# Exactly how bad was James Doohan's "Scotty" accent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 27, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493 "2011-05-27T22:14:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![williambaskerville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@williambaskerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williambaskerville)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/41 "2011-05-29T07:12:27Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > ‘it’s a HELL of a lot more complicated than that.’ That’s fair comment. On the OP :- as an Irishman, who currently employs a Scottish guy, I would say Doohan’s accent was fair to excellent. If I’d been told after watching him that he’d grown up in Scotland, I’d believe it :- so would my Scottish employee. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/42 "2011-05-29T07:20:36Z")
> [@williambaskerville](#): > > I would say Doohan’s accent was fair to excellent. If I’d been told after watching him that he’d grown up in Scotland, I’d believe it :- so would my Scottish employee. I personally would not go that far. His accent was always a joke in my family as I grew up - we would have known pretty quickly he wasn’t actually Scottish and we laughed out loud when we saw an interview with the actor when he said he tried to make Scotty from ‘Aiberdeen’. A similar example is Paul Whitehouse’s Scottish accent in some adverts just now - non Scots might think it sounds real but we’re not fooled. People who can do it right include: Emma Thompson - everyone thought she really was Scottish when she first appeared in the TV series ‘Tutti Frutti’, Johnny Lee Miller in Trainspotting, Mike Myers in various things (I love the dad in ‘So I Married an Axe Murderer’. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/43 "2011-05-29T11:49:58Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Carniviousplant, I assume you’re being disinegenuous in not knowing that Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are distinct entities. No, I was woefully ignorant. You and Google have set me straight. I apologize if I gave offense. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/44 "2011-05-29T15:35:41Z")
> [@Scheidt-Hoch](#): > > People who can do it right include: > Emma Thompson - everyone thought she really was Scottish when she first appeared in the TV series ‘Tutti Frutti’, > Johnny Lee Miller in Trainspotting, > Mike Myers in various things (I love the dad in ‘So I Married an Axe Murderer’. Heid! The dad in “So I Married an Axe Murderer” was pretty much perfect (and scarily like my dad), as are your other two examples. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/45 "2011-05-29T15:52:14Z")
The guy who plays House (don’t watch the show, so don’t know his name) did a few episodes of MI-5 (Spooks) a few years ago, and his accent was pretty good. Caught him on So Graham Norton too, and he kept it up there as well. A joke on English viewers? (How many heads just exploded?) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/46 "2011-05-29T16:31:26Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Heid! The dad in “So I Married an Axe Murderer” was pretty much perfect (and scarily like my dad), as are your other two examples. Really? Mike Myers always sounded like comic opera Scottish to me. But I guess his parents are authentic. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/47 "2011-05-29T16:32:43Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > The guy who plays House (don’t watch the show, so don’t know his name) Hugh Laurie. I don’t like _House_, I’ve liked him in everything else he’s done. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/48 "2011-05-29T16:39:06Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Really? Mike Myers always sounded like comic opera Scottish to me. But I guess his parents are authentic. The dad character was really very good, partially because what he was saying was pretty authentic. Caricature, for sure, but not all that much… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/49 "2011-05-30T17:43:26Z")
The good people of Aberdeen claim Scotty as their own, and they have some ST canon in their favor: [Aberdeen | Memory Alpha | Fandom](http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Aberdeen) > [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t get what the big deal is about Picard’s accent. Apparently, he’s just a natural with languages, and was able to learn English as a second language well enough that he speaks it without an accent. Why is that so hard to believe?.. And, of course, his French brother, French sister-in-law and young French nephew have the same accent as he does, even when they’re alone together in, y’know, France: [Family (episode) | Memory Alpha | Fandom](http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Family_%28episode%29) ---
**Author:** ![Voluble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/4af34b/32.png) [@Voluble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voluble)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/50 "2011-05-30T21:14:17Z")
With the way communications are now and as easy as it is to move around it is getting harder to pick out the pure accents from the fake ones. There is a lot of mixing and homogenizing going on. I am from the Southern part of the US and in the past we had always been forced to put up with the absolute worst caricatures of our accents it is possible to imagine. But recently they have been getting better. “Justified” on the FX channel is an example. I was able to pick out that Boyd was a natural Southerner. Raylon’s accent was one of the worst ones. But they were all passable if you allowed for the fact that there is a lot of variation now. The actor who plays the chief doesn’t have a thick accent but it sounded authentic if you allowed for the fact he may have tried to mainstream his accent a bit since he was in a position of authority. The actor who plays him is from North Carolina and has probably had to sublimate his accent quite a bit in the acting business. One mistake they make a lot is thinking a Texas accent is the same as a Southern accent. It may be a subset but it is distinctly different. Where I live you can even tell whether someone was raised in the country or city by their accent but that is changing quickly now. I would be extremely surprised if something similar wasn’t happening with Scottish accents. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/51 "2011-05-31T09:11:28Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Probably - though it’d be hard for them to decide between being derided for an accent that wasn’t actually that bad or being derided for it purely because they were ‘American.’ Definitely the latter. Have you heard some of us speak? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Elvis\_Chimney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/50afbb/32.png) [@Elvis\_Chimney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elvis_Chimney)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/52 "2011-05-31T09:27:41Z")
It’s not by any stretch of the imagination a good Scottish accent, but neither is it particularly offensive. It’s someone who’s clearly not Scottish trying an accent and not making as big an arse of it as they might be expected to. In the grand scheme of attempted theatrical Scottish accents that ranks it pretty highly I think. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/53 "2011-05-31T09:30:41Z")
> [@Elvis\_Chimney](#): > > It’s not by any stretch of the imagination a good Scottish accent, but neither is it particularly offensive. It’s someone who’s clearly not Scottish trying an accent and not making as big an arse of it as they might be expected to. > > In the grand scheme of attempted theatrical Scottish accents that ranks it pretty highly I think. Yep, I’d have to agree with this. Russ Abbott it ain’t. ---
**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:** [May 31, 2011, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/54 "2011-05-31T09:46:12Z")
Patrick Stewart is actually a Yorkshireman by birth (Mirfield). He ruefully admits that he had his original accent beaten out of him long ago during his training, and all he can do now is stage-Yorkshire. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/55 "2011-05-31T11:33:23Z")
> [@Scheidt-Hoch](#): > > People who can do it right include: > (snip) > Mike Myers in various things (I love the dad in ‘So I Married an Axe Murderer’. Apparently his dad is Scottish, hence him being rather familiar with the accent & good at it 🙂 > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’m not sure about Amy Pond, but according to Wiki the actress who plays her was born and raised in Inverness, Scotland – right up until she went off to school in Edinburgh, Scotland. Yes, Amy made a rather big deal about being Scottish in the first two episodes. She was rather proud of the Scots for having their own spaceship (and not torturing a spacewhale!) in The Beast Below 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/56 "2011-05-31T12:28:51Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > I could understand what he was saying, so he’s not from Glasgow. I read his autobiography. He said he got the accent from listening to the real thing He just intentionally modified the accent to be understandable by an American audience. > [@silenus](#): > > No it wasn’t. By the 23rd Century, Britain had finally won the 2nd Hundred Years War, and France was totally subjugated. It’s language was suppressed, it’s culture abolished, and everybody French became “more British than the British” to fit in. Except his brother, wife and kid. But, they were very much traditionalists, so they may have also held on to the accent. And Picard had a French accent as a boy (being played by the same guy as his nephew.) And he grew up in the same conditions. He must have acquired the “proper” French accent as he grew up. Yeah, I’m fanwanking to make your fanwank work. I like it! > [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t get what the big deal is about Picard’s accent. Apparently, he’s just a natural with languages, and was able to learn English as a second language well enough that he speaks it without an accent. Why is that so hard to believe? Of course, he learned English from a British teacher, so his “without an accent” is by British standards. I’ve met folks in real life with the exact same situation. But his French is atrocious, too. He ought to be able to switch back if he’s so good with accents. The fanwank by silenus and me works better. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > And, of course, his French brother, French sister-in-law and young French nephew have the same accent as he does, even when they’re alone together in, y’know, France: [Family (episode) | Memory Alpha | Fandom](http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Family_%28episode%29) See above. You can make it work if you fanwank hard enough! > [@Gyrate](#): > > Patrick Stewart is actually a Yorkshireman by birth (Mirfield). He ruefully admits that he had his original accent beaten out of him long ago during his training, and all he can do now is stage-Yorkshire. Or maybe this happened to Picard, too, for whatever reason. Heck, maybe he volunteered for this treatment so he wouldn’t slip into the old accent of his youth. Or maybe there’s technology in the future that allows you to change your accent. It would be related to the Universal Translator. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/57 "2011-05-31T21:57:42Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Also, in Doctor Who, Amy Pond’s accent seems to me to be Scottish, am I off on that too? Amy Pond was Scottish, but moved to England (wherever her house was) at a young age. The Doctor made a comment about her keeping her Scottish accent even though she was so young. > [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > The guy who plays House (don’t watch the show, so don’t know his name) did a few episodes of MI-5 (Spooks) a few years ago, and his accent was pretty good. Caught him on So Graham Norton too, and he kept it up there as well. A joke on English viewers? Hugh Laurie is British. His _House_ accent is a fake American accent. He does very well. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/58 "2011-05-31T22:05:54Z")
Is that what Rhythmdvl meant? It never occurred to me that anyone could think that Hugh Laurie is American. Are we sure he wasn’t kidding? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/59 "2011-06-01T01:09:44Z")
James Doohan is Canadian, isn’t he? I know that some areas of Atlantic Canada are heavily Scottish, and I did hear some Scottish-sounding accents there. Canadians, does Scotty sound anything like a Cape Bretoner or a Prince Edward Islander? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/60 "2011-06-01T01:13:47Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > James Doohan is Canadian, isn’t he?.. Yes, he was (he died in 2005). Wiki says, “Doohan was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the youngest of four children of William and Sarah Doohan, who emigrated from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493.md?page=4)