American Accents?

So I've recently cancelled my pay tv subscription, because the only choice we have for pay tv in Australia is Foxtel, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch. In other words, foxtel is a complete ankle grab. He charges us a small fortune to watch repeats for years on end, so I refuse to contribute to making that traitor rich for a totally sub-par service!

Anyway...... its not a huge issue, since I can view everything I choose to watch though other means (got a good internet connection).

Only problem, is I've got to live stream all the MSM channels when something interesting is going down. Which means I've got to put up with those ads with thick American accents, which just drives me crazy, tbh.

Which actually gets me thinking. Because all my favourite tv shows & movies are american, but I never notice there American accents well watching them. I can't even stand watching most Aussie or British tv shows, because the accents just drive me mental.

So my question is, why do the accents in American ads annoy me so much, considering I never notice an accent when watching my favourite tv shows & movies?

Is it simply the aspect of being immune, or do Hollywood productions purposely get there actors to use a genetic accents?

I know popular British & Aussie singers deliberately sing without an accent to help there songs become main stream, so just wondering whether American tv & movies do the same thing?

I have noticed this myself ... so good question.

Perhaps a filter of some kind?

Or is it taught in actor's school.

S&F

P

It's not the accents, it's the ads.
You enjoy the shows, so you don't even notice the accent. You don't like ads interfering with your shows, it irritates you and everything in the ad irritates you, including those pesky accents.
My accent would probably drive you insane. I'm from the South and pronounce "tire", "fire", and "tired" as "tars", "far" and "tarred". When I first moved North, people didn't have a clue what I was saying. I had to repeat myself endlessly.

ETA - Watch a show you don't like and see if the accent bothers you

ETA Again - Singers don't train for it. Most English speaking singers just naturally lose the accent when they're singing. Otherwise, we'd never be able to understand a word from Ozzy

a reply to: DAVID64

There's got to be something more to it than that.

Firstly, I love the UK version of 'Shameless', but there accents are as thick as can be. Also, I do watch a lot of American tv shows & movies that don't appeal to me at all, but I still don't notice any accent.

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

I know what you mean about the ad accents. I hate adverts with a passion. I can not think of a time when I have ever been influenced choice wise by any advert. I research for myself and go searching for the best quality, usually review recommended. Obviously in the real world any media organisation counts on them for generating funds and financing their ventures, even ATS has to do that.

I love accents. It amazes me still that geography influences language so and very quickly to boot once a people are removed from their origins and regrouped geographically. The movement of originally English speaking people to the U.S, Australia and South Africa are fascinating examples of how quickly accents change. I live in the West Country of the UK and I spot so many nuances of the West Country accent in the accents of certain U.S States, as if they are exaggerations of the original.

How come you don't like the Aussie accent if you are Australian, or at least reside there? I like the Aussie accent, too, and the South African.

Also, the Jamaican patois is quite a fascinating language phenomenon. This is all healthy stuff and keeps the Oxford Dictionary ever expanding and the English language kicking ass through out the world. Languages can easily die as spoken vernacular as we witnessed with Latin.

In the UK, most homegrown tv shows are English, so were are all accustomed to even the thickest English accents. However I've noticed when theres a documentary with Scottish people, they put subtitles up, like we speak a different language. Ive been to America a few times and had people, have absolutely no idea what I'm saying. Its funny how an accent can make such a difference, when we all speak the same language

We need to get more replies.

Where there is a will there is a way.

It is a conspiracy. The NWO is creating a world to do away with accents. Everyone will sound the same. You will never know where in the world the information is coming from.

There That should do the trick!

P

originally posted by: Revolution9
a reply to: Subaeruginosa
How come you don't like the Aussie accent if you are Australian, or at least reside there? I like the Aussie accent, too, and the South African.

I don't personally hate the Aussie accent, I think its pretty cool actually. But when I here it on tele, it makes me laugh and I think to myself, OMG, we sound like a bunch of hicks, lol.

Though, I do personally think there's a NWO agenda to get a generic accent established though Hollywood. Its just my own little conspiracy theory I've always had.

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

Hicks??? No way. Sounds nice to me. Bless!

Yes, there is a definite change in language here. The young people don't have much of an accent. They used to have a very thick strong Cornish accent, real country oooo arrr accents.

I don't think it is a conspiracy as such, but the media is in our faces more than each other these days so they will be the dominant influence on language. The younger people are proving that point.

Lol, is that what we have to look forward to, a world where everybody speaks like the Nutri Bullet or latest butt exercise routine adverts. Get me outta here. Memphis will do where they all speak very nice.

The world is a smaller place now too, so regional accents arent as strong as they once were

a reply to: gdt26

Glaswegian is universally difficult, I think. Even non-Glaswegian Scots must wrestle with it, never mind Americans.

That said, I believe it's a rich arena for accent snobbery. The worst accent snobs, hands down, are in the US. While I'm sure most ordinary US citizens experience no real difficulty understanding most non-US accents, there is a definite influential minority which apparently do. Hence, subtitling British programmes, redoing Brit comedy shows using US cast, insisting all non-US Anglophone actors can do a respectable US accent if they want to work in the US.

originally posted by: CJCrawley
a reply to: gdt26

Glaswegian is universally difficult, I think. Even non-Glaswegian Scots must wrestle with it, never mind Americans.

That said, I believe it's a rich arena for accent snobbery. The worst accent snobs, hands down, are in the US. While I'm sure most ordinary US citizens experience no real difficulty understanding most non-US accents, there is a definite influential minority which apparently do. Hence, subtitling British programmes, redoing Brit comedy shows using US cast, insisting all non-US Anglophone actors can do a respectable US accent if they want to work in the US.

You make a very good point about Glaswegian. We speak so fast and we use a lot of slang word, but when i try to speak to non-Scots, i slow down a lot and speak the Queens English, yet still get nowhere. Try using voice recognition software with a Scottish accent.

I think Americans associate Sean Connery with a Scottish accent but he doesnt even sound Scottish

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

Most American actors are schooled in using a " neutral accent " which is why it is not so obvious.

However having said that; I have spent time in the US as well as feasting on a steady US TV diet since

the sixties ( think original Batman and Robin !! ) as such, I think maybe conditioning could play a part .

Aussies doing that "neutral" American accent are doing OK over there !



Ed: We do not all sound like hicks.

* You don't want John Jarrett taking umbrage ...

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

Maybe they are running thicker accented ads down there just to mess with all of you. LOL Plus the possibility that you hate your TV shows interrupted by ads. I know I do!!

Now, for me in the States, I don't notice most of the accent differences, but it does vary from channel to channel especially when using SAT TV, like DirectTV or Dish versus cable. Some of the southern and western channels have very thick accents that just drive me nuts and I lived in the south for a while without having a problem with it.

I guess it just depends what they are pushing out to your channels.

originally posted by: CJCrawley
a reply to: gdt26
That said, I believe it's a rich arena for accent snobbery. The worst accent snobs, hands down, are in the US.

Yeah, I have noticed its a reoccurring joke when a person with a think Aussie accent is on a show in the US, they have people saying "what language is he speaking?!?" , lol, I've always found that hilarious.

I've got a very unique accent myself, a lot of Aussies have mistaken me for being American, probably because I talk with a lot of Eminem type slang (a cross between southerner & urban). A lot of pomes have also mistaken me for being English myself since I was a little kid, which is odd, since I've had no English accent influence in my entire life. An old pome bloke (a neighbour) a few years back actually pinned my accent down to southern london (whatever that implies, lol), even though I've only ever grown up with people with Aussie accents. My little sister also pronounces some words in a pome accent. Its weird.... just genetics I guess.

Glaswegian is universally difficult, I think. Even non-Glaswegian Scots must wrestle with it, never mind Americans

Don't know about Glaswegian, but Scottish people do tend to be very proud of the accents. I have known some Scottish dudes who have lived in Australia basically all there lives, but still deliberately put on a accent.

a reply to: KnightFire

I'm mostly talking about live streaming CNN (or whatever) and getting all the same ads you guys are watching.

lol, I'll have to try live streaming some local southerner news though....... you know, just for the cultural experience, lol.

Whenever i've seen american ads they seem to be using people from what i would term the Californian area, always too happy and SO energized to bring this information to you that they must have an explosive charge implanted deep somewhere unmentionable to make them seem so happy

In the US the british accent has 3 main views 1. Posh aka lord feckwit of wibbledom, 2. The cockney..cor blimey guv and 3 The generic BBC voice who always happens to be the villan of the piece...but it does seem like in the USA they don't like change so even the jokes are the same after 7 series

The Mrs hates the souther drawl as it seems to take so long to say anything that even "yer all" can take 15-20 seconds..she says it would be quicker with pen and paper to help them as it seems like 5-10 seconds a word is like going thrash metal speed

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

Thats okay matey, we can't stand your Austailian accent either, you know the one where every other word you say is non-existant, at least those English blokes can be understood most of the time. Heck I understand those outsourced Indian people better and I can't stand that crap.

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

Because commercials are designed to be as annoying as possible so they stick in your head. I'm not even joking about this. Why else do you think that you have to suddenly turn the volume on your remote down whenever a commercial break happens in your show? It's because they purposely crank the volume up on them to louder than the show you are watching.

a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

See.... I get a real kick out of that. One of these days I'm gonna travel around the states and deliberately talk in the thickest accent I can manage to everyone I come across. Just so I can get a laugh, when they look at me with a confused look there face and say "whatta on about, buddy!", lol