Welcome to British.

[OmniscientOstrich]

Seriously, how has no one put this up yet?:


Now that I've got that out of the way, back to the topic at hand:

Yeah it does somewhat annoys me when people say 'British accent', I mean if you heard a Scotsman, or a Welshman, or someone from Northern Ireland talking you wouldn't say they have a 'British' accent now would you? People seem to identify (and by people I mean Americans) the British as being purely English, whilst in actual fact we Englishman are surrounded by miserable gits, sheep shaggers and problem drinkers enjoy the company of three other lovely nations with their own rich heritage and cultures respectively, that collectively encompass Great Britain. So please take note of the difference between English and British.

[small]Ps: That was only a joke, don't kill me.[/small]

 

[KeyMaster45]

I've heard some people say "Go to Britain" when they're referring to England, but never "Go to British"; that just sounds silly. Now it's quite common for me to hear people say something "Oh you know that guy, he's got a British accent." which is referring to that particular accent most commonly scene in movies and television with characters from England. Through an uninformed assumption I'm going to go with that this is a hold over people just never stopped using after the British empire went into decline and people could no longer use that phrase "The sun never sets on the British empire." Plus, here in America at least, "the British are coming" is one of those things that quickly gets associated with England while the youngest of us are still in school.

No, most people don't know the names of the various accents you'll find in England so they just lump them all under the only proper banner they can think of on the spot that won't get them a swift kick in the balls.

 

[Sovvolf]

No, most people don't know the names of the various accents you'll find in England so they just lump them all under the only proper banner they can think of on the spot that won't get them a swift kick in the balls.

I can't really blame them though. I know the U.S have plenty of different accents depending on region and state ect. However in Britain its just ridiculous. I imagine we're up there with the most diversity in accents. I live in Barnsley and all I have to do is travel about 15 miles away to Rotherham and there is an entirely different accent. There is also a different accent depending on the area of Barnsley you come from too and for reference to peeps, Barnsley isn't a massive place like New York. Its a small town in South Yorkshire and you might find at least 20 to 30 different variations of the same accent in that place alone... Now think about our bigger cities like Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield... London ect... This is just England I'm talking about here. You've got two and a half other countries under this banner too.

So well its hard to blame anyone for trying to put them under one banner (BBC English).

 

[Genericjim101]

Anyone else see the problem with the title?
Yeah, it's Britain, not British (when used in that context)
So my question is... Why are so many people saying' Oh, Go to British, it's fantastic!' and 'He speaks British'!?

An increasing amount of people are using 'British' in the wrong context, or perhaps it's just me.

People frequently interchange "your" with "you're" and also "their", "there" and "they're". The answer to your question is incorrect grammar.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

Welcome to die!

And I've never heard this. Ever. Its always "Ah, he speaks with a British accent" or "I would like to go to Britain some day."
Never "He's talking British" or "I wanna go to British."
Might just be my area...
Edit:

(and by people I mean Americans]

I hope you mean the continent. Lots of people in South America think EVERYONE (and I mean EVERYONE) who speaks English in an American.

 

[Tselis]

It's because they are very good at england.

Ninja'ed!! Oh well, some one had to say it.

 

[thelonewolf266]

I know this isn't to do with languages but Great Britain should only be used to refer to Scotland, Wales and England due to that being the name of the island whereas United Kingdom refers to those three and Northern Ireland.

 

[Guy32]

Maybe I just live in a smarter-than-average area, but I have never heard anyone say "go to British". I would understand what a person meant by "He speaks British", but I would totally call a person out and laugh at them for "go to British". As would nearly everyone I know.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

There are even different accents within England. I sound completely different to my friend who lives down south. It's wierd how different people can be in England when you can bike the length of the country in a week or so.

 

[Esotera]

Go to British

If you say it in a Borat accent it almost sounds cool.

But yeah, I've never heard of this, seems like a pretty hard thing to get wrong. No-one says "go to American"..hopefully.

 

[Robert632]

I'm sorry, But I'm having a hard time actually believing people speak like that, especially any English-fluent people. That's just to dumb.

 

[emeraldrafael]

I'd probably have to ask first where Im going in the British Empire. Am I going to the main island homeland or one of your territories? Actually I didnt enjoy my visit to the mainland, I'd much prefer a territory instead.

Also, saying you speak british is like saying you speak Appalachian or Louisianian or Pittsburghese. Or saying you speak American, or saying you speak canadian (which could be an accent of the french language if you're not being to specific of who's speaking it). Its more the accent of the English language then saying you're speaking a language. Like how you can speak Mexican Spanish and still just be speaking Spanish.

Now, I have to question who you heard say go to british, because i've never ever heard someone say that where Im from, and i live near west virginia (home of 10000 families and only four last names), where i would suspect incest is rather big.
jk

 

[MoeTheMonk]

Yeah, I've never heard anyone say "Go to British" or anything like that.
Though concerning accents, almost all people I've encountered (Americans) differentiate between Scottish, Irish, and English accents. Although I will say that most people here probably wouldn't tell the difference between Welsh and English accents, and furthermore, most people will refer to a English accent as a British accent.
That's what I've observed at least.

 

[ZydrateDealer]

America, at least, is unified under one President and one constitution.

So is Britain, for the most part. The Scottish parliament is just a formality, as is the Welsh assembly.

OT; ...Never heard of that before.

Dude I think he's on about the Republic of Ireland. Also America isn't unified under one president? What about Canada and Mexico and all the countries in South America and all the islands in the Caribbean and Cuba...and many other places I'm also most likely missing out.

 

[scorptatious]

I've never heard the term "British" used in that context. Nor do I believe that's the right way to use it.

I'm an ignorant American and even I knew that!

 

[Jonabob87]

I have never heard someone use the word "British" where they should have used "Britain". I've never heard someone talk about speaking "British".

The people who allegedly say these things are clearly not very intelligent.

I'm Scottish, I speak English, I live in Scotland which is part of the British isles. I would NEVER consider myself to be British.

 

[Laser Priest]

It's because they are very good at england.

I approve.

And I have never anybody with a fully functional brain refer to the country as if its name was "British".

 

[sivlin]

1. Who says "British" like it's a place?

2. Who thinks "British" is a language?

I'm not saying that this has never happened, but I've just never seen it happen. If you see that again, please ask them what they mean, because I certainly haven't the faintest idea.

This. I've heard people refer to an accent as British.. but never the language itself. Nor the country. I want to say this doesn't happen and the title to this thread is bullshit.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

Because if people from the UK and other foreign types can dismissively condense the entirety of accents and dialects of English spoken in the US as "American" or "Yank", then I see no reason we can't respond in kind.

Here's to linguistic diversity!