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Americans, what is your obsession with South UK accents?
- Thread starter drnebulous
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I have a Yorkshire accent. Sexiest accent in the world. Deal with it.
Put wood in th'hole yon one
Strong in th'arm and thick in th'head
I always thought it was funny how US movies always use the British accent as a generic "foreigner" accent in movies where the characters wouldn't be speaking English in real life. Making a movie about ancient Rome and don't want to have subtitles? Get some British guys and dress them up in robes.
On the other hand, it wouldn't work to show a movie to US audiences with Julius Caesar speaking with a Texas drawl("Lemme go conquer them Gauls right quick"), so I guess it's the best alternative to having the movie in Latin.
On the other hand, it wouldn't work to show a movie to US audiences with Julius Caesar speaking with a Texas drawl("Lemme go conquer them Gauls right quick"), so I guess it's the best alternative to having the movie in Latin.
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Lol. Been on mobile all week. Didn't watch the videos. Geography isn't exactly my strong suit :facepalm:I've only lived in the UK for all my life (25 years) but I'm sure north UK = Scotland
I'm from Lincolnshire, England but live in New Orleans. I always get "Are you Australian?", but I once had someone ask me if I was French which I found pretty bizarre!
I also had a US Registered Nurse ask me (whilst taking blood) what language they speak in England and if we used paper money!! Didn't fill me with confidence!
I also had a US Registered Nurse ask me (whilst taking blood) what language they speak in England and if we used paper money!! Didn't fill me with confidence!
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I actually do have some knowledge of British accents, though it's recent (I used to think they were all the same, but that people in Manchester had a weird tone to their accent). The dialects of the South have become the prestige standard and it's what most people outside of the UK are familiar with, so it makes sense.
But I found this video to be pretty entertaining:
But I found this video to be pretty entertaining:
Clearly you've never heard anyone from Essex or Newcastle.Take it as a compliment. You all sound elegant and well mannered
I could ask you the same question about why everyone fixates on Texas accents....
Nobody discussing the many hundreds of Welsh accents? For a tiny country the accent changes by the town or valley.
Don't know about obsessed, but I am curious as to which accent this farmer has. Sounds the same to me as the one Ian McNeice puts on as Bert Large in Doc Martin.
To answer my own question, that farmer's accent sounds like this one from Kynnersley, Shropshire (rural West Midlands), in the British Library's collection. A fascinating collection, btw-- great for learning.
I'm probably digging a hole for myself, but the Southern accent sounds more neutral/ refined, the Nothern accent, more pronounced/Cockney, but I realize that's probably not accurate and maybe an insult.
I'm very picky about female English accents and sexiness, not all are appealing. We have one heck of a lot of English accents in our media and advertising because I'm sure it is thought to stand out and catch your attention.
Great video. Some people were real good and others let their English accent leak out.
The easiest to replicate seemed to be the Texas/Southern accent. I grew up in Washington DC and it's suburbs and people typically have a hard time telling where I'm from although they know where I'm not from. As a rule, in US broadcasting, you'll never hear anyone with a Southern drawl. They want neutral or... English.
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As someone who lives in Texas, people come here expecting that southern drawl, cowboy boots and hats, and lots of country western music.
We've got tourist spots just for them!
Like The Stockyards in Fort Worth.
Edit: But yes, the accent is real for some of us folks here. Like my fiancee. I moved away at 18, lived in other states. Now only time I get an accent is when I'm drunk and it's usually kinda incoherent.
As a Scot living in Arizona for a few years I constantly get asked (sometimes, not even asked, but told) I’m Irish. I can live with that, I just explain. Just don’t call me English
Ha, I'd be equally insulted if a Scot was mistaken for one of my countrymen despite us all having the same blood lines in a very watered down British isles lol. We have to maintain that competitive spirit!As a Scot living in Arizona for a few years I constantly get asked (sometimes, not even asked, but told) I’m Irish. I can live with that, I just explain. Just don’t call me English
Here to promote the Welsh accent again, love some of the south Walian accents, especially on females. My wife is very Welshy and my eldest daughter is very much the same with her Valleys twang. I doubt many people outside of the UK would have a clue what a Welsh accent sounds like.
The south east accent obsession we see a lot in films and abroad in general is because people think of London when they think of Britain. It's something yo relate to and anywhere outside of the M25 is an unknown wasteland unless you're a New Yorker desperate to tell everybody you're 4th generation Irish lol.
When I was five my parents moved us from Vancouver, WA to a new housing development in Houston.As someone who lives in Texas, people come here expecting that southern drawl, cowboy boots and hats, and lots of country western music.
We've got tourist spots just for them!
Like The Stockyards in Fort Worth.
Edit: But yes, the accent is real for some of us folks here. Like my fiancee. I moved away at 18, lived in other states. Now only time I get an accent is when I'm drunk and it's usually kinda incoherent.
We lived there until 1980 and I still know the address because it's the first one I ever memorized in Kindergarten.
That small slice of time though was one of those periods of times where you imprint things as a kid and the Texan accent was imprinted.
All these years later and it will pop out. I never know when, but because it's such a part of my childhood it comes out. Drives my wife nuts because she's Mexican and Arizona (where we live now) is as deep South as she ever wants to go.
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Ioan Gruffudd is a staunch defender of the Welsh language.
I cannot find the article, but he was given either a title or award acknowledging him as one of the masters of the language a few years ago.
He refuses to let Hollywood mangle his name and promotes the language wherever he can.
The only reason I know any of that was because he was the lead on the show Forever a couple of years ago and my wife and I loved the show.
I like the south Welsh accent. It's such a friendly, salt of the earth kind of people sounding accent.
I've got that Southern twang in my accent I try to cover up, but when I'm over excited, I start sounding like Foghorn Leghorn.
Many times I've been involved in a heated debate where I start out speaking "normally", but end up "demanding satisfaction, sirrah."
I like the south Welsh accent. It's such a friendly, salt of the earth kind of people sounding accent.
I've got that Southern twang in my accent I try to cover up, but when I'm over excited, I start sounding like Foghorn Leghorn.
My accent is Midlands mixed with the odd Welsh sounding phrase due to how long I've lived here. I'm not sure i'll ever sound completely Welsh despite living in the heart of the Valleys where accents are strong.
Funny, but true story.
I got that same question asked in my hometown, in Nebraska.
I lived in Australia for 2 years, and came home with the accent, let alone quite a number of slang and colloquialisms that are hilarious down there but just get stunned, deer-in-headlights looks here. Anyway, I was in a drive-thru ordering something back home in Nebraska, and had been asked to repeat myself 3 times because of the accent. I get up to the window, and both the person there and the manager had asked if I were from Australia. I told them I wasn't, and that I was from Omaha (hometown), and showed them my ID. THEN they tried to guess where the accent came from!
I gave them about 3 tries, then told them I spent time in Australia, and came back with it. The funny thing is that I still have it, and even when I talk to my friends from down there, they still think that I speak like a Yank!
BL.
Not necessarily. You will have an accent to the ears of a midwesterner or a southerners or a north easterner. You'll have an accent to anyone who's a native English speaker that doesn't speak like you do. We only presume we don't have an accent on the west coast because of how well we enunciate our words.
Technically speaking, an accent is just how you enunciate words and vocabulary. Not so much the latter, but it does help to be convincing. With enough practice, you could replicate an accent of your choosing. I wouldn't take actors' skills as the right way to do it. I've yet to hear an American actor do a convincing British accent in line with the region they're supposedly from, or a Briton doing an American accent. Faux accents will fail when the person is angry or laughing. Or when the wordage of their spoken word pushes the limits of their range.
Technically speaking, an accent is just how you enunciate words and vocabulary. Not so much the latter, but it does help to be convincing. With enough practice, you could replicate an accent of your choosing. I wouldn't take actors' skills as the right way to do it. I've yet to hear an American actor do a convincing British accent in line with the region they're supposedly from, or a Briton doing an American accent. Faux accents will fail when the person is angry or laughing. Or when the wordage of their spoken word pushes the limits of their range.