You say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to.

Friends have wondered whether the kids are developing English accents while we're here.  They're not, but we're all adapting our speech in minor ways.  Some of it is slightly different vocabulary, some is pronunciation.

I didn't think I would change the way I speak.  The kids are young and impressionable.  I'm 45 and kind of stuck in my ways.  But I've modified my speech to make myself more easily understood.

Tomato, for example.  I've always said it to-may-toe.  But when ordering in restaurants I've found myself asking for to-mah-to soup, saying "no to-mah-to on that please" when ordering a sandwich for John, or even asking for "to-mah-to sauce" instead of ketchup.  To-may-to would be understood, but sometimes would require repetition and it's simpler to just go with to-mah-to.

What really surprised me was when I started to modify the way I say my own name.  When I got married, I took the name Louis, as in St. Louis, like the city in Missouri.  Lou-is.  This is how my husband and in-laws pronounce our last name (British English:  surname).  Lewis is the more common British spelling, but pronounced the same way.

Here, Louis is pronounced the French way, as in Lou-ee.  Like the Sun King, or King Louie, the ape in the Jungle Book who wants Mowgli to show him the secret of fire.  I still pronounced it Lou-is, then spelled it when the situation required.  Lou-is, L-O-U-I-S.  But I found that after I said Lou-is, people stopped listening and assumed it was L-E-W-I-S.

Which led to this sort of conversation:
Me: I'd like to make an appointment with the dentist, please.
Receptionist:  Of course, your name?
M:  Marna Louis, L-O-U-I-S.
R:  Hmm..  [Pause while searching records.]  L-E?
M:  It's L-O-U...
R:  OH!  Lou-EE!

So now I just skip the confusion and say Lou-ee.  Which feels strange in my mouth.