Do you have a regional accent?

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What is a "generic" North American accent?

I'm from Queens, New York, and I speak with a Queens accent similar to Paul Simon or Woody Allen (without the whine, though LOL).

The NYC accent is pretty much dead in Manhattan south of 96th Street, especially among people younger than about 40 or so. It's alive and well on Lawn Guyland (Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island), though, even more than in Queens proper. It's also dying in the "hipster" sections of Brooklyn. Even on Long Island, it's modified in people under 45 or so. The distinctive Robert DeNiro-type prosody is less pronounced in younger people.

People from Upstate New York, outside of the Buffalo and Rochester areas, speak with a "General American accent." Same is true within the northern Midwest outside the major metropolitan areas--except for Minnesota and Wisconsin and adjacent areas, where the "Fargo" accent predominates. Milwaukee has its own accent.

In Buffalo, Rochester, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and even Minneapolis, there's something called the "Northern Cities Shift." It's a very distinctive accent which is too comprehensive to describe here. It's a itty bitty bit like the New York City accent--though not that much.

New Orleans has its own accent, which sounds somewhat like the NYC accent in some respects.

Throughout most of the West, younger people speak with a "General American accent." Older people speak like cowboys, sometimes. There is a sort of "Valley Girl" accent in the LA area.

Even in places like Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia and DC, a southern accent is discernible, though it's more subtle than places further south.

well the first kind of response i get from people when i say i was born in texas is , "really? you dont sound like you are. wheres your accent?" altho ive just thought it was due to being kinda "flat" that made the accent part not be there in me.

my first language is spanish, i was born and raised in a (mostly) spanish speaking household.
my spanish accent could be called a mix of american/occidental (mother) and norteño (father).
my english accent...i live in SoCal, 100 miles from hollywood, and i typically speak in a monotone standard american accent, what you hear in movies and news. that kind of "accent". although when i yell or get exited i might throw some foreign pronunciations in there.

I randomly start talking in various accents--British English, most commonly; occasionally Southern American, sometimes New York or Boston, often a bit of slang from Northern African-Americans. It just happens. It can get pretty odd sometimes, for example, I might talk about the technical aspects of genetics in a style that includes very casual Southern slang.

As a kid I used to speak formally all the time. It was easier. But I started learning casual speech--the trouble is that I still don't really use the appropriate sort of speech in the right context.

Lately I've been having a problem with cursing. I learned how to use "bad language", but I keep forgetting that it shouldn't be used as though it were just any other word. I might say "f*c*king" in the same tone I might say "quite". I forget connotations.

Maybe I should never have taught myself about cursing in the first place. I didn't realize it was going to be so awkward to keep a special category for words I can only use sometimes with some people in some circumstances. It's not that I don't normally make that mistake with other words, but at least people don't get offended if you use a word like "ubiquitous" during small talk with your cashier. They just look at you funny and figure you're a bit of an odd duck, which of course I am.

Grew up in the mountains of Western NC til the age of 21.
I never picked up the accent.
I'm also mostly monotone.

I have a middle class London accent (probably what some people living outside of Britain call the "British accent"). But sometimes I sound monotone and my family members tell me that I can sound northern. Other times, I will pronounce my vowels very strongly without realising and apparently sound like my Gon-Gon (Chinese grandpa) who has a Hong Kong accent.

I have what could be described as an educated english accent with northern english vowel sounds, just like my Dad.

I'm from West Virginia, lived in Arkansas for five years, have quite a thick Ozark/Appalachian accent and syntax.

Ain't got no tentions of doin nuthin bout it, neither. Nup.

I have to make a conscious effort not to "catch" the Asian accent when I'm around people who have it. That was really, really terrible when I had a Vietnamese boss.

You're right, Lost In Space--should have mentioned that. Also in immediately adjacent areas of NE Jersey--like Bayonne, Jersey City, Newark, etc.

I like you, Callista; you sound like an intriguing person.