The British Accent - A lesson on ignorance.

[Kinguendo]

I would much prefer that people think I have the suave sounding accent that is the stereotypical accent of our nation IF I had one of the rather unpleasant ones... I am from Yorkshire but I do have an accent similar to the stereotypical one... I dont sound like a Yorkshireman at all, thankfully.

 

[Cmwissy]

snip

First off -

I say we don't really care

Then gtfo of this thread - It's cool to not care kids

I'd say British

If you can't tell two different countries accents from each-other - you're an idiot.

You're 2 small islands

There are over 6000 British islands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Isles - box on the right.

some of which can sound very similar.

No - don't post if you can't hold a decent argument.

That Geordie dialect, if I had to guess I would say it's Scottish.

Also - terribly no; as most Scotsman hate the English.

 

[Cmwissy]

If you can't tell two different countries accents from each-other - you're an idiot.

Nope, Australian. On the other side of the world here we have more important things to do than to memorise and distinguish all the British and Irish accents/dialects.

Looked it up on Wikipedia, apparently Geordie is English. Oh well, still sounds Scottish to me.
Would love to chat more, but its 6am so I'm going to bed. x_x

Don't comment on something you have no idea about - that's my advice to you.

Also the 'cant be bovered to not be an idoit' is a terribly good argument and you are a credit to the species.

 

[Scrythe]

This same rule can be applied to the "American Accent". I've noticed many people claiming that it sounds "nasal-y". But you have many various forms of American English ranging from the basic Pronunciation Nazi to the "I often forget that words end in G and T" to Brooklyn to Chicago to GIT BACK TEW YER ****'RY, Y'HEAR?

Hell, I could go on a limb and say that ANY location with a regional language has several different forms of any language like Chinese or Spanish. That's why I only get slightly offended when people refer to Spanish as "Mexican". On one hand, Mexican Spanish is quite different from, say, Spanish Spanish, or Argentinean Spanish or Cuban Spanish. On the other hand, Mexican is still not a fucking language and you are an ignorant fucking prick.

 

[Cmwissy]

Snip

Rant at the end made me smile IRL

 

[Kinguendo]

snip

First off -

I say we don't really care

Then gtfo of this thread - It's cool to not care kids

I'd say British

If you can't tell two different countries accents from each-other - you're an idiot.

You're 2 small islands

There are over 6000 British islands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Isles - box on the right.

some of which can sound very similar.

No - don't post if you can't hold a decent argument.

That Geordie dialect, if I had to guess I would say it's Scottish.

Also - terribly no; as most Scotsman hate the English.

Well you arent a pleasant person... you appear to have created this thread for people who dont live here to say something about which they understandably dont know much about so that you can correct them and be offensive in doing so, all to get your jollies out of it.

 

[Cmwissy]

Well you arent a pleasant person... you appear to have created this thread for people who dont live here to say something about which they understandably dont know much about so that you can correct them and be offensive in doing so, all to get your jollies out of it.

I must apologize greatly - this thread is 8 pages long filled with people who thought Britain is a country; first few pages I just posted some stuff about the isles; but it doesn't seem to work.

And yes, It's fine if they understand; they can call me British as I am logically, British, I do not however, have a British accent, Or British ancestry - It's a blanket term that cannot handle something that personal. I have an English accent - if you can't tell the difference between a average Scottish or Irish accent and an English one - you're a fool.

This does not mean, however, that you must label and pick out every accent, if you really don't know - don't say anything at all.

 

[Kinguendo]

Well you arent a pleasant person... you appear to have created this thread for people who dont live here to say something about which they understandably dont know much about so that you can correct them and be offensive in doing so, all to get your jollies out of it.

I must apologize greatly - this thread is 8 pages long filled with people who thought Britain is a country; first few pages I just posted some stuff about the isles; but it doesn't seem to work.

And yes, It's fine if they understand; they can call me British as I am logically, British, I do not however, have a British accent, Or British ancestry - It's a blanket term that cannot handle something that personal. I have an English accent - if you can't tell the difference between a average Scottish or Irish accent and an English one - you're a fool.

And if you really don't know - don't say anything at all.

Okay, I know it has been said but... Britain IS a country.

Also, people only describe the stereotypical "posh English" accent as "British". If you spoke to them with a lancastrian accent or perhaps a geordie accent they wouldnt have the faintest idea from whence you hailed.

 

[Cmwissy]

Okay, I know it has been said but... Britain IS a country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_state - please, don't do this to me;

It's an alliance of three(Four) countries and ALLOT of independent islands under one union and a few battling governments.

Also, people only describe the stereotypical "posh English" accent as "British". If you spoke to them with a lancastrian accent or perhaps a geordie accent they wouldnt have the faintest idea from whence you hailed.

That's kind of the problem - people have no idea about these countries other than what they see in terrible media.

 

[Kinguendo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_state - please, don't do this to me;

It's an alliance of three(Four) countries and ALLOT of independent islands under one union and a few battling governments.

I was wandering when Wikipedia would rear its ugly head, but regardless I shall continue.

Technically the United Kingdom is the country but the demonym is British.

That's kind of the problem - people have no idea about these countries other than what they see in terrible media.

Can you claim that you know the different accents of other nations? Even the difference between some asian countries?

It really doesnt matter, I know you are "angry" about it but it happens to everyone on the planet. Britain isnt special and shouldnt be held to a higher standard by the international community.

 

[Cmwissy]

Technically the United Kingdom is the country but the demonym is British.

That page was linked from the United Kingdom, not Britain - Britain is just a named filled with a bunch of places and landmass, United kingdom is the government, union-ship and all that.

Can you claim that you know the different accents of other nations?

Depends if these nations are four separate countries.

Even the difference between some Asian countries?

I wouldn't be foolish enough to even try.

It really doesnt matter, I know you are "angry" about it but it happens to everyone on the planet. Britain isnt special and shouldnt be held to a higher standard by the international community.

England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland; Should not be held differently - I agree.

Britain is four countries; each country is majorly different; I might as well take four completely different countries in Europe and say they all have a 'European accent'

It's not a understandable generalization - It's ridiculously over-generalizing.

Before you say it - Yes, I know the countries of Britain are close together But let's say the four random countries are France, Germany, Spain and Italy - They're close together.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Yeah, all very true and well written - but Americans always notice The "BRITISH" accent over our "REGIONAL BRITISH" accent. I'm from the Midlands, we visited DC, everyone knew we were British.

Hell, there's a difference between Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Birmingham. All within 20 miles of each other (roughly).

It really doesnt matter, I know you are "angry" about it but it happens to everyone on the planet. Britain isnt special and shouldnt be held to a higher standard by the international community.

This isn't making Britain "special", it's bringing people who ought to know up to date. Most of us know the grave insult of calling a Canadian American, or a Japanese man Chinese; but if someone happens to say to an Irishman "What part of England do you come from?" (Or worse "What part of London"?) they then get surprised when they get battered.

America's accents spread across their states, Britain's across their shires; but although our shires are a LOT smaller - the UK has 70 "states", and some of them even have accent variations within them.

And btw, here's those three apostrophes you missed. '''

 

[Plurralbles]

interesting retelling of whatI already knew but hey, I knew a guy named Cabbages!

 

[Kinguendo]

Technically the United Kingdom is the country but the demonym is British.

That page was linked from the United Kingdom, not Britain - Britain is just a named filled with a bunch of places and landmass, United kingdom is the government, union-ship and all that.

Can you claim that you know the different accents of other nations?

Depends if these nations are four separate countries.

Even the difference between some Asian countries?

I wouldn't be foolish enough to even try.

It really doesnt matter, I know you are "angry" about it but it happens to everyone on the planet. Britain isnt special and shouldnt be held to a higher standard by the international community.

England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland; Should not be held differently - I agree.

Britain is four countries; each country is majorly different; I might as well take four completely different countries in Europe and say they all have a 'European accent'

It's not a understandable generalization - It's ridiculously over-generalizing.

Before you say it - Yes, I know the countries of Britain are close together But let's say the four random countries are France, Germany, Spain and Italy - They're close together.

You are trying to empty the oceans with a bucket, you wont achieve anything and will look insane for attempting to do so. Also, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are painfully similar in comparison to the countries you mentioned.

 

[Cmwissy]

England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are painfully similar in comparison to the countries you mentioned.

I get funny looks in each country

You are trying to empty the oceans with a bucket, you wont achieve anything and will look insane for attempting to do so.

I just started a thread on the Escapist because I thought it would be interesting - I really only expected a page full of Americans saying 'I thought Europe was a country?'

But, the subject seems to have flowed on - so I guess goodbye and many apologies.

 

[Aphroditty]

Okay, I know it has been said but... Britain IS a country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_state - please, don't do this to me;

It's an alliance of three(Four) countries and ALLOT of independent islands under one union and a few battling governments.

Listen, dude, give it up. The United Kingdom is technically not a country, but it's the representative for the United Kingdom who sits in the UN, the United Kingdom has only one military, and the laws of the UK Parliament are sovereign within its borders. Scotland's, Wales' and Northern Ireland's governments, while certainly a callback to their time as sovereign nations, are comparable to the various state governments of the United States.

For all practical purposes, the only sense in which these places are still separate "countries" is in fact culturally and in their various accents. Now, as for your complaint--an American would usually be able to distinguish between Irish and Scottish. Everything else we would call either English or British or Islander or whatever. That is to say, we would have no idea what part of the UK you came from, but we would know you came from there--and that's the whole point. If you hear a surfer dude and a man from Brooklyn you tag them both as having American accents, despite the thousands of miles, vast differences in culture and sometimes extreme variation in the law governing these two. And that's the whole point! You would be right, because there's no real need to distinguish between them, because despite the states being separate political entities, they all fall under the same supranational government and constitution.

And guess what? You live on the island of Great Britain, so it works well enough calling your accent British (especially when you call ours American, which takes absolutely no notice of all the other sovereign nations of North and South American).

 

[Dahni]

haha you should hear the differences in accents up here.
There's a place little more than 4 miles away from me with a wildly different accent.
its amazing.

You really didn't say much about the fact that there is in fact hundreds of scottish, welsh & irish accents too.

also, if I tell someone i'm from Scotland and they ask if I have a British accent, I feel like I'm perfectly within my rights to punch them in the face IRL/virtually. Anyone with half a brain can easily distinguish between a Scottish accent and an English accent.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

France, Germany, Spain and Italy

Also, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are painfully similar in comparison to the countries you mentioned.

Oh, now that's just fighting talk!

Not to mention woefully wrong as they don't even have the same language roots.

And guess what? You live on the island of Great Britain,

That failed so badly I don't want to open my eyes.