# Worst English accents on US TV (And vice versa) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607 "2008-04-23T22:25:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/41 "2008-04-24T10:40:27Z")
[QUOTE=Smeghead] I had no idea until I saw him in the Horatio Hornblower BBC movies. [/QUOTE] This happened to me just the other night. I was all like “Apollo!” and he was all like “eurgh!” (because he was dying, not because he doesn’t like being recognised, plus he was on TV and didn’t know I could see him). And then Hornblower was all like “sniff”, and I was all like “it’s okay dude, he’ll live for thousands of years and shoot toasters in space (although he’ll get really fat)” but Hornblower didn’t seem comforted by that so I watched Family Guy instead. It always perplexed me that many Americans seem to think Australians sound English, and thus get them to play us (e.g. Anthony LaPaglia). But I worked it out after meeting a few Aussies who’d lived in the States for a few years. To get from an Australian to an American accent, you apparently have to go _through_ an English accent. Yep. Don’t know how it works, but it’s true. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/42 "2008-04-24T10:46:29Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Manc here and it’s pronounced “nugget”. new-gah my arse [/QUOTE] Same. Only ever heard it pronounced “nugget” in the north. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/43 "2008-04-24T10:57:12Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] As for really, truly dreadful British accents, didn’t David Boreanaz attempt to do an Irish accent in an episode of Buffy? [/QUOTE] Irish =! British. (Unless you’re strictly talking only about Northern Ireland, and even then half of the population will disagree with you.) BBC Radio 4 has dramas on a regular basis set in non-UK climes, the accents on which make me want to rip out my eardrums and use them to wrap nuggets of dogshit in and mail them to the BBC. The worst recently was an adaptation of _Love My Rifle More than You_ - recounting the experiences of Kayla Williams, a translator with the US army in Iraq. While they got an American actress to narrate, the supporting cast sounded like a bunch of people from Surbiton dressed up like cowboys on their way to their weekly line dancing and bingo night. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/44 "2008-04-24T10:57:25Z")
[QUOTE=The Punkyova] Clearly, none of you have tried to sit through Dick Van Dyke in “Mary Poppins.” Horrible. Just horrible. [/QUOTE] “Gaw blimey, Merry Pawpins!” I think it is more that DvD has become the implicit benchmark by which such things are measured. There is simply no need to explicitly mention him in such threads any more. Can’t find it on YouTube, but I saw a clip of an old Doctor Who from the '60s which featured the worst attempt by a British actor at an American accent that I have ever heard. It wavered between cod-John Wayne and Lancashire so erratically that even I, a Brit, was not sure at first that it was supposed to be American. But the scene seemed to be set in New York, if memory serves. The actor was Peter Purves, and I think it would give Americans an idea of how bad Dick van Dyke’s cockney accent was. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/45 "2008-04-24T12:21:54Z")
I was astonished to hear Bob Hoskins speak in another movie after I’d seen him in **Who Framed Roger Rabbit**. (I’d actually seen him before in other movies, but didn’t remember him until after his star turn in WFRR) – he nailed an American accent perfectly. As I’ve remarked before, Leo McKern (Rumpole of the Bailey, among many other roles) did a _horrible_ North American accent (he used it for Canadians as well as Americans). It consisted of him talking slowly and drawing out his words in an odd way. It was distinctive, but didn’t sound like any accent on Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/46 "2008-04-24T12:24:36Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] I’d always assumed that Daphne was an American trying to do a Mancunian accent. It did tend to wander a bit on occasions. [/QUOTE] Someone from Manchester is a “Mancunian”? That might be the coolest adjective-from-a-place-name (is there a word for _that_) I’ve ever heard. Doesn’t Gillian Anderson do a lot of roles with a British accent? How do our friends from across the Atlantic rate her? ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/47 "2008-04-24T12:26:45Z")
[QUOTE=Bayard] Doesn’t Gillian Anderson do a lot of roles with a British accent? How do our friends from across the Atlantic rate her? [/QUOTE] She grew up over here. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/48 "2008-04-24T12:36:55Z")
[QUOTE=Szlater] She grew up over here. [/QUOTE] Ah, I should have [wikied](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillian_Anderson) her. Turns out she had a varied youth: > [@](#): > > Anderson was born in Chicago, Illinois… > \ > Soon after her birth, her family moved to Puerto Rico for 15 months and then to Crouch End and finally Harringay in London, so that her father could attend the London Film School. When Anderson was 11 years old, her family moved again, this time to Grand Rapids, Michigan. She attended Fountain Elementary and then City High-Middle School, a program for gifted students with a strong emphasis on the humanities; she graduated in 1986. It goes on that she adopted a Midwest accent in school to fit in. She then spent a lot of time in NY and LA. So, I guess her “real” accent is anybody’s guess. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/49 "2008-04-24T12:41:07Z")
[QUOTE=Bayard] Someone from Manchester is a “Mancunian”? That might be the coolest adjective-from-a-place-name (is there a word for _that_) I’ve ever heard. [/QUOTE] [More hijack] Someone from Thame, where I went to school, is a “Thamensian” (pron. Təm-EN-si-ən) and someone from Galway is a Galwegian. [/mh] ---
**Author:** ![SuperNelson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@SuperNelson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperNelson)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/50 "2008-04-24T12:45:06Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou] Several episodes of _Buffy_ and _Angel_, in fact. Whenever they showed a flashback to his early life as Liam (human) or Angelus (his evil vampire persona, before he was cursed with a soul and became good-guy Angel), he spoke with a horrible Irish accent. Meanwhile, his _Angel_ castmate Alexis Denisof, another American, did one of the best British accents I’ve ever heard as the character Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. [/QUOTE] And every once in a while, you get to hear James Marsters do the best bad American accent. (Marsters is from California, and plays a vampire of British origin. Spike’s attempt to sound American is priceless). ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/51 "2008-04-24T12:47:23Z")
[QUOTE=Bayard] Someone from Manchester is a “Mancunian”? That might be the coolest adjective-from-a-place-name (is there a word for _that_) I’ve ever heard. [/QUOTE] Demonym. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/52 "2008-04-24T12:48:25Z")
[QUOTE=Capt. Ridley’s Shooting Party] Same. Only ever heard it pronounced “nugget” in the north. [/QUOTE] Indeedy. Go into a sweet shop in’t frozen norf and ask for “new-gah” and you’d be battered to death with a wedge of tripe or a cow 'eel. The shopkeeper would take you for a suvvern poof. Innit? ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/53 "2008-04-24T12:53:26Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] The shopkeeper would take you for a suvvern poof. [/QUOTE] Fuckin’ norvern munkies. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/54 "2008-04-24T12:54:09Z")
Jane Leeves’ _Frasier_ castmate John Mahoney actually grew up in Manchester (born in Blackpool), but he emigrated to America when he was a teenager, and I’ve heard that if he needs to use any kind of British accent for a role now, he needs a coach. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/55 "2008-04-24T13:01:24Z")
[QUOTE=MidnightRadio] Demonym. [/QUOTE] Many thanks. I now have two words to casually toss about at my next social event: Mancunian and Demonym. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/56 "2008-04-24T13:11:44Z")
[QUOTE=Morbo] Worst: can’t think of any from TV, but surely Costner’s English accent in **Robin Hood** has to be up there. [/QUOTE] He had an accent? ---
**Author:** ![beanpod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9adbd/32.png) [@beanpod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beanpod)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/57 "2008-04-24T13:19:01Z")
Another vote for Jamie Bamber as the best fake-American accent I’ve heard. We were watching the extras on the DVDs and it made me do a double-take when he started talking about how the guy who plays Baltar can at least use his normal voice. Then they either had a cut of him in character or he faked the accent in the middle of his comments. Freakishly well done. The most surprising thing is how his voice got louder and…harder, I guess…when he was doing the American accent. As for bad ones…not sure, I’ll have to come back to that. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2008, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/58 "2008-04-24T13:27:23Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou] Meanwhile, his _Angel_ castmate Alexis Denisof, another American, did one of the best British accents I’ve ever heard as the character Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. [/QUOTE] Whenever I hear his American accent it sounds fake. Sometimes when a Brit is trying to do an American accent it sounds just a bit off. Maybe the cadence is off, I don’t know. It’s not something I can put my finger on. Usually it sounds a little wrong but I don’t think rigth away it is someone doing an accent. For instance Jonny Lee Miller from _Eli Stone_. I found something odd about his voice but couldn’t tell what it was. Then I found out that he is a Brit. Nothing to hint at British comes out when he speaks but there is something not quite right about it. ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/59 "2008-04-24T13:28:46Z")
[QUOTE=Morbo] Best: two from **The Wire** : McNulty, Dominic West - English, and Carcetti, Aidan Gillen - Irish. [/QUOTE] Ignorance fought. I had no clue that neither actor was American. In fact, I’m even more amazed by Dominic West, because he pulls of an incredibly convincing American accent, and then proceeds to demonstrate an equally convincing _bad_ fake English accent during the whorehouse raid in Season 2. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/60 "2008-04-24T13:43:28Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Irish =! British. (Unless you’re strictly talking only about Northern Ireland, and even then half of the population will disagree with you.)… [/QUOTE] Yes, but the badness of David Boreanaz’s Irish accent transcends all considerations of nationality or border. Ian Paisley & Gerry Adams would unite in their opinion that he should stick to American English. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607.md?page=4)