# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/61 "2011-06-01T02:27:54Z")
I don’t get the references to Dick van Dyke, although I have to admit it has been decades since I’ve seen reruns of that sitcom. What accent was he not doing very well? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/62 "2011-06-01T02:36:50Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > I don’t get the references to Dick van Dyke, although I have to admit it has been decades since I’ve seen reruns of that sitcom. What accent was he not doing very well? From Mary Poppins. As Bert his English accent was awful. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/63 "2011-06-01T03:21:06Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > I don’t get the references to Dick van Dyke, although I have to admit it has been decades since I’ve seen reruns of that sitcom. What accent was he not doing very well? In Mary Poppins, Van Dyke does one of the worst Cockney accents in history. Although, to be fair Audrey Hepburn’s Cockney accent in My Fair Lady was also championship-level awful. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2011, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/64 "2011-06-01T09:10:14Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > In Mary Poppins, Van Dyke does one of the worst Cockney accents in history. Dick van Dyke has mentioned that his accent coach for the role was **Irish**. That would explain a lot. ---
**Author:** ![alfonzos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alfonzos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alfonzos)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/65 "2011-06-06T00:42:47Z")
Blast it, Jim! I’m a doctor, not a linguist! ---
**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:** [June 6, 2011, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/66 "2011-06-06T01:02:55Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Dick van Dyke has mentioned that his accent coach for the role was **Irish**. That would explain a lot. A good accent coach can come from any country. Just because he was Irish doesn’t mean he would automatically be disqualified from teaching a cockney accent. ---
**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 6, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/67 "2011-06-06T02:01:52Z")
Dr. Ombogulonga, my Cajun dialect coach, said the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/68 "2011-06-06T05:43:26Z")
Did Geoffrey Rush have a bit of an Australian accent in The King’s Speech? I assume he did, but I couldn’t find it. Americans are notably bad at that, though. ---
**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:** [June 6, 2011, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/69 "2011-06-06T09:39:28Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > A good accent coach can come from any country. Just because he was Irish doesn’t mean he would automatically be disqualified from teaching a cockney accent. The implied joke there is that an Irish vocal coach would have an incentive to make the English look ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/70 "2011-06-06T10:00:17Z")
Cardinal, are you joking, or are you asking a genuine question? Rush is Australian. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/71 "2011-06-06T11:00:09Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > In Mary Poppins, Van Dyke does one of the worst Cockney accents in history. Although, to be fair Audrey Hepburn’s Cockney accent in My Fair Lady was also championship-level awful. On the other hand, her _American_ accent in _Breakfast At Tiffany’s_ was pretty passable, though it was hard for me to tell if it was a good Okie accent or not, considering she only spoke with an American accent for a few lines (and maybe a song, I’m not sure if she was singing with an American accent or if that’s just what Audrey Hepburn sounded like while singing). In that film, she played an Okie girl who learned how to fake a British accent by studying French (centuries before Jean Luc Picard did the same thing). [Moon River](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOByH_iOn88), from the aforementioned film. She has a couple of spoken lines at the end. ---
**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:** [June 6, 2011, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/72 "2011-06-06T11:06:12Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > The implied joke there is that an Irish vocal coach would have an incentive to make the English look ridiculous. The one looking ridiculous is Van Dyke and he’s not English. ---
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/73 "2011-06-06T11:22:43Z")
I used to detect hints of Irish and so assumed he was doing a generic West Coast accent - Argyll or Ayeshire or something. But if “the good people of Aberdeen claim Scotty as their own” then it is not a good accent. Aberdonian is about the toughest Scottish accent I have come across, comparible to the most hard-core Glaswegian. I used to go up to Aberdeen on business regularly when I lived in London, I found the taxi drivers especially difficult to understand as they tended to be all true Aberdonians. Now I live in Edinburgh I have got my ear tuned in better but still find Aberdeen tricky but the more working-class Dundonians also have some very ‘different’ vowel sounds. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/74 "2011-06-06T13:47:26Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > One that surprised me was Alan Cumming. I had seen him in a few movies and I was surprised the first time I heard him speaking in his natural Scottish accent. i knew he was a scot and couldn’t wait to hear his american accent in ‘the good wife.’ bingo. he convinced me he was american.😉 now david tennant’s american accent… utterly atrocious. this from an otherwise brilliant actor. i hope to hell he either gets to use his natural accent in the upcoming ‘fright night’ remake, or he’s done a boatload of work with an accent coach since the ‘rex is not your lawyer’ audition clip that made its way onto youtube… fright night: david tennant in leather and criss angel makeup… yum…😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/75 "2011-06-06T14:42:15Z")
> [@Scubaqueen](#): > > i knew he was a scot and couldn’t wait to hear his american accent in ‘the good wife.’ bingo. he convinced me he was american.😉 > > now david tennant’s american accent… utterly atrocious. this from an otherwise brilliant actor. i hope to hell he either gets to use his natural accent in the upcoming ‘fright night’ remake, or he’s done a boatload of work with an accent coach since the ‘rex is not your lawyer’ audition clip that made its way onto youtube… > > fright night: david tennant in leather and criss angel makeup… yum…😃 Personally though, I find his Scottish accent unconvincing. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/76 "2011-06-06T16:03:07Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Cardinal, are you joking, or are you asking a genuine question? Rush is Australian. Completely serious. I don’t care where he’s from, as many actors can do a very good imitation accent. I’m asking if the character is supposed to be classic Australian, in which I don’t think anyone I know got the point (“that doesn’t sound like Steve Irwin”), or if Rush played it as an Aussie who had taken pains to speak with RP. Did he go whole RP, or can RP-ers hear the Aussie in there? ---
**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:** [June 6, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/77 "2011-06-06T16:19:11Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > Completely serious. I don’t care where he’s from, as many actors can do a very good imitation accent. I’m asking if the character is supposed to be classic Australian, in which I don’t think anyone I know got the point (“that doesn’t sound like Steve Irwin”), or if Rush played it as an Aussie who had taken pains to speak with RP. Did he go whole RP, or can RP-ers hear the Aussie in there? I don’t think he was trying to make a “point” regarding Australianness or even “classic Australianness,” whatever that is. He is an Australian actor playing a role based on a historic person who was born in Australia and moved to England in his 40s. Logue’s accent would have been Australian modified by both his education and his contact with English people, especially those of the upper classes. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/78 "2011-06-06T20:21:24Z")
The accent used is a point in the film, not matter what. If Tom Cruise is playing Maverick, then his standard American accent is exactly what he’s trying for. Admittedly, this was not hard to do. So: Rush’s accent in The King’s Speech sounds to Brits like an Australian modified by years of RP practice? Can you hear the Aussie in him? ---
**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:** [June 6, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/79 "2011-06-06T20:25:21Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > The accent used is a point in the film, not matter what. And when Kirk Douglas uses his own accent to play Spartacus, there’s a point there? Rush is an Australian actor playing an Australian. I don’t see any reason to believe that there is a “classic Australian” point to be made. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493/80 "2011-06-06T20:30:33Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The one looking ridiculous is Van Dyke and he’s not English. An authentic Cockney accent would have been incomprehensible to the target audience. I still watch a lot of British movies with subtitles on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-how-bad-was-james-doohans-scotty-accent/583493.md?page=5)