Thanks, dubh and Wombat. I see the relation between rhyming bliss with piss. But what does mickey or Michael have to do with bliss? Oh, is Micky Bliss a person I should have heard of?
Kevin, I don’t get what’s the harm in it? If somebody wants to be self-expressed by putting on a fake accent then so what? 
I knew a girl years ago who always talked with a good albeit completely fake English accent. I don’t think she had ever even been to England. 
Everyone liked her just fine. It was just how she chose to show up.
Best,
Paul
Being from Boston, my accent is far too bizarre to get away from. Sometimes I’ll make more of an effort to pronounce my 'r’s, but that’s about it.
Of course, living with an Irish woman, I’m picking up some strange phrases, and using words like “lovely” and “grand”.
:o
What do you “self-express” by using a phony accent? Like, gawd, why don’t you talk like who you are, right?
I like to lapse into dialects or imitate people a lot myself, but I’m never seriously trying to come across as being from somewhere else. That’s…weird!
When you sing, do you often acquire the accent of the person whose version of the song you’re singing? I often catch myself using a bit of Brogue while singing Clancy Brothers songs. 
And Paul, what’s with the avatar? Is that Hound Dog Taylor, or was there a second hand involved? 
why don’t you talk like who you are, right?
I got it, Kevin. But, when I’m thinking about who we are, I’m referring to who we choose to be in the moment - not who we are by pre-conceived notions or what we’ve learned. Full freedom of self-expression, when allowed, can manifest itself in many unexpected ways.
People show up with bizarre clothing or a fake accent or some ridiculous story have chosen to show up in the space like that. I think it’s cool. I like characters. I’m sure you have read about Norton the First, Emporer of the United States. I would have loved to have met that guy.
Best,
Paul
Ahh, yes. Tis a miracle of Photoshop! And a reflection of the fact I do have my fingers figuretively crossed as I am anticipating the coming together of a really special deal! 
@Kevin: Good thread, BTW!
Don’t we have some kind of saying here that has to do with Mickey too? Something about slipping someone a Mickey? Or do I have that wrong? It has to do with drugs I think 
As for accents, the only accent I tend to speak with without trying to is the “close to Philadelphia” accent. It’s not really Philly, because I’m from…ahem…Trenton, NJ (although if you accuse me of that, I’ll deny it 
). Whenever I’m back in that area, I pick it right back up. Other than that, except for when I’m being silly, I don’t speak with an accent at all. 
Ever try to sing songs like “Clemintine” without a fake accent? It sounds ridiculous.
Think of this in a proper english teacher’s voice
Barker Bradford, 1885
In the centre of a golden valley,
Dwellt a maiden all divine,
A pretty creature a miner’s daughter
And her name was Clementine.
Refrain:
Oh my darling, oh my darling,
My darling Clementine,
You are lost for me forever,
Dreadful sorry, Clementine.
Her noble father was the forman
Of ev’ry valued mine,
And ev’ry miner and ranchman
Was a brother to Clementine.
The foreman miner, an old forty niner,
In dreams and thoughts sublime,
Lived in comfort with his daughter,
His pretty child Clementine.
Stopped before the sad part
There’s no way I’d get away with singing “Clementine” without the proper accent. I think my kids would tar and feather me if I did!
^^^You could tweak that one a bit and turn it into a rap.
Tom Lehrer did a decent version of Clemintine.
Like Wombat I’ve been a bit of a mimic for as long I can remember. I can affect an accent if I’m exposed to it for any period of time though it is voluntary. Whether I watch a film or spend time with people of certain nationalities I easily incorporate their pronunciations and idioms. Even when I went to school in France my classmates didn’t know I was American. But when I go home to North Dakota or when I went to college in Arkansas my speech doesn’t change because I don’t really want it to happen.
Really it’s a skill that’s only useful for telling jokes and pulling pranks. Sometimes its enough to pass off as not being foreign but if anybody talks to you very long you run into what Wombat described where they can’t place your accent specifically which a lot of people can if you have a genuine accent. I do know of somebody who very successfully convinced a girl he was Scottish until the following morning when his hangover caused him to forget his ruse.
As for the wannabes… it gets on my nerves but it’s mostly a behavioral thing, kind of like if you have a private conversation in a whisper even though there is clearly nobody else around. Sometimes you just can’t help yourself. But when it’s done repetitively and consciously, I can’t help but question the motive. I put up with a lot of that in pipe bands… a lot of it.
Och aye, Laddie!
Aaron
My family is from Connecticut, although we have “newscaster” lowest-common-denominator US accents.
We moved to North Carolina when I was in middle school and my sister was in college. She now works in a relatively small town.
She “saccharrines” her accent (IE makes it sweet and sickly in a southern way) whenever she’s talking to someone she thinks she needs to butter up or impress. It’s annoying as hell.
One of her friends is from Scotland but married a local fellow. Her accent is truly bizarre.
I have no problem with legit Southern accents, btw.
A good example of this is Veronica from the Archies cartoon: “AH-chee-kins, ah dee-CLAY-uh!”
Hmmm, that’s right, I think to “slip someone a Mickey” is to put knock out drops (or drugs) in his drink to put him to sleep. I think this is supposedly one way a person could get kidnapped to be a sailor----also called being shanghaied. Does the name Mickey Finn have anything to do with this?
There is NO way I can sing “The Millionaire” without an “Oirish” accent. It’s how I learned it, and IMHO it just wouldn’t work otherwise. I usually apologise for the accent before launching into it.
Given the common meaning of the term ‘Mickey’ in Ireland I get a totally different image
Must be the influence of the Willie week.
Heehee.
In the States, “mickey” comes from a “Mickey Finn”, any sort of knockout drug slipped surreptitiously into someone’s drink. Nowadays date-rape drugs fill the bill. Why “Mickey Finn”, I don’t know.
I would hate to find one of these in my drinks.
Might have been a bar owner. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Finn
I would hate to find one of these in my drinks.
PS Is drunk an accent?