# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/121 "2008-04-27T03:41:14Z")
[QUOTE=Morbo] Best: two from **The Wire** : McNulty, Dominic West - English, and Carcetti, Aidan Gillen - Irish. [/QUOTE] I agree with you on Carcetti, and with a later poster on Stringer Bell–I was surprised to find out that they weren’t US-born. But I’m kind of shocked that three separate people have praised Dominic West’s American accent. It was passable when he managed to keep it up, but he was inconsistent, and it drove me up a wall. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/122 "2008-04-27T03:47:30Z")
I think **Hugh Laurie** ’s accent is fantastic. I’ve heard he has to keep it up 24/7 when shooting, lest he “slip” back. But he never does it around his kids so as not to freak them out. **Minnie Driver** is ok but her southern accent is SO thick, I just don’t like it. **Eddie Izzard** is horrible, and so is **Dominic West**. They both sound like they are about to swallow their tongues half the time. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/123 "2008-04-27T03:54:44Z")
:smack: I dunno why I posted after only reading the first page. My apologies for my abrupt post… I agree with those who are saying the guys who played **Carcetti** and **Bell** on **The Wire** had spot-on accents. I didn’t know until just now that Bell was British. I didn’t know about Carcetti until one time pretty late in the series when I heard a little slip from him and looked it up to see if he was British. Otherwise, he was great. ---
**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:** [April 27, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/124 "2008-04-27T03:58:10Z")
Zoe, I did not claim that: \> Nicole Kidman also can do a convincing American accent in my opinion. even once, let alone twice. I was quoting cochrane. Please be careful in your quoting. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/125 "2008-04-27T04:20:39Z")
Monty Python has already been mentioned, and it’s also been mentioned that they aren’t trying to do a good accent, but since the topic is “Worst English accents on US TV (And vice versa)” I wanted to point out in particular the fake MP ad with Crelm Toothpaste and the dragon eating the princess. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/126 "2008-04-27T08:21:48Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] Dead Badger writes: \> 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. Certain characteristics of the accents of Australians and Brits are shared (and not heard in American English). Certain characteristics of the accents of Australians and Americans are shared (and not heard in British English). Certain characteristics of the accents of Brits and Americans are shared (and not heard in Australian English). Thus Americans hear the shared similarities of Australian and British English and if they don’t want to listen harder, they can’t distinguish them. At least once a Brit told me that she heard Australian and American English as being similar in some ways. Do Australians sometimes hear American and British English as being similar in some ways? In general, it’s easy to hear the characteristics of your own dialect. It’s harder to make out the features of other dialects. [/QUOTE] I don’t think any Australian would find many similarities between English and American accents, with the exception (perhaps) of some of the rhotic burr of some English rural speech. When I (an Australian) speak to Americans, I find that I “pom up” my accent in order to be comprehensible - we naturally speak quickly, flatten our vowels so that they are hard to distinguish, and elide many sounds in a way that Americans struggle to follow. Deliberately eliminating those bad vocal habits comes to sound a bit like the RP “plum” accent, but at least it increases comprehensibility. The same thing happens to me when I get likkered up - in order to be comprehensible, you have to force your way past the slur with an exaggerated overprecise pronunciation that can sound toffy. It may be that that is the driver of the phenomenon described by **DeadBadger**. It takes a while for a natural Australian accent to become comprehensible to Americans through the unconscious mimicry process, and in the meantime, we search for clarity by using the clearer tones that people associate with RP. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/127 "2008-04-27T11:13:42Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] Monty Python has already been mentioned, and it’s also been mentioned that they aren’t trying to do a good accent, but since the topic is “Worst English accents on US TV (And vice versa)” I wanted to point out in particular the fake MP ad with Crelm Toothpaste and the dragon eating the princess. [/QUOTE] I’ve always been fond of John Cleese as the movie-western cowboy in the marriage-counselor sketch, telling Arthur Pewty about being a man. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/128 "2008-04-27T11:59:42Z")
Mark Addy (“Still Standing” sitcom) does a terrible American accent. There’s a catfight going on between his attempt to flatten vowels into “Mid-Western Amerispeak” and the Brit vowels. This week I experienced inter-American accent schizophrenia when I read a paper at a conference. As I was reading aloud, I could hear my mishmash of hillbilly-California-Midwest-New Jersey accents. I don’t think Hugh Laurie has a good American accent, but this might be because he’ll always be Bertie Wooster to me. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/129 "2008-04-27T14:36:23Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] Both she and Julie Andrews played it for comedy. English was Julie Andrews native language. It was not Audrey Hepburn’s. [/QUOTE] Who’s talking about Julie Andrews? The movie was about a person with a Cockney accent learning an R.P. accent. It was all about accents! It was unforgivable to cast someone who couldn’t do them! ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/130 "2008-04-27T18:06:55Z")
I always assumed Picard had simply learned British English, not American. I thought Lennie James did a really good job of sounding American on Jericho. I know somebody who was shocked that he _wasn’t_. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/131 "2008-04-27T19:42:21Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] Wow. I’ve never heard anyone, anywhere pronounce it anything other than “new-g’t” Then again, it’s not exactly an everyday conversation kind of word. Chances are, I have never heard most of the people I know ever say that word. [/QUOTE] Next time we get together we should pronounce “nougat” for each other! ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/132 "2008-04-28T02:09:31Z")
[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] They’re called [proper adjectives](http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861736512). ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/133 "2008-04-28T04:26:45Z")
[QUOTE=MGibson] I recently watched “The Meaning of Life” and those American accents were god awful. I had a hard time figuring out they were supposed to be American accents. [/QUOTE] I had a tape of Monty Python, and it took two viewings to figure out that Michael Palin thought he was doing an American accent. I thought he was just trying to sound dumb. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/134 "2008-04-28T04:27:41Z")
Several people mentioned Anthony LaPaglia, but what about his brother, Jonathan? Back when he was on 7 Days, I had no idea he wasn’t an actual American. Quite convincing. I also think Dominic Purcell (Prison Break, John Doe) and Julian McMahon (Charmed, Nip/Tuck) can do good American accents. Unless I’m mistaken, they’re both Aussies. [QUOTE=cochrane] Lena Heady, whose family is English, was born in Bermuda and moved back to England with her family when she was eight. Listening to her play Sarah Connor in the _Sarah Connor Chronicles_, you wouldn’t know she isn’t an American. [/QUOTE] I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to strongly disagree with you there. Her fake American accent is pretty bad, at least on Terminator. It’s the worst when she’s doing the narration, but also quite noticable in most of her scenes. I had no idea who this actress was before this series, and right away I knew she was a foreigner playing an American. Something about her pacing or inflections or how she structures the sentences is just “off”, I don’t really know how to explain it better. I really find it grating when she speaks on the show because of her weird attempt at American. [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] According to some interview I once read (I think they were actually interviewing his wife and Buffy castmate, Alyson Hannigan) he spent several years living in Britain, and he actually picked up the accent while there. Apperantly he speaks that way whenever they spend time over there. (I wish I had a link to the interview, but it was a few years ago that I read it.) [QUOTE=wolfman] Speaking of Doctor Who, John Barrowman’s(Capt. Jack Harkness) accent is dead perfect. [/QUOTE] He’s very good, but not quite perfect. Sometimes he lets a word or two slip out in a way that no American would ever pronounce it. For example, I think in an episode of Torchwood he pronounced estrogen EEstrogen where an American would say EHstrogen. There’ve been a couple of similar mishaps. Of course, in terms of the character, it’s easily fanwanked because he’s not really an American, he’s from someplace else in the far future, and he’s also lived in Britain for over a century. But in terms of the actor, it was a dead givaway that he’s actually from someplace other than America. [QUOTE=Jennshark] Mark Addy (“Still Standing” sitcom) does a terrible American accent. There’s a catfight going on between his attempt to flatten vowels into “Mid-Western Amerispeak” and the Brit vowels. [/QUOTE] Something else I have to disagree with. Watching Still Standing, I had no idea he wasn’t American. Then I saw some PSA on CBS where he used his real accent, and it just floored me that the guy was British. I didn’t watch SS very regularly, though, and when I did watch it was mostly the later seasons, so I suppose if he was more noticable early on, but improved over the run of the show I would have missed that. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/135 "2008-04-28T04:45:34Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] The worst British accent in Frasier was that bloke who was supposedly from Northern England, but sounded like he was South African. [/QUOTE] We’ve already discussed Anthony Lapaglia, but he is _Australian_ and his character is supposed to be a cockney (ie from London, in _southern_ England). But apart from those three details, you nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/136 "2008-04-28T04:51:53Z")
[QUOTE=Askance] We’ve already discussed Anthony Lapaglia, but he is _Australian_ and his character is supposed to be a cockney (ie from London, in _southern_ England). But apart from those three details, you nailed it. [/QUOTE] Um, no, he wasn’t supposed to be a Cockney. As Daphne’s brother, he should have been Mancunian like her. ---
**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 28, 2008, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/137 "2008-04-28T13:44:52Z")
[QUOTE=Askance] We’ve already discussed Anthony Lapaglia, but he is _Australian_ and his character is supposed to be a cockney (ie from London, in _southern_ England). But apart from those three details, you nailed it. [/QUOTE] Well, as **Fiver** points out, you’re wrong about the Cockney thing (although Simon Moon’s accent is probably closer to a South London one than anything else, which is to say “not very close at all”). The Moon family’s accents were all over the shop (south London; cockney; a sort of freakish Scots/Brummie/flowerpot-man hybrid), but they were certainly _supposed_ to be Mancunians, barring some unexplained Moon preschool diaspora. Quite apart from that, however, it’s entirely possible that **Pushkin** is referring to the Moon brother played by Richard E. Grant; Grant was born in Swaziland and educated in South Africa, and speaks mostly with his usual RP accent in Frasier. But apart from those two details, etc. etc… Back on topic, Summer Glau’s brief attempt at Cockney in the Firefly episode _Shindig_ was pretty terrible, but I s’pose it’s forgivable given that her character was affecting the accent, rather than speaking with it naturally. Just don’t put her in any genuine English roles, would be my advice to any casting directors among us. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/138 "2008-04-28T14:17:28Z")
[QUOTE=Lust4Life] I’ll just add that Jean Luc Picard on ST TNG supposedly a Frenchman sounded amazingly like a Brit,but to be honestI think an assumed French accent would tend to grate after a very short while. [/QUOTE] There’s some ambiguity about Picard’s background. Yes, his brother is an obviously French guy living on a farm in France … but in the fantasy scenes in _Generations_ (I think), Picard’s family life was very English. ---
**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 28, 2008, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/139 "2008-04-28T15:16:12Z")
[QUOTE=TBG] Several people mentioned Anthony LaPaglia, but what about his brother, Jonathan? Back when he was on 7 Days, I had no idea he wasn’t an actual American. Quite convincing. I also think Dominic Purcell (Prison Break, John Doe) and Julian McMahon (Charmed, Nip/Tuck) can do good American accents. Unless I’m mistaken, they’re both Aussies. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to strongly disagree with you there. Her fake American accent is pretty bad, at least on Terminator. It’s the worst when she’s doing the narration, but also quite noticable in most of her scenes. I had no idea who this actress was before this series, and right away I knew she was a foreigner playing an American. Something about her pacing or inflections or how she structures the sentences is just “off”, I don’t really know how to explain it better. I really find it grating when she speaks on the show because of her weird attempt at American.According to some interview I once read (I think they were actually interviewing his wife and Buffy castmate, Alyson Hannigan) he spent several years living in Britain, and he actually picked up the accent while there. Apperantly he speaks that way whenever they spend time over there. (I wish I had a link to the interview, but it was a few years ago that I read it.)He’s very good, but not quite perfect. Sometimes he lets a word or two slip out in a way that no American would ever pronounce it. For example, I think in an episode of Torchwood he pronounced estrogen EEstrogen where an American would say EHstrogen. There’ve been a couple of similar mishaps. Of course, in terms of the character, it’s easily fanwanked because he’s not really an American, he’s from someplace else in the far future, and he’s also lived in Britain for over a century. But in terms of the actor, it was a dead givaway that he’s actually from someplace other than America.Something else I have to disagree with. Watching Still Standing, I had no idea he wasn’t American. Then I saw some PSA on CBS where he used his real accent, and it just floored me that the guy was British. I didn’t watch SS very regularly, though, and when I did watch it was mostly the later seasons, so I suppose if he was more noticable early on, but improved over the run of the show I would have missed that. [/QUOTE] I have to disagree on several counts. Dominic Purcell’s accent comes across as odd to me. I wouldn’t be able to tell exactly where he is from I can tell it’s not America. Julian McMahon is very good. I’m not sure if Mark Addy is even trying to do an accent. Someone with some expertise in accents could probably pinpoint the block he grew up on in York just by his American accent. As for Barrowman, as was said before he is not doing an accent. That is his real accent. Look on YouTube, there is a bunch of stuff with him speaking in non script stuations. The only time he starts talking with a Scottish accent is when he is around his family. He lived in America for a large chunk of his life. I have noticed several times on British TV when an America character, even one played by an America will pronounce a word in British fashion (no I can’t remember exactly when but it happens enough for me to notice). I think it is meant to make it more palatable for British ears. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607/140 "2008-04-28T21:49:38Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] There’s some ambiguity about Picard’s background. Yes, his brother is an obviously French guy living on a farm in France … but in the fantasy scenes in _Generations_ (I think), Picard’s family life was very English. [/QUOTE] [Ridiculous level of nitpickery]But in the episode of TNG where they went to that galaxy millions of lightyears away where thoughts became reality he had a vision of his (obviously dead) mother and she was very French (“Jean Lou - seet and 'aave sum teeeee”).[/RLON] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-english-accents-on-us-tv-and-vice-versa/446607.md?page=8)