As I’m writing this post, Serena Williams is playing her third round match at Wimbledon, she’s up a set. Meghan Markle is not there. The other day I wrote about whether or not that’s a sign, might that be an indication – does she know that Serena will play another day? Does this mean Serena will advance today? 

In other Royal Meghan news, everyone today is talking about whether or not she now speaks with a British accent because of this:

Do you hear it? I do a little but a few English friends of mine – who are also Meghan fans – are telling me it’s “next level cringe”, LOL. Not surprisingly, she’s now being accused of being “phony” or not authentic. Which is a loaded conversation where Meghan Markle is concerned because you’re well familiar with the grossness that was being passed around – and is still being passed around – about her ancestry, her class, her profession, and her past. There were already assholes who thought she wasn’t good enough to join the royal family so this is another layer of on top of all that bullsh-t. 

Many experts believe that accents happen organically when you spend that much time somewhere. And Meghan has been living in England since November. I’ve been thinking about accents though and how we talk about them. Specifically the words we use. If someone from the UK or Australia or outside of North America moves there, and their accents become less pronounced, we say they’re “losing their accents”, which assigns value to those particular accents that are in the process of being “lost”. Which implies an accent hierarchy – because there’s something to be “lost”. Which is confusing because then we sh-t on it in the reverse. Someone moves to the UK from North American and they don’t “lose” their Canadian and American accents but they “copy” the British one. 

Or maybe it’s as simple as who’s extra about it or not. There are people who are super super extra about an “accent”. And it sounds forced and deliberate as opposed to a slightly influenced lilt. Is Royal Meghan’s royal accent forced? Or subtle? How are we judging her?