English accents are usually either cockney or Liverpudlian.
Its like they have listened to Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins or watched old footage of the Beatles and think this is how British people speak.
One of the worse accents I have ever heard was an American actor trying to play a cockney in one of the
Oceans films with George Clooney, I can't remember which one.
Joseph Fiennes in FlashForward, Damien Lewis in Band of Brothers are two British actors who do a great American accent as far as I can tell. Oh, and Hugh Laurie in House!
"...Saying Cockney would imply Daphne was from the South of England, more specifically, London..."
Regardless of the authenticity of the accents, that statement above is likely to cause offence to southerners!
A "cockney" is specifically from the East End of London, someone that was born "within the sound of Bow Bells" to be exact. (Bow Bells referring to the bells of St Mary Le Bow church).
When I first started watching Sanctuary I couldn't get used to Amanda Tapping's accent, I'm not sure what the problem was but it just didn't sound right to me.
I certainly can understand what you are saying (or what the point of this thread is about), but in all honesty, you all are not the target audience for American television program(me)s. We are. lol. And we really only need to know a few octaves in the full range of British style accents.
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Posh (and I don't mean Victoria Beckham)/Maid/Butler
The best friend (female)/the new guy (male)
the Villain (this type of Brit on American tv is well documented on digital spy)
anything else and we just don't care. Really, how can you blame us for not knowing the full range of accents your country offers. I think many of us are going to scratch our heads when we hear Cheryl Cole as it is speculated on DS that she is poised to "crack America." I think unless she has some endearing quality or wacky British eccentricity (which can be an endearing quality), then she's probably not going to win over the country.
I think it's akin to you not knowing the difference between a Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Staten Island accent, or a south Boston or North Boston. Even many Americans dont see those differences, hence the typical New Yawk accent you hear on films (there's alwyays a posh style and a street style) l t's television trying to appeal to the larger masses. It's really not that important in the bigger picture, is it? But it's fun to talk about.
I remember years ago I lived in San Francisco and worked for a San Francisco based company which was bought out by a North Carolina company. Talk about culture shock. Really there were people who actually ate grits and talked about it? We also kept hearing sly little rumo(u)rs that they were joking about how "gay" the guys sounded on the west coast (northern california), but then we joked about how redneck they sounded. We did however think we sounded pretty sophisticated. :D
It just goes to show you, everywhere you go there are variations in speech and we cannot possibly know them all. Even here in Hawai'i, there is pidgin, there's "local", there's "local but educated on the mainland", there's mainland transplant. Though people seem to agree Rob Schneider's impersonation of a local Hawai'i guy in that Drew Barrymore film "50 First Dates" was spot on.
(where's the spinning head smiley?)
My question, in that 60s film "To Sir with Love" , they are supposed to be from East London. Do they still speak in that similar intonation? Now I would guess that many accents in the US and UK have been watered down or merged into others. The old Chicago accent before World War II is not one you hear anymore in person and in films, it seems to have disapeared for example.
***this is partly in jest that I write this btw.. I think the butler/maid/nanny persona has largely disappeared but remains in older sitcoms.
I always found it quite odd that Daphne in Fraiser had such a poor British accent when she was actually British. She used the same dreadful accent when she was in Desperate Housewives as well.
No really a british accent but i liked how general it was they made Ashley Jensen keep her scottish accent on ugly betty. They made the character as a true scot not a a woman who happens to have a scottish accent but lives in the US.
Trey's cousin Caleb in Sex and the City drove me crazy! He was completely indistinguishable to anyone Scottish, never mind anyone from anywhere else. He was supposed to be from Edinburgh - if anything he sounded slightly Irish to me.
I can't watch Hugh Laurie on House without laughing my head off. It reminds me so much of his character in the recurring sketch in "A Little Bit of Fry & Laurie" of a US soap opera based in a sports centre in Uttoxeter.
Trey's cousin Caleb in Sex and the City drove me crazy! He was completely indistinguishable to anyone Scottish, never mind anyone from anywhere else. He was supposed to be from Edinburgh - if anything he sounded slightly Irish to me.
They never explained how Trey had the american accent while his family were all scottish. The actress who played his mother had a terrible american accent as i assume she is british in real life.
They never explained how Trey had the american accent while his family were all scottish. The actress who played his mother had a terrible american accent as i assume she is british in real life.
Really? I thought that she had a upper class New England accent. I always imagined that she hadn't spent very much time in Scotland, as she has such a romantic, old fashioned view of being Scottish and even she struggled to understand Caleb.
To change the subject slightly but on a similar theme, it really annoyed me in the Friends episode where Ross married Emily that they had an American type wddding. i.e. where the bridesmaids walk down the aisle first with all other members of the wedding party and then the Bride and father of the bride come in last. Correct me if I'm wrong but every British wedding I have been involved in or been to the Bride and father come in followed by the bridesmaids. All other members of the wedding party are already seated. Emily was British and the wedding was in London so it should have been a British wedding.
I think its much easier to do a British accent by the Americans than for us British people to do American accents with ease.
I think so, whenever I've seen a British person try to do American first they get this look of anger/disgust and crunch up their face, and then it comes out in short bursts, and sounds like their talking through their nose. Then everyone including them falls on the floor laughing. It's very funny usually.
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Its like they have listened to Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins or watched old footage of the Beatles and think this is how British people speak.
One of the worse accents I have ever heard was an American actor trying to play a cockney in one of the
Oceans films with George Clooney, I can't remember which one.
Great actor as well, but just awful, awful....
Thats the one, all, apples and pears guv'nor
Very true. It's just strange that the actor who plays Kyle is a Somerset lad. Ooo arrr.
And he can't sustain it, either. He keeps slipping back into American.
To be fair, though, most Brits can't do American accents very well either.
Regardless of the authenticity of the accents, that statement above is likely to cause offence to southerners!
A "cockney" is specifically from the East End of London, someone that was born "within the sound of Bow Bells" to be exact. (Bow Bells referring to the bells of St Mary Le Bow church).
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anything else and we just don't care. Really, how can you blame us for not knowing the full range of accents your country offers. I think many of us are going to scratch our heads when we hear Cheryl Cole as it is speculated on DS that she is poised to "crack America." I think unless she has some endearing quality or wacky British eccentricity (which can be an endearing quality), then she's probably not going to win over the country.
I think it's akin to you not knowing the difference between a Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Staten Island accent, or a south Boston or North Boston. Even many Americans dont see those differences, hence the typical New Yawk accent you hear on films (there's alwyays a posh style and a street style) l t's television trying to appeal to the larger masses. It's really not that important in the bigger picture, is it? But it's fun to talk about.
I remember years ago I lived in San Francisco and worked for a San Francisco based company which was bought out by a North Carolina company. Talk about culture shock. Really there were people who actually ate grits and talked about it? We also kept hearing sly little rumo(u)rs that they were joking about how "gay" the guys sounded on the west coast (northern california), but then we joked about how redneck they sounded. We did however think we sounded pretty sophisticated.
It just goes to show you, everywhere you go there are variations in speech and we cannot possibly know them all. Even here in Hawai'i, there is pidgin, there's "local", there's "local but educated on the mainland", there's mainland transplant. Though people seem to agree Rob Schneider's impersonation of a local Hawai'i guy in that Drew Barrymore film "50 First Dates" was spot on.
(where's the spinning head smiley?)
My question, in that 60s film "To Sir with Love" , they are supposed to be from East London. Do they still speak in that similar intonation? Now I would guess that many accents in the US and UK have been watered down or merged into others. The old Chicago accent before World War II is not one you hear anymore in person and in films, it seems to have disapeared for example.
***this is partly in jest that I write this btw.. I think the butler/maid/nanny persona has largely disappeared but remains in older sitcoms.
I think that's her natural accent. If you listen to her on HIGNFY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmZvY5kITvw) and on DH (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnSYga0n-p8) its pretty much the same and I doubt she's faking it on HIGNFY.
I dunno, it seems like something my nan would say
It is an archaic word for an umbrella. Wikipedia says it was used in the 19th century in America.
Angelina Jolie's british accent for Tomb raider wasn't bad either.
I can't watch Hugh Laurie on House without laughing my head off. It reminds me so much of his character in the recurring sketch in "A Little Bit of Fry & Laurie" of a US soap opera based in a sports centre in Uttoxeter.
"Damn you, Marjorie!"
They never explained how Trey had the american accent while his family were all scottish. The actress who played his mother had a terrible american accent as i assume she is british in real life.
Really? I thought that she had a upper class New England accent. I always imagined that she hadn't spent very much time in Scotland, as she has such a romantic, old fashioned view of being Scottish and even she struggled to understand Caleb.
I think so, whenever I've seen a British person try to do American first they get this look of anger/disgust and crunch up their face, and then it comes out in short bursts, and sounds like their talking through their nose. Then everyone including them falls on the floor laughing. It's very funny usually.
But then, we would say that- maybe the Americans find them as unconvincing as we find their Brit accents!