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I just love how the brits speak.

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KittenWithAWhip
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04 Jun 2010, 4:10 pm

liloleme wrote:
My 7 year old and I were talking about how people have accents and use different words in parts of the US and how the English have accents and different words for things. I have a friend who is English. I told him that instead of saying she had to go to the toilet, bathroom ect...she says she has to go to the "loo". He thinks this is hilarious and now he uses this word in his extensive vocabulary!


:lol:


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Zara
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04 Jun 2010, 4:35 pm

I love British talk. It's so colorful. :lol:


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04 Jun 2010, 5:05 pm

The title of this thread inevitably makes me think of that Frasier episode where Roz meets Daphne's brother, and is initially bowled over by his Mancunian charm. (Of course, the actors, though British, were changing the accent so Americans could understand it... so the accent Daphne uses in the show is not Manchester at all, but that's another story.)

In that particular episode Daphne's brother Simon is drunken, uncouth, and "common as muck". Roz however doesn't realise this and after one particularly maloderous comment of Simon's she says, "Oh my G.d he talks just like a Prince!"

My son fell of his chair laughing, and has been known to whip out this comment as an in joke when faced with uncouth youth at his school. So if a kid says something particularly disgusting he'll say in his best Jeeves voice, "well, kind sir, you talk just like a Prince."



superboyian
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04 Jun 2010, 5:54 pm

Zara wrote:
I love British talk. It's so colorful. :lol:


Apparently alot of people would normally describe it as grey. :lol:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr9lEPYf4vQ[/youtube]


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04 Jun 2010, 6:06 pm

CockneyRebel wrote:
I feel honoured to have a Cockney accent.


That's cool, but isn't it something you kind of have to work at? I mean, you're Canadian, living in Canada, right? I would think that you'd have to hear people speaking with a Cockney accent and practice it a lot. My husband has an English accent (not Cockney, more of a northern accent), but after living in the U.S. for 15 years, it's not as strong as it was, and he uses American phrases. If he wanted to keep his accent unchanged, and keep the local accent from rubbing off on him, he'd have to work at it.

Just wondering. :)

Also, when I visited the U.K., I was amazed at how many accents there are, in such a small country. You can pretty much tell what city someone is from (or what part of a particular city) by their accent. Here in the U.S., it's not like that. I can tell a South Carolina accent from a Maine accent, but those are entire states, thousands of miles apart. There's not a special Fresno, CA accent and a Bakersfield, CA accent (two fairly close cities).



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04 Jun 2010, 6:18 pm

ThatRedHairedGrrl wrote:
Todesking - the comedy to which you refer was Filthy Rich and Catflap, if I recall rightly.

The Young Ones is classic...the 'Bambi' episode...
'I've got a Porsche!'
'Yes, well that's not exactly what I've got written on the card, but I knew your father...'


My favorite episode is bomb with Bamb coming in as a close second. My favorite part on Bambi was when Mike gives the order to Vvian to drop the potato masher on the posh kids. It also had Motorhead on it which made it an all time classic. Thanks for the title correction for Filthy Rich and Catflap.



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04 Jun 2010, 6:46 pm

Despite being a Southern American, I think I can put on a decent British accent. A lot of people say I can do a British accent really well.

That being said, I have a question for the British people here: do British people have fun imitating American accents as much as Americans have fun imitating British accents? If so, how good are they at doing it?



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04 Jun 2010, 6:51 pm

We definitely don't say the last two.

I wouldn't give you the steam off my piss.



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04 Jun 2010, 6:52 pm

superboyian wrote:
You sure don't want to hear me argue... :lol: (although I do wish I sound really posh like the people that do politics at parliament).
I would actually find that amusing. :lol:


Like John Prescott you mean?



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04 Jun 2010, 6:54 pm

Todesking wrote:
The word I like the most they use is idnit, Such as: "Good day, idnit," I guess its short if isn't I do not know. I still think we should call English speaking North American because there are more native English speakers in America-Canada using it.


Could be either innit or in't it (that's more northern use though) - short for isn't it.



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04 Jun 2010, 7:01 pm

elderwanda wrote:
CockneyRebel wrote:
I feel honoured to have a Cockney accent.


That's cool, but isn't it something you kind of have to work at? I mean, you're Canadian, living in Canada, right? I would think that you'd have to hear people speaking with a Cockney accent and practice it a lot. My husband has an English accent (not Cockney, more of a northern accent), but after living in the U.S. for 15 years, it's not as strong as it was, and he uses American phrases. If he wanted to keep his accent unchanged, and keep the local accent from rubbing off on him, he'd have to work at it.

Just wondering. :)

Also, when I visited the U.K., I was amazed at how many accents there are, in such a small country. You can pretty much tell what city someone is from (or what part of a particular city) by their accent. Here in the U.S., it's not like that. I can tell a South Carolina accent from a Maine accent, but those are entire states, thousands of miles apart. There's not a special Fresno, CA accent and a Bakersfield, CA accent (two fairly close cities).


No. I've spoken with a Cockney accent, since I've said my first sentence. My parents hated it.


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04 Jun 2010, 10:30 pm

CockneyRebel wrote:

No. I've spoken with a Cockney accent, since I've said my first sentence. My parents hated it.


I wonder if there is something to having an accent when you talk later. Did you have delayed speech? My daughter didnt start saying words until she was 3 and she is 5 now and has an odd sort of accent. At first I thought she was picking it up from my husband as he has a French accent....but its not French. Its just that she says some words with a sort of accent that I dont think I could really place. Maybe that is why you locked on to that accent because it was more comfortable for you....plus it follows your interests, right?



CockneyRebel
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04 Jun 2010, 11:11 pm

I did have delayed speech. I started talking at 4 and a half.


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04 Jun 2010, 11:15 pm

liloleme wrote:
CockneyRebel wrote:

No. I've spoken with a Cockney accent, since I've said my first sentence. My parents hated it.


I wonder if there is something to having an accent when you talk later. Did you have delayed speech? My daughter didnt start saying words until she was 3 and she is 5 now and has an odd sort of accent. At first I thought she was picking it up from my husband as he has a French accent....but its not French. Its just that she says some words with a sort of accent that I dont think I could really place. Maybe that is why you locked on to that accent because it was more comfortable for you....plus it follows your interests, right?


I've started talking at 4 and a half, and the accent did feel more comfortable and it still does. My interests also play a big part. How did you know? :)


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05 Jun 2010, 12:14 am

Descartes wrote:
That being said, I have a question for the British people here: do British people have fun imitating American accents as much as Americans have fun imitating British accents? If so, how good are they at doing it?


I have watched a lot of British tv series sci-fi, comedy, and some drama and they all sound like they are talking through their noses. I have been told Americans who do British accents sound too posh. I can do a couple of Candian accents including a Quebec accent, Thats from watching American hockey when I was a kid. I also live close to the Canadian boarder so we get to hear Canadians at all the malls even though I think an Ontario accent sounds like an American accent.



liloleme
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05 Jun 2010, 12:33 am

CockneyRebel wrote:
liloleme wrote:
CockneyRebel wrote:

No. I've spoken with a Cockney accent, since I've said my first sentence. My parents hated it.


I wonder if there is something to having an accent when you talk later. Did you have delayed speech? My daughter didnt start saying words until she was 3 and she is 5 now and has an odd sort of accent. At first I thought she was picking it up from my husband as he has a French accent....but its not French. Its just that she says some words with a sort of accent that I dont think I could really place. Maybe that is why you locked on to that accent because it was more comfortable for you....plus it follows your interests, right?


I've started talking at 4 and a half, and the accent did feel more comfortable and it still does. My interests also play a big part. How did you know? :)


I was just guessing really. Im always searching for answers to things, have done that since I was little. I guess its along the same lines as not being able to accept the grey area type of thing. I also have heard other people say that they think their Auties have accents and dont know where they came from. I think maybe its due to some auditory processing maybe, its perhaps how the words sound. So I just figured you slighty modified your existing accent to your interests.