Ah! I totally dropped the ball on your point about regions! How did I miss that?!

But seriously, though, it does seem that even Native Scots are sounding less and less 'Scottish' among the younger generations. For example, the red-headed lass (Amy Pond) on "Dr Who"...or the crannagh (spelling) expert on the first episode of "A History of Scotland" (BBC, Neil Oliver hosted).

Perhaps the answer is all of the following: gaelic's decline, globalisation, education abroad, television, pop-culture, modernity, mobile populations living and working farther afield...

I also agree that the Native Scots I've met have quite varried accents. I've met folk from Edinburgh, Glasgow, the Western Isles, and the Borders. None of them sounded the same but the older ones sounded distinctly "Scottish" compared to the younger ones...who sounded less immediately identifiable.

Maybe I need to get my ears checked. Probably all that loud Rock N Roll music.