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British Accents on American TV
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I noticed this online:
http://www.moviemistakes.com/tv3267/series8
Do you ever notice mistakes like this when you watch American television? I of course can't tell the difference.
Mel is speaking to Niles at their fake engagement party & she refers to Daphne as his Cockney tart, or something similar. Saying Cockney would imply Daphne was from the South of England, more specifically, London. We know this to be untrue as it has been mentioned in numerous other episodes that Daphne is in fact from Manchester, in the Northwest of England. Daphne also has an obvious, and typical, Northern English accent. So for Mel to call her Cockney was inaccurate. On the same theme, the character Simon, Daphne's brother, has an accent that is the complete opposite to Daphne's. He could be called a Cockney and has a strong, but fake, Southern twang. Logically, if the two of them grew up together & he still lives in Manchester (which is established in an episode) there would be no way that he would suddenly pick up a Cockney accent, even if he had lived in the South for a time. Your true accent always comes out when you go home, so to be true to life, Simon should have spoke with a Northern accent. You would think that the casting execs would have seen this pretty glaring error even though it is an American show. It's probably more obvious (and annoying) for British viewers but it's still a mistake none the less.
http://www.moviemistakes.com/tv3267/series8
Do you ever notice mistakes like this when you watch American television? I of course can't tell the difference.
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The Simpsons are usually bad at accents. Willie is ok as a Scottish characture but when they don't have an British/English actor voicing they are generally terrible.
Seth McFarlane (Family Guy) has a few UK accents up his sleeve but they are generally RP (Stewie, Nigel Pinchley and other upperclass characters) or Cockney (One If by Clam, Two If by Sea)
I agree, it's a bit annoying sometimes. I wish they would have a Brummie or Scouser or someone in their films/tv shows sometimes.
Do all Brits pronounce the same words the same way?
No, but status would not be pronounced stat-us by any Brit not trying to imitate an American accent. It would always be pronounced stayt-us. Pronouncing it stat-us supposes that it is spelt stattus...;);)
IIRC when Coronation Street and EastEnders were shown on some cable channels in the US - they had to provide subtitles...:)
I often wondered why Daphne was supposed to be from Manchester - its not like Jane did a particularly stunning accent. It was also odd that some words she used were very out of character for a northern lass only recently arrived in the US - like diaper for nappy, blood pudding rather than black pudding.
I think they chose Manchester just to be different and to show that other locations in England exist
Plus...maybe she (Daphne) was trying to assimilate herself into her US lifestyle? (and how long had she been in Seattle before getting the job, I forget...)
I'm now trying to remember how I naturally pronounce status, but I don't think its fair saying that it would not be pronounced "stay-tus" by any Brit at all.
And lets face it, they do kind of have it more on the mark when it comes to spelling matching pronunciation. Afterall, Digital Spy is a lovely blue kull-our isn't it?
Ahh Nikita or Katie Lea as she is now known. I Knew Cassy when she started out on FWA. She's had more sudonym's than the average MI5 agent.:D
And who has ever heard of a 'bumbershoot'?......:rolleyes:
For a show that prided itself on its Anglophilia, Frasier was absolutely dreadful when it came to anything British.
To be fair, quite a few Aussie and Kiwi SAS eventually serve in ours, as there is more scope for actual operations.