The Accent Thread

[jenniferuk]

Originally Posted by Dex

Just to add a youtube clip that samples the Tangier accent for anyone who's interested (proooobably just me ) . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIZgw09CG9E

They sound amazing. I want to go there so badly now! But I think I might need a translator or some sort of real-life closed-captioning device if I want to get by.

Isn't that interesting? Need to squeeze in a visit-looks a fascinating place.

[Macfanforever]

We know Mick,John and Christine has their English accent .So Stevie and Lindsey will fall into a Cali or western accent.I do notice Stevie has alittlebit of accent.

[jenniferuk]

Dex-also have a look at Outer Banks English ( if link doesn't work Google outer banks accent).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXs9c...e_gdata_player

[Dex]

Originally Posted by jenniferuk

Dex-also have a look at Outer Banks English ( if link doesn't work Google outer banks accent).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXs9c...e_gdata_player

I love those people. "People tell me I have an Australian accent and I'm like "no!"" Brilliant. How strange it must be, though, to have so many people assume you're from overseas all the time.

[chriskisn]

Personally I'm a sucker for an accent. I go to a specific hairdresser because not only is she cute but she is Croatian and has a really sexy accent (not that I normally find east European accents sexy). There used to be a French girl who worked at a shop near me that had an accent to die for. Plus I'm totally in love with Penelope Cruz and her Spanish accent.

I have to say that generally though I tend to like continental European accents rather than anything that comes out of the USA, the UK or Australia, etc. Plus doesn't hurt if the woman with the sexy accent is pretty easy on the eye too!

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by holidayroad

I live in Alabama, but I am not originally from there. People here talk with a very 'country' accent. A lot of people away from the South think people here talk like Scarlett from Gone With the Wind, but that isn't the case. More of that accent seems to be in places like Florida, Southeast Georgia, Virginia, and the Carolinas.

The Scarlet O'Hara accent is a Lowcountry accent, which is really only native to the area between Charleston, SC & Savannah, GA (and it only stretches maybe 50 miles inland from the Atlantic). So the funny thing is, if Scarlet O'Hara were a real person, she would NOT have sounded the way Vivien Leigh did in Gone With The Wind. Being a lifelong Southerner, whenever I hear the Lowcountry accent used in TV shows & movies for every Southerner from Texas to Virginia, I get pretty annoyed. Southern accents vary pretty wildly, even within any given Southern state.

I also strongly resent the fact much of the US feels the Southern accent is evocative of a lack of intelligence. True Southerners have an absolute LOVE of language, and take great pains to communicate with a dramatic flourish for description. I think the movie Steel Magnolias touches on that notion, though Daryl Hannah was the only one to get the Northwest Louisiana/ArkLaTex accent correct. But I digress.

[Dex]

You know, I've never seen Gone With the Wind. People keep mentioning this Scarlet accent, and I have no idea what they mean. I'll have to make time for it.

Louie, I agree with you. I think the south is the only place in North America where the flourish with which the English speak is really matched. You've got me wanting to visit some of those areas now, too. Jeesh, there is simply too much of America I need to see! Curse my time and budget constraints.

[WildHearted]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

The Scarlet O'Hara accent is a Lowcountry accent, which is really only native to the area between Charleston, SC & Savannah, GA (and it only stretches maybe 50 miles inland from the Atlantic). So the funny thing is, if Scarlet O'Hara were a real person, she would NOT have sounded the way Vivien Leigh did in Gone With The Wind. Being a lifelong Southerner, whenever I hear the Lowcountry accent used in TV shows & movies for every Southerner from Texas to Virginia, I get pretty annoyed. Southern accents vary pretty wildly, even within any given Southern state.

People in Augusta, GA also have the accent, or did at one point. That's where my Grandparents are from and they and their families (though not her children) had it heavily.

That said, I lived in Savannah for 5 years, and I VERY rarely heard anyone speak with a Lowcountry accent. If I did, they were middle aged or older, which leads me to think it's perhaps dying out a bit. There are plenty of people with thick country accents, but it's closer to what I heard living around Atlanta than what I would consider the Scarlett accent.

Also, to the people who are saying they don't know what it sounds like: have you ever seen The Golden Girls? It's the way Blanche (played by Rue McLanahan) talks.

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by WildHearted

People in Augusta, GA also have the accent, or did at one point. That's where my Grandparents are from and they and their families (though not her children) had it heavily.

That said, I lived in Savannah for 5 years, and I VERY rarely heard anyone speak with a Lowcountry accent. If I did, they were middle aged or older, which leads me to think it's perhaps dying out a bit. There are plenty of people with thick country accents, but it's closer to what I heard living around Atlanta than what I would consider the Scarlett accent.

I didn't realize the Lowcountry accent extended as far inland as Augusta! I know people from nearby Atlanta, GA don't have it, nor do folks in Columbia, SC. The accent is only native to a very small portion of the South; it's downright odd Hollywood uses it as the blanket accent for all Southerners. And you're definitely onto something about it dying out, too. The only people I've ever heard use it are currently over the age of 50, and are of a "genteel" stature. The younger, or even more "common" people don't speak that way.

It's also funny to me that Texans are always portrayed to have the cowboy accent. Don't get me wrong, you'll find that in large portions of Texas (it's native to the Plains & desert areas). Here in Austin people are almost accentless... they sound more like Southern Californians. Meanwhile, East Texans definitely have the stereotypical Southern Drawl.

[Dex]

Originally Posted by WildHearted

Also, to the people who are saying they don't know what it sounds like: have you ever seen The Golden Girls? It's the way Blanche (played by Rue McLanahan) talks.

I wondered if it was along those lines (love the Golden Girls!)

There's an interesting interview with Rue McLanahan discussing the creation of Blanche's accent. Apparently Rue didn't intend it to be terribly authentic, but rather a sort of over-the-top way of speaking that she though Blanche would adopt as part of the general persona she projects. She also talks about how in the pilot the director told her not to put on an accent and how much she struggled with finding a way to play the character without doing one. I find it all very interesting.

Here's the video clip for any interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_DGIgDOg6c

[TerraRhiannon]

Originally Posted by darkcat

I am from Nova Scotia, Canada, but live in Maine. I have been told I have a very distinctive Maritime Canadian accent, which makes me laugh because the Mainer accent is so ridiculously distinctive (sounds somewhat like a Boston accent)

This is funny because I am a Maritimer, and we have a very distinct accent. I went out west and they just knew. A couple thought I was from New England. Also, I was at a friend's house the other day and his uncle is from Bangor Maine, and I swear to God I thought he was from Boston because every single word her pronounced was Boston accent. The accent drive me crazy, however, but I can live with it.

Personally, I enjoy the good old Oxford British accent on the boys. Spanish or French on girls.

[Jondalar]

Meryl has a new accent for next film.

[TerraRhiannon]

Originally Posted by Jondalar

Meryl has a new accent for next film.

i was just saying the other day I wished meryl would do another movie as soon as possible. i'm a huge fan.

don't know how I feel about this one, though. just based off the trailer..

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by TerraRhiannon

i was just saying the other day I wished meryl would do another movie as soon as possible. i'm a huge fan.

don't know how I feel about this one, though. just based off the trailer..

It was a very popular play. Meryl plays a pill head with throat cancer. It's about a dysfunctional family.

[Dex]

Originally Posted by Jondalar

It was a very popular play. Meryl plays a pill head with throat cancer. It's about a dysfunctional family.

I'm a little worried now. Theatre-to-film adaptations are almost always a bit awkward and disappointing. But I don't get to the theatre much these days, so I suppose I can't be too choosy. I think the trailer looks very interesting. Cautiously looking forward to it.

What accents hasn't Meryl done at this point?

And look at Abigail Breslin all grown up! I haven't been following her career and didn't know she was still acting professionally. Best of luck to her.