Poll: English/ British?

[Kirkby]

DEFIANTLY an English accent. The Irish Scottish and Welsh get very offended otherwise

Actually, what do even define as an English accent? Because most towns in England all have there own accent. The stereotypical "English" accent is cockney i think, which sounds nothing like the geordie accent, or the yorkshire accent, or scouser, or.. actually, i think you get the point
= P

 

[Terminal Blue]

Most people will understand what you mean when you say British. Technically English is more correct, but since we brutally conquered the rest of the island we generally get to claim cultural ownership of it all. (joke)

I don't think it's really seen as political when Americans use it. It actually sounds less weird to me than English accent. You say 'British accent' as an American and I assume you mean the BBC English which used to appear on American television. You say 'English accent' and the immediate response is 'which one'?

The stereotypical "English" accent is cockney i think, which sounds nothing like the geordie accent, or the yorkshire accent, or scouser, or.. actually, i think you get the point

Interestingly, very few people ever spoke Cockney. Even in London you'll seldom hear it.

I always thought the stereotypical accent abroad was BBC English, but it seems that got too stereotypical and Americans especially seem to have worked out that only a fraction of the population use it.

Personally, I think the 'national accent' should be Scouse. It's a complete mix of different accents anyway, plus it would make political debates more interesting.

 

[AngloDoom]

English, otherwise you associate us with the Scottish and the Welsh which are a lot more likeable than we are.

 

[Cash84]

Personally I use the term "Pommy".

3-1. Ssshhhh....

 

[Cash84]

Oh and OT: there's no such thing as a British accent. Only English, Welsh and Scottish accents.

 

[LongAndShort]

Personally I use the term "Pommy".

3-1. Ssshhhh....

You can't hear it right now, but I'm swearing under my breath.

 

[TheEvilCheese]

Yeah, I'm British (English) and I wouldn't even want to be associated by accent with the scum and villainy that live on the other side of my city!... So uncivilised...

I know how you feel, I mean living in a nice part of North London is nice, but when someone tries to do a 'London' accent I want to punch them. Hard.

OT: I am English. A British accent implies we all sound the same. I most definitely don;t sound welsh.

 

[Nickolai77]

Personally, I think the 'national accent' should be Scouse. It's a complete mix of different accents anyway, plus it would make political debates more interesting.

Woah, hold your horses there mate. Some scouse voices sound wonderful and homely (John Bishop) but some scouse voices make me want to rip my ears from my head. Have you ever heard Parklife before?

When someone says British accent i think most people will think of BBC English, which is roughly what a fair few southerners in England sound like. English could describe any type of English accent, be it Yorkshire, West Country or brummy. I don't really mind if people call a type of English accent British because there are so many different accents in the Britain. I would'nt expect a foreigner to know *all* the British accents.

 

[F'Angus]

I'm English and all my friends refer to it as a British accent as well. I have to keep correcting them but they don't really care... Though there are different accents in Britain, we're not all posh.

 

[DanielDeFig]

England is a specific kingdom of the United Kingdoms, while Britain refers to the British empire as a whole. You are obviously referring to the other well known natively English speaking accent, that isn't your own (USA). Therefore, you are supposed to refer to it as a British accent.

Then again, i know the difference between a Scottish accent and a "British" one, i wouldn't be able to identify a Welsh accent, and frankly i'm not sure if an English accent is so different from what i would generally call "British".

So, depending on what you are actually referring to:

Accent from UK that is NOT scottish = British

Most commonly known accent from UK = English

 

[Dwarfman]

If the person is from England then its an English accent. If its someone from any of the other countries that make the UK call it Welsh, Scottish or Irish. They get really pissed off with you if you say British. Trust me from personal experience.

The only problem there is which part of England does the accent come from. Someone from Cornwall for instance sounds completely different to an east londoner or a yorkshireman or someone from the Tyne or Liverpool and so on and so forth.

 

[Leftnt Sharpe]

What you also need to realise is that everyone in England thinks that they don't speak with an accent and so take the piss out of other people's accents. For example I'm from Lancashire and we constantly rip on the Liverpudlian accent even though we have some equally stupid sounding accents ourselves.

 

[LightspeedJack]

English.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Well, I suppose the various English, Irish, Scots, Welsh accents etc are all British geographically so I would say either is correct, just depends how specific you want to be.

 

[LupusDei]

Just don't refer to anyone as English in Northern Ireland/Ireland unless you have a good pair of running shoes on.

 

[bobknowsall]

It's English. "British" is a term that encompasses a whole lotta accents.

 

[bobknowsall]

Well, I suppose the various English, Irish, Scots, Welsh accents etc are all British geographically so I would say either is correct, just depends how specific you want to be.

Ah, I think you mean the Northern Irish. Wars were fought over the Irish being part of good aul' Britannia.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Well, I suppose the various English, Irish, Scots, Welsh accents etc are all British geographically so I would say either is correct, just depends how specific you want to be.

Ah, I think you mean the Northern Irish. Wars were fought over the Irish being part of good aul' Britannia.

No, I mean Irish. Britannia =/= British Isles

 

[Karma168]

As a scot I'd say you'd have to use the country. As most american TV shows have the british accent synonymous with the english accent (family guy is the worst offender i can think of atm), this means that saying a scot has a 'british' accent will likely lead 'tae getting yersel chibbed' As scots is almost a completely different language to southern english.

 

[hutchy27]

You never realise you have a accent untill you hear someone from your locally area talking on tv to someone from somewhere with a drastically differnt accent. -__-