There's no such thing as a British accent!

[ike42]

Yes, but when someone hears a Scottish accent they will refer to that. I have heard a Welsh accent as well and it's really easy to confuse it with an English accent. At least so far as my untrained ears go. I guess my point is that people know what you mean when you say British accent, it's like you say American accent, but we're really United States of America citizens. Couldn't that mean that an American accent should encompass the Canadians and Mexicans as well?

 

[AVATAR_RAGE]

They say a British accent they never dfine which one, yeah let that one sink in

 

[Flamezdudes]

Even if you say you have an English accent, the north of England has a slightly different accent to the south of England. But yeah, i agree with you it's annoying.

 

[notyouraveragejoe]

It seems like when people say a 'British accent' they are referring to the English accent. So why not just say the English accent?

I fully agree with the fact that there is no 'British Accent'. Then again...is there an English accent? No. And as such the OP isn't completely true. I mean you can have accents from Manchester, London, Bath and Liverpool. Not to mention Newcastle (Nice Geordie accent there) or Portsmouth or Southampton or Reading or Brighton or Leeds.

However this should really be extended to other places. I mean saying someone has an American accent or Canadian accent is insulting to Americans and Canadians. We should specify their cities, states, provinces and neighbourhoods.

Or maybe we should cut people some slack who don't really know the accents (since their not from the area). I mean at least they're using British (which means it could be anywhere in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales or England) instead just saying "screw it, sounds from that area... it must be an English accent"

Personally I'm fine with it going either way. If you want to be more specific (or feel insulted by a lack of specificity) go with it. Give the details. If your not really sure...well you should be allowed to say British.

 

[thiosk]

Its hilarious to read the OP in a british accent.

 

[SinisterGehe]

We call it British English because thats what most people call it, because they have learned to call it. but we call know what it refers to so what is the problem with it anyway?

 

[Your once and future Fanboy]

Great Britain is an island made up of three countries, England, Scotland and Wales. Each of these countries has their own accent, not to mention countless more dialects depending on the area of the country.
.

you forgot about N. Ireland, Irish accent is also under "British".
Sorry, i just had to say something.

 

[F-I-D-O]

Because it doesn't matter. You know what they're talking about, right?

That's not the point. The point is that they're incorrect. I'm pissed off about it, but some people are downright offended at other people's ignorance.

OH MY GOD! SOMEONE IS WRONG ON THE INTERNET!!
Seriously, it's not that big of a deal. I usually say English, Irish, Scottish, etc.
Some people just use Britain instead of England, and it isn't too big of a deal. You know what they mean, just move on.

 

[Fenreil]

Interesting thing I heard from my brother, who is an english major. The English spoken by Americans is actually closer to the original form of english than that spoken by those from England. This is due to "The Great Vowel Shift" (or something to that effect) that occured in England after America had been settled. Examples of the change can be found in the word "bath" before the change it was pronounced "bath" and after it became "bah-th"

No idea if this has been said before(I'm not looking through 4 pages of comments) or how true it is (feel free to correct me)

On topic, I tend to say British when referring to an English accent because saying stuff like "His English has an English" accent sounds silly.

 

[rokkolpo]

english is the language.

british, scottish and irish are the subs.
always has been for me.

it my be incorrect but many things are.(especially in language)

 

[DividedUnity]

3 countries? Surely you mean 4. Last time I checked Northern Ireland was still part of Britain.

Yes I agree theres no such thing as a british accent but the same could be said of any nationalities accent. Like Ireland or the USA for example. There are many vastly different accents but people will still refer to a specific accent as Irish or American.

 

[willsham45]

I hate it when you get a supposed British accent in a film or show, As i know no one who speaks like that. But I hear you it is always a British accent not a London accent or a Liverpudlian accent...although Scottish and Irish usually get the right place.

 

[laggyteabag]

Because i live in leicester and every body speaks like Mone', Funne', ect. I get called 'Posh' because i say Money, Funny, ect. which really annoys me. Just because i have a different english accent to them means I apparently speak 'weird and posh'...

 

[BuchalBainne]

There will always be mixups. A friend of mine from Fermannagh (North of Ireland) always has trouble convincing people, on his holidays, that he lives in Ireland. He told me that one person was convinced he was South African.

 

[flamingjimmy]

Okay, this has been bothering me for years. There is no such thing as a British accent!

Great Britain is an island made up of three countries, England, Scotland and Wales. Each of these countries has their own accent, not to mention countless more dialects depending on the area of the country.

It seems like when people say a 'British accent' they are referring to the English accent. So why not just say the English accent?

It's like saying someone has a South/North American accent or an Asian accent. It just doesn't make sense.

I know making this thread isn't going to change anything in the grand scale of things, but I just hope that some users here on the Escapist realise that there is no such thing as a British accent.

So for discussion value, who here is like me, bothered by people saying 'British accent'? And who here doesn't give a shit?

Thanks for putting up with my rant.

Sorry bro, but I strongly disagree, and I am British (with a bit of a Yorkshire accent for the record).

I don't see what's wrong with Americans saying 'that guys got a British accent'.

It's not like we differentiate when we call out Americans on their accents. We'd just say 'that guys got an American accent'. It's unliikely that we'd say 'that guys got a new jersey accent' or 'that guys got a new york accent'.

 

[Rolf]

I never realy thought about it

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Okay, this has been bothering me for years. There is no such thing as a British accent!

To be fair: There is a British accent (South Estuary), it's just that it's incredibly rare in Britain. It's the same accent that the Beeb brought upon us, and has increasingly took over most of our media representation.

For brevity's sake, let me introduce my good friend, Mister Chumley Warner.

Because i live in leicester and every body speaks like Mone', Funne', ect. I get called 'Posh' because i say Money, Funny, ect. which really annoys me. Just because i have a different english accent to them means I apparently speak 'weird and posh'...

yalrite m'duck? Ows the foxes goan on uptawn? (Leicester guy as well )
Apparently the closest to our accent that's on TV is Gary Lineker.

 

[signingupforgames]

So for discussion value, who here is like me, bothered by people saying 'British accent'? And who here doesn't give a shit?

Doesn't give a shit.

 

[Cmwissy]

And there's no such thing as a Search Bar either!

I should know, I made the original British accent thread.

It didn't end well.

you have forgotten northan irland. but yeh your right. also each city has there own acsent and frasses

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, but not Great Britain. Great Britain is just England, Wales and Scotland.

Depends how liberal you are on the matter. Even though it's not, lumping it in doesn't hurt. Especially from an outside perspective.



All you really have to know is that when Americans say British, they mean English.

 

[Naeo]

For a second I thought this was going to be "there is no British accent because it's everyone ELSE that has an accent, not Britain" and then realized I fell for the exact pitfall you described in your post.

I guess I had never noticed it that way before.