# Buffy: Is James Marsters/Spike's accent convincing to Brits? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421 "2003-04-17T22:34:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/41 "2003-04-18T12:16:33Z")
How convincing is John Hillerman (Higgins in _Magnum, P.U._, Howard Johnson in _Blazing Saddles_, etc.)? I believe he is a Texan, but he seems to have the Brittish accent down pat (at least to my American ears). ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/42 "2003-04-18T12:25:11Z")
Only time I’ve ever noticed that Marsters was American was when he called somebody a “poof” and totally mispronounced the word. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/43 "2003-04-18T12:32:30Z")
Spike’s accent sounds a little affected to me, with a little too much stress places on the britishisms; but it is very, very consisent. I just love his Victorian accent, though. It’s so _effulgent_. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/44 "2003-04-18T12:37:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lobsang \* > \*\*His cockney one is, as has been established by a few of us. Maybe cockneys would disagree. I, being surrounded (but not being one) scousers, could probably spot fake scouse accents (like in the film ‘51st state’ in which some of the true scousers didn’t even sound convincing) \*\* Umm…James Marsters’ (fake) accent isn’t even remotely “Cockney”. It does sound like Anthony Head’s real accent; I’ve heard Head’s accent, and although he claimed in one interview to be a South London boy he sounds more Surrey than Thornton Heath (excuse me, “Fort Neath”) to me. Gilliam Anderson’s real accent is a strange US-UK hybrid that freaks me out when I hear it. Especially as I’m worried about the same thing happening to me. At the moment, most people assume I’m Canadian or Irish. John Hillerman sounds like a Texan doing a fake Oxbridge accent well. I notice no mention of Kevin Costner thus far, but I suppose it’s just as well. So, UK Dopers: Loyd Grossman’s accent. US, UK or Alien Mutant? I’m voting Alien Mutant myself, a strange affectation combining fake Boston upper-class lockjaw (think: Thurston Howell) with fake Oxbridge. I wonder what he sounded like as a child? ---
**Author:** ![TheRealJohnPeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TheRealJohnPeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheRealJohnPeat)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/45 "2003-04-18T12:51:42Z")
jr8 mentions Daphne in Friends - who’s ‘British’ accent was so affected with ‘made up words’ early on that it was truly laughable. Someone had gotten their hands on an ‘ancient Yorkshire words’ book and gone to town - my partner’s family is from ‘deepest’ Yorkshire and they don’t know half of the words she used in the first couple of series 🙂 As for Gillian Anderson - she could speak swahili in an Irish accent and I would still listen _drools to himself in a childish yet satisfying way_ TTFN JP ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/46 "2003-04-18T12:53:44Z")
Lloyd Grossman - alien mutant accent. I remember being told it was a Bostonian accent and believing it until I actually heard a proper Bostonian accent and it wasn’t anywhere near as bizarre as Lloyd’s. I think he was picked on as a child. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/47 "2003-04-18T13:00:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheRealJohnPeat \* > \*\*jr8 mentions Daphne in Friends - who’s ‘British’ accent was so affected with ‘made up words’ early on that it was truly laughable. > > Someone had gotten their hands on an ‘ancient Yorkshire words’ book and gone to town - my partner’s family is from ‘deepest’ Yorkshire and they don’t know half of the words she used in the first couple of series 🙂 \*\* Jane Leeves (sp?) is another Brit doing a completely different accent for comedy effect. I think the character’s supposed to be from Manchester, although you’d never be able to tell. I was watching an interview with some other actress (whose name I forget) who was talking about _her_ audition for the part of Daphne in _Frasier_, and said she didn’t get it because she complained that British people wouldn’t say those sorts of things. Which, of course, missed the point of the character. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/48 "2003-04-18T13:13:58Z")
Always a good thing to discuss, this. As far as being weirded-out by Marsters’ accent, it’s a lot like listening to interviews with the guys from the original Star Trek. Worst (intentionally, I think) American accent by a Brit? I have to go with Eric Idle in some of the Monty Python sketches when he’s doing a sports announcer. God, it’s funny listening to that. Back to Buffy: I knew Marsters was American, but I was surprised when I heard Denisof was. Really surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Deptford](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Deptford](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deptford)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/49 "2003-04-18T14:10:33Z")
It’s not bad generaly.It’s mainly certain words that are jarring. When he calls someone a “Poof” for example his pronunciation is totally wrong. If you want to hear a really bad British accent in Buffy, look to Molly (i think her name is), the potential slayer who’s supposed to be a Cockney. Compared to her Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins sounds convincing. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/50 "2003-04-18T14:16:09Z")
So, how bout Brad Pitt’s Pikey in **Snatch**? Damn, he must have had fun with that role! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/51 "2003-04-18T14:19:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheRealJohnPeat \* > \*\*I must admit I’m normally a hater of ‘fake accents’ of all types - but what I’ve seen of Buffy I hadn’t really spotted him as a ‘fake’. > > I can top the entire ‘bad accents’ thing by just saying > > “Ewan McGregor in Black Hawk Down” > > It will never get any worse than that - Sarnt… > > TTFN > > JP \*\* I didn’t have a problem with Ewan McGRegor’s accent or Orlando Bloom’s. In my experience, most good British (and Scottish, Irish, Aussie and Kiwi) actors do American accents very well. Indeed, most do American REGIONAL accents (be it Southern drawls or Brooklyn-ese) quite well! The only problem is, some Brits seem to think that the way to sound “American” is to remove ALL traces of any type of accent. As a result, some sound either goofy or like robots (example? As much as I loved Monty Python, NOBODY in that troupe could do a passable American accent to save his life). Perhaps that’s a reflection of economic necessity. There’s a lot more money to be made in the U.S. than in any other English-speaking nation, so a foreign actor has a lot of incentive to work hard and get the accents right. On the other hand, when an American star like Kevin Costner is at the peak of his popularity, he has very little economic incentive to do an English accent properly in a film like “Robin Hood.” Still, I’ll give the foreign actors this: even the worst of them are clearly TRYING hard to get the American accents right. American actors (think of Dick Van Dyke in “Mary Poppins”) often don’t seem to be trying to get British accents (or Irish brogues or Scottish burrs) right at all! ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/52 "2003-04-18T14:24:38Z")
I’m not British and I don’t watch _Buffy_, but just a couple of weeks ago I stopped by a friend’s room while it was on and saw this Spike character for the first time. I thought the character was meant to be affecting a bad English outfit to go with his '80s punk look, but my friends explained that he always talks like that and is seriously meant to be English. Ha. On the subject of Brits who can do a convincing American accent, I always thought Christian Bale was quite good. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/53 "2003-04-18T14:28:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lamia \* > **I thought the character was meant to be affecting a bad English outfit** Bad English _accent_. Sheesh. I’m sleep deprived. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/54 "2003-04-18T14:35:22Z")
I watched Xena for over a year before I found out Lucy Lawless was a Kiwi, and was shocked to hear what her normal speaking voice was like. Bob Hoskins did a great job in Roger Rabbit; the only irregularities I heard I attributed to his trying to nail the 40’s detective way of speaking. I didn’t find out until later that he was british. He also did a great job in Mermaids. How about Patrick Stewart’s French accent for Jean-Luc Picard (just kidding)? ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/55 "2003-04-18T14:40:25Z")
I was just thinking: why Spike should have an English accent anyway? We don’t know his complete back story, but I don’t think he’s lived in the UK since around the time of the Boxer revolution in China. He’s certainly been living in the US since the time of Billy Idol (when he klled the slayer on the subway). No - complains when Angel loses his Irish “accent” and speaks like a Californian. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/56 "2003-04-18T14:46:05Z")
Quick sidebar that I found semi-amusing. The current star of “The Agency” is Jason O’Mara, who was born and raised in Dublin. I didn’t know that when I first saw him on the show. He sounds very convincing as an American CIA agent. But there was one epdiode in which he’s undercover in Russia, trying to pass himself off as an IRA terrorist looking to buy black market weapons. And all during the episode, his Irish accent was atrociously bad. It was as if he couldn’t decide whether he was Irish, Scottish, or American. He sounded like a clueless American trying hard to put on a phony Irish accent (like in an Irish Spring or Lucky Charms commercial). At the very end of the episode, the character meets the “real” IRA terrorist he was impersonating. The “real” terrorist tells him two things:" “If you ever get mixed up in my business again, I’ll kill you. And another thing- you’d better DO something about that phony Irish accent!” - At the time, I laughed hysterically, because I THOUGHT the producers/writers were simply acknowledging a reality: that the star was doing a piss-poor job sounding Irish. Now that I know Jason O’Mara really IS Irish, of course, I’m even more amused. Perhaps O’Mara was, subtly, taking a dig at American actors who usually botch Irish accents! ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/57 "2003-04-18T14:47:09Z")
“Oh, listen to Mary Poppins. He’s got his crust all stiff and upper with that nancy-boy accent. (everyone looking at him) You Englishmen are always so… (pauses) Bloody hell! (ticks off on his fingers) Sodding, blimey, shagging, knickers, bollocks, oh God! I’m English!” That being said… I’d like to see John Hannah do an American accent (has he?). His regular accent is so thick I practically need an enlgish-to-english traslation… ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/58 "2003-04-18T14:51:29Z")
While you’re all here, I’ll ask an Anglo-related question I’ve been having trouble finding the answer to. On several occasions in _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_, Giles has called someone a “burke” (sp?). It’s clearly meant as a pejorative. What’s the derivation of that epithet? ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/59 "2003-04-18T14:58:34Z")
It’s spelt ‘Berk’ and is used to mean an idiot. I’ve always thought it came from the Anglo-Romani word which means breast. So you’re basically calling someone a tit. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421/60 "2003-04-18T15:00:29Z")
It surprised me when I found out Brenda from “Six Feet Under” was Australian. I think she pulls off the Californian accent quite well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-is-james-marsters-spikes-accent-convincing-to-brits/169421.md?page=4)