wHat's yOur aCcent?

I recently met up with a friend i haven't seen for the past 20 odd months.

First thing he asked after we exchanged pleasantaries, was whether i had adopted the Aussie accent since i've been in Sydney all this while.

When i replied that i had not (or at least, i don't think i have), he said he picked it up barely a week into his stay in Melbourne a few years ago.

This got me thinking:-

I'm a Malaysian-born Singaporean, raised in a former British Colonized country, educated in what should be a British-English environment, grew up with American sitcoms (anyone remember Punky Brewster and Full House??? oh! Blossom anyone?), spent a good 4 1/2 years of my grad/postgrad years in Australia... how should i sound? What IS my accent?? You tell me!

Although i don't set out to adopt any particular accent, i don't particularly favor the local Singlish that is used. Yes i do know (and use) Singlish when i order food from the hawker centre auntie, or to greet the old Malay pak-ciks and mak-ciks who clean the void-decks and corridors of our estate every morning, but i certainly don't like it. But then again, how else can you communicate with locals who have been exposed to nothing but the local (very poor!) version of the English language?! *sigh*

While i did not set out to (deliberately) adopt the Australian accent during my years there, i DO know i speak the English language properly, and not as an average Singaporean here does, i.e. in Singlish. I have never felt (and still do not, by the way) the need to put on a fake accent just to prove something to others. What these people are out to prove, i do not know... perhaps they feel more atas speaking in a fake British/American/Aussie accent..???

I'm not sure how this entry started out now... or where it's leading... but seriously, what IS my accent? I'm confused -______- after years living DownUnder, when i speak with the locals there, i'm never mistaken for a local local. I have, however, been asked if i grew up in the States!!!

"You have an American accent" they said. "We assumed you grew up in the States!"

Geez... and to think i've never been to America before... must be all those sitcoms i watched in Primary School! Ah, the power of media!!!

** all this crap is just on ENGLISH alone... when i converse in Mandarin, that's an entirely different story. "Are you Chinese/Taiwanese?" -______-

***the above is a VERY disorganized and somewhat contradictory entry, written while i was in desperate need of zzzzzzzz, yet for the 4th night in a row, find myself unable to fall asleep at 3 in the morning x.X