I can't remember where I saw it but someone from the US wrote that he acquired a British accent while living in the UK. So, I asked in a post, "Is that pretentious or affected? Is it phony?" I was being silly however, repeating what I read just for fun and then asking the question - just because it doesn't matter at all, does it. Like I always say, Madonna and Gwyneth and Wallace Simpson adopted a British-type accent as well... So, everyone is supposed to laugh now, instead of insisting that Mrs. Simpson really did speak that way.
Anyway - I lived in Europe for a very short time and when I returned, I adopted a sort of accent - a sing-song manner of speaking - sort of like the Missionaries of Charity sound - as if English wasn't their first language. I used it whenever I spoke about something serious - especially with strangers, or whenever I did the readings at Mass. It was a way to show everyone how 'continental' and far traveled I had become - and if they were religious, just how contemplative I was. I met people in Italy like that - and I also knew a rather contemplative priest, and a few nuns who did exactly the same thing. In my case, it was pretentious and affected, but it wasn't phony. I only became phony when I started trying to be real.
Anyway - and this is true too - I sometimes pray the rosary with a British accent - only when I'm driving and while praying along with a tape, after many, many decades of course. I think I sound quite a bit like those who've adopted a British accent.
No, I think it's fine to do that. After all, we usually speak a bit differently, or use a different tone in our responses at Mass. Although sometimes I will use a Southern - rather a Hillbilly accent then. I try not to though - I just usually catch myself doing it. I think it has to do with my newly discovered ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) - or is it Gilles de la Tourette syndrome? (I can speak a little French too.)
I'm not sure what this is about.
