There's no such thing as a British accent!

[Jim Grim]

long post

But surely all accents in Britain are British accents? Wouldn't it be better to say that there is more than one British accent rather than none at all?

 

[RAMBO22]

Isn't there technically no such thing as an English accent anyways? Since English as a language originated out of the matrix of Romano-British speak, wouldn't everything else EXCEPT English be an accent of English? Basically what I'm asking is, French people don't have a French accent when speaking French because French is, well, French, so why would an English person speaking their own language have an accent? I don't understand.

 

[Camembert]

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.

It is not incorrect, it is simply more general. People who live in Britain can be said to have British accents, it just isn't very specific.

Kind of like saying, 'Her accent sounded a little European' - it's general to the point of being almost pointless but that doesn't make it incorrect.

 

[ParkourMcGhee]

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

... But we DO say American accent even though there's loads of them.

I'm not bothered in the least... no siree, not bothered at all that we're grouped with Geordies, Scousers, Mancunians, Irish and the like... none whatsoever.

I'm bad at sarcasm sometimes, so if you didn't get it I'm absolutely not bothered whether people say British/English accent.

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

yeah this has annoyed me as well. Also the stereotypical "British accent" is very rare in real English people, iv only ever heard that accent in American TV and it just sounds so fake, God forbid they hire a real English actor and let him/her speak normaly, rather than making an American sound like an aristocrat and say his character is from London.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

That's because America is one country. Britain is not. It's like saying a frenchman has a European accent. You just don't say that, us Brits aren't asking that everyone can distinguish between an ayrshire accent and an orkney accent, though they are fairly different. We, well I, just wish people would make the distinction between and English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish accent because they are fairly different.

Each of the US States are considered distinct nations. Also most Americans do in fact recognize a distinction between "Scottish," "Irish," and "British" (English/Welsh) accents.

The probable root of the entire issue presented here is that British people (British as the demonym for citizens of the UK) care a lot more about accents than anyone else does. I don't blame them for it, this is just a cultural difference to be aware of.

I think that what people should take away from this thread is that people care much more about the internal bureaucratic and cultural structure of their state than that of any other.

 

[health-bar]

Because "Great Britain" is the country everyone remembers. therefore everyone still says British

its like when people call Russians 'soviets' or 'reds'. its completely inaccurate as of 30 years ago but people still sometimes refer to a country by its former name.

 

[JEBWrench]

I think that what people should take away from this thread is that people care much more about the internal bureaucratic and cultural structure of their state than that of any other.

As well they should. Why should someone be reasonably expected to keep track of other countries' internal bureaucratic and cultural structures, unless they're employed in some relative field?

 

[doctorbreen]

Isn't that like saying there is no such thing as an American accent? After all there is Texan, New York, Deep South etc. As a general catch-all term for accents stemming from the British Isles it is a reasonable phrase.

I agree with you to some extent. Although the Texan, New York and Deep South accents are dialects of the USA. Great Britain is actually three separate countries.

no its four different kingdoms

 

[Logan Westbrook]

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

The terms "British" and "English" have been used pretty much interchangeably for years now. I don't think it's really worth getting upset over.

It's irritating when you're from Scotland, and yet people insist on referring to you as English, believe me.

I'm Scottish, or British preferably. But not English. That's like someone over here calling a Texan a New Yorker. They may be both Americans, but it's not correct.

Well, that's a different issue really. The point I was making is that when someone says a "British" accent, they almost always mean an "English" accent. Technically it's wrong, but so is calling a vacuum cleaner a "hoover" or a public address system a "tannoy".

 

[Jake the Snake]

You know why people do it? It's sad but true, a lot of Americans don't know the distinction between England and Britain, they think they're the same thing so they interchange the two.

While i apologize for our country's ignorance i must also lay down this little observation on you: I think you're taking it way to personally. People aren't trying to take your nationality away from you. They're just foreign.

 

[RoyalWelsh]

I'm not that bothered by it to be honest. British accents are different all over the UK, I think it's just easier for some poeple outside the UK to say 'British accent' that's all.

I'm more annoyed when people think i'm English even though I have a very noticable Welsh accent.

 

[Shynobee]

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

I was with you, right up until this line. Great Britain isn't a continent, its a tiny island country. South America, North America, and Asia are all very big continents where multiple languages are spoken. So, not a very good analogy there.

 

[deus-ex-machina]

I think it's delibrate ignorance to group a bunch of people together and say they all have the same accent. But not neccessarily a negative ignorance, because more often than not, it doesn't make sense for people on the other side of the world to be able to distinguish between accents. It simply doesn't concern them.

What does annoy me is when people are incapable of acknowledging that there ARE different accents or get the accent utterly wrong. If you want to say 'British' accent to your fellow American friends, then that is perfectly fine because you would know what you meant. But calling a Scottish person English might not go down too well. You might be able to understand someone from Portsmouth, England, but I doubt a lot of you would be able to decipher what a person from Glasgow, Scotland was even saying because of the difference in accents (and colloquial language).

And seriously? How can you think all Europeans have the same accent? French, German and Italian accents are all hilarious in their own right but they don't sound similar enough to be classed together.

 

[Red Right Hand]

That's because America is one country. Britain is not. It's like saying a frenchman has a European accent. You just don't say that, us Brits aren't asking that everyone can distinguish between an ayrshire accent and an orkney accent, though they are fairly different. We, well I, just wish people would make the distinction between and English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish accent because they are fairly different.

Each of the US States are considered distinct nations. Also most Americans do in fact recognize a distinction between "Scottish," "Irish," and "British" (English/Welsh) accents.

The probable root of the entire issue presented here is that British people (British as the demonym for citizens of the UK) care a lot more about accents than anyone else does. I don't blame them for it, this is just a cultural difference to be aware of.

I think that what people should take away from this thread is that people care much more about the internal bureaucratic and cultural structure of their state than that of any other.

I wasn't actually trying to imply that Americans are the ones who commonly say British instead of the individual country, I was just meaning in general. Sorry if it came across like that.

For all intents and purposes, America is one country. In my experience, you ask an American where they are from and they'll generally identify themselves as American. Do the same to a Scotsman or an Irishman and very few will say they're British but rather state the specific country which they come from.

Although you are right when you say that the entire issue stems from us. Some of us seem to care far more than others.....oh well.....

 

[Sparrow]

Yeah, it irritates me. It's ignorance, really. I just sort of screams "I can't be bothered to learn about your country". The thing I REALLY don't get is, when someone says they're Welsh they are refered to as Welsh. When someone says they're Scottish, they are refered to as Scottish. But when you're English, you're British. It just makes no sense.

Plus, a worrying amount of people think England is Britain, oppose to England being in Britain.

...meaning that it is perfectly acceptable for people who don't hear them everyday to lump them all together.

Pff. Apparently you don't know any Americans.

 

[Double A]

Isn't that like saying there is no such thing as an American accent? After all there is Texan, New York, Deep South etc. As a general catch-all term for accents stemming from the British Isles it is a reasonable phrase.

I agree with you to some extent. Although the Texan, New York and Deep South accents are dialects of the USA. Great Britain is actually three separate countries.

Some states are larger than the UK.

Texas is more than twice as big as all UK territories combined.

California is basically its own country, being harder to get into than Mexico. The people there act different, talk different, and even eat different than the people on the east coast.

 

[Red Right Hand]

But calling a Scottish person English might not go down too well. You might be able to understand someone from Portsmouth, England, but I doubt a lot of you would be able to decipher what a person from Glasgow, Scotland was even saying because of the difference in accents (and colloquial language).

Hell, i've lived in Glasgow all my life and I still don't understand what some Glaswegians say.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

And yet, when I went to London, I was told I have an American accent, even though in the United States there are countless different accents. People like to generalize.

 

[FairlyFrightenedFeline]

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.

actually you're thinking of Great Britain. Britain, or "Briton" is the old name for England. But that still dosen't justify it. There's cockney, scouse, cornish yorksian and tons more. Thar we go.