Och Aye The Noo - Hoots Mon - See You Jummy

[Tony]

Christopher Lambert in Highlander.
Not good at all. (but better than Connery's Portuguese)

[OC Richard]

This accent thing is a real interest of mine, since I work in tourism here in Orange County California and I talk to people from all over the world every day (and I mean ALL over... even Vanuatu).

We can only really judge, I suppose, how well others can mimick our own local speech. But even to an American, most of the Scottish accents one hears put on by actors are horrid.

The worst I've heard, I think, are of course Dick Van Dyke's embarrassing attempt at Cockney. But have you heard Charlton Heston's "West Country" or "pirate" accent in Treasure Island? It's up there with the worst. In general, Americans trying to do an Australian or South African accent makes me want to run for the door.

I'm often astonished at how well others can do a "general American" accent, such as the star of the new Avatar movie, Bob Hoskins in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Hugh Lawrie in House.

I'm originally from West Virginia and what grates on my ears all the time are Hollywood actors (brought up in New York or LA) doing horrid "Southern" accents. Some of our well-known actors are actually from the South but for some reason casting directors cast NY/LA types to do "Southern" parts and the results makes you squirm in your seat.

Hollywood's attempts at West Virginian accents are usually terrible. Remember Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind?
The best West Virginia accent I think I've heard is Chris Cooper in October Sky. In that same move Laura Dern's accent is awful- she says "y'all" for example.

Anyhow, a picture's worth a thousand words, and here's a guy from London doing horrid accents from all over Britain:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn3_bYcAnWI

Here's the same guy doing atrocious American accents:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG0Ecf-zHSI

Here's a woman who's pretty good. I think she's from Seattle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k

Now, enough with people "doing" accents which aren't their own!! Here are some REAL genuine US accents!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIZgw09CG9E

Now here is how all my relatives back home talk, pretty much:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03iwA...eature=related

I'm in SoCal and this is pretty much how my kids talk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM_iG5N83do&feature=fvw

And here are some of the attitudes that people in the US have towards our own speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vF9g...eature=related

[macwilkin]

In general, Americans trying to do an Australian or South African accent makes me want to run for the door.

Quite a few Rhodies gave Leo DeCap. props for his Rhodesian accent in "Blood Diamond", though, and I've heard a few folks say Matt Damon didn't do too bad of a job with the Afrikaaner accent in "Invictus".

While I love "The Big Easy", my mother-in-law is not a fan of Dennis Quaid's attempt at a Cajun accent, the most glaring error being his pronounciation of the word "Cher", which should be "Sha".

Of course, Cajun and Creole are not the same thing! Movies and television shows that have NOLA residents talking like Cajuns are dead wrong! The NOLA accent sounds more like a Brooklyn accent; my father-in-law is frequently asked on the phone whether he's from there or Boston!

T.

[Lachlan09]

The NOLA accent sounds more like a Brooklyn accent; my father-in-law is frequently asked on the phone whether he's from there or Boston!T.

It's funny you should mention that Cajun. I read somewhere a similar thing that it sounds a bit like New Jersey and indeed a New Orleans colleague who worked with me in London was just like that. Words like "boid" for "bird" etc.

He didn't sound at all like Cajuns or rural Louisiana people I've heard on travel progs.

Talking about "The Big Easy". what did you think of Ned Beatty's accent ?

[macwilkin]

It's funny you should mention that Cajun. I read somewhere a similar thing that it sounds a bit like New Jersey and indeed a New Orleans colleague who worked with me in London was just like that. Words like "boid" for "bird" etc.

He didn't sound at all like Cajuns or rural Louisiana people I've heard on travel progs.

Talking about "The Big Easy". what did you think of Ned Beatty's accent ?

Beatty actually did pretty well on the NOLA accent. He sounds a lot like my father-in-law, who has little to no French blood in him, Cajun or Creole -- He is mostly English and Irish in heritage.

T.

[OC Richard]

I work with a couple guys from New Orleans and their accent is a gentle Southern accent with, as you guys are saying, a New-York like way of saying "r" before continuants in words like "girl" and "burn". Not quite "goil" and "boyne" but maybe halfway between "goil" and "gull", and "boyne" and "bunn".

[macwilkin]

I work with a couple guys from New Orleans and their accent is a gentle Southern accent with, as you guys are saying, a New-York like way of saying "r" before continuants in words like "girl" and "burn". Not quite "goil" and "boyne" but maybe halfway between "goil" and "gull", and "boyne" and "bunn".

Yep, that's pretty much it. the Southern accent may come from what part of the city you're from; i.e. the Garden District vs. the Lower 9th Ward.

T.

[MacLowlife]

Does anybody remember "Bubble" from Absolutely Fabulous? I see her name is Jane Horrocks and she had a fairly pronounced one- I will depend on others to judge whether it was good or bad.

To my ear, the trick (for a Scots' accent) is turning the "short" i into an e in words like "distillery" and, of course, the comic air leak of Rowan Atkinson's crazy people, who seem to be hissing while they build up sufficient pressure to actually speak.

I believe Robert DuVall's southern (US) accent is convincing and Chris Cooper generally does a good job. There was a minor actor in a minor film called DREAM LOVER ( which starred James Spader and Madchen Amick) who managed a quick Texas accent that sounded authentic, but soft and genteel. I think he says "Mister, she did things to me I couldn't even pronounce" but maybe that is what I would like Madchen Amick to do to me...

Christopher Guest manages a nice inoffensive southern accent in BEST IN SHOW. I think he does well with accents generally, too.

Peter Capaldi's accent in LOCAL HERO may be authentic based on his having grown up in Glasgow.

[thescot]

Lachlan09, you did OK unitl you stepped on the 39 Steps. You just can't be dissing a classic like that!

I, like OC Richards, have a real tender spot for the likes of Archie Bunker trying to do a Mississippi accent. I rememer trying to watch In the Heat of the Night, and Carroll O'Conner called the other guy, "Voigil." I never watched it again. I'd have been OK if they just hadn't tried to sound Southern.

Of course, my own attempts at other accents are perfect, but, well, there you are. When I affect a Scottish sccent to read Burns on the 16th next, I feel certain that all will find it terrific. ("Tha'ts a joke, son, don't you know a joke when you hear it?" Foghorn Leghorn)

And, Todd, having graduated from high school in New Orleans, I can verify exactly what you say. My girl friend in high school (whose family was made up mostly of attorneys and such) had an almost refined Southern speech, more akin to Jimmy Carter's than to anyone in the 9th Ward. And the real, sure enough Cajun friend of mine, Francis Lange, from Thibidoux, sounded like Hercule Poirot to my unaccustomed ear. ( I know Poirot is Belgian, not French, but that's another issue.)

Fact is, I like Mike Myers's Scottish accent better than most, but since his father was from Scotland, I guess he had a head start.

Being such a nomadic hybrid, I, of course, have no accent. oop: But I suspect that all of us are OK with fake accents unless it comes from someone trying to sound like us!

One last annecdote: when I was in England in 1988 for a conference, a couple of the locals asked us if we could sound "British," so we tried. (There folks there from Ireland, Scotland, all parts of England, Waled, etc.) After giving it by best, one fellow from the Potteries (is that right?) asked me, "Why do all Americans try to sound like bloody Londoners? And posh Londoners at that." Guess my attemtp was a stinker as well.

[macwilkin]

Lachlan09, you did OK unitl you stepped on the 39 Steps. You just can't be dissing a classic like that!

I, like OC Richards, have a real tender spot for the likes of Archie Bunker trying to do a Mississippi accent. I rememer trying to watch In the Heat of the Night, and Carroll O'Conner called the other guy, "Voigil." I never watched it again. I'd have been OK if they just hadn't tried to sound Southern.

Of course, my own attempts at other accents are perfect, but, well, there you are. When I affect a Scottish sccent to read Burns on the 16th next, I feel certain that all will find it terrific. ("Tha'ts a joke, son, don't you know a joke when you hear it?" Foghorn Leghorn)

And, Todd, having graduated from high school in New Orleans, I can verify exactly what you say. My girl friend in high school (whose family was made up mostly of attorneys and such) had an almost refined Southern speech, more akin to Jimmy Carter's than to anyone in the 9th Ward. And the real, sure enough Cajun friend of mine, Francis Lange, from Thibidoux, sounded like Hercule Poirot to my unaccustomed ear. ( I know Poirot is Belgian, not French, but that's another issue.)

Fact is, I like Mike Myers's Scottish accent better than most, but since his father was from Scotland, I guess he had a head start.

Being such a nomadic hybrid, I, of course, have no accent. oop: But I suspect that all of us are OK with fake accents unless it comes from someone trying to sound like us!

One last annecdote: when I was in England in 1988 for a conference, a couple of the locals asked us if we could sound "British," so we tried. (There folks there from Ireland, Scotland, all parts of England, Waled, etc.) After giving it by best, one fellow from the Potteries (is that right?) asked me, "Why do all Americans try to sound like bloody Londoners? And posh Londoners at that." Guess my attemtp was a stinker as well.

Sort of like my friend Alex, who was from Leith -- he always said that Americans attempting a Scottish accent always sound like "weegies". He also would mention Andy Stewart's "The Rumour" as a good way to learn the different accents of Scotland.

Where did you go to high school in New Orleans? My mother-in-law went to Warren Easton.

T.