Poll: Do You Think British Accents Are More..."Sophisticated"?

[leaderproxima]

Im English, I agree that some british accents are "Sophisticated" but my voice is in no way that. Those "cockneys" you see when they show downtown london, thats my accent. I love having this accent though. No H's or T's in words. (T's only at the beginning of words)

 

[dvd_72]

You realise that English accents are extremely varied right? There may be a few that sound posh and sophisticated, but there are a whole lot that make people sound crass, stupid, and sometimes the accent makes it plain imposable to decipher what they are saying.

 

[are.you.the.god.its.me.vader]

Go to Chatham, listen to them talk for 5 minutes, weep for the nation and put the place to the torch.

I dare anyone to take a nice long walk through Chatham high street on a friday night.

OT: We Brits really aren't that sophisticated, but I like the stereotype.

 

[leaderproxima]

there are a whole lot that make people sound crass, stupid, and sometimes the accent makes it plain imposable to decipher what they are saying.

yeah, some of our accents may be impossible to understand to foreign people, but stupid is pushing it a bit far.

 

[Elate]

I can tell you now, I despise most of the accents here, a lot sound like degenerated forms of English, cutting off words, mashing other words together, they end up sounding uneducated because it doesn't sound like they can speak properly. I have a somewhat posh accent, I guess I can be happy about that.

Just for the record, this is the kind of "accent" I'm talking about http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqyU2z-FJr8 which is far more common than the sophisticated one you speak of.

 

[Gerishnakov]

I sound like Colin Firth, so you're damn right I think it's a sophisticated accent!

 

[AngryMongoose]

If you're talking about the fancy English accent commonly found in London, then yes.

Personally, I have a Mackem accent. It doesn't sound sophisticated at all.

Indeed. While (nearly) all British accents are awesome, not many of them are considered "Sophisticated". Pretty much just the South East, Home Counties and the cleaner parts of London.

 

[Andaxay]

Depends what part of British you're listening to. I have the most broad Lancashire accent possible and sound the complete polar opposite of sophisticated, haha. Even London has different accents.

 

[Aerosteam]

I don't like it when people say 'British', they mean 'English'.

From an American perspective, the English may seem more intelligent when they speak, but from an English perspective, Americans may seem less intelligent.

Also I'd pick a cockney accent over a redneck one any day.

 

[Burn2Feel]

I'll probably be repeating someone else, but it really really depends on which part of Britain you're in. Around London because of the multicultural enviroment you can get a lot of "upper and lower class" mannerisms and accents, where as in Plymouth people forget what they're saying mid-sentence and so fill the gap with "fokin'" leading to unintelligable but hilarious conversations on a crowded bus, and so on.

 

[Thespian]

Define "British accent", though.

An Irish accent isn't the same as a Welsh accent, which isn't the same as a Scottish accent, and they aren't limited to one each.

England, with 50+ million people (though almost no land mass) has any number of accents.

Now, various upper class British accents tend to sound sophisticated to me, doesn't really matter what part of Britain.

Funny. Sounds almost as if you consider Ireland to be a part of Britain.

>:|

OT: I've heard too many British accents that AREN'T sophisticated for that to work. And it's funny that whenever many American hear "British" they think Stephen Fry's accent and not a Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff, Belfast or Glasgow accent.

Honestly, anyone who speaks with careful attention to diction and pronunciation sounds more sophisticated.

 

[Burs]

Its St Davids day people and now I give you in the Blue corner, The Highest eschalon of sophistication: THE WELSH!

 

[Rastien]

My tutor at college is the bassist from Wurzles!

I'm from the west country and we do not have a sophisticated accent, but i've meet americans who can't tell the difference, even when I say ark at e

Gert lush mate! also very cool having a Wurzels member for your tutor. Had a drink with them a few time at local gigs and such, love the fact as the night gets later the words to various songs change to a much ruder version

 

[TingaWinga]

I am British and people seem to trust my voice, mainly Americans but other English speakers too. I would trust a British accent over a cowboy accent any day

 

[Tipsy Giant]

My tutor at college is the bassist from Wurzles!

I'm from the west country and we do not have a sophisticated accent, but i've meet americans who can't tell the difference, even when I say ark at e

Gert lush mate! also very cool having a Wurzels member for your tutor. Had a drink with them a few time at local gigs and such, love the fact as the night gets later the words to various songs change to a much ruder version

Yeah he was a legend, taught me everything I know about deconstructing music, he knows his stuff!

 

[cswurt]

This isn't so sophisticated...

 

[jockslap]

no, they just sound like they're speaking proper english, not slang

 

[Emperor Nat]

Define "British accent", though.

An Irish accent isn't the same as a Welsh accent, which isn't the same as a Scottish accent, and they aren't limited to one each.

England, with 50+ million people (though almost no land mass) has any number of accents.

Now, various upper class British accents tend to sound sophisticated to me, doesn't really matter what part of Britain.

This. When Americans say "British Accent", what they really mean is "Upper-Class, Well-Educated Southern-English Accent".

Always annoys me, but hey. I still use the term 'American accent' to refer to any and all accents from the USA. So it's give and take, I guess.

OT: It depends what part of Britain. Stephen Fry for instance sounds like the smartest man on Earth. He probably is, but that's not the point.

 

[Thaluikhain]

OT: It depends what part of Britain. Stephen Fry for instance sounds like the smartest man on Earth. He probably is, but that's not the point.

IMHO, he sounds like someone who desperately wants to sound like the smartest man on Earth, not quite the same thing. Watching him on QI when he goes off on a tangent not provided by the QI elves and getting everything wrong...painful.

 

[WoW Killer]

Of course yes. People always sounds more sophisticated when they pronounce words correctly.