# What movies or TV shows feature bad general American accents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597 "2016-08-22T02:02:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/21 "2016-08-22T21:50:42Z")
How is Nevada supposed to be pronounced? Americans suck at pronouncing place names, much to the amusement of locals. “Leominster.” “No, Leominster!” "Worcester.’ “No, it’s Worcester!” “Mackinac Bride.” “LOL, it’s Mackinac Bridge!” ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/22 "2016-08-22T22:38:39Z")
I think the Australian actor portraying Oswald in _11.22.63_ was trying to imitate him rather than attempt a general, regional American accent, but he wound up sounding like he was making fun of deaf people. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/23 "2016-08-22T22:39:36Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > How is Nevada supposed to be pronounced? The second syllable is “a” as in “cat,” not as in “car.” [E.g.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmUf9FDUOTk) See also: Oregon. I don’t fault anyone from far away for not knowing things like these or for the many manglings of N’Awlins, but when the show takes place in or near a certain area, they’d better make sure they have it right. > [@](#): > > Americans suck at pronouncing place names, much to the amusement of locals. > > “Leominster.” > “No, Leominster!” > > "Worcester.’ > “No, it’s Worcester!” > > “Mackinac Bride.” > “LOL, it’s Mackinac Bridge!” Massachusetts is its own zone of creative pronunciations. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/24 "2016-08-22T22:42:39Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > The second syllable is “a” as in “cat,” not as in “car.” [E.g.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmUf9FDUOTk) > > See also: Oregon. > > I don’t fault anyone from far away for not knowing things like these or for the many manglings of N’Awlins, but when the show takes place in or near a certain area, they’d better make sure they have it right. That’s true. If the show takes place there, it better be pronounced right by the locals. And I do pronounce Nevada right. Whew! I have heard people say Nev ah da. Pretentious bastards. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/25 "2016-08-22T22:55:30Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > How is Nevada supposed to be pronounced? > > Americans suck at pronouncing place names, much to the amusement of locals. > > “Leominster.” > “No, Leominster!” > > "Worcester.’ > “No, it’s Worcester!” > > “Mackinac Bride.” > “LOL, it’s Mackinac Bridge!” 😕 I’ve been to Mackinaw (city) dozens of time, Mackinac (island) a handful of times, and across the Mackinac (bridge) another handful of times, and I’ve never heard anyone anywhere around the area pronounce Bridge as “Bride”. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/26 "2016-08-22T22:58:39Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Really? I always though he did a decent American accent even since the Dresden Files. I concur. To me his American sounds pretty much exactly like Peter Gallagher. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/27 "2016-08-22T22:59:44Z")
Americans can sometime screw up American accents. Justified had some _horrible_ southern accents from Raymond J Barry and Michael Rappaport. Constantly over pronouncing till it becomes a caricature. Conversely, Aussie Damon Harrimon’s accent as Dewey Crowe is pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/28 "2016-08-22T23:35:23Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Being that it was comedy their accents being bad may have been part of the joke, but for all of Monty Python’s genius none of them (except Terry Gilliam of course) could do a believable American accent. In the TV shows or the movies. > > [Doesn’t stop this sketch from being hilarious though…](https://youtu.be/qdNCEL5JKF8?t=31) At the time of filming they probably expected the audience to be almost entirely British so even if they were trying for authentic accents they would have thought that 99.9% of the audience wouldn’t have noticed or cared. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/29 "2016-08-22T23:40:30Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > At the time of filming they probably expected the audience to be almost entirely British so even if they were trying for authentic accents they would have thought that 99.9% of the audience wouldn’t have noticed or cared. The guy at 2:10 has an awful accent. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/30 "2016-08-22T23:41:14Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > 😕 > > I’ve been to Mackinaw (city) dozens of time, Mackinac (island) a handful of times, and across the Mackinac (bridge) another handful of times, and I’ve never heard anyone anywhere around the area pronounce Bridge as “Bride”. I think it was a typo. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/31 "2016-08-22T23:50:15Z")
Everyone knows _Fargo_ and those Minnesota accents. But not too long after that film came out, one called _Feeling Minnesota_ appeared, starring Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz. It was also set in Minnesota, but Reeves and Diaz made not the slightest attempt to portray a Minnesota accent, nor did anyone else in the movie. If it had not come out so close to _Fargo_, that probably would have gone unnoticed, but as it was, the difference was like night and day. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/32 "2016-08-23T10:43:00Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > What I thought _was_ amusing is that only Englishman Hunnam and one other actor (I forget who) in S1 could pronounce “Nevada” properly (which most American’s can’t do; Perlman did it wrong). But by the last season, he reverted to Nehvahdah. It’s not wrong to pronounce it Nevahda. I’d actually go the other way completely. Do you pronounce New York the way New Yorkers do? Or Boston the way Bostonians do? I (as a New Englander) emphatically do not, and would consider it to be mocking if somebody without that native accent did. By that same logic I pronounce all place names with the standard American accent (ie: network news anchor) and consider any regional pronunciations of place names by people not of that region to be either pretentious, mocking, or somewhere in between. So for me it’s Nevahda and Colorahdo all day every day. And Paris, not PairEE. etc… ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/33 "2016-08-23T11:39:04Z")
I’m not optimistic about Benedict Cumberbatch’s accent in _Doctor Strange_. He seems to be imitating Hugh Laurie’s _House_. But then I thought Hugh Laurie’s accent was horrible, though as a non-American myself that may not be fair of me to judge considering the praise he gets for it. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/34 "2016-08-23T11:52:54Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > You don’t have to go that far back. In _Daleks in Manhattan_ (2007) the episode was full of horrible American accents. The BBC budget has gotten a little bigger since they did manage to sneak a couple of actual Americans in the cast for that one. The American accents on BBC in the 60s and 70s in particular were atrocious except for a few ex-pat Americans and Canadians who made a living doing character work. The American spies in “Delta and the Bannerman” do some pretty horrible American (New York) accents, but since that episode is pretty comedic, I suspect that it was deliberate. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/35 "2016-08-23T11:59:06Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Being that it was comedy their accents being bad may have been part of the joke, but for all of Monty Python’s genius none of them (except Terry Gilliam of course) could do a believable American accent. In the TV shows or the movies. > > [Doesn’t stop this sketch from being hilarious though…](https://youtu.be/qdNCEL5JKF8?t=31) That sketch is pretty much my benchmark for terrible American accents. > [@Loach](#): > > You don’t have to go that far back. In _Daleks in Manhattan_ (2007) the episode was full of horrible American accents. The accents in that episodes would be terrible, even if it was American. It’s a light episode set in New York…they’d have ridiculous New York accents whether it was filmed in Cardiff or LA. Since Canadian accents have already come up, I cracked up when I first heard Kryten’s accent in Red Dwarf (Llewellyn’s version, obviously) was meant to be Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/36 "2016-08-23T15:41:59Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I’m not optimistic about Benedict Cumberbatch’s accent in _Doctor Strange_. He seems to be imitating Hugh Laurie’s _House_. But then I thought Hugh Laurie’s accent was horrible, though as a non-American myself that may not be fair of me to judge considering the praise he gets for it. Yeah you are way off. I was able to hear a few small issues with his accent in the beginning and then nothing, but I was looking for it. Most people who were not familiar with British TV had no idea he wasn’t American. The little bit I saw of Cumberbatch in the trailer didn’t sound great. More like when a comedian exaggerates an American accent. From The Wire I thought Dominic West’s accent was pretty bad. Idris Elba was perfect. The gold standard in Damien Lewis starting from Band of Brothers. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/37 "2016-08-23T16:13:26Z")
Alicia Vikander’s accent was all over the place in _Jason Bourne_, but that was not the least believable part of her character. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/38 "2016-08-23T17:49:05Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Philip Glenister’s “American” accent in [Demons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demons_(TV_series)) was so bad, I didn’t even realize the character was meant to be American until another character brought it up. It’s like he didn’t even try to sound anything but British. Heh! Just who I was coming in here to mention—although I first heard it only second hand, via an internet review. > [@Loach](#): > > Marianne Jean-Baptiste does an excellent American accent and is a Brit. Sullivan Stapleton is Australian and thinks being American means whispering and being out of breath every 5 words. That actually reminds me of something I’ve noticed in a few different Commonwealth actresses (mostly [Australians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peta_Wilson), and one [Bermudan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Headey)) trying to pull off American accents—they all tended to sound _really_ “breathy,” and oddly pitched. Like…imagine the sound of polishing glass, combined with the voice of the Sandman from the old Real Ghostbusters cartoon. It never sounded so much like “foreign trying to sound American” as much as “American who has a weird voice.” Odd. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/39 "2016-08-23T18:19:09Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Heh! Just who I was coming in here to mention—although I first heard it only second hand, via an internet review. > > That actually reminds me of something I’ve noticed in a few different Commonwealth actresses (mostly [Australians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peta_Wilson), and one [Bermudan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Headey)) trying to pull off American accents—they all tended to sound _really_ “breathy,” and oddly pitched. Like…imagine the sound of polishing glass, combined with the voice of the Sandman from the old Real Ghostbusters cartoon. > > It never sounded so much like “foreign trying to sound American” as much as “American who has a weird voice.” Odd. Yep, that’s the best way to describe Liam Neeson when he does an American accent, like in Taken. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/40 "2016-08-23T18:37:12Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > It’s not wrong to pronounce it Nevahda. I’d actually go the other way completely. > > Do you pronounce New York the way New Yorkers do? Or Boston the way Bostonians do? I (as a New Englander) emphatically do not, and would consider it to be mocking if somebody without that native accent did. I pronounce the name of places where I live the same way that other people who live here pronounce it… > [@](#): > > So for me it’s Nevahda and Colorahdo all day every day. And Paris, not PairEE. etc… That’s fine, but did you intentionally avoid quoting the part that said it’s a glaring error when the show takes place in an area where people should know better? > [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Yep, that’s the best way to describe Liam Neeson when he does an American accent, like in Taken. NI \> American accent is less of a stretch than Australian \> American, so I’m not sure he needs to try as hard, or much at all. [Oh and I’ll leave this Family Guy clip here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUbsCyyXdps). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597.md?page=3)