I just talked to someone for a few minutes and they didn’t pick up my accent. This has got me a little worried (especially since I go to sleep to either Australian Radio National or the clipped tones of the BBC world service…)

I am telling myself that one of the following must be true:

• he heard an accent but had no idea where it was from, and so internally denied it
• he is so used to hearing foreign accents that it doesn’t even register anymore
• he is so self-absorbed that he doesn’t actually hear what anyone else says, ever
• we were talking while waiting for coffee, so perhaps, like me, his brain doesn’t kick in until post-caffeination.

I talk with Australians here. I listen to Australians. And whatever Pete says about a slight change in my R’s (although not, apparently, my piratical Arrs) I do still sound Australian. So there.