Hugh Laurie as House-- he can fool Americans even better than Canadians can.
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Americans, what is your obsession with South UK accents?
- Thread starter drnebulous
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There were a few blips earlier in House's seasons. As the series progressed, he had gotten better. Damien Lewis lost his American accent a few times in Homeland, too.
Ray Winston in 'The Departed' is one of the worst cases of an accent failing in film. Getting an actor with one of the strongest Cockney accents you'll hear, even in the East end to act with a Brooklyn accent is absurd. Leonardo Di Caprio in 'Blood Diamond' was horrendous too but to be fair the South African accent is hard as hell to replicate. Isn't that right boet?
I think that, generally, we all appreciate accents that are different from our own. In the geographical areas in which each of us lives, we become very accustomed to the accent that we hear around us. That accent becomes "normal," so any time that we hear an accent that is different than what we are used to, it catches our interest. It's different.
As a American male, I for one find most women with accents, specifically the Scandinavian or French accents, incredibly sexy.
[doublepost=1500492974][/doublepost]In reference to actors mimicking accents, I recently watched Lion. Online, I saw an Australian saying that Dev Patel's Australian accent was the most convincing that they had ever heard.
I have no say, since I'm not Australian. But it seemed great to me.
As a American male, I for one find most women with accents, specifically the Scandinavian or French accents, incredibly sexy.
[doublepost=1500492974][/doublepost]In reference to actors mimicking accents, I recently watched Lion. Online, I saw an Australian saying that Dev Patel's Australian accent was the most convincing that they had ever heard.
I have no say, since I'm not Australian. But it seemed great to me.
My wife is Mexican. Born and raised in East LA.
Her mother was born in Chihuahua (state) in Mexico. Because of that, when she speaks English there is no accent (or a California accent if you like).
But when I can get her to speak Spanish (she's fluent as it was her first language) or when she translates for other Spanish speaking people her Chihuahua accent comes out.
I often refer to it as her East LA accent. She does not approve.
I've only recently learned of the various UK accents. I actually am more partial to North and Cockney accents, maybe its because it is very blue collar to me (or maybe because Chris Eccleston has a north accent and had a blue collar outfit as the 9th doctor, but I digress).
"If you're an alien, how come you sound like you're from the north?"
"Loads of planets have a north!"
PS - "North" and "Midwest" mean something entirely different here in the US. For North, think Fargo. I can't think of a movie reference for Midwest though.
"If you're an alien, how come you sound like you're from the north?"
"Loads of planets have a north!"
PS - "North" and "Midwest" mean something entirely different here in the US. For North, think Fargo. I can't think of a movie reference for Midwest though.
I have a soft spot for British accents with the same R sound as Irish and American. I guess that would be West Country, and also some versions of Scottish – not quite sure which ones or how widespread it is, but I did notice that the actress Karen Gillan pronounces R the "Irish" way, and she's originally from Inverness, so maybe it's western or northwestern Scottish. Or Pirate English. I wouldn't know.
Having said that, my fav UK accent is RP, even though it's technically not a regional dialect but a sociolect.
There appear to be a few different flavors, and I can't really tell them apart... there's supposedly something called "conservative" RP, and then there's "high" RP aka "The Queen's English" which I *think* is the old school Victorian era flavor of RP. And then there's a "stage" version of RP, some form of artificial RP (as if it wasn't already artificial) taught to and spoken by actors. And then there's different blends of RP and Estuary.
On the rare occasion, I turn against RP and become sort of like Otto in A Fish Called Wanda, like "oh, you British think you're soooo superior, don't you". Examples: I've noticed that politicians who speak RP have a propensity to pronounce words like issue and negotiations with a razor sharp S sound instead of "sh". So rather than "nah-go-she-ay-shuns" and "ish-ew" they say "nah-go-SSSSee-ay-shuns" and "iSSSS-ew". For some reason it disgusts me to the core of my being. Don't ask why, I wouldn't know. Another icky trait of certain flavors of RP (possibly "Queen's English" in particular) is when words that end with -y or -ie get this sort of twirl at the end that sounds like "eaugh". "Sorry" becomes "sorreaugh", "haberdasherie" = "haberdashereaugh", etc. It kind of sounds like they're throwing up in their mouths, as if they find it so loathsome to be surrounded by lowly peasants that they can't quite keep their breakfast down.
Finally – and admittedly, this isn't an RP thing per se but more of an isolated weirdness – my eyes roll every time I hear someone refer to Ralph Fiennes as "Rayf". Yeah yeah, I know, he's some kind of blue blood whose full name is Ralph Archimedes Bartholomew Poopington-Fiennes Upon Thwymesmansworcestershiresauce VIII, and they've been pronouncing it "Rayf" since the days of King Arthur or whatever... but honestly, I'm not going to pronounce an L as a Y. Why, because it's an L, insufferable fop. What's next? Pronouncing "Raymond Luxury-Yacht" as "Throatwobbler Mangrove"?
Having said that, my fav UK accent is RP, even though it's technically not a regional dialect but a sociolect.
There appear to be a few different flavors, and I can't really tell them apart... there's supposedly something called "conservative" RP, and then there's "high" RP aka "The Queen's English" which I *think* is the old school Victorian era flavor of RP. And then there's a "stage" version of RP, some form of artificial RP (as if it wasn't already artificial) taught to and spoken by actors. And then there's different blends of RP and Estuary.
On the rare occasion, I turn against RP and become sort of like Otto in A Fish Called Wanda, like "oh, you British think you're soooo superior, don't you". Examples: I've noticed that politicians who speak RP have a propensity to pronounce words like issue and negotiations with a razor sharp S sound instead of "sh". So rather than "nah-go-she-ay-shuns" and "ish-ew" they say "nah-go-SSSSee-ay-shuns" and "iSSSS-ew". For some reason it disgusts me to the core of my being. Don't ask why, I wouldn't know. Another icky trait of certain flavors of RP (possibly "Queen's English" in particular) is when words that end with -y or -ie get this sort of twirl at the end that sounds like "eaugh". "Sorry" becomes "sorreaugh", "haberdasherie" = "haberdashereaugh", etc. It kind of sounds like they're throwing up in their mouths, as if they find it so loathsome to be surrounded by lowly peasants that they can't quite keep their breakfast down.
Finally – and admittedly, this isn't an RP thing per se but more of an isolated weirdness – my eyes roll every time I hear someone refer to Ralph Fiennes as "Rayf". Yeah yeah, I know, he's some kind of blue blood whose full name is Ralph Archimedes Bartholomew Poopington-Fiennes Upon Thwymesmansworcestershiresauce VIII, and they've been pronouncing it "Rayf" since the days of King Arthur or whatever... but honestly, I'm not going to pronounce an L as a Y. Why, because it's an L, insufferable fop. What's next? Pronouncing "Raymond Luxury-Yacht" as "Throatwobbler Mangrove"?
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Just for your info, Scotch is a drink. Should have said "Scots or Irish accents".
The first time I heard Hugh Laurie out of character-I think on Leno maybe-I thought at first the accent he was speaking in was fake. I had no idea he was British until I heard him not in character.
With that said-here in my beloved home state of Kentucky, we have quite a scattering of accents even for a relatively small state. Louisville tends to have more of a neutral mid-west accent with just a touch of Southern thrown in on certain words. South and west of Louisville tends to steer you toward a strange mix of mid-western and a Nashville, TN type accent. Central Kentucky-from which I hale-has a distinctive with a touch of a southern drawl and a touch of "country." Move up toward Northern KY and you get a bit of a northern twang. The deeper you get into the mountains of Eastern KY, the more you get into a country-type accent with its own pecularities.
I can pretty well tell where someone is from in Kentucky-sometimes down to a radius of a few counties when we're talking Eastern KY-but to others it's just a generic country/southern accent. I can pretty well recognize a native of Pikeville-or "Pack-vuhl"-quickly. I know I have my own nuances-just for example I was teaching not too long ago and had to carefully enunciate to distinguish between the metal "tin" and the number "ten." I had my students lost for a minute
. In addition, looking at the south as a whole, I think folks tend to think of two or maybe three accents. In particular, you have the Georgia/SC/NC/Virginia coastal "Southern Belle" accent, the Texas drawl, and perhaps the New Orleans accent. In reality, there are a lot of in-betweens and a lot of characteristics of each of those that slip into folks in other areas. Appalachian accents could be a topic all of their own, and there again they are distinctive and do vary along the length of the mountain range.
Although I live in the midlands, my accent is very much from Essex. This week whilst in LA I must have been accused 5 times of being Australian.
Really?
Really?
I live in Wales with a Midlands accent lol. I don't notice my own accent though and think it's pretty neutral but my Welsh friends notice it.
Yeah I've been asked where in Australia I'm from when in the US. Most Americans I've met have heard of New South Wales but not Wales in the UK. I just say 'Wales' and they just accept it and are none the wiser lol.