I have heard so many Brits saying they do not like American accents lately. First, I heard that Paul McCartney didn’t want his crazy ex-wife raising their daughter in America because he didn’t want his daughter speaking with an American accent. At the time I thought that maybe McCartney was as crazy as the gold digger he married. He doesn’t seem worried about this insane woman raising his daughter, he just doesn’t want her speaking like an American. It seems the priorities are a little out of whack there.
Then a couple of nights ago I heard some British actor on Leno saying that he liked working in America because of the money and opportunity but he hated hearing himself on television because he’s sounding like an American. He said something to the effect that he’s anxious to get back to England so he could get his own accent back and not feel like a traitor for leaving their to come here to make money.
Again I thought the dude might be a little crazy. I wondered why he didn’t just go on back to Britain and make his money there. Oh. Wait. That’s why he’s here. To make money off us. We are good enough for giving him tons of money but not good enough for him to have to live among us. They certainly don’t want to BE like us or SOUNDING like us!
What is an American accent anyway? When I go to different parts of the country I hear a lot of different accents. As a Southerner I know that there are a lot of different Southern accents. Many people think we all sound the same, but I can tell a difference between a Georgia, Tennessean, Carolinian, Alabamian, etc. accent. They are very different. When I lived in Michigan there were a couple of distinct accents I noticed there. The people in Ann Arbor spoke very differently than the people in Lansing. In my experience, that is true throughout the country.
For that matter, the same thing is true in England as well. I’ve noticed different accents from the English. For instance, the royal family speak differently than the every day people of England. The English speak differently than the Scottish or the Welsh.
I was more than a little insulted on hearing all these comments about American accents being dull. So naturally I thought about that when I was reading an article earlier about Prince Charles and his wife Camilla traveling in the Caribbean. I started wondering if I moved to Britain would I be required to take on that snooty facial expression they seem to have permanently chiseled onto their faces? Do they practice that or is it something they are born with?
They are pictured here visiting the Bob Marley Reggae Museum. I thought, ‘Who’s dull?’. Look at their faces in the picture above and tell me WHO ARE THE DULL ONES! Pluuuueeezzzeeee. Even Bob Marley’s widow, Rita Marley, looks like she’s bored out of her mind.
These two look like the life of the party. :rolleyes:
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Gee, Joe. Does that mean you don’t like me?
May 5th, 2008 at 7:29 am
I live in Louisiana. We southerners of the United States have a very Irish influenced accent. The “r” sound for example in the united states. We Americans actually pronounce it. A lot of people don’t know this but, American accents are closer to the “older” and more “original” british than the modern British accents are today. The Brits accents changed while we almost stayed the same to the original English.
For example, notice how the British say “report”. It sounds more like “repolt”. Where’s your freaking “R” sound at you damn limey?!
I don’t have a problem with our British cousins across the waters (we’re all the same) but they have this attitude like they made America or something and that we changed all this stuff. For exmaple, they say something about us calling soccer, soccer. Instead of calling it football. They’re the ones that gave it the name soccer and now they bitch at us for calling it that instead of football! Yeah we changed a few words up like favor instead of favour. What use does that “u” really have anyway?
- Brandon
June 11th, 2008 at 12:59 am
Why does everybody make a big deal about this stuff, very few people are actually making any sense. I’m from California, U.S.A. and i’m discussed by how many problems we cause. I don’t know much about people in the U.K., but I bet you if we didn’t make stupid unnecessary arguments such as this they probably wouldn’t think so low about us(which is probably just a stereotype, but i’m not completely sure.) I’m sick of other people in this country giving us a bad name! I only hope that we can develope and become a greater nation, afterall we are one of the newer countries. I don’t mean to make anybody mad, I just want to let the rest of you Americans know that it’s our fault also.
Wahooooo
(p.s. yes, i’m very weird)
September 17th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
For one, I love the contrasts between the NYC area (circa Brooklyn) and Boston accents, talk about sports rivalries.
On the other foot, more and more Bostonians are slowly pronouncing their Rs and instead of “Paking the Cah at Hahvad Yahd”, more are actually “Parking” it for real at Harvard. So all and all, the US is more homogeneous but with some regional differences.
With 300 million persons, it’s easy for an American to forget one’s heritage and I believe, that’s kinda what the American system wants to build a united country. For example, is it beneficial for a Turkish majority township and an Armenian neighborhood to be constantly bickering over the world war I holocaust, thousands of miles and a century removed from the event via the great grandchildren? Perhaps not, the US govt would want those descendants to intermarry, forget about the Caucasus, and fight together against Communism (or whatever) for Uncle Sam.
So I think many international people, who already have money, don’t want their kids to become Americans so they try to send them to prep schools abroad to stop the homogenization and live in diasporas.
December 4th, 2008 at 9:10 am
omg we are the same just speak a bit diff you no :L
December 4th, 2008 at 9:11 am
i meen thay are the same just speck a bitt diff