"In her best Australian accent Elaine Benes in Seinfeld once
suggested to a stranger, “Maybe a dingo ate your baby.”
This really bugs Aussies (which by the way is pronounced ‘Ozzies’ not ‘ossies’)
Meryl Streep is a fine actress except for some of her more recent lame roles, but her accent in the dingo movie was way off - it sounds like a weird variation of Cockney English.
“the dingo took my baby” was a promo for the movie, but is more remebered for the weird accent than anything.
Yes the Australian accent is in part derived from Cockney,
but there is other stuff in there too notably Irish and Scots.
ditto for ‘elaine’s’ attempt. Ditto for nearly every American attempt.
Aussies can do American eg Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce in ‘LA Confidential’, I reckon Hollywood could do Aussie,
but i guess they don’t care much.
A lot of Americans can’t even consistently tell the difference between an Australian accent and a British one. In some sense, the filmmakers really don’t care. As long as the American filmgoers aren’t bothered by the inaccurate accent, why should they care about the smaller Australian audience? Australians can learn a reasonable Australian accent easier because they’ve seen it enough on TV and in movies.
IIRC the Chamberlains were from New Zealand or at least had spent a fair bit of time there. Although I can’t stand Streep she did a good job with how Lindy Chamberlain sounded.
I’ve got a couple of yanks over here right now studying with me at UNSW. I’ve been trying to teach them Australiana, but they just can’t get it. I’ve managed to wean them off Fosters and onto VB, but one of them refuses to eat meat pies (even from Harry’s Cafe de Wheels!) and teaching them about ‘taking the piss’ is proving almost impossible. Why the hell do they take everything so seriously??
And they complain about everything. Get this: I took them for a ride in the Kingswood and they called it “ugly”. Un-fucking-forgivable!
by the way, would anyone be able to point me in the direction of that article that Roy and HG were talking about that says that Australians hate americans?
A fellow from New Zealand once told me that Aussies and Kiwis sound nearly the same; you start with an English accent (pick one of several) and speak through clenched teeth so the black flies don’t get into your mouth.
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Big Yellow Kingswood (and I won’t do any of the Not The Kingswood jokes):
I have a copy of the article in question somewhere AND an article where a British journo replied on our behalf. Defence from a pom - who woulda thunk it? He eloquently pointed out that Australians make fun of people but Americans miss the point that it’s a joke. “If you can’t take a joke then don’t come out here.”
I think that it’s both the fact that americans don’t get it, as well as the fact that Australian’s don’t kick anyone when they’re down, and the opposite to not kicking someone when they’re down is kicking them when they’re up… but Australian humour is a whole different thread (which I may just well start up if it’s not been done before, I’ll look into it)
I really must take exception to the opinion that Australians are in any way competent at speaking with an American accent. I’m married to an Aussie and have spent years trying to train him to say the letter “R”. That and the fact that when he does attempt to speak with an American accent, it comes out as a garbled, exaggerated version of something that might come out of a drunk Georgian has provided me with hours of entertainment. His friends and family aren’t even as talented as he is…he does, after all, have the advantage of having lived in the U.S. for 8 years.
And don’t bring up Russell Crowe. He’s not Australian.
I’ve heard whingeing like this before (Yanks can’t do Aussie/Pommie/whatever accents). I also read the article whingeing about the submarine movie (U471 or whatever it was) that blatantly re-wrote history by making it an American story rather than giving the Poms proper credit for recovering the enigma box. As a Yank who lived in Australia for 3 years, I do agree that we do poor accents. But, we all must remember that it is Hollywood, it is not real (nor is it a history – or linguistics – class). If the population in general hears a non-American accent and sees a kangaroo in the background, they think “Australian.” (I mean, Sean Connery has the same accent whether he’s a Chicago cop, a Russian sub commander, etc.)
It’s star power not a perfect accent that draws an audience. Hollywood, like any other industry, is looking to make money, not to be the keeper of history, language or accents.
BTW, if you want to see the WORST attempt at Australian accents, check out The Thorn Birds television mini-series.
As for the Yanks who were Down Under and didn’t try meat pies. They shouldn’t be moving to foreign countries, if they’re not willing to try to fit in to the local culture. (And, VB sucks as badly as Fosters. Cascade or Coopers, now that’s some good beer.)
Signed, eater of meat pies and, yes, even Vegemite…
