# Scots: The New Dewar's Ad featuring an Englishwoman doing a Scots accent - okay? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727 "2012-12-11T19:04:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 6
**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:** [December 15, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/101 "2012-12-15T20:15:10Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Myers) > Do you know something I don’t? Well, now I’m just embarrassed. And angry at whoever told me that little “factoid” with such self-assurance that I never thought to check before passing it on! Umm, thanks for clearing that up 😉 ---
**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:** [December 16, 2012, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/102 "2012-12-16T11:41:37Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Presumably it’s because he _is_ British and is annoyed at the expectation that he _should_ identify as English or whatever. What else should he say? ‘It’s on my passport’ is just the same as saying ‘it’s my nationality’. You wouldn’t put the same question to someone who described themselves as Scottish. > > I would find the question annoying too, as it implies my nationality doesn’t mean something. Because identifying as Scottish isn’t unusual. Identifying as British is. Don’t choose to do something out of the ordinary if you don’t want people asking questions about it. Getting annoyed at things that are your own fault is stupid. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/103 "2012-12-16T13:28:40Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Because identifying as Scottish isn’t unusual. Identifying as British is. Don’t choose to do something out of the ordinary if you don’t want people asking questions about it. Getting annoyed at things that are your own fault is stupid. I live close to NYC with a lot of self-identified “Brits.” AFAIK, it is quite common. ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/104 "2012-12-16T13:55:31Z")
> [@Jennmonkye](#): > > [Here’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnSIp76CvUI) my idea of a Scotsman selling me Scotch whiskey…and all in one take. Brilliant! Remarkable. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/105 "2012-12-17T07:33:47Z")
> [@Troppus](#): > > Remarkable. That he can walk and read a teleprompter without making a mistake for six minutes? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/106 "2012-12-17T07:45:25Z")
> [@For You](#): > > That he can walk and read a teleprompter without making a mistake for six minutes? While timing his arrival at critical points exactly? You try it sometime. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/107 "2012-12-17T07:58:27Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > While timing his arrival at critical points exactly? You try it sometime. 🆒 I would sure not try it without a director riding on the camera. And you noticed about the first thing he said was to the highlands-weapon-operator, “ **Shut it!** ” – not even a Scot could think with one of those things going. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/108 "2012-12-17T09:40:20Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > But there are British subjects. Up until 1949, that was pretty much everybody born within the areas of British dominion or allegiance was a British subject. In 1949, all those people who were British subjects because of heir birth within the Uk or the Crown colonies became a citizen of the United Kingdom (or of the Crown colonies) but also retained the status of British subject, which they continued to share with the Commonwealth countries’ citizens. > > The term “British subject” didn’t get eliminated until 1982, and even then it’s not completely dead: a person born in Ireland before 1949 is still a British subject. In fact, you could be simultaneously a British citizen and a British subject if you were born in Dublin in 1948 and were subsequently naturalized a British citizen. I know. Funnily enough, I am quite aware of the citizenship laws of my own country. But as I said, “I am not a “British Subject””. I was from 1974 to 1983-01-01. Yet I still get people, usually American, telling me that I am. It is most strange. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/109 "2012-12-17T09:43:16Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Nope, people describe themselves however they like, and I, for one, describe myself as both British and English, depending on circumstance. I regard English as my ethnicity and British as my nationality, and it’s fine to be proud of both. > > My welsh partner describes it thus: ‘I am proud to be British and privileged to be Welsh’. > > Of course there’s also plenty of people who don’t use or like British. Presumably they will be the ones voting for Scottish independence. On the flip side, I have also heard some people from minority immigrant groups say they prefer ‘British’ as they don’t identify with being ‘English’, which they see as an ethnic group they don’t belong to. Then some people prefer ‘British’ because they have mixed English/Scottish/Welsh/N Irish heritage. And some people just prefer it, as a uniting moniker. I would assume **amanset** falls into this camp. Pretty much what I would have written. You can identify with the concept of Free Rutland for all I care, your nationality will still be “British Citizen”, as written on the passport. (And as a mutt of English/Scottish families believe me, I am _well aware_ of the discussions about self identification). ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/110 "2012-12-17T09:48:07Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Given the discussion, I took his/her point to be not that he isn’t, but that there was no such thing. I’m a he. There are multiple different types of British Citizenship (Subject, Overseas Citizens and whatnot, not all with right of abode). I am aware of this. However, I was born in the UK to a family that has been in the UK for at least a hundred years (my Dad is having difficulty doing the family tree beyond that, especially on the Northern Irish side as a lot of Catholic records seem to have been destroyed) and as such I am not a British Subject, I am a British Citizen. That’s all I said and you read your own extra shenanigans into it. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/111 "2012-12-17T09:51:51Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Because identifying as Scottish isn’t unusual. Identifying as British is. Don’t choose to do something out of the ordinary if you don’t want people asking questions about it. Getting annoyed at things that are your own fault is stupid. Eh? There’s nothing unusual in calling yourself British. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/112 "2012-12-18T01:38:48Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > it was a clip of Kelly MacDonald on Craig Ferguson with two other Scottish. you can also find her accent on Boardwalk Empire. She’s meant to be Irish in Boardwalk Empire and her accent is ok I suppose but I find it irritating and a bit jarring. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/113 "2012-12-27T23:04:48Z")
> [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#): > > Nope. As previously mentioned, there are more than one of these ads. One has her and a bunch of other hot ladies walking out of some upper story apartment onto a metal staircase, or something. They say different things. > [@Icerigger](#): > > Karen Gillan from Doctor Who is from Scotland and sounds delightful, is her accent real? > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWnSOZ83Qg4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWnSOZ83Qg4) Should be, since she actually is Scottish. Even had a gag about it in Doctor Who. Her character was living in London area as a child when the Doctor first discovers her. But she speaks with a Scottish accent consistently. He later made some comment about a girl who grew up in London but intentionally retained her Scottish accent. > [@SanVito](#): > > What else should he say? ‘It’s on my passport’ is just the same as saying ‘it’s my nationality’. You wouldn’t put the same question to someone who described themselves as Scottish. > > I would find the question annoying too, as it implies my nationality doesn’t mean something. It does not imply that. It’s the question from an ill-informed person who doesn’t parse the difference between English, British, and Scottish, and where the lines are drawn and who fits in what group. It’s from someone who likely equates British with English, and so wonders why a Scot is self-identifying as British. Saying “that’s what’s on my passport” just leaves them still confused, and regarding you as something of a jerk. > [@amanset](#): > > I know. Funnily enough, I am quite aware of the citizenship laws of my own country. But as I said, “I am not a “British Subject””. I was from 1974 to 1983-01-01. Yet I still get people, usually American, telling me that I am. It is most strange. That’s a bit of strangeness I wouldn’t expect most Americans to be able to make sense of. They’ve likely heard the phrase “British subject” and may have gleaned that a Scottish person is British, and thus are merging the two, unaware that apparently there’s some technical distinction between British subjecthood and British citizenship. Not that I’d be one to go dropping phrases like that I didn’t understand. But the point is they think they understand. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/114 "2013-01-01T06:56:05Z")
This ad campaign just made it into a [Cracked.com](http://Cracked.com) article: [5 Alcohol Ads That Confirm Your Worst Fears About Drinking](http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-alcohol-ads-that-confirm-your-worst-fears-about-drinking/) ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/115 "2013-01-01T17:46:08Z")
Awesome. That article pegged what was nagging me about that Dewars commercial. Clare seems downright pissed off through the whole thing, while ranting that somehow being serious will get us in her pants. That, and apparently her pussy-whipped boyfriend will be sleeping in the other room, when he’s not spouting gibberish to wake the neighbors. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/116 "2013-01-01T18:50:56Z")
> [@Corcaigh](#): > > Yes, I know, but they used to hate anyone calling them British, because to foreigners British and English are the same thing and the Scots do hate them Englishers. > > ~(‘.’)~ Well no, but I hate inaccuracy. 🙂 ---
**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:** [January 1, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727/117 "2013-01-01T18:53:18Z")
It’s also like calling us Europeans - it’s technically correct, but it’s just not our primary identity. I’m Scottish, then British, then European, in order of declining importance to my self-description. (not quite sure where Glaswegian fits in - possibly in a category of its own) 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-the-new-dewars-ad-featuring-an-englishwoman-doing-a-scots-accent-okay/643727.md?page=5)