Those damns Brits..

[Sazerac]

Originally Posted by Vaskez No no, all americans I've ever met have been very friendly and likeable. The only thing most people in britain (well the ones I know) dislike, is your accents. The stronger the worse Sorry mate, but yeah over here the american accents sound over-done, over-emphasized, compare it to a lazyass british accent and you know what I mean.

Which accents? (laughing) There are so many different ones over here; they vary every 100 miles or so. If you're talking about some of the more twangy, strident accents I have to agree with you. The softer, more melodious ones aren't so bad.

Actually, most Americans love the British accent, and there's a rule-of-thumb that any Britisher visiting America generally is treated at least one class level higher than their actual class level in Britain because of the accent.

When I was first at UNT some 20 years ago, my best friends that first year were a couple of British guys over on exchange from Swansea. I was the only one on my dorm room floor who could understand them (because I had watched so much BBC TV through PBS) and did a lot of translating for them until the others got used to the accent. We did everything as a group. I showed them American Football and took them out in Dallas, and they taught me how to play English Pub Darts and got me interested in rugby. I tried keeping up with them drinking one time--but only once. I learned better after that. It about killed me when they went back to Swansea. They were great guys; I always wondered what happened to them and how they're doing now.

-Saz

[aleph_null1]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6470095.stm

I don't know how I just read this -- it's 7 months old -- but it touches on that appearance of intelligence / class / sophistication that any British accent brings with it in America. From their perspective.

[wellard]

Interesting link aleph.

English accents are seen in the USA to be a bonus, where to me it can be funny or annoying, (everyone with a Birmingham uk accent should have their tongues cut out) Yet a lady with a Birmingham Alabama accent could have me drooling while she talked all day too me.

As for me I have an accent like Wallace (wallace and grommit)

[Dragonshadow]

Haha! A Wallace accent sounds so cool!
I neevr had any problem with Birmingham accents... I picked one up for a while after I spent a long time talking to a friend, who I was dating at the time... That annoyed people, heh.

[Ivelliis]

Hate Birmingham accents, also hate scouse accents...they make me cringe.

But I am a fan of Irish accents, and cockney accents. My own accent isn't too bad either I guess, just the fact that to most it sounds "common" and "Geordie" and ITS NOT :@

[Dragonshadow]

Hah, I try very hard not to get a chathamese accent... I hate those.

[Greything]

All this talk of UK accents but no one has mentioned Estuary English and the late, great Ian Dury.

[johnny]

The way Vinnie Jones speaks, now that's the proper way to speak English.

[Vaskez]

well the way vinnie jones speaks is how most people in the southern cities in england speak. So that's pretty much how I speak, or at least used to speak. Since being at uni I've had to clean up my accent a bit cos I deal with a lot of foreigners and they didnt understand me, so now I speak a bit more proper, but if I'm around native english I speak "normal" again, heh

[johnny]

Don't you have a Hungarian accent Vask?