A voice, an accent, and a thousand assumptions

[Kileoli]

Let's be honest: most people judge other people's intelligence based on how well they speak the official language of the country they live in.

Imagine standing in a long line at a registry office or a hospital. In front of you is someone desperately flipping through papers and checking their phone, trying to explain something in broken English. They struggle to find the right words while the queue behind them grows longer and more impatient.

How many people in that line immediately think something negative about that person's intelligence, education, financial status or social skills?

Probably more than we'd like to admit.

The same thing happens with accents. Certain accents come with stereotypes attached to them, whether they deserve them or not.

Someone speaking English 

with a French accent? Romantic.

with a Spanish accent? An immigrant.

with a German accent?  cold, efficient, and secretly plotting to conquer the world

with a Russian accent? Oh Dimitri don't kill me...

Now, let's say I happen to speak two of the not very friendly languages mentioned.

So, according to popular imagination, I am a heartless murderer with a friend called Sergei who plan to reconfigure your Porsche and drive it at 300 mph down the Autobahn to kill the US president.

The reality is far less exciting. In fact, my intelligence—and occasionally my very existence—has been questioned so many times that I've learned to ignore these thoughts and try to laugh about it rather than bursting into tears.

At least I can speak both German and English, in perfekt German accent strong enough to confuse modern technology.

You don't believe me? Ask Gemini in my car.

Whenever I try to answer a message in English using my heavily German-accented English, it becomes so confused that it eventually gives up, announces that it has absolutely no idea what I want, and practically calls my husband to deal with me instead.

So where am I going with all of this?

First, can these kinds of assumptions and biases be realistically applied to fictional characters? 

Second, since it is Pride Month, is it possible that people combine accent-based stereotypes with assumptions about someone's identity and judge them before they know anything about them?

Humans are remarkably good at making conclusions from very little information. An accent, a mannerism, a flag pin, a hairstyle, a partner's hand in theirs—and suddenly a complete story has been invented about who they are.

The frustrating part is that these stories are often wrong.

For every step forward society takes, there always seems to be another step backward somewhere else.

That said...

What was the question again?

I know...let's raise more awareness to the important critical topics of LGBTQ+ community than dressing up and lookig drag. 

Has someone seen my skirt and mascara? 

[Zombie]

5 hours ago, Kileoli said:

Second, since it is Pride Month, is it possible that people combine accent-based stereotypes with assumptions about someone's identity and judge them before they know anything about them?

 

 

rife across the UK

I like the variety of accents, but many Scots defeat me (‘Double Dutch’ my grandma would scornfully declare )

the only thing that matters is diction - spoken English is incomprehensible without clearly enunciated consonants  

my ‘gaydar’ is constantly scanning people and flagging up ‘Gay!!’ according to the excellence (or not) of their diction and elocution

[Kileoli]

1 hour ago, Zombie said:

 

rife across the UK

I like the variety of accents, but many Scots defeat me (‘Double Dutch’ my grandma would scornfully declare )

the only thing that matters is diction - spoken English is incomprehensible without clearly enunciated consonants  

my ‘gaydar’ is constantly scanning people and flagging up ‘Gay!!’ according to the excellence (or not) of their diction and elocution

Can I have your gaydar? Mine is broken. It can only react when a guy is deeply involved 

[Luca E]

7 hours ago, Zombie said:

my ‘gaydar’ is constantly scanning people and flagging up ‘Gay!!’ 

Exaggerated mannerisms, comportment, and speech, or simply as Robbie Williams said, all the good looking men are gay!

Oh it seemed forever stopped today
All the lonely hearts in London
Caught a plane and flew away
And all the best women are married
All the handsome men are gay

[Bill W]

And don't forget about being judged due to the deepness, high pitch, or lilt of your voice.  Or being judged masculine, effeminate, or derranged simply due to your mannerisms or comportment.  And of course there's always the physical features such as the shape, size, and color of your eyes, your height and weight, any deformities and imperfections (no matter how small), and whether your face is symmetrical and appealing.  

[Kileoli]

@Bill W if we go that way, there's no end unfortunately. Why do people need it? Can we not just mind our own business?

[E K Stokes]

We admire the beautiful things in nature, a magnificent panorama, a superb sunset, and we admire a beautiful male body. We also appreciate the things we create, art, music, etc. You can no more fight nature than hold back the ocean, but there is also the truism that love is blind, meaning we can look beyond, or quite simply not see those many imperfections. Not being perfect is the state of all humanity, whilst we might strive for perfection, we live for love and playing!

[Jason Rimbaud]

On 6/12/2026 at 10:17 PM, Luca E said:

Exaggerated mannerisms, comportment, and speech, or simply as Robbie Williams said, all the good looking men are gay!

Oh it seemed forever stopped today
All the lonely hearts in London
Caught a plane and flew away
And all the best women are married
All the handsome men are gay

Sorry to break it to you...I'm very gay, super gay, even my undies are gay, and on a scale of 1 to 10, I'm a solid two with an okay sense of humor. My husband, extremely hot, but not gay. . 

[Jason Rimbaud]

On 6/13/2026 at 6:30 AM, Bill W said:

And don't forget about being judged due to the deepness, high pitch, or lilt of your voice.  Or being judged masculine, effeminate, or derranged simply due to your mannerisms or comportment.  And of course there's always the physical features such as the shape, size, and color of your eyes, your height and weight, any deformities and imperfections (no matter how small), and whether your face is symmetrical and appealing.  

I have a 19 year old male employee. He came to me yesterday at the end of his shift and asked to talk to me. 

He had been chatting up this girl online and the other day, she told him he had a gay face, and a gay waist and hips. 

He is very straight and that really messed him up. He was asking me if he looked gay to me. Considering he's a perverted 19 year old, I've heard how he talks about his conquests, the boy isn't gay. 

So after I explained to him a few things, he felt better. That no one has a gay face or hips, just gay peens... . 

Anyway, he left feeling better and he actually sent her back a message that I suggested as a joke. He said, I'm not gay but my boyfriend is really gay. Kids.

[Kileoli]

40 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

I have a 19 year old male employee. He came to me yesterday at the end of his shift and asked to talk to me. 

He had been chatting up this girl online and the other day, she told him he had a gay face, and a gay waist and hips. 

He is very straight and that really messed him up. He was asking me if he looked gay to me. Considering he's a perverted 19 year old, I've heard how he talks about his conquests, the boy isn't gay. 

So after I explained to him a few things, he felt better. That no one has a gay face or hips, just gay peens... . 

Anyway, he left feeling better and he actually sent her back a message that I suggested as a joke. He said, I'm not gay but my boyfriend is really gay. Kids.

You are the best gay counselor ever. Your husband is not gay, mine neither. But I want a gay boyfriend.

[ReaderPaul]

@Jason Rimbaud -- @Bill W -- see this to see the non-slang meaning of peen.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peen

Edited June 14 by ReaderPaul

[Jason Rimbaud]

1 minute ago, ReaderPaul said:

@Jason Rimbaud -- @Bill W -- see this to see the non-slang meaning of peen.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peen

If I follow this link, are you going to dash my hopes and dreams like you did with the airplane story? 

[ReaderPaul]

I rather doubt it.  Keep in mind, this is the NON-slang and NON-colloquial meaning of peen.

[Jason Rimbaud]

1 minute ago, ReaderPaul said:

I rather doubt it.  Keep in mind, this is the NON-slang and NON-colloquial meaning of peen.

I followed the link and you did it again!!!

 

[Jason Rimbaud]

2 minutes ago, ReaderPaul said:

I rather doubt it.  Keep in mind, this is the NON-slang and NON-colloquial meaning of peen.

Stop helping!!!!!    

 

[Bill W]

10 minutes ago, ReaderPaul said:

@Jason Rimbaud -- @Bill W -- see this to see the non-slang meaning of peen.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peen

I guess that's why they call it a ball-peen hammer!  🤪

[Kileoli]

13 minutes ago, ReaderPaul said:

@Jason Rimbaud -- @Bill W -- see this to see the non-slang meaning of peen.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peen

I was thinking depending on the size , could be a good toy.

[Jason Rimbaud]

3 minutes ago, Kileoli said:

I was thinking depending on the size , could be a good toy.

We need a shakes head reaction button. 

[ReaderPaul]

Or maybe a facepalm button?

[Kileoli]

5 minutes ago, ReaderPaul said:

Or maybe a facepalm button?

I have already asked and didn't understand the answer from myr

🤦‍♂️

[Kileoli]

Und ai rielly, rielly vantet to bi zirius und tolk abaut somesing zirius.

[Davide]

50 minutes ago, ReaderPaul said:

@Jason Rimbaud -- @Bill W -- see this to see the non-slang meaning of peen.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peen

"to draw, bend, or flatten by or as if by hammering with a peen"

I know this isn't what that means, but I saw the words "hammering" and "peen" in the same sentence and the mental image hurt me.

[Davide]

I'm switching back to the seriousness of the original topic because I think it's an important one. I don't know if I can make a useful contribution, but I'll try.
 

On 6/12/2026 at 4:15 PM, Kileoli said:

Let's be honest: most people judge other people's intelligence based on how well they speak the official language of the country they live in.

Imagine standing in a long line at a registry office or a hospital. In front of you is someone desperately flipping through papers and checking their phone, trying to explain something in broken English. They struggle to find the right words while the queue behind them grows longer and more impatient.

How many people in that line immediately think something negative about that person's intelligence, education, financial status or social skills?

Probably more than we'd like to admit.

The same thing happens with accents. Certain accents come with stereotypes attached to them, whether they deserve them or not.

Someone speaking English 

with a French accent? Romantic.

with a Spanish accent? An immigrant.

with a German accent?  cold, efficient, and secretly plotting to conquer the world

with a Russian accent? Oh Dimitri don't kill me...

Now, let's say I happen to speak two of the not very friendly languages mentioned.

So, according to popular imagination, I am a heartless murderer with a friend called Sergei who plan to reconfigure your Porsche and drive it at 300 mph down the Autobahn to kill the US president.

The reality is far less exciting. In fact, my intelligence—and occasionally my very existence—has been questioned so many times that I've learned to ignore these thoughts and try to laugh about it rather than bursting into tears.

At least I can speak both German and English, in perfekt German accent strong enough to confuse modern technology.

You don't believe me? Ask Gemini in my car.

Whenever I try to answer a message in English using my heavily German-accented English, it becomes so confused that it eventually gives up, announces that it has absolutely no idea what I want, and practically calls my husband to deal with me instead.

So where am I going with all of this?

First, can these kinds of assumptions and biases be realistically applied to fictional characters? 

Second, since it is Pride Month, is it possible that people combine accent-based stereotypes with assumptions about someone's identity and judge them before they know anything about them?

Humans are remarkably good at making conclusions from very little information. An accent, a mannerism, a flag pin, a hairstyle, a partner's hand in theirs—and suddenly a complete story has been invented about who they are.

The frustrating part is that these stories are often wrong.

For every step forward society takes, there always seems to be another step backward somewhere else.

That said...

What was the question again?

I know...let's raise more awareness to the important critical topics of LGBTQ+ community than dressing up and lookig drag. 

Has someone seen my skirt and mascara? 

These kinds of assumptions people make can range from mildly annoying to pretty damaging, depending on how serious and strong the stereotype associated with that accent, mannerism, etc. But it can also be annoyingly difficult for people to counteract this effect, to stop making this kind of assumptions. People can reduce it's impact by trying not to judge, but there are also people who are aware of this effect, thing they have managed to avoid it, but still do it. Which makes it more important to raise awareness of how damaging these assumptions can sometimes be.

Edited June 14 by Davide

[ReaderPaul]

6 minutes ago, Davide said:

I'm switching back to the seriousness of the original topic because I think it's an important one. I don't know if I can make a useful contribution, but I'll try.

These kinds of assumptions people make can range from mildly annoying to pretty damaging, depending on how serious and strong the stereotype associated with that accent, mannerism, etc. But it can also be annoyingly difficult for people to counteract this effect, to stop making this kind of assumptions. People can reduce it's impact by trying not to judge, but there are also people who are aware of this effect, thing they have managed to avoid it, but still do it. Which makes it more important to raise awareness of how damaging these assumptions can sometimes be.

@Davide, you are correct.

[CassieQ]

Let's see.  Mid-40s female, not married, no children, happily donning gay whale earrings.  Yeah, I'm pretty sure people are making some assumptions about that.  Like I give a damn.  

The accent thing is the one that people (mostly patients) like to comment on.  When they find out that I grew up in the South, they all want to know why I don't have a Southern accent.  They almost sound mad about it.  

I did have a Southern accent.  I worked on training it out of my voice while I was in elementary school because kids teased me about it.  Moving around a lot helped too.  It still creeps in sometimes, especially if I've been around certain family members or drinking.  A few weeks ago, it slipped back in when I pronounced the word "oil" and the coworker that heard pestered me to say it again for days afterwards.

Also, I will still use "Bless your heart" as a polite way to say "You absolute idiot" which is great time for the Southern drawl to kick in a little bit.