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

[DEAD34345]

Ha! Anyone who thinks British people sound sophisticated hasn't heard most British accents.

In the area I live we speak relatively posh (though to nowhere near the extent we're portrayed on TV), but due to the influence of my scouse mother I occasionally use words like "youse" (plural of "you"), "sound" (as a term meaning "good" or "cool") and "giz" ("give" or "give us"). Hardly sounds sophisticated, does it? And I honestly think your heads would explode if you ever heard a true scouser speak. Even I have trouble hearing that.

Spoiler: 'The Scousers visit the beach'

This is a worryingly accurate portrayal.​

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Erm what exactly is a 'British accent' I can think of at least 5 different accents that could come under that banner off the top of my head.

I'm from up north and my friends American fiance says I sound like a servant girl out of a BBC drama lol.

 

[Eddie the head]

Ha! Anyone who thinks British people sound sophisticated hasn't heard most British accents.

Or for that matter seen the movie Pygmalion. Just thought I would point that one out the whole movie(or play rather) is about speech.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Depend which "British" Accents you're talking about. Sure you said British but there are different type if British accents within British.
Overall no I disagree (and I'm British too). In my opinion I find the French accent to be more sophisticated.

 

[Vault101]

theres a wide range of british accents..some of them more sphisticated than others

I theink the "yorkshire" one doesnt sound all that...uhh sophisticated

 

[Soviet Steve]

Whenever I hear an Ork in DoW the first thing that comes to mind is "What a stunningly interllectual fellow, that accent really makes them sound smart." - Also I'm lying.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I don't think it, I know it, British > all.

I'm really weird though, I'm Canadian and I have a slightly British accent.

Define British accent 'cos it's like saying "I have an American accent" People from New York don't sound like people from Texas. It's the same for Britain, people from Liverpool sound nothing like the people from Doncaster.

Do you mean you sound like the queen?

Well, I'm told I have a slightly British accent, despite never having been there.

In that sort of case, well, the people thinking that tend not to be the people aware of subdivisions.

 

[Brad Shepard]

*looks at Jack and Calumon*

Seeing as I talk to him all the time... Hm... I dont know, I never really thought of it. I dont really think of Accents.

 

[Blunderboy]

Have you ever heard a scouser?
Or those Essex twats?

I'm allowed to say that, I'm from Essex and I have to put up with that shit.
"I'm going ta taan." - "I am going to town."

 

[Rastien]

Intresting fact the "pirate" accent of yarrrr etc etc is actually VERY close to the south west somerset/dorset accent but even more close to the cornish accent where they had alot of pirates and smugglers.

If you listen to the wurzels then listen to some pirate accent its pretty similar.

Somerset boy ere scrumping them apples oooh arr

 

[Liberaliter]

I'm British and I sound nowhere near sophisticated. I don't even have a particular accent, it's just... monotone.

 

[Queen Michael]

Compare the accent of Barack Obama to the accent of random cockney individual. 'Nuff said.
Seriously though, you should have defined it more narrowly. Are you talking about the speech of the Artful Dodger or Estella? Or Groundskeeper WIllie?

 

[Dogstile]

I'm British and I sound nowhere near sophisticated. I don't even have a particular accent, it's just... monotone.

You have one. I thought the same thing until my American friends told me my accent was cute.

I have no idea how my accent sounds. I don't think I have the unsophisticated one, but posh? The thought seems rather alien to me.

 

[Gerishnakov]

I'm English and I like to think my accent is every so slightly sophisticated, but I do come from the countyside near Oxford, which is quite a posh part of England. There are some things I'll say though where a hint of rural Northamptonshire will sneak into my voice, making me sound like a total yokel. This tends to happen after drinking.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I'm British and I sound nowhere near sophisticated. I don't even have a particular accent, it's just... monotone.

You have one. I thought the same thing until my American friends told me my accent was cute.

I have no idea how my accent sounds. I don't think I have the unsophisticated one, but posh? The thought seems rather alien to me.

I don't think I have much of an accent either I'm from up north but at the other side from Newcastle so I'm not Geordie.

My friend from Essex doesn't have much of an accent, compared to his friends.

 

[Zhukov]

Exactly what kind of British accent are we talking here? There's more than one. A lot more.

Not that it matters, everyone knows Welsh accents are better in every way.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I'm British and I sound nowhere near sophisticated. I don't even have a particular accent, it's just... monotone.

You have one. I thought the same thing until my American friends told me my accent was cute.

I have no idea how my accent sounds. I don't think I have the unsophisticated one, but posh? The thought seems rather alien to me.

I don't think I have much of an accent either I'm from up north but at the other side from Newcastle so I'm not Geordie.

My friend from Essex doesn't have much of an accent, compared to his friends.

You mean that people that talk like you talk like you.

This is not the same as not having an accent, there's no objective default all accents are deviations from.

 

[Therumancer]

In my opinion, they are. It seems to me, British people sound much more intelligent than Americans when speaking. What do you think?

Also, this isn't meant as an insult, I don't want anybody to take this the wrong way haha...

Depends, "British" covers a lot of differant accents.

The typical hollywood upper class british accent DOES sound more intelligent and sophisticated, but an accent like that comes from breeding (or practice) and is designed to sound that way to everyone.

In comparison on the extreme other end you have your guttersnipe and cockney type accents which sound roughly as intelligent and well educated as your average American redneck. Which isn't surprising because like the whole Redneck drawl/slang schtick they are also lower class.

The US has it's own snooty, upper class accents which generally convey the same effect as the more Upper Class British schtick, but you hear them less often especially in the cinema.

You won't hear much that is snootier, intelligent, and vaguely condescending sounding than say an upper class Bostonian accent (East Coast Old Money). I also think people tend to forget some of the other upper class accents, like upper class southern ones which do appear in the media with a reasonable amount of frequency, especially in westerns.

Overall though an exotic lilt to a clearly understood voice is usually seen as being fairly attractive irregardless of culture. Brits and Australians seem to find the same kind of appeal in certain American accents, but I have notice a tendency among Americans to gush unsubtly about everything, and that includes awkwardly blurting out how much they like someone's accent like 15 seconds after meeting them. I've notice Brits and Aussies will usually say a lot of the same things, but rarely directly to the person in question or when they are around.

 

[Dogstile]

I'm British and I sound nowhere near sophisticated. I don't even have a particular accent, it's just... monotone.

You have one. I thought the same thing until my American friends told me my accent was cute.

I have no idea how my accent sounds. I don't think I have the unsophisticated one, but posh? The thought seems rather alien to me.

I don't think I have much of an accent either I'm from up north but at the other side from Newcastle so I'm not Geordie.

My friend from Essex doesn't have much of an accent, compared to his friends.

As a southerner, if I heard you speak i'm pretty sure you'd have an accent. Northerners always so have one, must be something in the air. I actually had a girlfriend who was just east of Birmingham and even that 3 hour train ride was enough for me to hear massive changes.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I'm British and I sound nowhere near sophisticated. I don't even have a particular accent, it's just... monotone.

You have one. I thought the same thing until my American friends told me my accent was cute.

I have no idea how my accent sounds. I don't think I have the unsophisticated one, but posh? The thought seems rather alien to me.

I don't think I have much of an accent either I'm from up north but at the other side from Newcastle so I'm not Geordie.

My friend from Essex doesn't have much of an accent, compared to his friends.

You mean that people that talk like you talk like you.

This is not the same as not having an accent, there's no objective default all accents are deviations from.

Essex is down south...

So no I'm not saying people like me, talk like me :/ I don't think anyone talking to me would know where I am from in Britain, the same as my friend.