# Folks with English accent are perceived to be smarter in the USA - true ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 6, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764 "2014-05-06T00:29:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/21 "2014-05-06T17:04:58Z")
I confess that I am affected positively when hearing an English accent. As a frequent stumbler, they sound more articulate than I could ever hope to be (rightly or wrongly). And my soccer commentators _must_ be English, no substitutes, though I suppose a Scotsman could handle the second chair in a pinch. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/22 "2014-05-06T17:08:53Z")
The posh accent is usually associated with someone with an excellent education. I’ve got to expat Brit friends (they don’t know each other – I think) with the same accent and type of education. They are really smart. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/23 "2014-05-06T17:56:36Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > I don’t know about scientific studies, or surveys, or anything like that. But I can tell you, anecdotally, that UK accents in general sound distinguished to many Americans. > > The beauty of it is that, from a commonly-held American perspective, upper-class British accents are not necessarily regarded as “better” than lower-class ones. So long as obfuscating slang is avoided, a salt-of-the-earth Cockney speaker can come across to an American as “classy” as Prince Charles. Michael Caine is a good example of this. He speaks with a Cockney accent that doesn’t sound upper-class in Britain. But it sounds classy to us here in America. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/24 "2014-05-06T18:01:39Z")
> [@Ms\_Boods](#): > > I have been asked by my students why Hollywood casts British actors as the bad guys all the time (Romans, Nazis, etc) – I figure it’s partly so the Americans can play the cowboy heroes no matter what the era and also because the British have a way of pronouncing ‘evil’ in a deliciously, well evil way that we Septics just can’t wrap out tonsils around. [All explained here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bls1KKDwmo) ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/25 "2014-05-06T18:06:00Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Michael Caine is a good example of this. He speaks with a Cockney accent that doesn’t sound upper-class in Britain. But it sounds classy to us here in America. But you’ll notice that even Mr. Caine has lessened his Cockney from his earlier days in acting and that he can do affect a RP accent quite capably ( _ **Zulu Dawn** _ for example) when he chooses to. IMO, a lot of people in the US think of PBS and the BBC when they hear an English accent. Both of those media outlets are seen as being “highbrow” to the average person and many equate that with them being smarter. When I was stationed in England in the 1980s, I did find that many British people were certainly more well-read than most Americans. They were able to clearly and concisely discuss novels and concepts ( sadly even those of American writers) which were often beyond the grasp of most of the military members who were stationed there. Whether or not this made them “smarter” is debatable. However, many of the GIs over there _ **thought** _ that they were smarter, so there is that. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/26 "2014-05-06T18:11:42Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I never got the impression Americans in general equate “English” accents with intelligence. > > Based on the frequency with which Brits turn up in advertisements, I suspect that florid upper-crust accents are used to make products seem tony. It gets ridiculous when such people are touting non-stick cooking pans. I am also not persuaded that someone with a thick Scots accent is the person to listen to for lawn care advice. I only trust Irish accents to tell me what soap to buy and which breakfast cereal to eat. ---
**Author:** ![HipGnosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/76d3ee/32.png) [@HipGnosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HipGnosis)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/27 "2014-05-06T18:27:49Z")
Some time ago, I would have agreed to it sounding smarter. But starting with Benny Hill and then especially since Russell Brand, my opinion has eroded. But I could still listen to a woman with a British accent all night long… ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/28 "2014-05-06T18:40:27Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > No idea on any of that; and if — in some places — Americans admire the better kind of English accents, such as Received Pronunciation, it could be class-based … > So it may be a call back to the previous American ruling class rather than a tribute to a not that interesting people. > [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Don’t think there have been studies. It likely depends on which English accent. > > If they sound like this: “I say, old chap, all is tickety-boo, what what” yes. > > If they sound like this: “Oy, bruv, you a berk, innit” not so much. Yep, I think so. Most upper-class foreign accents sound “intelligent” even to me, as a person raised upper-middle-class by lawyers and living much of life in intellectual, multicultural environments like university towns. I bet a lot of people also associate a number of other foreign accents as intelligent, especially Indian and Chinese, because an awful lot of people with these accents had to overcome significant hurdles to come here to the US, and most of them have a different work ethic than native-born Americans, giving many of them both environmental and hereditary advantages. > [@Erdosain](#): > > I only trust Irish accents to tell me what soap to buy and which breakfast cereal to eat. lol ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/29 "2014-05-06T18:45:33Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Michael Caine is a good example of this. He speaks with a Cockney accent that doesn’t sound upper-class in Britain. But it sounds classy to us here in America. I bet Mr Caine could sound intelligent with a whino’s speech pattern, or like an idiot with a Cambridge professor’s accent. It’s called acting. And no doubt he sounds intelligent speaking in his natural accent, simply because he is. Or at least, if he isn’t, he sure has fooled me. That doesn’t quite negate your point, though. My suspicion is we Americans tend to think Cockneys are clever, even ones on the skids like Mr Doolittle. I wonder where we got that impression. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/30 "2014-05-06T20:42:58Z")
We had some Scottish neighbors once and their 3 sons had these Scottish/British accents that the American girls in their schools just swooned over. Granted they were good looking also. They practically had to fight the girls off. I told one kids, “dont ever lose that accent of yours”. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/31 "2014-05-06T20:44:14Z")
OTOH Australian accents, popularized by the Crocodile Hunter, make Australians seem so darn fun. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/32 "2014-05-06T22:16:57Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > OTOH Australian accents, popularized by the Crocodile Hunter, make Australians seem so darn fun. Whereas I associate Oxford English with smarts, but a more general English accent thanks to Monty Python seems to always have ironic or zany humour (with a “u”) hidden in it. Of course, a steady diet of Benny Hill, Two Ronnies (“I’m from the third world… Yorkshire”) Are You Being Served, On the Busses, Man About the House, etc. - not difficult to figure out the lower class oy-I’m-funny accents. And everyone knows from the original Star Wars that the Dark Side has British accents. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/33 "2014-05-06T22:54:04Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Michael Caine is a good example of this. He speaks with a Cockney accent that doesn’t sound upper-class in Britain. But it sounds classy to us here in America. His normal speech patterns don’t sound classy to me. Quite the opposite. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/34 "2014-05-06T23:37:35Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > …My own belief is that until the 1930s the American upper class/East Coast/_non-ethnically accented_ New York accents were remarkably similar to upper class English accents — not that either are precisely the same now as then… It’s not a subject I know anything about, but [Theodore Roosevelt’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TM79amu5Bw) accent never struck me as what I would think of as a typical American accent. ---
**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 7, 2014, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/35 "2014-05-07T12:46:14Z")
There’s definitely at least one British accent that works in reverse,at least, for me. It’s that Essex accent. It’s why it so thoroughly surprised me when Russel Brand turned out to be intelligent. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/36 "2014-05-07T12:55:07Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > To my American ears, it often sounds as if a British person’s sentences have an implied “you blithering idiot” at the end. 🙂 > > Definitely arrogant. And probably due to the tone, as you say. [British Accent]That’s a very interesting point of view, and I’m glad you shared it.[/BA] 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/37 "2014-05-07T13:59:05Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > To my American ears, it often sounds as if a British person’s sentences have an implied “you blithering idiot” at the end. 🙂 > > Definitely arrogant. And probably due to the tone, as you say. > [@Malacandra](#): > > [British Accent]That’s a very interesting point of view, and I’m glad you shared it.[/BA] 😉 Quite. Quite indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/38 "2014-05-07T14:12:30Z")
This [blog post](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2011/06/accent-attitudes.html) references a number of studies on the topic. -RNATB, US immigrant ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/39 "2014-05-07T15:07:53Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > In Britain the Scottish accent is invested with financial skill and probity, God Knows why. Morningside possibly, Gorbals NO! There are Scottish accents that ooze trust and those that ooze threat! ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764/40 "2014-05-07T15:12:35Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > [British Accent]That’s a very interesting point of view, and I’m glad you shared it.[/BA] 😉 Translation for those hard of nuance “Shut up and never offer me any advice ever again.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/folks-with-english-accent-are-perceived-to-be-smarter-in-the-usa-true/687764.md?page=3)