# What kind of (American English) accent is this? Is it an accent or an affectation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 13, 2017, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358 "2017-12-13T03:27:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/21 "2017-12-13T23:07:31Z")
Update: I think I have identified the person (or at least his name): Jack Moher. From a 2014 [Houston Press article](http://www.houstonpress.com/arts/revisiting-blood-in-the-face-in-the-wake-of-the-overland-park-shootings-6392049): > [@](#): > > To the filmmakers’ credit, all they really had to do was point and shoot. CI [Christian Identity] minister Jack Moher is an especially good subject, leading off by defining “the opposition:” > > ZOG: the Zionist Occupied Government and their shabazz goy stooges. > > [“Shabazz Goy Stooges” is the name of my hardcore klezmer band.] > > Moher goes on like this, picking up later on with a comparative analysis of minority “breeding rates” consisting of statistics you can literally see him making up as he goes along. No, that’s a false lead. I found Jack Mohr and it’s not the same person. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/22 "2017-12-14T00:54:49Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > No, it absolutely definitely is. I am an Irish person living in Ireland and I can assure you this is an Irish accent. There is some overlay of an American accent but it is clear from literally the very first word (“Well”) that he grew up and was educated in Ireland. His accent is very hard to pin down to a specific region because he went to a “good” school but if I had to make a guess I would say he was from a farming background in the southern midlands, and that he went to university in Dublin before emigrating to the US. I agree. He sounds somewhat like an Irish version of Alistair Cooke. It’s an accent I’d associate more with an elderly tweed jacket and a pipe than a paramilitary uniform. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/23 "2017-12-14T04:39:31Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > It’s an accent I’d associate more with an elderly tweed jacket and a pipe than a paramilitary uniform. Yes, and this incongruity is part of what made the accent so intriguing to me. His mannered vocal delivery, plus use of archaic-sounding words like “fecundity”, is quite at odds with most of the other white supremacists who are in that documentary, who sound essentially like you’d expect white supremacists from middle America to sound: inarticulate and uneducated. There’s clearly still no consensus in this thread, despite many people claiming it’s an Irish accent. I’m inclined to lean towards the perspective of the posters who are themselves Irish, just because they’d be more likely to understand Irish accents than anyone, but I am still skeptical. I looked up Youtube videos demonstrating the variety of Irish accents and I still never heard any speech that sounded like this guy’s. Can one of the Irish people who thinks he’s from Ireland link to a clip of someone else from Ireland speaking with the same accent? ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/24 "2017-12-14T20:36:42Z")
Bumping in case anyone has any other ideas. > [@Riemann](#): > > It sounds to me like it was probably originally British-African-colonial, with a strong American overlay. I’d guess he’s a Brit who grew up in colonial Rhodesia or somewhere else in Africa, and has lived in the U.S. for a long time (or is deliberately trying to speak with an American accent). Why would a British-African colonial accent sound any different from a regular British accent? ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/25 "2017-12-14T23:10:03Z")
I’m just gonna go out on a limb and say it sounded like Irish-accented English to me. Not to take anything away from, you know, actual _Irish_ people who also happen to think that it sounds like Irish-accented English. I could be wrong; I think my IQ dropped measurably just listening to less than 30 seconds of that crap, and my many decades of alcohol abuse and occasional cranial blunt force trauma(s) didn’t leave me at an enviable Starting Point to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/26 "2017-12-15T00:36:41Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > Why would a British-African colonial accent sound any different from a regular British accent? For the same reasons that British-Canadian/Australian/New Zealand etc. colonial accents differ from whatever you imagine to be a “regular” British accent. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/27 "2017-12-15T01:23:20Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > Why would a British-African colonial accent sound any different from a regular British accent? If the British colonies in North America developed distinctive accents and language variants, resulting in American English, why would you imagine that British colonies in Africa would _not_ do so? ---
**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:** [December 15, 2017, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/28 "2017-12-15T09:55:34Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > Bumping in case anyone has any other ideas. > > Why would a British-African colonial accent sound any different from a regular British accent? Because they do. It’s not a hypothetical phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/29 "2017-12-15T12:02:34Z")
Jacquernagy, by “British-African colonial,” these posters were not simply referring to some UK-born-and-raised person who was sent to live in (say) Rhodesia later in life, but to multi-generational, permanent communities of whites who have lived in (say) Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) long enough to have developed their own inflectional quirks. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/30 "2017-12-15T12:11:04Z")
It is not an American accent. It is most likely some sort of Irish thing. Further, his uniform is not made of American bits and pieces. They look British. ---
**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:** [December 15, 2017, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/31 "2017-12-15T13:07:44Z")
If it’s really important that you find out what accent this man is speaking in, I suggest that you contact the makers of the film (whose names you can find in the credits) and ask them who this is. Clearly his accent is the sort of mixture spoken by someone who’s spent time in more than one country. I don’t think we can be any more specific than that. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/32 "2017-12-15T13:26:58Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > It is not an American accent. It is most likely some sort of Irish thing. Further, his uniform is not made of American bits and pieces. They look British. The beret might plausibly be British, but then berets are popular with militaries, paramilitaries, and onion sellers world-wide. The shirt looks like a variant of tiger stripe, which the British Army has never used. I get the impression it was very popular among Post-Vietnam military-chic poseurs. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/33 "2017-12-15T16:17:06Z")
He refers to Hispanics as Wogs which is not a word Americans would use, but his uniform looks like the type American Green Berets would use in Vietnam. He sounds a little like Capt Hook who was voiced by an American trying to sound like a Londoner. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/34 "2017-12-15T16:23:00Z")
Isn’t this the [Transatlantic Accent,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent) in which case, yes, it is an affectation? To me it sounds exactly like that Cary Grant/Katherine Hepburn/William F. Buckley, Jr./Franklin Roosevelt saying “the only thing we have to _feah_ is, _feah_ itself,” etc. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/35 "2017-12-15T17:20:43Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > From a 2014 [Houston Press article](http://www.houstonpress.com/arts/revisiting-blood-in-the-face-in-the-wake-of-the-overland-park-shootings-6392049): > > > [@](#): > > > > ZOG: the Zionist Occupied Government and their shabazz goy stooges. Actually, the phrase is “Shabbos goy” (or “Shabbes goy”), a non-Jew who is available to perform on the Sabbath (Shabbos) tasks, such as lighting fires, that are prohibited for observant Jews during that time. I don’t think el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz (as Malcolm X was known after completing his pilgrimage to Mecca) ever served in such a role. ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/36 "2017-12-15T18:02:18Z")
It sounds like a [Rhodesian or Zimbabwean](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDpQJsBgdB0) accent to my untrained ears. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/37 "2017-12-15T20:35:26Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I would’ve said a hint of Irish too. Maybe he’s Manx. Does he have a tail? ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/38 "2017-12-15T21:19:22Z")
> [@Caffeine.addict](#): > > It sounds like a [Rhodesian or Zimbabwean](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDpQJsBgdB0) accent to my untrained ears. definitely not, the accent in that link has clear South-African inflections that simply aren’t present in the OP video. I’d stake good money on it being mostly Irish, the way he say “wog” seals it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/39 "2017-12-15T21:28:07Z")
> [@Caffeine.addict](#): > > It sounds like a [Rhodesian or Zimbabwean](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDpQJsBgdB0) accent to my untrained ears. I’m sorry, I don’t remotely hear the similarity there. That sounds more like a New Zealand accent to me. I don’t think the “uniform” has any connection to his accent or origin. I am sure it is some proprietary militia getup with little relation to anything worn by actual soldiers. There is [one other brief sample](https://youtu.be/XqbT9DTy3OU?t=1443) of speech from this guy that can be heard, in a more colloquial context. That link should jump to the time in the video. He says “is that a female, the light colored one?” (In reference to a dog.) Then, “better be careful, big fella, you’re getting smart for yourself! [Chuckles.]” Then some little kids (!) walk by, and he says, “alright kids, have fun.” His accent seems a little less mannered when removed from the context of delivering his “lecture”, but is still noticeably unusual. I agree with the poster who says it sounds more like the “trans-atlantic” accent - i.e. an upper-class American trying to sound posh - than what I have heard of Irish accents. I ask again, do any of these Irish posters here have a link to an Irish person speaking with a similar accent to this man? ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358/40 "2017-12-16T10:44:05Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > I ask again, do any of these Irish posters here have a link to an Irish person speaking with a similar accent to this man? Here are some well-known RTÉ broadcasters - let me know if you think these accents are similar: [Gay Byrne](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd8CfvF9P-E) [Mike Murphy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayNA8SpTraU&t=17s) [Pat Kenny](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8x3sr4cCXE&t=27s) [Marian Finucane](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8mkjiBzc7w) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-american-english-accent-is-this-is-it-an-accent-or-an-affectation/804358.md?page=3)