's work. I drove Jimmy's car and Elise drove her car back to my house. Elise had coordinated and arranged to have sole use of the Keddle House, a cabin inside her regional park that people can't rent out. Usually, to reserve the Keddle House, one has to put in for it six months in advance, but because Elise is a park ranger, she was able to snag it for a couple days (there was a last-minute cancellation). In New Zealand, they call a beach house like the Keddle House a "bach." At my flat in Henderson, we grabbed some blankets and some clothes, and then we drove to Anawhata, to the Keddle house. When we got to the Keddle house, it was already very late. But, YOLO, so we walked all the way down to the beach. Immediately upon arriving at the beach, we saw a shooting star. That's three walks to the beach with Elise, and we saw a shooting star each time. We howled at the full moon. We sunk our feet into the soft sand and enjoyed the magic of the night.

We walked back up to the bach and passed out.

I'm grateful for Jimmy. I'm grateful for his friendship, for his positivity, for his trust, and for his kindness. I'm grateful to go on missions with him and to help him with his vegetable garden because I know he's always looking after me too. Getting to help him plant his vegetable garden is an easy way to reciprocate and show my love and gratitude. I'm grateful for Elise. I'm grateful for her organizing and coordinating us staying at the bach!

4 notes · View notes

fuck-customers · 2 years

Note

A weird exchange from work the other night. Had a customer ask me what country I’m from, I’m like “uh, here?”

“No, where were you born?”

“Here?”

“Where’d you grow up?”

“I- Here..? In (hometown)?”

“That’s no true, I can tell you have an accent, so what country were you actually born in?”

Fucking THIS. ONE. Why would you think I’m lying to you about where I was born, I was fucking born and raised HERE. IN THIS FUCKING COUNTRY.

I get this question often, I’m Australian but ig I have a slight accent - probably from being a kid who grew up in front of American TV shows basically 24/7 (just grief/neglect things lol). I know I pronounce some things different because of this, I’ve had people ask me if I’m American, Canadian, British etc - and for some stupid reason they never seem to believe me the first time I tell them I’m a born and raised Aussie. It’s comical the first time, but gets super fucking annoying later down the line.

122 notes · View notes

simptasia · 9 months

Note

You know what i've been thinking about? If Aaron was raised on the island, what would his accent be? Cause you see all those studies of the people of multiple countries coming together in remote places having children and their accents are something unheard of. Totally new accent. So by that would Aaron's accent be something like that? A mash of British/Australian/American/Korean/Iraqi/ whatever is wrong with Ben, like a totally new accent. Of course, I'm just condensing like Sawyer has his YeeHaw accent and Mike has a more New York, Hurley is Mexican and while he has an American accent in English when Speaking Spanish It's probably not that sooooo I'm just so curious on if they never left what the fuck their accent would be like. Plus, if they stayed on the island and Jin Suns kid was born there and in the future more babies would they inherit the same accent? Like say in this scenario Juliet/Sawyer or Kate/Jack or even fucking Charlie/desmond had children would they too inherit this new dialect/Accent thats contained to them only?Like would they create their own unique accent?, and when Aaron gets older he gets with Ji Yeon (which is so funny like the show runners were like yeah at the end they're still watching Bluey, we should totally imply they get together as adults) So if they hypothetically do get together in this idea where they never leave the island would their children help develop this complete unique accent?

funnily enough, you're pretty much describing what caused the australian accent to begin with. they plopped a ton of english and irish people here, added alcohol and a brand new fucked up way to talk was born

yes, studies show that a child's accent comes more from their enviroment more than their parents! hence why i have an adelaide aussie accent rather than my mum's southern english accent. because i grew up here. this also explains why daniel sounds american as opposed to his english mother. thats actually how it works (tho daniel also went to oxford during his teens so he should sound at least a bit more english but be glad we were spared jeremy attempting that)

i like this idea!

okay so, i think in regular world of lost, aaron grows up to have an american accent but with aussie turns of phrase. because i imagine aaron to be raised by claire and kate, in america. and also sawyer, miles, richard and frank are part of his life too. so claire is really outnumbered here. but he refers to her as "mum"

in this au where everybody stays on the island forever? ...probably still american because holy shit theres a lot of americans on this show but you're right, it could be at least a little muddled. i don't think it'd turn into an immediate frankenstein melting pot of aussie, england (north and south), american (yeehaw and otherwise), korean, iraqi and scottish because thats not exactly how accents work, it would take longer. but certain words and phrases would mix in aaron and ji yeon's (and the other hypothetical babies) little brains. and like certain pronunciations would probably be off. like, they'd be somewhat uncanny. also it's probable that these versions of aaron and ji would be so fucking good at accent impressions. oh and in this world, i like to think aaron can speak korean because he'd hear it around him a lot

so i think yeah the next gen in that AU would sound like,,, kinda weird sounding americans? so basically canadians

i've done my own recreational study of linguistics and phonetics in my time but i'd love to hear about this from somebody who knows more about this stuff than me. that'd be neat

also bless you for taking the take to adknowledge that not all the american accents are the same in this show (or in real life). i know i glide past it sometimes but its a fact i'm very aware of too

oh, oh, since you brought this up:

"Hurley is Mexican and while he has an American accent in English when Speaking Spanish It's probably not that sooooo"

i will take the opptunity to once again say that while hurley's voice is whiny american when he's speaking english (in a cute way! no dunk!), when he's speaking spanish his voice is absolutely beautiful

i realise that spanish accent > american accent isn't exactly a hot take but it blows me away because its coming out the same guy

thank you for allowing me to bring that up again. and for your time

#i always end long forms of text in ''thank you for your time'' its a quirk of mine #yeah you heard me #canadian is uncanny valley american. change my mind

5 notes · View notes

scuderlia · 2 months

Note

american person who watched a bunch of canadian tv shows growing up back here again--- yes i definitely did notice the like, way you raised your voice up sometimes without intentionally doing so, noting that was canadian and i actually think you do the O thing as well, maybe without realizing lol. i genuinely have lived on the east coast my entire life so i genuinely don't think i have an accent at all? but also, i probably wouldn't be able to tell either. also i should note your voice was so nice...

so the shows i watched were degrassi, backstage but this was way later on and i probably had no business watching it but it was good so sue me, my babysitter's a vampire, and in that show everyone was way over-pronouncing their o's which is probably where i got it from. because like i said. im not from where you are and i do it and i think its due to that show. like, when im talking fast and say 'out' for example, its 'oout' ? i dont know how to describe it besides the canadian way to pronounce o's. it's why my australian accent is uncanny when i do it because i also watched h2o just add water!

oh you watched the good shows... and i agree, the o-pronunciation in my babysitter's a vampire is crazy (even for canada lmao)

h2o is so good as well! the crush i had on cleo will never be dealt with properly i fear, but that's ok. as a subconscious accent-copier myself, i understand where you're coming from.

#degrassi is a canadian cultural relic #asks #misc asks

0 notes

anglophiletraveler · 8 months

Text

He Loves Me, He loves Me Not

Chapter 2

Anders stopped by Ty and Dawn’s for a quick visit to let them know what happened and to say that he couldn’t stay for supper because he had to be back at the town hall for a concert at 7:00 sharp. Then it was to get home quickly and figure out what to wear for the evening.

************************

Anders wasn’t sure if he should wear a full tuxedo or just a very dressy suit. He decided to go with a dressy suit instead of looking overdressed. He showed up at the boxoffice in a black suit with a white shirt and a grey tie. The box office worker gave Anders his ticket and he turned around to find Charlie standing behind him. She was stunning. Her shoulder length auburn hair was out of the pony tail that she had worn during their meeting. He noticed that it fell into soft flowing curves that perfectly framed her face. Anders couldn’t take his eyes off her sparkling blue eyes and full lips that had a darker lip colour on them. She was wearing a dark navy blue cocktail dress that was off the shoulders, so he was glad that he chose the suit that he was wearing. He was pretty sure that he was staring like a 15 year old boy.

“Anders! I’m so glad that you could make it.”

Anders walked closer to her so they wouldn’t have to talk above the crowd. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. By the way, you look beautiful!” Shit that probably wasn’t proper talk for a client Anders thought.

“Oh this old thing?” Charlie chuckled at her own joke and then took a look at Anders. “You don’t look so bad yourself, eh. We still have a half hour until the concert starts. Would you like to get a drink?” Charlie asked.

“That sounds nice.” They found the bar and Anders was about to pay for both of their drinks when Charlie said, “Oh no, my treat. Besides, I get it for free. One of the perks for working for the orchestra, yeah.”

Anders nodded in appreciation, “Well, that’s nice. Thank you.”

As they walked over to a bench to sit on, Anders noted that several people stopped Charlie to say hello. They were finally able to sit down and finish their drinks. “I’m sorry about that. It’s part of the job. Most of those people who stopped me are donors, so I always have to play nice and smile.”

“Oh no, I totally get it. You are always out front. How long have you worked for the orchestra?” Anders decided that he needed to get to know this beautiful creature.

Charlie took a big drink of her wine. “Three years. They’ve gone by fast. I love working here. It’s been the best job ever.”

“You seem to really enjoy it. Have you played in an orchestra before? Just curious since you play the piano so well.”

“Oh yeah, back home when I was younger I played for an orchestra at college, nothing as big as the APO. I actually went to school for marketing with a music minor, so I never really expected to play for an orchestra. I prefer a more settled lifestyle than what a musician might have.”

Anders cleared his throat and leaned in, “Please don’t take offence by this, but where are you from? Your accent doesn’t quite sound American.” Anders asked.

Charlie threw her head back and laughed a deep sexy laugh that took Anders by surprise, “That’s because I’m not, but you’re close. I’m Canadian, eh!”

“Oh of course! I should’ve known.” Anders stated.

“Not necessarily. I imagine the difference between Canadian and American to you is about what Canadians and Americans hear from New Zealanders and Australians. You have to really know the difference when you hear it. Are you originally from Auckland?”

“Well, we lived on a farm when we were growing up, but we moved here when I was in my teens. I’ve been here ever since.”

“We - your family?” Charlie asked

“Well, my three brothers and I. My da shot through when I was around 12, and my mum left a few years after that.” Anders cleared his throat. How the fuck did we get on this dark topic? Anders thought to himself.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry. That must have been horrible for you and your brothers. I didn’t mean to bring up unhappy memories.” The warning lights blinked in the lobby. “Well, I guess we should take our seats.”

Anders looked up the lights and thought, just in the knick of time! He stood up, smiled and held out his arm to Charlie, “Shall we?”

Charlie put her arm through Anders arm, “We shall!”

*********************

Anders followed the program closely since he really didn’t have an idea about this type of music. It wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. There were a couple of selections that were a bore, but he made it through those by wondering about the beautiful auburn hair that was sitting next to him. He’d really love to ask her out but he didn’t think that was a good idea given that this could be a huge client for the agency. That had never stopped him before, but that was when Braggi was around to get him out of sticky situations. Every once in a while he would look over at her and meet her smile with a smile of his own.

The audience started applauding which woke Anders out of daydreaming and he began to clap along with the others. The house lights came back up and he blinked his eyes a couple of times to adjust to the bright light.

Charlie stood up and looked at him, “Well you made it through and you’re still awake! Congratulations!”

Anders smiled and stood up, “Yes, thank you for the ticket. It was very nice. I enjoyed it.”

Charlie started laughing at him, “Oh you don’t have to lie, I know it’s probably not really your thing.”

They started filing out of their row with everyone else and made their way out into the lobby. Charlie was saying the occasional good-bye to people that she knew. She looked at her watch. “I was wondering Anders, if you would be interested in going out for a drink, if it’s not too late for you.”

Anders made a coy look at his watch, “Well, it’s a tad bit late for me, but I think I can manage to stay up for a drink!”

Charlie laughed with her brilliant eyes, “Oh I’m so glad. How about the Red Lion down at the corner?”

“I’ll see you there!”

Anders had made it to the pub before Charlie so he got a table for the two of them. He decided against ordering his drink without her. He wasn’t sure what to order for Charlie so he decided to wait for her. He didn’t want to guess or presume the wrong thing. But knowing that she’s Canadian, he’s guessing that she’ll go for a pint.

Charlie arrived just a few minutes after Anders did and she got a big smile on her face when she saw Anders. “It’s a miracle! I made it out of the crowd unscathed!” Anders stood up to pull out a chair for her. “Thank you sir. That’s very gentlemanly of you.”

Anders showed off his dimples with his smile, “I try every once in a while. What would you like to drink?”

“I think I’ll have a pint.”

“Sounds good. I’ll be right back.” As soon as Anders turned to walk to the bar, Charlie slyly turned her head to watch him walk away. Anders had his hands in his pockets so she got a nice view for her trouble. She made sure she turned back around before he caught her.

Anders sat down with their beer and they both took a long pull.

Charlie sat her pint down, “Oh that tastes good. I was getting so thirsty.”

“Do you go to every performance?” Anders asked.

“Heavens no. But I do pay attention to the nights when a large amount of donors show up. The box office manager is good at helping me out with that. That way I can put on the schmooze.”

“Ah impressive and very sneaky! I love it!” Anders smiled.

“Well, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do!! If I didn’t do that I’d never have a free night to myself, ya know?” She had this wicked smile, and her blue eyes were sparkling in the light of the pub, and Anders swore he saw a freckle or two. Fucking adorable! Oh this is going to be so hard to stay professional!

Anders cleared his throat, “So um, did you move just for the job?”

“Pretty much. I didn’t really have much keeping me back in Canada anymore. My parents are retired and flit around the world, so they are rarely ever home. My older brother and his husband moved to Seattle when they got married a few years back. My baby brother is still in Vancouver with his wife and family. It was just the perfect opportunity at the right time and I jumped at it.”

“Wow that’s brave,” Anders commented.

“Why, because I’m a single woman foraging out in the wild on my own?” she teased Anders.

“Well, not just that, but it’s a huge move. I mean, it’s not like moving to the next town over, or even the next providence over. I admire your courage.” Anders was looking in her eyes.

She looked at his eyes and threw her head back in the deep, sexy laugh, eyes closed and her mouth open, and her beautiful neck just waiting for someone to nibble on it. “You are so full of shit Anders Johnson!!”

Anders' eyes got wide in shock, “What? Why do you say that?”

She imitated his voice, “ ‘I admire your courage!’ I hope that wasn’t your best line!”

Now Anders was laughing at himself, “Well, actually I wasn’t trying to give you a line, but the way you say it, it does sound pretty corny! Shit! Here I am trying to remain professional and not give you a line, and that’s exactly what I do!”

Charlie took another long drink of her beer. “Hmmm. You were trying to remain professional? Okay I can go along with that. For a while.” She finished her beer and set the glass down rather heavily. She leaned into Anders and gave him a kiss on the lips, “But I won’t wait for long Mr. Johnson. See you later.” And with that she got up and walked out of the pub.

Anders wasn’t quite sure what just happened. But he liked it!

**************

Dawn was thrilled at the news that JPR had signed the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra as a client!

“What a coo for us Anders! We’re moving up in the world! I can’t wait to go with you for the contract signing tomorrow.”

Anders smiled at Dawn’s enthusiasm, “We most certainly have come a long way since dog food commercials Dawnsie. And you will love Charlie.”

“Don’t you mean Ms. Bouchard?”

“No, I mean Charlie, she asked me to call her Charlie the other night at the concert. And may I add, she looked absolutely stunning.”

“Anders no!” Dawn laid down a proclamation.

Anders stopped what he was doing and looked up at her, “No what? What are you talking about?”

“I mean NO! No you are not bedding Ms Bouchard! Anders you can’t blow this for us. Not to mention that it’s totally unprofessional. So please, promise me that you won’t even think about sleeping with her, please!” Dawn had no qualms about laying down the law to Anders and his habit of bedding any willing participant.

“Dawn! I am hurt! How dare you think that I would ever cross the line of professionalism. And may I add that Charlie was the one to kiss me. I’m not even sure if I kissed her back, I was so shocked!” Anders was trying to sound serious about all of Dawn’s points. Although, much to his credit, Anders had actually made an effort to be professional and serious with the woman. At least for a couple of hours!

“See this is exactly what I mean. You’ve already kissed the woman...”

“She kissed me!”

Dawn was totally exasperated by now, and screamed at the ceiling and turned around and went back to her desk, leaving a smiling Anders in her wake.

**********************

Anders actually did keep things professional with Charlie for almost two months which was a personal record for Anders. After the contracts were signed, JPR hit the ground running in getting a film crew to begin work on the new commercial spots for the orchestra. There was going to be some CGI used so things were going to be a bit complicated to achieve the effect of orchestra members disappearing from the orchestra and appearing in the audience. It was not a cheap venture by any means so it required a lot of personal attention by Anders or Dawn, sometimes both, to make sure everything went smoothly, efficiently and as cost-effective as it could possibly be. Through it all Dawn and Charlie were becoming great friends and every once in a while they would gang up on Anders. Charlie and Anders were also becoming great friends.

One early evening after Dawn had gone home to Ty and Andrea, Anders was still around the performance hall discussing the next day’s set up with the director of the commercials. Charlie was on her way out of the building to head home when she saw the discussion going on. Curious, she walked up to the two men talking. Anders took a step back to let her in on the conversation.

“We were just going over the set up for tomorrow. With any luck we will be done filming here by Friday. Then editing can begin on the first commercial,” Anders explained to her.

Charlie looked at some paperwork from a folder, and then looked up, “That’s almost one week early isn’t it?”

The director shook his head, “Yes ma’am, it is. Things have moved very well, so that’s helped us a lot.”

Charlie smiled at the director, “Well done you, Robbie!! And you as well Anders. Oh, Ander, have you got a minute?”

“Sure. I think we’re done here, aren’t we Robbie?”

“I think so. You two have a good night. Ta.” Charlie smiled at him and watched him walk away.

Anders looked at Charlie, “So, what is it that you wanted to discuss?”

Charlie looked at Anders with a raised eyebrow, “Dinner. You do eat dinner don’t you?”

Anders looked down to try to hide his smile, “I’ve been known to partake in a meal once in a while.”

“Good. Because you’re buying. Gino’s two blocks down on the left. See you there!” And with that Charlie left him standing with a smile on his face.

**********************

This time Charlie beat Anders to the restaurant, but she waited for him to go inside. By the greeting that they received when they walked inside, Ms. Bouchard must have been a regular at the establishment.

“Hello Charlie! How are you tonight?” Gino greeted Charlie with open arms.

“Hello Gino! Good to see you! This is my friend Anders. Anders this is Gino, owner of this fine establishment.”

Anders held out his hand, “Nice to meet you. It seems Charlie here is a regular.”

Gino laughed, “Oh she certainly is. Come, let me get you two a table over in the corner. How’s that sound!”

“Perfect Gino, and a pitcher of sangria please,” Charlie asked.

Anders was trying to get a closer look of the place while he pulled out the chair for Charlie and then sat down. “Sangria, huh? I haven’t had that since my college days.”

“Oh I know, but I can’t resist it when I come here. I mean just look at the place! It’s not one of those cheesy chain restaurants. There’s red and white checked table cloths with wine bottle candles on every table. The floors are a little sticky, but the food is fabulous and homemade. You can’t get any better than that!” Charlie gushed over the place. Her face was filled with animation as she talked about the restaurant, and Anders was enamoured by it.

Anders took a look at the menu and wasn’t impressed by the stains on it. After noticing that, he wasn’t sure what might be safe to order. If he hadn’t been with Charlie he probably never would have stopped at the place with sticky floors. It made him wonder what the kitchen was like. “So what’s good here?” he asked Charlie.

“Everything. I can’t resist the lasagna. It’s sooo good. I always get extra to take home for leftovers. The garlic bread is really good too.”

“Well, that sounds good to me! So I take it, you’ve been coming here a long time,” Anders asked.

“Oh yes, I found the place a couple of months after I moved here, and I’ve never once found a fly in my food!” Charlie was teasing Anders because she could tell by the way he looked around that he was leery of the place. Anders gave her a side eye.

*****************************

Charlie was getting a kick out of watching Anders eat his lasagna. “You’re ploughing into that like you haven’t eaten in days.”

Anders had to put his fork down and swallow his food before he could talk, “Oh my gosh this is incredible! This is the best lasagna that I’ve ever had!”

Charlie laughed, “See! I told you!” She took another drink of her sangria. “This pitcher is almost empty. Should we get another one?”

“No, that stuff is stronger than it looks! And I have to get to work bright and early tomorrow or else Dawn will have my head!”

Charlie was laughing that beautiful laugh of hers, “She keeps you on a tight leash doesn’t she! Dawn’s a smart woman, and I hope you appreciate what a gem she is. You better not ever piss her off and lose her,” Charlie warned.

“Oh, don’t worry. I know exactly how valuable she is. Although, I’m not sure that I would ever lose her since she’s married to my brother Ty.”

Charlie was done eating and pushed her plate away, “Oh I didn’t realise that. Were they married before she started working for you?”

“No, no they met at the office. Although it took them a while to get their shit together and get married. They have the sweetest little girl named Andrea. She is definitely Dawn’s mini me with blonde hair and these big, beautiful blue eyes!” Anders was playing the part of a gushing uncle perfectly, although it wasn’t an act.

Charlie smiled at Anders while he talked about her, “Wow, she sure has Uncle Anders wrapped around her little finger! How old is she?”

“Oh my goodness, I could just eat her up. She’s a year old. I can’t wait until she’s a little older so I can take her to lunch and go shopping with her. I’m going to take her to the best restaurants so she knows just what to order and how to have it cooked.” Anders dimples couldn’t get any deeper than they were now talking about his niece.

“Oh my look at you! You’ve got plans for her already. I’m surprised that you don’t have plans to make her Prime Minister of New Zealand!” Charlie couldn’t get enough of watching Anders talk about his niece. It made her wonder if he would ever want kids of his own.

“Hmmm. Actually, that’s not a bad idea. You know watching the kids play in the youth orchestra program gave me some ideas for her. Andrea would look adorable playing a violin!”

“So is this little Andrea named after her uncle?” Charlie asked.

Anders pushed his plate away deciding that he’d had enough, “Well, I think she is. If you ask my brother he says no. But if you ask Dawn she just grins and won’t answer the question, which makes me think she is.” Anders had his devilish smirk on now.

“Well then, she may very well be. I’d like to meet her sometime, and your brother.” Charlie was starting to hint around, wanting to know more about this PR manager. She was definitely interested in getting to know him better, but she didn’t want to move too fast yet.

The wait staff came and cleared their dishes. They both declined dessert.

“Well, that could probably be arranged sometime. Ty and Dawn are both pretty good cooks. They have a cute house just out of the city with a nice garden for Andrea to play in.”

“So do your other brothers live in the area?” Charlie thought it might be time to poke the bear.

“Uh yeah they do. So, do you have any nieces or nephews toddling around the tundra of Canada?”

Shoot, he didn’t bite. “Yes, I do. My baby brother and his wife have a two year old and a four year old, with one on the way. I don’t know if my older brother and his husband have children in their future. Although, I think that they would both make wonderful dads.” Anders caught a scar on Charlie’s right cheek when she brushed her hair back out of her eyes. He almost asked her about it but decided against it.

The waiter brought their leftovers back to them all bagged up and Anders paid the bill. He was wondering if this would be a good time to ask her out for a real date. He had definitely enjoyed their meal together tonight, and drinks after the concert that night. What the hell.

The two were walking back to their cars. The night air had gotten a little crisp. What stars that were able to be seen in the city were bright and twinkling. Anders walked Charlie over to her car. He was actually nervous and didn’t know why. It’s not like they didn’t know each other or spent any time together.

“So, um, I was wondering if you would like to go out on a more formal date with me,” Anders was cringing inside. Where was Braggi when he needed him!

Charlie smiled at Anders, “By formal, I hope that doesn’t mean I have to wear a formal gown, and you’re in a tux..”

“No! No, I just meant a date where I pick you up, take you out somewhere, maybe hold hands?” Anders was hoping this sounded as smooth as he intended it to.

Charlie was staring him in the eyes now and he was doing his best to not shiver from goosebumps. “I like holding hands. My only condition is that I can wear jeans and sneakers.”

Anders chuckled and looked down at his shoes, and then slowly grasped her hand, “That sounds perfect to me. How does Saturday sound?”

“I can do Saturday. Text me what time, and I’ll text you my address. Deal?”

Anders gently kissed her hand, “Deal.”

***************************

The wheels in Anders’ mind were going a mile a minute on his way home from the restaurant. He had a nice time. Wonderful food, good wine, and beautiful and smart company across the table from him. Those eyes and that hair! If he didn’t know better, he would swear that Charlie was the goddess of love. She’s so funny and bold, and sweet and “Fuck!!” Anders yelled inside the car.

“What am I doing? What am I thinking here?? I can’t fall for her. That’s not me, that’s not what I do! Well, I’m just going to have to call off the date Saturday night, that’s all there is to it! I don’t date. Everyone knows that, everyone says that. Anders Johnson doesn’t date!”

Wait… be smart about this Anders. If you break off the date now, it might really make things awkward while working with her. What should I do? She said jeans and sneakers. I could take her somewhere stupid, really lame. Some place that will really turn her off. But where? Maybe Ty would know of someplace lame. I’m sure he does. I’ll have to talk to him tomorrow. I only have one day to plan this.

….It’s a shame, because, I really do like her.

#six sentence sunday #work in progress #the almighty johnsons #dean o'gorman #anders johnson #works in progress

0 notes

macaroni-rascal · 1 year

Note

So these may be stupid questions but, in Canada when you study French in school and you're not in a French-speaking area, is it the standard European French, or is it the Quebecois dialect? What about in Quebec? Do they have to use standard French in government, for example? Is it weird to speak European French to a Quebecois person in an informal setting? How common is it for someone in an Anglo area to take French in school? Is it mandatory? Thanks so much!

Not stupid questions at all!

I can only speak from my experience, and my experience speaking with others who also learned French while growing up in Canada, so take what I say with a grain of subject salt.

We definitely do not learn France French, it is it's own beast, the accent, word choice, etc, is all quite different. Comparable to North American English and England English, where people (generally) have no problem communicating, but there are notable differences.

For me, I had a bunch of different teachers, I had Acadian teachers, Quebecois teachers, French as their second language which was learned in school teachers, so I learned my French from lots of different places. It's not necessarily a Quebecois dialect that I learned so much as the "Canadian" one.

Small example: in Canada when referring to high school we say école sécondaire in France they say lycée.

Quebec is not a bilingual province, all things government, all official signs, etc is all only in French in Quebec, as a rule. They speak their language, there isn't really a Standard French as it were, it's just French.

I wouldn't say it's weird to speak European French, you may get questions or looks for different turns of phrases, and the accent is a dead give away, but it's not like it's rude or unwelcome. I would also say the same goes to other way, when I lived in France I got asked "are you Canadian?" too many times to count, haha! I got roasted once for calling a car "un char" which is slang for car in Quebec, but literally translates to chariot. I also remember in a mandatory translation class while I was in French, the French teacher said that students from Canada always translated things in the most polite and formal way, which he thought was interesting.

Not all schools in Canada offer French immersion, and it's not at all mandatory, but the ones that do have levels to it. You can be in core French, which is just the basics and will help you to know how to order food in a restaurant and very very basic conversations, and then there is late immersion, which is when students who took core French up to a point are then put into immersion, and then there is what I did, which was half my school day from kindergarten to grade 12 was done completely in French.

French in Canada is like any language anywhere, it's regional and each region has it's own ways of speaking/pronouncing things. The French in La Beauce sounds different the French in Montreal which sounds different than the French in Tatamagouche which sounds different than the French in Penetanguishene, which sounds different than the French in Brosseau, etc. etc. There are lots of French communities all over Canada in every province, so it's all a little different and all beautiful.

Thanks for this deep dive, it ended up being way longer than I thought!

#happy reading #again!#this is just my experience #others may have different ones #or disagree with me #etc.#so keep that salt close

0 notes

bastart13 · 3 years

Photo

I’ve had a lot of fun recently coming with with female mercenary characters for TF2. I really liked where the concept art was going with making them all individual characters rather than simply “if the characters were women”

The design style is fantastic for distinct simplicity so I tried limiting myself to basic colours and shapes to make these

and I’m pretty confident they pass the silhouette test!

Character names/bios under the cut!

Heavy

Name: Marie Jarrett

Age: Mid 30s-40s

Height: 6’5

Nationality: American (Hawai’i)

Bio: Raised in Hawai’i, growing up she developed more and more drastic measures to fend off the tourists swarming her home. Land mines, electric gates, guard dogs, none could stop them for long until she picked up her trusty minigun to send her message. But even still, she hears the click of cameras in the night.

Eventually, she left her home to explore the world. Enthralled with the image of seeing different wonders across different countries, she’s always disappointed. She’s travelled every continent and still finds nothing that lives up to her expectations. No place, no person. She’s outgoing and open to new experiences, only she usually hates them.

Mercenary life is a great opportunity to earn money, see sights, meet new people and kill them after they don’t meet your expectations. She hates New Mexico and takes every opportunity to destroy the buildings and insult her employer’s tastes. She finds some people she tolerates within the mercenaries as she hasn’t yet visited where they live. However much she hides it, she has a deep, instinctual fear of the Engineer.

Soldier

Name: Linda Smith

Age: Early 40s

Height: 5’10

Nationality: Canadian

Bio: Canada’s perfect woman… or so she claims. The star of war propaganda posters and clearly decided for the role because of her great tactical assets. She’s there to motivate people into the fight. To spread the glory of Canada and inspire her allies. She believes she has higher orders than anyone else she’s working for (ignoring the fact she hasn’t heard from them for a good few years) and is determined to follow them to the letter. She may have lost the letter but she remembers it good enough.

She represents the ideals of Canada: polite, friendly, apologetic, and pacifistic. None of these are contradicted by how she throws around rockets. That’s not what Canada means. She’s superior to everyone around her and graciously educates them on how to improve through example. She loves her French and British allies and will kindly tell the Americans how to be better.

She’s motivating and actually fairly competent, it’s just that competency might be misdirected. She’s damn good at rocket jumping, shooting her shotgun, and supporting her team, it’s just that you really need to get it in her head when she’s meant to be doing it.

Scout

Name: Patricia “Pat” Herald

Age: 50s-60s

Height: 5’4

Nationality: English

Bio: In her years, Patricia has learnt fear… and she’s learnt to laugh in its face. She wakes up at the crack of dawn, ready to leave at the drop of a hat, boots polished and laced the night before. Her years have taught her that with a gun and Jeremy by her side, she can survive!

The postal route of Appleby-in-Westmorland.

She’s been chased by geese, dogs, cows, elderly ladies, and when her postal route had her delivering post during the war, she developed a taste for blood. Nothing will stop her from delivering her post on time. Every day before 6am, every postbox will have their letters and parcels. One chucked across barbed wire, another house jumped over a river, another house miles into the country with dogs on her heels, she WILL get there and she’ll get there FAST.

But after a couple of decades, she needs a change of scenery, and the Gravels wars are just the holiday she’s needed. With her trusty black and white cat by her side (ignoring the yowling and scratches) she reckons it’ll be great time to enjoy herself.

Quotes: “Oh, hello, Human Jeremy.”

“Bloody fucking Ethel! Building her house out in the country… surrounded by bloody hills and rivers!”

Pyro

Name: Nikephoros Papadopoulos

Age: Late 20s

Height: 5’11

Nationality: Greek

Bio: Survival of the fittest. Nature gives and nature taketh away. If you’re not prepared for that, well, Pyro is more than happy to teach you the lesson. They embody the old values of the Greek gods: f*ck or fire. She indulges her every whim and unfortunately for the people around her it often involves arson.

One year for the Olympic games, she was given the noble title of torchbearer. On complete coincidence, the Olympics shifted to primarily water sports. Underwater sprints became the hot new trend!

She’s merry and chatty, never missing the opportunity to talk to other people about herself and her world view. She can’t wait to spread her gospel to help other people improve themselves (though she always gets a laugh out of those who go out screaming in the flames). She can’t help it if she has a sadistic side.

Engineer

Name: Mikawo Kojima

Age: Early 20s

Height: 5’0

Nationality: Japanese

Bio: Japan’s early-rising industrial revolutions in technology are best exemplified in Mikawo, a young upstart determined to rise to the top, learning everything she can and building the best of the best. Unfortunately, she’s never been the most creative but when you happen upon other people’s blueprints and happen to construct them first, what does it matter who came up with the “concept”?

At first, she appears to be every bit the quiet and demure young woman people expect, only when silk hides steel, that steel is a massive automatic sentry gun. She’s motivated by a distinct contempt for the people who get in her way. Especially those who try to be better than her. She enjoys the flexibility of English, especially the cusses, and she has no reservations about swearing up a storm, even if she still refuses to give a straight rejection, preferring instead to give a small “I’ll think about it.”

Quotes: “This GUN is fair use on your head!”

Demo

Name: Qingzhao Zeng

Age: Late 40s

Height: 5’3

Nationality: Chinese

Bio: The Zeng family has a long-standing family trade in demolitions and explosives, traced down the line all the way to the Song dynasty. Luckily, Qingzhao has sisters so, you know, it’s not all that important. She doesn’t even have to stop smoking and drinking. She hasn’t blown herself up (that much) so clearly, it’s working. Precision is for other people to worry about. She’s apathetic to a T, having seen everything. Measurements come from the heart. A pinch of gunpowder there, a splash of paint there.

Her family has a deep-seated rivalry with the DeGroots. Long ago in ancient China, a Zeng matriarch woke up in a cold sweat, a message from the stars to let them know of their Scottish rivals. Due to being a continent away from each other, the families have actually met each other only a handful of times, but the hatred needs to be kept up because, what if?

Turns out, Qingzhao has met Tavish even before finding employment under the Mann brothers. One drunken night, the two of them had a short, whirlwind friendship, sharing secrets and declaring each other to be their best friends. Luckily for them, they both forgot the night, merrily hating each other as tradition dictates. However, headaches and flashes of this terrible night haunt them both. Could they really get over centuries of hate and become friends?

Absolutely not.

Sniper

Name: Ansa Aaltonen

Age: 27

Height: 6’2

Nationality: Finnish

Bio: Snow. Sugar. Cocaine. Her life is run by many white powders. Ansa is a professional sniper, with a sharp eye and a steady hand… when she isn’t also high as a kite, lost in the snowy wilderness of Finland and screeching to the sky. When you’re up in the dark and cold, you need something to give you a little pep in your step. It just so happens Ansa liked having a bit more pep than most.

She’s there for a THRILL. There’s nothing better to get your heart pumping at 200 beats per second than a good headshot, embracing the chill, and a hit of sugar. She no longer feels the cold or heat or even pain, shrugging it off until she collapses. It just makes her feel alive. She’s efficient, fast, and determined to get her kicks.

She has an unusual taste, living off fermented fish and tree bark. To most people around the Finnish wilderness, she’s nothing more than an urban legend, but she’s very real and she’s looking for some excitement, happily found in employment in the Gravel wars.

Spy

Name: Yvonne Pleshette [Real name N/A]

Age: 30s

Height: 5’8

Nationality: American (California)

Bio: The silver screen calls to his woman and she’s happy to answer. She trains herself to act in every possible role she can, having a wide range of accents, body languages, and backstories. To truly test herself, she gave up her identity long ago. Lately she’s been going by the name “Yvonne.”

The world of Hollywood is cutthroat and full of backstabbers so she learnt to cut throats and stab backs. While some people tell her the terms are metaphorical, nothing else has given her more roles. Living the mercenary life is simply gathering research for her roles (and earning some much-needed money in the process).

She presents herself as a classic film star, despite being a minor name at best, mostly because she’s always changing it. She has high standards but a cheapskate personality. She’s a bit of a bitch, happily criticising others, especially if they’re working with her. What can she say? She’s a diva.

[Slutshames other spy]

Quotes: “Ugh, actors these days, they know nothing about getting into character. They still have names.”

“’AHHHHH—’ Wait, no. Once more from the top. Scream in agony.”

Medic

Name: Susan Monks

Age: 30-40s

Height: 5’7

Nationality: American (New Jersey)

Bio: The American Healthcare system. Is there a more glorious sight? The exploitation of pain. The money. The debt. The fear it strikes into the entire population it’s designed to help. To Susan, there’s nothing better. She squeezes every last drop from the people she helps, working on a purely transactional lifestyle. She’ll never help someone unless she has all of their insurance information and the payment secure in her bank, and god forbid she ever accept help. It’s not like she can afford her own prices.

She’s very self-aware of her own corruption and proud of it, though she refuses to be exploited in the same way, suspicious of anything “free” but also doing her best not to pay for anything.

That said, she doesn’t much care for how good a job she does. In her eyes, asking for surgery is one thing. Asking for successful surgery is another. She has a variety of skills in both cosmetic and military medicine. She just wishes the license board would stop sending her “malpractice” letters. Ugh, stick to your own business. “Disappearing” all their messengers is becoming a pain.

Quotes: “Why get someone else to do something for you when you can scrounge a way to do it yourself?”

#team fortress 2 #team fortress #tf2 #fem tf2 #tf2 heavy #tf2 spy #tf2 scout #tf2 medic #tf2 sniper #tf2 engineer #tf2 soldier #tf2 demoman #tf2 pyro #character design #art #i'm very happy with how these turned out

2K notes · View notes

writingwithcolor · 3 years

Text

Being an Agender, 1st-Gen Indian-American

I’m a first-generation immigrant, with both my parents being Indian immigrants. My mom immigrated to Canada before she came to America (when she was in her late twenties), and is a Canadian citizen. She was born and raised in Ahmedabad, a city in Gujarat. My dad moved to India when he was in his early twenties. He moved from Ahmedabad to Mumbai in his fifth standard, and moved from a Gujarati-medium school to an English-medium one.

My dad is more fluent in English than my mom, though they both are fluent and speak mostly without an accent. I speak Gujarati more-or-less fluently, since that’s what we spoke at home, but I can barely even write my name. I’m Hindu, as is my family, and a strict vegetarian. I’m agender, but I use she/her and they/them pronouns.

Beauty Standards

One of the biggest issues in the Indian-American community is the issue of body hair. I’m AFAB, so I was expected to have smooth, hairless legs and arms. The reality was rather different. Since the age of ten, I had more body hair than the boys in my class. I was mocked and called by the name of a TV animal character, whose name was a mispronunciation of my own. No one ever did anything about it. I was eight. My mother, though she meant well, pushed me into waxing and threading and other forms of hair removal since the day I turned eleven. Even now, as a fully-grown adult with my own apartment and my own life, I can’t bring myself to wear shorts or capris without having spent hours making sure my legs are smooth. Body hair is a huge issue that needs to be addressed more, and not just as a few wisps of blonde hair in the armpit region.

Food

It’s complicated. Growing up, we had thaalis (with roti, rice, sweet dal, and shaak [which is a mix of vegetables and spices]) for dinner almost every night. When we didn’t, it was supplemented with foods like pasta, veggie burgers, and khichdi. We made different types of khichdi each time, based off of different familial recipes that were all named after the family member who introduced them. My mom had to make milder food for my sister, and while my sister loves spicy foods now, I’m still not a big fan. A side effect of growing up in a non-white, vegetarian family is that no one in my family has any idea of what white non-vegetarians eat. Like, at all. It’s kind of funny, to be honest.

Holidays/Religion

My mom is a Vaishnav, and my dad is a Brahmin, so the way they both worship is very different. My dad’s family places a huge emphasis on chanting and prayer, as well as meditation. They mostly pray to capital-G G-d, as the metaphysical embodiment of Grace. My mom’s family, however, places emphasis on– I don’t want to say “idol worship" because of the negative connotations that has– but they worship to murtis, statues that represent our gods. My mom’s favored god to pray to is Krishna, and we have murtis in our home that she performs sevato every day.

We celebrate Janmashtmi, Holi, Diwali, Ganesha Puja, Lakshmi Puja– too many to count, really. We don’t always go all-out, especially on most of the smaller celebrations, but we do try and attend the temple lectures on those days, or host our own. We also celebrate Christmas and Easter secularly. I didn’t even know Christmas was a Christian holiday until I was in elementary school, and Easter until I was in high school.

Micro-Aggressions

Whooo, boy. Where do I start?

When my sister was in first grade, she had a friend. I’ll call her Mary. Mary, upon learning that my sister was not, in fact, Christian, brought an entire Bible to school and forced my sister to read it during recess, saying that otherwise, she wouldn’t be her friend anymore. Mary kept telling my sister that she would go to hell if she didn’t repent, and that our entire family was a group of “ugly sinners.” When my sister came to me for advice, I told her that Mary wasn’t her friend, that Mary wasn’t being nice, and that my sister wasn’t going to go to hell, and that we don’t even believe in hell. When my sister finally stood up to Mary and told her that she wasn’t going to listen to her anymore, Mary got angry and dumped a mini-carton of chocolate milk on her and told her that “now she looks like what she is– a dirty [the Roma slur term].” Not only was that inaccurate, it was extremely racist, and Mary was only reprimanded for the milk-spilling, not the racist remark that came with it.

On top of that, since I have long hair, I’m always getting asked if so-and-so can touch it, or what I do to get it so long, or why I allow myself to be “shaped by such backwards ideals of women.” My name is never pronounced correctly, and I’ve been asked to give people my “American name” to be called by instead of my actual name. I’ve been called a terrorist, asked why I wasn’t wearing a hijab (by white people btw), and mocked for my food. I’ve been told that I wasn’t “really Indian” because I didn’t have a dot on my forehead. I’ve been told I wasn’t “really Hindu” because I had milk on my plate, by a white boy whose mom was a leader of a local choir.

I grew up in a town where only 4-5% of the population was South Asian, and there were a total of five South Asians in my grade level. The school administration consistently and intentionally placed us in different classes, and I never made a friend that was South Asian until 7th grade. When I came to the school, I was placed in ESOL without even being tested, while also being in the Advanced Readers class. The school didn’t even care to look at my school records before placing me into ESOL based on the color of my skin.

Things I’d Like to See Less/More Of

I’d like to see less of the “nerd” stereotype, of the “weak, nonathletic” stereotype. I’d like to see less of the “prude” stereotype, of the “I hate my culture/feel I don’t belong” stereotype. I’d like to see less of the “rebellion” stereotype, of the “my parents are so strict and I hate them” stereotype. I never want to see the “unwanted arranged marriage” trope. Ever.

I want to see bulky, tall Indian characters. I’d like to see Indian characters confident in their sexuality, whether that’s not having sex (for LEGITIMATE reasons like risk of STDs, general awkwardness before and after The Deed, and wanting to wait, not “oh my parents said so and also I’m sheltered and innocent”), or having a new sexual partner every night.

I want Indian characters (especially children/teens!!!) proud of their culture and their heritage and their religion, whether that’s Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, or anything else. I want to see supportive Indian parents, I want to see more than chiding Indian grandmothers and strict Indian fathers. I want to see healthy arranged marriages, or healthy mixed-marriages. I want to see mixed Indian-POC couples, I want to see queer Indian couples.

I want to see body hair on female-presenting characters, I want to see more of India that isn’t “bustling market with the scent of spices in the air” and “poor slums rampant with disease” and “Taj Mahal”. I want to see casual mentions of prayer and Hinduism and Indian culture (a short “My mom’s at the temple, she can’t come pick us up” or a “what is it? i’m in the middle of a holi fight! eep! ugh, gulaab in my mouth” over a phone call, or a “she won’t answer until 12– she’s in her Bharatnatyam class/Gurukul class/doing seva/at the temple” would suffice). I want to see more Indian languages represented than just Hindi. There’s Tamil, Gujarati, Marathi, Nepali, and Kashmiri, just off the top of my head. The language your character speaks depends on the place they come from in India, and they might not even speak Hindi! (I don’t!)

I hate that Indian culture is reduced to “oppressive, strict, and prudish” when it's so much more than that. I hate that Indians are stereotyped to the point where it is a norm, and the companies reinforcing these stereotypes don’t take responsibility for their actions and don’t change. I hate the appropriation of Indian culture (like yoga, pronounced “yogh”, not “yo-gaaa” fyi, the Om symbol, meditation, and Shri Ganapathidada) and how normalized it is in Western society.

This ended up a lot longer than I had expected, but I hope it helps! Good luck with your writing :)