Getting the accent wrong |
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HollyRock
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Posted: 27 Apr 2008 at 7:21pm |
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This has been touched upon in other threads - apologies for potential redundancy:
It gets under my skin when actors get a regional accent wrong.
Most notably for me is the Boston accent. I have yet to hear someone who is not "from around here" get it right; and when it's wrong - it's annoying. No, we do not all sound like Kennedy's.
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FaithSF
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Holly, I watched a few minutes of "The Departed" yesterday and wondered how realistic each of the characters sounded. I know Matt Damon probably got it right, since he's from Boston, but Jack Nicholson? Martin Sheen?
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FaithSF
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I was trying to edit my other post, but I'm having problems loading that page. (I was having issues loading pages here yesterday, too. Too busy?)
Anyway, I hated Helen Hunt's supposed New York accent in "As Good as it Gets." Sometimes it sounded like she was from Brooklyn, and other times she had no accent at all. It's like she used it when she remembered to. That was pretty awful. |
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HollyRock
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Jack Nicholson is not as bad as others. Martin Sheen, not as good as Jack Nicholson.
I was surprised with Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting, he didn't get it right.
The worst I can think of is Laura Linney in Mystic River. The accent was unfortunately horrendous, because otherwise she was great.
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Thor
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Seems that, sometimes, it takes forever to turn a page or have a reply get posted.
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Jimbo
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The worst abuse of that is by female actresses trying to sound like trashy southerners, which is unfortunately a common theme in TV & movies.
I can't remember what it was I was watching recently, but this skinny little blonde Hollywood-type was supposed to be some kind of Georgia tramp with a thick southern accent & it was just pathetic.
There are several different southern dialects. A true Georgia accent is much different from a Mississippi accent or a Tennesee or an Alabama accent. Just like a Michigan accent is different from a Wisconsin or Illinois (Chicago) accent.
They ought to just go out & hire actors & actresses who actually come from the region they're trying to portray their character as being from.
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Thor
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I just mentioned this in another thread:
Has anyone noticed more and more people making statements of fact that sound like questions? I used to think it was a California thing (inflection, more than accent), but I seem to be hearing it a lot on TV nowadays, too.
Example: "Hi. This is Heather Smith? And I'm with the ABC Company? I'm calling to discuss your latest purchase with you?"
Don't you know who you are and who you work for and why you called? This way of speaking sounds sooooo weak.
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Jimbo
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That has been a characteristic of the Tennessee accent for ages & ages.
I remember hearing a stand up comic talking about that several years ago.
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Thor
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I can imagine that style done in a Southern accent.
It seems to be more a female thing than a male thing, I've noticed.
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Moochamoocha
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I hate hearing actors botch the way they perceive New Yorkers talk. No, we all don't "tawk" da way yous tink we do. I'm a lifelong "Noo Yawker" and people have told me that I sound like I'm from England. Hmmm...how would that sound? A Brooklyn British accent?
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msmadz
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Mooch, I couldn't agree with you more. Although, when I went to Colorado last year people told me I have a "city accent." But one thing I CANNOT stand is when people automatically assume we all tawk like "Toity Toid and toid" (translation: 33rd and Third). Nobody, in my 45 years living here, have I heard anyone come out with that.
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The artist formerly known as Madawee
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FaithSF
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It's like when I used to tell people I was from New Jersey. "Oh, Joisey?" I would say, "No, we don't speak like that." They'd misinterpret my reaction and say, "Oh, NEW Joisey then." It wasn't dropping the "New;" we do that ourselves.
We don't say "Joisey." We don't pronounce things that way. |
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Spicy_Meatball
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The Kennedy's have their OWN accent. I think "regional accents" are simply that. Regional. The movies have to zero in on the most well accepted versions. I lived in Southie for 12 years. "Good Will Hunting" anyone? I noticed the South Boston accent differed from the Revere accent which differed from the Swampscott accent which differed from the Born On Beacon Hill Accent. I grew up in upstate NY and my British relatives expected me to talk like I was born in Brooklyn or the Bronx. The regional NY accents are as varied as you can imagine. Up in Buffalo NY you take a ride in your CAHHHR (sounds almost like "CARE"). In the Bronx it's much like Boston...."CAH". My point? No such thing as a "Massachusetts" or "New York" or "Any Other State" accent. It's all very specific to area and how the language has morphed into what people want it to be. I met a lady last week at a UPS drop off who pronounced a certain word and I said "OH!! What part of BOSTON are you from??!" She smiled and said "Honey...I'm from CANARSIE!!"
That's in Brooklyn, NY!
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aleen
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I have a really strange accent (which I didn't realize I had until I actually moved away from my hometown for the first time). It's a fairly thick Canadian accent laced with a bit of the Minnesota pronunciations (I grew up only half an hour from Minnesota). It also has a slight British lilt from many years of living in England (and growing up around British relatives). Of course I've also been living in the NYC area for five years or so...so now I have a few New York-isms, which I get from Mr. Aleen (eg. "howahyah?" ) In other words, my accent is pretty appalling!
However, two accent-related things drive me crazy:
1) Whenever I go to Times Square (I hate Times Square, but go there every once in awhile to get this really delicious popcorn that they sell there...ugh!), you get these losers trying to lure tourists in to see standup comedians, and they really lay "Noo Yawk" accent on really thick. And it's obnoxious to see these giggling tourists eat it all up!
2) Don't *ever* tell someone, "Hey, you sound like...." because it won't be anything that is flattering. People usually will say to me, "Hey, you sound like you belong in the movie 'Fargo'!" I reply, "Please don't compare me to the characters in Fargo. I don't find that flattering at all." Usually people will apologize and change the subject, but sometimes I will get people who then try to imitate my accent. Most people mangle their attempts at a Canadian accent and make us sound like a bunch of slow-witted numbskulls.
When I still lived in London, this English guy kept on saying I sounded like Fargo, despite my polite attempts to get him to stop. When we were at dinner (I had only met him earlier in the day), he was constantly repeating what I said in a lame attempt at a Canadian accent. He was reeeeeeeally streeeetching ouuuuuut the wooooooords in an obnoxious manner. I have a really long fuse, but I finally had had enough and said to him, "You know what? f**k off! I've asked you nicely to stop mocking me and you won't stop." So you know what he did? He once again repeated what I said in this stupid attempt at a Canadian accent: "Youuuuuuuu knoooooooow whaaaaat? Fuuuuuuuck offffff..." So after a few minutes, I excused myself to the bathroom and left out the side door, leaving him with the cheque. Paaaaaaaaay the biiiilllllllll youuuuuursellllllf baaaaaastard!
Not the most mature way to handle the situation, I realize, but I must admit I was cackling all the way home!
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"Did somebody say 'muffins?'" Hazel from the Magic Bullet infomercial
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Jimmy
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Ha-ha, very good Moochie! When many of my comrades around the restaurant try and imitate me, I've heard everything from a thick Scot's brogue, to a flippant Irish accent. Then there are many who use the fake cockney, as was used in the movie "My Fair Lady". Completely phoney, and completely wrong. I have an English accent, yet some think I'm a lifetime New Yorker who's benefited from a fine education. It also makes me laugh when I encounter so many NJ people who seem to think it's their right to sound as though they were in the cast of The Soprano's. An accent is an accent. It's the thumbprint of one's background, not a force to be reckoned with, or a shield to hide behind. Actors/actresses who get these accents wrong, simply didn't do enough research. Take Hugh Laurie for example. When he performs his role as Dr. House, you'd swear he was a Yank. Yet he is as English as me, he's must've done some serious research to rid his limey accent completely. |
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Hootman
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And then there is Robin Williams...
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Yutolia
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And then there is Kevin Costner.
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Moochamoocha
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I cracked up when I read that! I know Canarsie because that's where I live! Born and raised. I never knew there was an accent associated with certain neighborhoods. |
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Thor
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I once got this German girl I knew (here on a work visa, and spoke English quite well) to try speaking English with a southern drawl. I understand it's probably hard for a foreigner to recognize a regional American accent, let alone imitate it, but still, it was pretty funny. |
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Skerlnik
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Yes. Best English Robin Hood Accent Ever.
(If Robin Hood was from Iowa......)
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Skerlnik
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A girl in my German class back in high school was from Texas, and it was pretty interesting hearing her speak German.
I wanted to give her a hard time (...but not about the accent. She was just searingly HOT! )
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BrianO
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I live in California, and I hear this WAY too much!
I friend of mine in college had that whole 'rising inflection thing, and talked like this. When he did an oral report in class, the teacher reminded him to work on getting rid of that inflection, but he didn't really get what she meant until I 'imitated' it...'She means? You talk like this? When you're not even asking a question? So stop it?'
BTW, this is also very common in Australia, apparently...maybe it thrives in countries with lots of 'beach bums'! And the 'inflection' has even spread to certain river cities in the UK, where it's known as 'Estuary English'...and it's blamed on the popularity of a long-running Aussie soap opera, where everyone in the cast talks like this?
I've never seen 'American Pie', but I've heard the 'This one time? At band camp?' sound bite so much, that I now hear that phrase in my head whenever someone mentions the 'valley speak' inflection!
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BrianO
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I think Laurie as House does the best American accent I've EVER heard from a Brit!
I've heard other examples where British actors tried to 'sound' American, but they sounded Canadian instead(and while sometimes they just use Canadian actors, other times, the Brits just don't do a convincing American accent!)
I remember reading some old Agatha Christie book(forgot which one), where characters from the USA had some weird 'English' misconception of an an American accent(she had them saying 'Am-urr-ican', which is something a lot of British authors used to write, but I've never heard an Am-AIR-i-can actually say that!)
Just as Dick Van Dyke set 'British accents by American actors' back by years, so did many British productions, which gave Americans what sounded like a fake 'southern' accent, even when it wasn't supposed to be southern!
Nowadays, of course, both American and British TV and movies have opened up to more 'regional' accents...though the Brits tend to get theirs right more than Americans do!
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musicman
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Hey Holly, get the cah so we can go to Glosta. I'm a Bostnian too. Born and bred.
The only actor that almost got it right was the guy who played Winchester on M.A.S.H.
We say Bawston not Bahston as people try to imitate.
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musicman
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