I heart David Letterman…and his non-specific accent.
I think my love of Letterman started when I was a little girl with insomnia. I would occasionally gather up all my courage and crawl down to the end of the hallway where it meets our living room and watch Late Night with David Letterman. What I remember most is seeing my dad laughing…really laughing. My dad is not a big laugher so this was something new to me. Who was this magic man on TV who could make my dad laugh? It was fascinating.
Fast forward to my senior year of high school, I’m still a girl with insomnia but now I have a TV in my own room and watch Letterman every night. His show is on a different station and is called Late Show with David Letterman. One night he had just gotten back from vacation and was trying to talk in the accent of wherever he had been and it didn’t go very well. He responded, “That’s my non-specific accent”. I don’t think he ever said it again but I say it all the time.
I have a terrible habit of imitating people I’m around…and their accents. I, like Letterman, usually am not successful in my imitation. I often say, that is my non-specific accent. People laugh…I credit Letterman…they look confused. Probably because when searching around sites devoted to him and his show I found only ONE reference to the phrase “non-specific accent” and that one was from March, 14, 1994 (my senior year) and is the one I referenced above…at least that site confirms it actually did happen and I didn’t imagine the whole thing!
940314 Mon LateShow#125
Antics: Dave's back from vacationing in the Virgin Islands
Antics: Dave does his `non-specific' accent
Story: A picture from a viewer of a boy scaring Dave with a gun
Roof cam: Antics: Dave has problems with the Roof cam controls
Roof cam: Neighbor: Dave shows us _Insoo Salon_ above _Flashdancers_
Phone call: Neighbor: Dave calls _Insoo Salon_ and requests manicure
for bouncer at _Flashdancers_
Alan King [actor, comedian] interview
Roof cam: Neighbor: bouncer at _Flashdancers_ gets a manacure
Aretha Franklin [soul] song, interview and song `Think'
Roof cam: Neighbor: Appearance: Alan King [actor, comedian] gets a manacure
I don’t know if this is a true explanation of why my blog is called “non-specific” accent but at least now you know where the term came from and when I figure out the why that goes along with it…I’ll let ya know!
