Why do Americans like 'British' accent

[borg69unimatrix]

Listen to MitchyMo talk for 10 seconds, and you'll KNOW why.

 

[bankside]

Everyone has an accent, and every accent is equally strong. Just some accents are closer together than others so it is noticed less.

Britain is the home of the language; it will always be difficult for any other country to have speakers with the same finesse and depth of knowledge of what the language can do.

That may change with the advent of "simple english" and "globish" which are just throwing away a good thing in favour of the lowest common denominator. But for the moment, the UK's where it's at.

 

[Snuffy]

Britain is the home of the language; it will always be difficult for any other country to have speakers with the same finesse and depth of knowledge of what the language can do.

I strongly disagree with this statement. The problem with it is that it presupposes that there's only one proper way to speak English. That isn't true. Even within the UK, there's hundreds of dialects.

Noam Chomsky is considered one of the greatest linguist in the world, and he's American:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky

 

[ronboy]

Just as there is not one single British accent, there are multiple American accents too...

New England
Boston (an accent that is unique to that city and surroundings)
New York (the lower part of the state and Long Island)
Western NY (very nasally...I speak that way!)
Southern
Texas (an accent all of its own)

and there are more variations (in smaller degrees) in other areas too!

 

[bankside]

I strongly disagree with this statement. The problem with it is that it presupposes that there's only one proper way to speak English. That isn't true. Even within the UK, there's hundreds of dialects.

Noam Chomsky is considered one of the greatest linguist in the world, and he's American:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky

WHAT??? I can't understand you! Speak British!

I was being a bit nuanced in my post; thus the mention of "difficulty" rather than "impossibility." I do not argue so much in favour of only one correct way to speak English, but rather that not all ways are equally correct. There is such a thing as "educated English" or "eloquent English" and it's better that way. Something to strive for.

 

[Anders123]

Ther's nowt rong wi' eur gran' Yorksha accent.

"Aye' up lad, chuffin' 'ell. Ye'fanceh a drink wi'meh?"

You're right, how can anyone resist that? I'm going weak at the knees just thinking about it ...

 

[belamyi]

As awful as some British accents may sound, I could understand Americans preferring to hear anything but this sort of vehement screeches:

 

[belamyi]

I strongly disagree with this statement. The problem with it is that it presupposes that there's only one proper way to speak English. That isn't true. Even within the UK, there's hundreds of dialects.

Noam Chomsky is considered one of the greatest linguist in the world, and he's American:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky

It's true *there is not one single way of* speaking proper English

Whether you take "linguist" as meaning "polyglot" or "language researcher", what has that got to do with the way you speak English, when you are an English-speaking linguist at all?

 

[Comrad]

I like it because it sounds almost comical--almost like a satire filling the room with a pretentious tone. When ever I hear it it reminds me of some old guy walking around slowly drinking brandy and and sipping tea with chariots and horses like a fairy tale-- castles and a handkerchiefs and all that fun stuff.. It was official for me when I was speaking with European guy and he bought something for his girlfriend and he replied with something like -- "she was enchanted"..I nearly broke out in laughter because just hearing the word enchanted alone sounds like something that should only be used in movies and video games....However, I much rather prefer an American style of an accent, it just sounds so damn...Normal and "real".

 

[NineOfClubs]

Many British accents sound gay, might be why I like them.

Some are horrendous and barely comprehensible.

Give me an Irish accent any day!

 

[unloadonme]

Many British accents sound gay, might be why I like them.

Maybe I'm not gay after all. I could just have been fooled by my accent into sleeping with men!

 

[Jeffs0418]

Canadian English does it for me. Not sure why!

Canadian English? In my experience, Canadian English sounds like California English. Which for me is no accent at all.

 

[EwanSF]

Just remembered. That X factor nonsense is has/is about to start in the states. Many of you may be subjected to geordie accent for the first time. Have fun with that one.

 

[GM1985]

^^ Geordie accent is from Newcastle, which is further North than Liverpool, infact it's near the Scotland/England border.

I actually like Cheryl Cole's (or just Cheryl now she's in the states) accent.

 

[belamyi]

Because for 350 years, from Plymouth Rock to the 1960s, the U.S was ruled and controlled by an English aristocracy that lived in New England. So, Americans naturally associate the English accent with the upper class. Americans of Asian, Jewish and Asian Indian descent who get into Harvard and other Ivy League universities still try to speak with a "Boston Brahmin" accent to mark themselves as elite. The Boston Brahmins....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfR4DLXYpCw

You are a dick man, Geooorge. Nina Hagen is LIIIIIVELY! too...



And as for liveliness beyond the language barrier, Dickens is an arthritic roach when compared with, say, Cervantes, and that coming from someone more proud to be a Catalan than being a Spaniard.
It's so utterly pathetic when Anglos discuss about who is the best mediocre writer of the English language.
I am far from being a Janeite (in fact I don't actually enjoy much any sort of literature in English, apart from Shakesy, Byron, and maybe Keats too when I am walking on the walk side, and I believe the only really decent piece of English prose qualifying for a glorious posterity is [STRIKE]Robinson Crusoe[/STRIKE] The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un‐inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by Pyrates) but I would agree with Waldorf against Statler on this one, and I'd say that no faute de mieux ever excuses putting Dickens forth as some "grrrrrreatest" novelist.


BTW, what were they talking about when they boiled it down to SEX. And with what first what did Waldorf's family came to The Hill?

 

[Sigma-taylor-E]

Southern british accent is just smexy as hell...

 

[belamyi]

BTW, obviously, Cervantes is at least as messy as Dickens and this fellow put together.

 

[redfox70]

Is that the one that's spoken around Liverpool?

I don't understand one single word they say.

The Liverpool accent is usually referred to as Scouse, the people as Scousers. As for understanding it, you're not alone there, in fact sometimes we have trouble understanding each other!

 

[JuicyJizz]

Being an American that actually does love that accent...

I like it cuz...IDK it just sounds cute to me...

Stupid answer I suppose...but that's why I like it.

 

[EwanSF]

The Liverpool accent is usually referred to as Scouse, the people as Scousers. As for understanding it, you're not alone there, in fact sometimes we have trouble understanding each other!

It's a fucking horrific accent. My second least favourite from throughout Britain. Number one spot is reserved for the Aberdeen accent. That actually gives me nose-bleeds.