more linguistics for fun and profit

Actually this has nothing to do with linguistics. Or profit. And fun is in the eye of the beholder. But though I know "linguistics" is not the right term, I've had such a sucky SUCKY morning in work (two incredibly difficult patients in a row, such that I was running 45 minutes behind by the time I got done with the second, followed by there being *no cookies* in the cafeteria, and THEN, when I went to my backup plan of taking myself off to the vending machine, which I never do, there wasn't even any good candy in it, thus proving that the universe is telling me my fat ass doesn't need any chocolate, never mind what my brain says) that it's the best I can come up with.

What I want to talk about is the phenomenon of certain singers singing with their natural speaking accents and others not. I've been meaning to write about this for awhile, but though it's crossed my mind when I'm listening to the iPod and observing it in action, by the time I 'm actually writing anything, I've been distracted by something else. But today is the day, bitches. (Um, by the way, namaste!)

Those of you who were ::ahem:: lucky enough to hear the *full* story of the night my ex-husband told me he was sorry for all his past misdeeds, may remember the lead-up involving the ICU ward secretary whom I could only describe as having "a Rhianna accent," which is to say, Caribbean. The fascinating thing to me about Ms Rhianna (besides her perfect boobs) is that, though she always has some hint of her speaking-voice accent in her singing, sometimes it is much stronger than others. After listening multiple times to the three songs which she vocals on that I have my iPod, I have come to the conclusion that it's just that certain *words* display that accent more than others. Makes perfect sense. As you know, I will probably nevah (ha!) be able to pronounce the words "ever" or "tired" quote unquote correctly without trying very very very hard. I really need to focus and it will never come naturally. I'm sure there are certain sounds like that for someone with a Barbados accent too, and I'm sure that Rihanna sees no reason to try very very very hard to pronounce them differently when she's singing.

On the other hand, let's take Ms Amy Winehouse, who also pops up frequently on the ol' iPod. She of course sings in a very different accent than which one might expect. You would never hear one of her songs and think, oh yeah, that's a British woman. And of course there's a reason for that too. Ms Winehouse is singing in a certain style, informed by the records she listened and sang along to in her youth. I have no idea if it's a struggle for her to pronounce certain sounds differently when she's singing or whether after doing it for so long, it *is* natural. Some of this also must have to do with that phenomenon of British people being able to copy American accents a lot easier than Americans can copy British ones. (Cf. Idris Elba as the primo example amongst many.) I dunno. I just think it's very interesting!

Also, I still want chocolate.

xoxo

Addendum: OMFG, I forgot--my boss has a whole lower desk drawer full of candy, and there were mini Snickers and Almond Joys. Score!