Accent triggered phobia

[bunn]

Why is it that if someone comes on the phone with a particular generic-eastcoast american accent I automatically assume that they will be not just vastly competent, but the agent of a huge and hyperefficient organisation that will scorn and trample my tiny rural British IT business into the mud? I don't know why I get that reaction, but I do.

Whereas, if someone phones with a random Eastern European or Indian accent, I tend to leap to the conclusion that they are trying to sell me stuff I don't want. Admittedly, so far this has I think been 100% correct, but I feel bad about it for some reason.

Comments

[louis-soul.livejournal.com]

I believe most people feel bad about making assuptions about people based on the way they speak, they try not to but the stereotypes are just so ingrained that it's almost impossible. Your accent is one of the main deciding points of what kind of job you have and just about everything else.
I can't tell you how strange it is for Americans to hear a black person with a British accent,at first we can't believe ther'e black, and may make loud exclamtions and comments about it untill the shock has gone. The change is so radical that people automatically believe that the black person with the British accent is vastly more educated or intelligent than the person with the American accent.

I thought what you mentioned about the eastcoast accent was amusing,here in America the eastcoast accent is generally looked down upon as being too hard to understand and and depending on where from the eastcoast either uneducated, snobby or just plain bad sounding, similar to the Southern accent.
On the other hand most British accents, except the obvious ones make one seem like there from that hyperefficient organisation etc... to American ears.
Generally people from the western states are said to sound the most competent and edcucated because of their lack of any sort of accent at all, and just the generall "computer like" blandness of their voices.
It's interesting to see what each country thinks of their own accents and the accents of other countries.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I must confess that I'm not sure my accent recognition is accurate enough to have correctly located the accent I heard! It didn't seem a very strong accent, but then I suppose it depends what your default version of English is, whether you think an accent is strong or not!