Quote:
Originally Posted by milkfish
I understand that one way for an American to tell an Australian from a New Zealander is to listen to how they pronounce "been." The Kiwi will rhyme it with "bin."
Of course, natives from those two countries have no trouble telling the accents apart.
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To people not familiar with the accents, been is indeed a good one, but any e sound should do it. Ten pens for example is tin pins to a Kiwi.
Once you know an Aussie or a Kiwi (or especially both) you'll be baffled by people who mix them up.
Back to been - London accents shorten been to bin as well. One of my father's Dad-jokes was to say, "Where you bin?" when throwing something away. He still does it occasionally when I'm home (like only giving me half a cup of tea, my age doesn't seem fixed in his head sometimes).