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Hey English people

Started by Nephew Twiddleton, November 13, 2012, 04:11:18 PM

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MMIX

Yup , its one of those "two nations divided by a common language" things. That said, his attempt at an american accent does sound pretty cringeworthy to me.
"The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something we make and could just as easily make differently" David Graeber

LMNO

I think it's revenge for Madonna's horrific abuse of UK mannerisms.

Nephew Twiddleton

Yeah lol- so im not sure if thats misguided pseudoauthenticity or if its flat out parody.
Strange and Terrible Organ Laminator of Yesterday's Heavy Scene
Sentence or sentence fragment pending

Soy El Vaquero Peludo de Oro

TIM AM I, PRIMARY OF THE EXTRA-ATMOSPHERIC SIMIANS

Nephew Twiddleton

Oh yeah i suppose we do deserve that dont we?
Strange and Terrible Organ Laminator of Yesterday's Heavy Scene
Sentence or sentence fragment pending

Soy El Vaquero Peludo de Oro

TIM AM I, PRIMARY OF THE EXTRA-ATMOSPHERIC SIMIANS

Cain

Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on November 14, 2012, 02:38:03 PM
I think it's revenge for Dick Van Dyke's horrific abuse of UK mannerisms.

Fixed that for you.

LMNO

Cain going old school, ITT.

Cain

You can't just expect people to forget something like this.

Are there any British actors who do American accents this bad?  All the ones I can think of tend to be pretty good (Hugh Laurie, Stephen Moyer, Andrew Lincoln) but I am sure there has to be someone awful out there.

Elder Iptuous

#22
Quote from: Cain on November 14, 2012, 03:02:37 PM
You can't just expect people to forget something like this.

Are there any British actors who do American accents this bad?  All the ones I can think of tend to be pretty good (Hugh Laurie, Stephen Moyer, Andrew Lincoln) but I am sure there has to be someone awful out there.

we have a generic 'newscaster accent' that is 'Merican, but not associated with any particular region.  it seems default to me, (and i presume most everybody, regardless of the accent they have) and i can't really see a British person having much difficulty affecting it.
If they were to try a specific regional dialect, however, i can see how they could terribly fail quite easily, even by the estimation of americans that don't use it, or even hear it on a daily basis.

is the accent that seems generic British to me (as presented, e.g. in bbc news broadcasts) associated with a certain region?
(ETA: NM. i just wiki'd it and was illuminated on 'received pronunciation')

Cain

I don't know, I mean Andrew Lincoln and Stephen Moyer are both doing regional American accents, with the former portraying someone from Georgia and the latter Louisiana.  In fact, I have a suspicion that the Deep South's accents are easier for British actors to emulate, but I need more evidence before I'm sold on the theory.

British newscasters tend to have the "Middle English" so-called accent.  It's something of a socio-economic as well as regional thing, with people from the south and east of England and usually of middle class upbringing and education most likely to speak it.  But, for instance, my accent is closer to that than the region I lived in, as were a good number of my friends.

Also, the BBC has come under a bit of criticism for its hiring practices based on accent, so nowadays you do tend to hear more Scottish accents (usually from Edinburgh/Fife), the occasional Cardiff Welsh accent and Essex.  Not so much Newcastle, Birmingham or Glasgow.  Middle English still predominates, but outside of the international newscasts is becoming less common.

Nephew Twiddleton

The southern accent sounds more authentic the worse its done. It is the south were talking about.

Brits generally do an excellent job with american tv accent. But considering that some bostonians (such as myself) cant convincingly do their own regional accent i would assume that brits would also largely screw them up.
Strange and Terrible Organ Laminator of Yesterday's Heavy Scene
Sentence or sentence fragment pending

Soy El Vaquero Peludo de Oro

TIM AM I, PRIMARY OF THE EXTRA-ATMOSPHERIC SIMIANS

Elder Iptuous

i don't recognize the names of those actors, but perhaps i've seen/heard them and simply assumed they were american. 

why would a radio broadcast be criticized for hiring based on the way the speakers sound?  that seems odd.

on a side note, it's always impressed me how there can be such density of varying accents in a relatively small area, such as the UK.

Cain

One of them is the lead character, Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead and the other is Bill in True Blood.

I was thinking more television broadcasts...the thing is, there are large regional divides in the UK, to the point of discrimination at times.  The north is far poorer than the south, the east tends to be more affluent than the west (which is a big historical change) and of course Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have well developed and historical identities.

The diversity is fairly impressive.  I know generally speaking diverse accents and languages tend to be the consequence of geography and the difficulty of travel.  Given the UK does not have that terrible geography, rain aside, I guess it's a historical thing as much as anything - peasants as property of the lords, bound to certain areas etc

Elder Iptuous

wow. yes, i've seen walking dead, and did assume that he was american.  haven't seen it since last season finished up and hit the torrents, but he has a fairly generic american accent, iirc. or did he have a drawl?

yes, i guess feudalism explains it in the absence of geographic isolation...

LMNO

Rick Grimes is British?  Wow.

There's also Damien Lewis, from Band of Brothers and Homeland.  He does a damn good job of it.

Cain

And indeed Dominic West, aka Jimmy McNulty.