# Types of English accents. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 21, 2003, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598 "2003-08-21T04:22:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/1 "2003-08-21T04:22:22Z")
A while ago I had a thread asking people in England what the most popular accent to fake there is. In that thread, different kinds of English accents were mentioned. Now, being an American who’s never been to England or studied different English Dialects or regional accents, it got me to thinking, what are good examples of various types of English accents. So, what I want to do, is list various entertainers and what I know them from, and have someone tell me which kind of English accent they speak with. Of course, with my luck, everybody I list will have the same accent ☹ Anyway, here goes Any of the **Absolutely Fabulous** cast : Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, and/or Julia Sawalha. Josie Lawrence who’ve I’ve only seen on both the British and American versions of **Who’s line is it anyway?** Graham Norton, from, of course, **So Graham Norton** Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie from the various **BlackAdder’s** , **A bit of Fry and Laurie** and I’ve seen Fry in some movies who’s names escape me. Anybody from the cast of **Are You Being Served?** And before this list gets too long, I’ll end it with, any of the Doctor’s from **Doctor Who** : William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, or Sylvester McCoy. And yes, as you can see, most of the British shows I watch or I’ve seen are either comedies or sci-fi. I’m not really into British drama (sorry). ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/2 "2003-08-21T06:15:52Z")
Graham Norton is Irish. ---
**Author:** ![tvguide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/82dd89/32.png) [@tvguide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tvguide)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/3 "2003-08-21T07:20:01Z")
do yo guys like Chinese English accent? ---
**Author:** ![Galanthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Galanthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galanthus)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/4 "2003-08-21T08:06:23Z")
Actually with th exception of Graham Norton pretty much all the people you mention there have as close to a standard english RP (received pronuniation) accent as you can get. Graham has a mild irish accent. Different accents that you can here are RP, London, Various Scottish, Welsh, Geordie, Liverpool, Yorkshire, Manchester, West Country etc … All of these are pretty distinctive but the advent of mass media has tended to iron these regional variations out. What where once dialects are now just accents and given another 50 years we may all just be speaking RP. ---
**Author:** ![FP\_work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/85e7bf/32.png) [@FP\_work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FP_work)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/5 "2003-08-21T09:48:21Z")
Agree with Galenthus. With the exception of Norton most of those people have received pronounciation - the differences in their voices are mostly due to personal idiosyncracies rather than seperate accents _per se_. I’m not familiar with Doctor Who, but I believe Sylvester McCoy was Scottish. For an example of a Liverpool accent (“scouse”) watch any old interviews with the Beatles. Sean Bean (actor, in Goldeneye and Ronin, amongst others) is from Sheffield and has a pretty typical Yorkshire accent. You’re gonna have to name some more celebrities you’re familiar with I’m afraid. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![FP\_work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/85e7bf/32.png) [@FP\_work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FP_work)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/6 "2003-08-21T09:49:30Z")
Doh! Of course … Sean Bean was Boromir in _Fellowship of the Ring_ too. ---
**Author:** ![curly\_chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@curly\_chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curly_chick)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/7 "2003-08-21T10:03:41Z")
Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served has what I would call a cockney accent, although the purists who have a specific definition of this might disagree. However, for the purposes of this thread, we could say she has a London accent most popularly known by non-Londoners as cockney. Mr Harmon also had this accent. If you want to see Wendy Richard, the actress who played Miss Brahms, as she is these days, she is Pauline Fowler in EastEnders. Graham Norton from county Cork in Ireland and so his Irish accent is different from Colin Farrell’s or Bono’s as they are both from Dublin. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/8 "2003-08-21T11:18:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Galanthus \* > Actually with th exception of Graham Norton pretty much all the people you mention there have as close to a standard english RP (received pronuniation) accent as you can get. > > _\_ > > All of these are pretty distinctive but the advent of mass media has tended to iron these regional variations out. What where once dialects are now just accents and given another 50 years we may all just be speaking RP. People have been heralding the demise of the regional accent since the '50s, but it hasn’t happened. Arguably the opposite is the case, with many people deliberately amplifying their regional accents, presumably as an act of defiant local pride. For example, none of the Beatles sounded like the younger members of the cast of _Brookside_. _Dialect_ (meaning regional vocabulary) might be another matter. **Joel** : Nobody in _Whose Line is it Anyway?_ spoke with the same accent the whole time, so you’d have to be clearer about which Josie Lawrence accent you’re talking about. I know she’s from the West Midlands, so perhaps you meant her Birmingham accent? ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/9 "2003-08-21T12:14:43Z")
And, once again, there is NO evidence whatsoever that the mass media have had any effect on regional accents. This is simply a popular myth. ---
**Author:** ![keithnmick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90db22/32.png) [@keithnmick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keithnmick)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/10 "2003-08-21T13:08:56Z")
If anything, I think a lot of the North of England (and some southerners even) has affected Mancunian accents after the rise of Oasis…et al in the mid nineties (and also the Madchester bands of 90-92). Regional accents seem to have amplified in many cases. ---
**Author:** ![Galanthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Galanthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galanthus)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/11 "2003-08-21T13:15:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ruadh \* > \*\*And, once again, there is NO evidence whatsoever that the mass media have had any effect on regional accents. This is simply a popular myth. \*\* Over simplification maybe, but not complete myth. Certain local dialects in the UK are all but dead while the accents remain. 100 years ago Yorkshire had its own names for numbers. One Two Three Four being Yan Tan Tethera Peddera. This is essentially dead now. If its nots mass media and transport that killed them off what was it … ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/12 "2003-08-21T13:53:11Z")
Mobility. People moving out of one region and into another. This creates an opportunity for the mutual, back-and-forth communication which is necessary for significant changes in dialect to take place. Bauer and Trudgill’s _Language Myths_ has a good chapter on the subject (I post that so often, I really ought to have it as my sig … ) ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/13 "2003-08-21T15:42:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ruadh \* > \*\*Graham Norton is Irish. \*\* :smack: Wow, I’m even worse at figuring out accents than I thought. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/14 "2003-08-21T15:46:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tvguide \* > \*\*do yo guys like Chinese English accent? \*\* 😕 Bad attempt at a hijack I take it? ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/15 "2003-08-21T15:57:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FP@work \* > \*\* > For an example of a Liverpool accent (“scouse”) watch any old interviews with the Beatles. > \*\* If you’re trying to learn about English accents from celebrities, listening to famous musicians is probably better than listening to famous actors since they’re less likely to have been trained to speak RP. Of course, aside from The Beatles a lot of the most famous British Invasion era musicians are from the London area (The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, etc.), so it may be a little hard to find good examples of other regions. Thanks largely to my love of classic BritRock I can distinguish between several different London accents but am nowhere near as good at identifying accents from other parts of the country. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/16 "2003-08-22T03:49:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FP@work \* > \*\*Agree with Galenthus. With the exception of Norton most of those people have received pronounciation - the differences in their voices are mostly due to personal idiosyncracies rather than seperate accents _per se_. > > I’m not familiar with Doctor Who, but I believe Sylvester McCoy was Scottish. > > For an example of a Liverpool accent (“scouse”) watch any old interviews with the Beatles. > > Sean Bean (actor, in Goldeneye and Ronin, amongst others) is from Sheffield and has a pretty typical Yorkshire accent. > > You’re gonna have to name some more celebrities you’re familiar with I’m afraid. 🙂 \*\* Not that it’ll help much, since everybody else I can think of will probably all have received pronuniation, but, here goes: Singer Phil Collins. Any of the cast of **Monty Python** : Graham Chapmanm, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, or Michael Palin. Any of the cast of **Keeping up Apperances** : Patricia Routledge, Clive Swift, Judy Cornwell, Geoffrey Hughes, Shirley Stelfox, Geoffrey Hughes, Josephine Tewson, David Griffin, Peter Cellier. And let’s see…well, I haven’t name many singers, so… David Bowie, Mic Jagger, Ozzy Ozbourn, **Yes** lead singer Jon Anderson… Anyway, I’ll stop now, because, like I said, everybody I listed probably speeks with received pronuniation. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/17 "2003-08-22T03:58:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > \*\ ***Joel** : Nobody in _Whose Line is it Anyway?_ spoke with the same accent the whole time, so you’d have to be clearer about which Josie Lawrence accent you’re talking about. I know she’s from the West Midlands, so perhaps you meant her Birmingham accent? \*\* I’m talking about her actual accent. Her natural voice when she’s talking when she’s not doing a skit. ---
**Author:** ![FP\_work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/85e7bf/32.png) [@FP\_work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FP_work)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/18 "2003-08-22T10:58:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Joel \* > \*\*Not that it’ll help much, since everybody else I can think of will probably all have received pronuniation, but, here goes: > _snip_ \*\* Yes I’m afraid most of them do, but there are a few others we can identify. Ozzy Osbourn: He’s from the Birmingham area and the accent is known as “brummy”. It’s widely regarded as the least attractive regional UK accent by natives (except by the Brummies themselves of course) and unfairly carries a stigma of low intelligence. I don’t know the actor’s names from _Keeping Up Appearences_, but the working-class relatives that Hyacinth is always embarrassed about have some kind of generic Northern accent - mostly Yorkshire I think (but it’s a while since I’ve seen the show). Mic Jagger is a Londoner I believe, although his voice is so weird that it isn’t really representative. And Terry Gilliam is American. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/19 "2003-08-22T11:06:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Joel \* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > > Joel: Nobody in _Whose Line is it Anyway?_ spoke with the same accent the whole time, so you’d have to be clearer about which Josie Lawrence accent you’re talking about. I know she’s from the West Midlands, so perhaps you meant her Birmingham accent? > > I’m talking about her actual accent. Her natural voice when she’s talking when she’s not doing a skit. When she’s not doing a skit her voice is neutral, educated midlands leaning towards RP. Not distinctively regional at all. Whether that’s her “actual accent” or just the standard one she uses for general performance is another matter. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598/20 "2003-08-22T11:10:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FP@work \* > Ozzy Osbourn: He’s from the Birmingham area and the accent is known as “brummy”. Correct, but although Ozzy may be the only person on American TV with a brummy accent, the damage done by years of abuse suggest that his may not the best example for reference purposes. Not all people from Birmingham sound like they’re drunk 24/7. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-english-accents/196598.md?page=2)