In priase of British people doing their best American accent

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Adam L. wrote, long ago:

I have to spend all day listening to fake British accents as for some reason people seem happy to mimic the things I am saying in the style of a faux-Dickensian urchin.

Why is it that Americans doing British accents is so pathetic and awful but British people doing American accents is the cutest thing ever?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 13 January 2005 21:52 (twenty-one years ago)

C.f. Eric Idle as the producer in "Scott of the Antarctic" where it's like "Why is he talking like that?" and then it's "OMG that's his American accent wtf it's so wrong! Don't ever stop!"

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 13 January 2005 21:53 (twenty-one years ago)

On the other hand Tracy Ulman's American accent is so good it's mindboggling.

― martin m. (mushrush), Thursday, 13 January 2005 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Why is it that Americans doing British accents is so pathetic and awful but British people doing American accents is the cutest thing ever?

WRONG
see: jude law in I Heart Huckabees

― lemin (lemin), Thursday, 13 January 2005 21:55 (twenty-one years ago)

In fact I dunno which is more attractive. The charming "accent isn't right" or the downright impressive "holy shit she sounds like one of my relatives even though I know she doesn't really talk that way."

― martin m. (mushrush), Thursday, 13 January 2005 21:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Martin OTM re Ullman.

I'm so not going to see I ♥ Huckabees, what's the story there?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 13 January 2005 21:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I can do many British accents, but I have to admit that faux-Dickensian urchin is by far the most entertaining for fellow Americans and the most irritating to my English friends - i.e. the best of both worlds.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 13 January 2005 21:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I tried to imitate Ali G the other day but it ended up sounding too posh. :(

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 13 January 2005 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I love it when Conan O'Brien starts singing: "Consider yourself, at home... Consider yourself, part of the family" in the American-faux-Dickensian-urchin accent ever!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 13 January 2005 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Also I admit I really want to finally meet Adam and mimic everything he says in this wretched accent. Maybe adding in a bunch of "guvner"s and "blimey!"s for good measure. It sounds like it would be hours of entertainment (for me and only me).

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 13 January 2005 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm still working on a Dizzee impression. Not quite ready for the public yet, though.

― Pears can just fuck right off. (kenan), Thursday, 13 January 2005 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the pall that hangs over Americans doing British accents horribly can be summed up in nine words and a mathematical symbol:

Keanu Reeves in Dracula + Kevin Costner in Robin Hood

― martin m. (mushrush), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I feel like there's some cosmic pull going on that only works in one direction, like when I'm talking to my english co-worker I have to STRUGGLE not to slip into his accent, yet I've only once heard his midwestern accent.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:00 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe accents like that just suck in movies. for all jude law's charm, the way he spoke was just utterly unbearable.

― lemin (lemin), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Anna F does a fine line in impressions of various American ilxers.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I am a terrible accent glommer -- when I visit my father in South Carolina I pick up a slight southern drawl, and when I trawled through Canada my accent got all kerscrewy. (And everyone always says to me "You don't sound like you're from New York" and I don't know whether I'm disappointing them or what.)

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm missing a "best" in my last post, but I think it's pretty obvious.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I try to stop myself from slipping into people's accents. When I catch myself doing it, it makes me feel like Zelig.

― Pears can just fuck right off. (kenan), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Also I think we are exposed to American accents through TV, films, music etc far more than people in the US are exposed to British accents.

(Haha Daphne's brother from Frasier to thread)

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Where do you come down on Mr. Marsters as Spike?

― martin m. (mushrush), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Also I admit I really want to finally meet Adam and mimic everything he says in this wretched accent.

My current boss is a self-confessed "Anglophile" (as is everyone I seem to meet! Except gygax I guess!) and he delights in doing this and pointing out how I say vi-timans instead of vy-tamins, etc.

― .adam (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I can do a passable transantlantic. I can also imitate the voice of Moe from The Simpsons and most of Sarah's relatives.

― .adam (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:26 (twenty-one years ago)

STRAIGHT OUTTA UXBRIDGE

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I was about to throw a minor strop at you spelling theatre 'theater' today, but decided that might be a bit wanky*.

*You do remember what 'wanky' means, don't you Adam?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:27 (twenty-one years ago)

what about Nancy Cartwright and her accents? Bart has an odd fascination with cockney at times...

― kingfish (Kingfish), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:30 (twenty-one years ago)

why does val kilmer have an irish accent in ALEXANDER?

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:35 (twenty-one years ago)

"Clean as a whistle, sharp as a thistle, best in all Westminster!" I love Bart's cockney.

What about Helena Bonham-Carter's American accent in Fight Club?

― Richard C (avoid80), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't even know Bob Hoskins was British for a long time. He's good.

― Magic City (ano ano), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:41 (twenty-one years ago)

that's very charitable of you to say so.

― .adam (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:46 (twenty-one years ago)

I can usually tell if someone's doing a cross-border English language accent but Rachel Griffiths, who otherwise has a perfectly normal (to me) Australian accent does a great American accent.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:46 (twenty-one years ago)

what about Nancy Cartwright and her accents? Bart has an odd fascination with cockney at times...

Well, we all know where the Simpsons got its start...

― martin m. (mushrush), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't even know Bob Hoskins was British for a long time. He's good.

OTM

― martin m. (mushrush), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I liked how Kenneth Branagh's American accent in Dead Again was basically him saying "okay, okay, okay, okay," really fast after every paragraph.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:50 (twenty-one years ago)

perhaps it was his audition for the Woody Allen flick

― kingfish (Kingfish), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Hiiiiii, I'm American. Y'all take care now!

*scratches groinal area*

― .adam (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Bart Simpson's cockney accent is the worst since Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins.

― The Horse of Babylon (the pirate king), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:52 (twenty-one years ago)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/35723000/jpg/_35723537_ocean_11_150b.jpg
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/35723000/jpg/_35723537_ocean_11_150b.jpg
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/35723000/jpg/_35723537_ocean_11_150b.jpg
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/35723000/jpg/_35723537_ocean_11_150b.jpg

― .adam (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:53 (twenty-one years ago)

whenever i got the opportunity to hang out with a brit, i have them say american slang in an american accent over and over. "hey duuude. wut up? i'm straight chillin', holmes". endless amusement. for me at least.

― quasmarlemeu, Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I get my wife to say "Millwall is a dodgy area" in a plummy British voice. Then I get her to say "Bri'ish Fea'er" (British Theatre) with all those wonderful glottal stops. It's good for the digestion.

― .adam (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I have mentioned this before, but I have a Scottish friend who whenever he visits the U.S. takes it upon himself to repeat the words "HOT DOG" and "HAMBURGER" over and over in an American accent.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Mmmmm..hot dog...hamburger...

― The Horse of Babylon (the pirate king), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually (x-post) that character from Ocean's Eleven. Why was he supposed to be from London? It added nothing to the story. Surely it would have been simpler to either a)get an English actor or b)make the character American.

― The Horse of Babylon (the pirate king), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:59 (twenty-one years ago)

(Haha Daphne's brother from Frasier to thread)

Amusingly, that was Anthony LaPaglia who isnt American anyway, he is Australian! You wouldnt know it tho.

No one seems to be able to do Australian accents at all right. They always come out terribly over the top or, in the case of brits, with a strange US twang (see the Fast Show's Carl Hooper character).

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Thye wanted Don Cheadle and they also wanted to rip Lock, Stock so they combined all this into one miserable character.

― .adam (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:05 (twenty-one years ago)

oh and...HOT DAWG...HAMBURRRGURRR!

― .adam (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Bart Simpson's cockney accent is the worst since Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins.

that's because the former is completely based on the latter - bob's yerrunkel mite!

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't even know Bob Hoskins was British for a long time. He's good.

"Luigi, we're da ailyunz!"

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Hiiiiii, I'm American. Y'all take care now!

Generic American accent : Overly Southern American accent :: Generic British accent : Cockney

― martin m. (mushrush), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:17 (twenty-one years ago)

ROFL@MARIO

― .adam (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Thye wanted Don Cheadle and they also wanted to rip Lock, Stock so they combined all this into one miserable character.

but it was Ocean's ELEVEN! Surely they could have found space within those eleven for Don Cheadle AND a cock-er-nee gangster?

― The Horse of Babylon (the pirate king), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:22 (twenty-one years ago)

"Bri'ish Fea'er"

Some British boor in an airport was upbraiding Americans for our habit of eliding the 't' in, say, water, and pronouncing it 'wadder' and I nodded in agreement but replied, "You mean li(k)e a bo(tt)le of wa(t)er" in my best London accent with all the glo(tt)al stops and he made a face of the utmost disgust and I resumed speaking French to my ex-wife to his disgust.

BTW, adam, thanks for spelling 'Fea'er' out for us. I know you now know how to spell it from your thread today, but your solicitude here is touching.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:32 (twenty-one years ago)

When we announced our engagement, a woman at Sarah's mother's office ran up to her just to tell her that "DOZENS" of Englishmen had been knocking on doors around her neighbourhood (bear in mind that we are talking about Northeastern Indiana) "begging for jobs".

― .adam (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:38 (twenty-one years ago)

The truth is that I courted her in a cynical move to achieve my evil plan of doing database admin for an environmental non-profit.

― .adam (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Cunning.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Anyway, can I just say that I love any thread that begins "Adam L. wrote, long ago"! I hope threads in FIFTY, A HUNDRED years still start like that! Do you think I'm going to be in Bartlett's?

― .adam (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Damn Limey Immigrants! Taking all our red-blooded, hard-workin' Marekin men's jobs!

Re: Bartlett's

Indubitably

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I wish there was a way of conveying a glottal stop without recourse to that damned unwieldy International Phonetic Alphabet.

― Ferg, Ah (Ferg), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:49 (twenty-one years ago)

oh and...HOT DAWG...HAMBURRRGURRR!

That's exactly how he says it, how'd you know?

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm "scottish"

― .adam (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Which just proves that you're not.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 13 January 2005 23:59 (twenty-one years ago)

we were watching the 'behind the scenes in the OC' thing the other day, and the old guy (calum?) started talking, and two of us said 'oh my god, he's australian?!' at the same time. not english, but a damn good american accent. i'd had no idea.

jude law in huckabees was really annoying.

i used to do fake english accent to amuse my american friends when we were at oxford when i was a teenager, but i can't do it anymore. alas.

― colette (a2lette), Friday, 14 January 2005 00:09 (twenty-one years ago)

People who do bad accents make me want to choke them until their eyes pop out.

― luna (luna.c), Friday, 14 January 2005 00:12 (twenty-one years ago)

it is probably best that we never meet...

― Stevem On X (blueski), Friday, 14 January 2005 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, luna, I wouldn't even notice I was doing it and there I'd be dead, with you throttling me Homer style. If I ever meet you I'll have to remember to wear a bevor or gorget.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 14 January 2005 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Bloody 'ell, Luna, yer feckin nets.

― martin m. (mushrush), Friday, 14 January 2005 00:35 (twenty-one years ago)

On a related subject:

T/S "Canadian" accents that are really just American accents with "eh?" tacked onto the end of every other sentence.

― martin m. (mushrush), Friday, 14 January 2005 00:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I do not want to live in a world without bad accents. Luna, get the f off the island.

― quasmarlemeu, Friday, 14 January 2005 00:37 (twenty-one years ago)

jude law can't be as bad as ewan mcgregor (unless he was always really trying to be a campy hick) can he?

― lolita corpus (lolitacorpus), Friday, 14 January 2005 00:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm told that the French way of doing an American accent is to say "wana manna gedda forrrrrr". But no one can explain what this means or how it came to be!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 14 January 2005 00:41 (twenty-one years ago)

We always think the French sound nasal but to them, we're the ones that sound nasal. That thing above is just a serious of drawn-out, vaguely midwestern long vowels strung together with (to them) anglo-saxon sounding consonants.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 14 January 2005 00:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Think the teachers in a 'Peanuts' cartoon.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 14 January 2005 00:45 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, i always wondered what english sounds like to people who don't understand it.

― cutty (mcutt), Friday, 14 January 2005 00:59 (twenty-one years ago)

T/S "Canadian" accents that are really just American accents with "eh?" tacked onto the end of every other sentence.

oot and aboot

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 14 January 2005 01:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, yeah, but if you add "oot," "aboot," and things like "I live in that hoos," then you're starting to venture closer to a decent Canadian accent. I'm talking about the ones so bad that all they do is add "eh." Or maybe they start by saying "oot and aboot" but then quickly forget any of the different vowel sounds because they're not talented enough to concentrate on keeping the accent and talking at the same time, so they just fall back on "eh?" at the end of everything.

Okay I think it's pretty clear that my T/S was rhetorical now. Carry on...

― martin m. (mushrush), Friday, 14 January 2005 01:16 (twenty-one years ago)

(Mind you when I said "venture closer to a decent Canadian accent," I still didn't mean actually get there.)

― martin m. (mushrush), Friday, 14 January 2005 01:17 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry martin, i'm tired. how about you, eh?

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 14 January 2005 01:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh jeez, eh. I'm tired too. Now talkin aboot Canadian accents I keep hearing Rick Moranis in my head.

"It's the last one. It's a jelly."

― martin m. (mushrush), Friday, 14 January 2005 01:33 (twenty-one years ago)

The funny thing is that "aboot" is really pronounced closer to "aboat".

The truth is that I courted her in a cynical move to achieve my evil plan of doing database admin for an environmental non-profit.

(Is that what you're doing these days?)

― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 14 January 2005 01:43 (twenty-one years ago)

No no, not like THAT - actually I meant Nicole Kidman. I just hate her.

― luna (luna.c), Friday, 14 January 2005 06:33 (twenty-one years ago)

john cleese at the end of fish called wanda is pretty good.

― g--ff (gcannon), Friday, 14 January 2005 08:46 (twenty-one years ago)

blistering horror: kenneth branagh in celebrity.

― g--ff (gcannon), Friday, 14 January 2005 08:49 (twenty-one years ago)

i think mr d cheadle obliquely made fun of his shitty cockney accent on stewart a few night ago. wishful thinking maybe.

― g--ff (gcannon), Friday, 14 January 2005 08:56 (twenty-one years ago)

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