Ask Amy: Virtual dating creates actual problems
Dear Readers: Every year I step away from my column to work on other creative projects. I hope you enjoy these “Best Of” Q&A from 10 years ago. Today’s topic is: Digital Dating.
I also invite readers to subscribe to my new weekly “Asking Amy” newsletter, at Amydickinson.substack.com, where I post advice, as well as my own brand of quirky commentary.
I’ll be back with fresh Q&A next week.
Dear Amy: I recently met a wonderful man through an online dating site. He lives in northern Michigan. I live in Minnesota. He is sweet, honest, good, kind and unspoiled, and we had a very nice, fun time during the weekend he came to my town to visit.
He thinks a long-distance relationship could work between us, and I believe he could be right.
Early on, before we spoke on the phone, he warned me that he has a certain kind of "northern Michigan/Canadian" accent. I responded, "Oh, you don't sound like the people in the movie 'Fargo,' do you?" Amy, he does! And it really is a discordant note to my ears.
I came from a rural area in Wisconsin, and the first thing I worked on when I went off to college was the sloppy diction, etc., that I grew up with. Now, no one would guess where I was born.
Can I ask him if he'd be willing to work on his accent? Or do I just have to take it or leave it? My friends are divided, and I am torn.
– Mystified in Minneapolis
Dear Mystified: As someone whose own accent arguably resides within the "Fargo" spectrum, I fail to see what is so awful about this, although you obviously find this (or maybe any other than your own "no one would guess where I was born" accent) grating.
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