A Strange Thought: Accents

It occurs to me, that I tend to be really bad at considering regional accents when it comes to characters.

I mean, some are obvious. Like Guy Gardner. The fact that he's from Baltimore just...well...it's automatic. If I stop to think about it, I can "hear" it. (I'm not schizophrenic, damn it, I've just watched way too many episodes of Homicide...which was filmed in Philadelphia anyway...but in my head, when I imagine him talk, his speech pattern is definitely Baltimorian.)

Foreign characters are pretty easy. Bea is Brazillian, Maura Rayner is Irish, Tora Scandinavian. I'd imagine Magneto still has a trace of an accent...

But then there are some that aren't so obvious. Like...if Bart Allen is from Alabama, does he have a southern accent? A speedster with a southern accent just seems like...well a bit of an ill fit to me. I'm trying to imagine talking really fast with a southern accent. Is that possible?

Of course, he *did* grow up in the future...what kind of accents do they have in the future?

For that matter does Sand speak with that weird cadence/intonation that they tend to use in old movies? Or is that stylized? I'd imagine Alan, Jay and Ted's speech patterns changed over time, but he was in a tank for sixty years...

I don't think it was ever stated, but most folk seem to take Gotham (and Bludhaven) to be in New Jersey. Which is really weird to think about. Bruce and Tim probably have that upper class, Princeton-esque speech pattern. Alan too, I'd reckon. Not sure about Dick, as he did grow up in the circus first. And does Jason then talk like a New Jersey kid on TV?

I mean I figure Dick's had a lot of time with Bruce to smooth out a lot of any really birthplace revealing accent, but Jason didn't have nearly as much time, and seemed more likely to be stubborn and resist any type of vocal training out of pride. So shouldn't people be able to tell both Nightwings apart by the way they talk?

Ted Kord's from Chicago, Jaime Reyes is from El Paso, John Stewart and Sandra Woosan are from Detroit if I recall correctly...so they probably all talk different from each other, which is something that I find fascinating.

I don't know why I care, but sometimes it's fun to think about. Folks from different places talk differently, and tapping in on that can add a nice personal, natural feel to the dialogue. Individualized. And the word choice won't always be the same. Even little things like "subs" vs "hoagies" vs "grinders"; "soda" vs "pop" vs "coke".

I don't really have a point to this. But I do find it all very interesting.