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British Accents

Would some of our brothers and sisters in the UK explain to me how one can tell the difference between 2 different british accents. I watch a lot of brit tv, well not a lot, but often i do watch, like harry potter, mr bean(this man is my king of the world!) and a few others like bond james bond. I saw an interview with the woman that did the potter books talking about how she was shunned by society for having the wrong accent, but to me she sounds exactly like the others of you. And why would any society "shun" someone because of their british accent as long as they were brits and not some other nationality, i cant understand that. Are Brits really old stiffs like they are portrayed over the pond here?

And can someone tell me why brits lose their british accent when they sing. That has always perplexed me.

Reply 1

blissy

15

I have a fairly RP-ish accent (so I'm told) and an American friend can't tell the difference between me and DAPHNE from Fraiser!!! LOL. Unbelievable...

Reply 2

MattG

1

blissy

) and an American friend can't tell the difference between me and DAPHNE from Fraiser!!! LOL.

i would keep that quiet,....lol, thats well....scary

Reply 3

blissy

15

MattG

i would keep that quiet,....lol, thats well....scary

Oh no, I have an RP accent. It was the poor american's ears that were at fault! I can tell the difference between American accents and even French accents (and that's a whole different language!!)

Reply 4

GH

13

blissy

Oh no, I have an RP accent. It was the poor american's ears that were at fault! I can tell the difference between American accents and even French accents (and that's a whole different language!!)

Would that be because one of them smells of onions? And the other one is incoherent?

Reply 5

Dajoruna

9

Watching the types of programmes you have named would not give you any real indication of different British accents. In truth the British accents on American shows reflect a small percentage of the population, the likes of scouse,geordie,manc etc are far from the clipped accents of Harry Potter etc. Its easy to tell the difference between British accents if you have been in Britain for longer than a few days, the difference is vast. And as for singing and British artists well I'd disagree with you, Coldplays Chris Martin quite easily sounds like a southerner even when hes singing.

Reply 6

FoxNewsRocks

OP

the main person that comes to mind is Paul McCartney. His brit accent is so ...umm...prevalant... its hard for us yanks to understand what he says, but when he sings he seems like anyone else. Benny Hill was the only person i ever heard talk/sing that sounded very british either way.

I`m not knocking on you brits, i wish i had your accent myself. But then again i dont think i can talk as fast as a brit so i`d prolly sound like a retarded brit.

Reply 7

Everdawn

13

I can tell the difference between accents from everywhere. Its strange, Australia is the size of europe and we basically have the same accent everywhere, the only thing that changes is that people speak in slang the further west you go.

Reply 8

username9816

14

2776

Would that be because one of them smells of onions? And the other one is incoherent?

Americans smell?

Reply 9

operato

some people prefer to speak proper english... others prefer the colloquial side of talking, the slang, the accents... everyone loses their accents when they sing... you have to learn that though

Reply 10

Sianabanana

I live somewhere between Manchester and Liverpool, and accents change quite considerably in each different village, even in the same household. for example, I've been told I have quite a posh accent, which isn't really true, I just don't say "I didn't do nothing" (!) unlike a lot of people I know. My Dad's from Liverpool, my Mum from Leeds, my brother sounds like a mix between Wigan and broad Lancashire, my sister has developed the London drawl (as in "like, oh yeaaaah"), whereas my younger sister has been audibly affected by American punk/pop bands "like, oh my god". When I visited Oxford there were people from Leeds and Manchester who seemingly had no accent whatsoever, which is probably due to schooling. Even though I don't think I have an accent, it becomes more apparent when you speak to people with a "posh" accent. As a result I was something as a novelty, particularly to one Etonian, "Do I detect a northerner? Oh, what fun!". Unfortunately he and his friends seemed to believe that I'd be either thick or easy. Or both.

Just for the record I am neither. :wink:

Reply 11

zazy

1

I don't have an accent and some people call it posh...... :frown:

Reply 12

yawn1

FoxNewsRocks

the main person that comes to mind is Paul McCartney. His brit accent is so ...umm...prevalant... its hard for us yanks to understand what he says, but when he sings he seems like anyone else. Benny Hill was the only person i ever heard talk/sing that sounded very british either way.

I`m not knocking on you brits, i wish i had your accent myself. But then again i dont think i can talk as fast as a brit so i`d prolly sound like a retarded brit.

You might get the impression from the posts so far that the British accent is confined to England!

We also have Welsh, Scots and N. Ireland accents in Britain which are all hugely individual and differ totally from each and every one.

Reply 13

riffraff

1

yawn1

You might get the impression from the posts so far that the British accent is confined to England!

We also have Welsh, Scots and N. Ireland accents in Britain which are all hugely individual and differ totally from each and every one.

true- a person from kent sounds completely different from a person from tintagil or edinburgh

Reply 14

Don Quixote

Yeah, there's loads of different accents in Britain, so there are a few British accents. I don't have an accent (at least not a thick, Bolton one) but I still say things like 'on't floor' and stuff like that. And usually I don't pronounce my T's (as in poetic), sometimes I correct myself, like in English, other times, I don't bother.

You can tell where someone is from by their colloquialisms...I think.

Reply 15

EconLou

12

FoxNewsRocks

And why would any society "shun" someone because of their british accent as long as they were brits and not some other nationality, i cant understand that.

well accents can be connected to your social class, it can be considered "common" to talk with a rough accent. It tends to quite shallow people who judge others on their accent, most dont and just accept that your accent comes from where you grew up as a child. :smile:

Reply 16

riffraff

1

my friend's mum brought her up to have a posh accent deliberately because she thought that would improve her employment prospects. poor girl- she got bullied for it :frown:

Reply 17

Fleffzilla

3

Most of my relatives are from the north east, like Hartlepool, not quite as far up as Newcastle though. I've got a few Irish, Scottish and German relatives (even though they're all dead now) so my accent is a huge mix of everything really. I get ridiculed by some people for the way I say "Irish" or "Ireland" because I seem to get the accent for just those two words :frown:

I've been told that my accent is quite posh, which shocked me...
There is a HUGE difference between dialects in the UK, but most American TV shows portray the English as speaking the Queens English... Not true!

Reply 18

FoxNewsRocks

OP

What does posh mean? other than being a spice girls name

Reply 19

randdom

20

It is kind of upper class and wealthy, normally a bit spoilt and up themselves they speak like the old BBC used too, if you don't know what they sounded like it is a bit like the queen in sounding.

British Accents

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