Tyler's Accent
Regardless of what you think, everyone has an accent. There is no perfect or ideal pronunciation of any language. Or at least there shouldn't be. I, having learned to talk in the Pacific Northwest, have what you call a "flat western dialect". It is the most boring "accent". It's what you hear on the news. At least I think that's what I sound like...
Tyler, on the other hand, was raised in Southern California. (Did you know "California English" has its own Wikipedia page? Now you do.) When I first met Tyler, shortly before learning he was from California, I noticed something different about the way he talked. It was clearer. And there was something about it I couldn't quite describe but something I had definitely heard before. He didn't speak Hickenese like the folks 'round here, thankfully.
I've read articles about why women are attracted to men with accents--it's biological, like most things at the bottom of initial sexual attraction. When women hear an accent different from their own, our ovaries (or whatever) think that man is from a Land Far Far Away and if we mate with him we are less likely to create an accidental incest baby. True story.
Very soon into my first meeting with Tyler, I learned he was from SoCal, and not just that, an actual beach town. Then I got it. Tyler is a smart man and speaks very well but there is something surfer-esque in the way he speaks sometimes, which I totally dig. I love it when he uses words like "gnarly" and "rad". I think it's also the 80s-ness of it too, but whatever.
I love listening to Tyler talk. I love watching the words come out of his mouth. I love his enunciation. This is all terrific because I'll be listening to him the rest of my life.
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