Articulation

Today at work, I found myself working on an iPhone with some corrupted code in its operating system. While speaking to the customer, a lady in pink flopped down at the end of the bar, just in time to hear the last half of my conversation as I assured the customer that everything would be OK and I explained the steps that would need to be taken to get the phone's data back. As I walked around to go reset the phone, the woman in pink looked at me and said, "What part are you from?" Her accent was decidedly British.

This seemed to be an incomplete question to me, and I replied with the only thing I could immediately think of: "Come again?"

"What part are you from?"

"I'm sorry - what part of what? Do you mean where am I from?"

"Yes."

"Oh, sorry. I misunderstood. I'm from Atlanta, Georgia."

She seemed taken aback. "Really?" she said.

"That surprises you, it seems," I remarked.

"I thought I'd come across another expat losing his accent - you're very articulate and your manner of speaking is very English."

I smiled at that and thanked her, saying that she'd essentially made my day right there. I explained to her that my grandmother was from Great Britain, and that in partially raising me until I was two, she effectively canceled out whatever Southern accent I might have otherwise picked up.

In short, thank you Nana!