Do Americans realise how overexaggerated most British accents are in films/media?

28 comments

1. wuzzat guvnah?

2. I have a non insignificant amount of British friends, with the exception of Americans doing British accents, your movies aren’t far off. People have stronger accents than they realize

3. This is different. Someone from another country pointing out that not everything you see in a movie is real.

4. A majority of US adults can generally tell a poorly affected British accent from one which is either genuine or is being done well.

   On the other hand when I saw Dominic West in *300* I thought his British accent was a bad fake, so… We’re not infallible.

   P.S., Dick Van Dyke has apologized many times for his accent in *Mary Poppins*.

5. Glass houses, buddy.

6. Dude, do you have any relevent or insightful things to say, or are you just going to complain that your local accent is not the one Americans encounter the most.

7. “Stupid American movies acting like our accents sound like that – also did you know ALL Americans wear shoes inside? Just watch their movies, it’s proof.”

8. I use the BBC as a standard for what I expect a British person to sound like.

9. I have trouble understanding half the Brits I meet in real life. The movies don’t prepare you for *that.*

10. British people irl absolutely often have strong accents. Often times those with accents don’t realize they have them.

11. I do. Partially. I know that Irish accents are extremely over exaggerated, same with Scottish and Australian accents. I would argue that because there are so many British actors in hollywood, and there are British TV shows that have gained popularity in the US, you definitely see British accents sounding more normal and more how a British person would actually sound.

12. We have a decent amount of British people here. We tend to like them. We aren’t always sure what they’re saying, or rather, what they’re on about.

13. No, I really don’t realize that at all. Do you have specific ones with the exaggerations?

    What I usually watch is Great British Bake Off, Grand Designs, Top Gear, and random youtube reality shows with Brits. So mostly shows with average-ish citizens, not actors, and pretty much 100% of the people on the shows have *strong* British accents of one variety or another.

    Plus all the Brits I know who moved to the US as adults also have distinctly British accents.

    What would you give as an example of a typical, unexagerated accent?

14. 90% of British people who I talk to have a noticeably strong British accent. So either you guys only send out your people with the strongest accents to NYC or maybe our idea of a strong British accent and your idea of strong British accent are two different things. Which would make sense because you are probably from Britain if you’re making this post.

15. You mean you guys really don’t say things like chocolate globbernaughters for candy bars, flimsy whimsy mark and scribblers for pens, slippery dippery long mover for a snake, and Stealy Wheely Automobiley for Grand Theft Auto?

16. Do May, Hammond, and Clarkson exaggerate their accents when they *do the neewwws?*

17. Is this one of those things where you don’t realize that you have a strong accent because you’re always around it?

18. Most British media I watch is British made, originally meant for a British audience. I’d be surprised if that was so. (My current favorite is *Inside No. 9*.)

    That said, I know that very few Britons sound like they do in American movies.

19. I Think American accents are too tbh, I think all accents are

20. I’m trying to remember the last time I saw a British character portrayed by a non-British actor. Peter Dinklage, I guess? If we’re counting Westeros as part of the UK.

21. We consume a lot British media here. We are exposed to all sorts of accents. We grew up on Harry Potter films, from Hagrid’s west country, Seamus Finnegan’s Irish, Neville Longbottom Yorkshire etc etc

22. I thought Brits prided themselves on hyper regional accent differences.

23. One of my favorite shows is the Great British Baking Off. Those contestants are not actors, and their accents are usually stronger than anything you’d see in the movies.

    When you watch these shows do they seem especially strong? Do they intentionally pick contestants with strong accents to make it more interesting or varied?

24. Usually the accents I hear on British shows or you tubers or my friends who are British are way thicker than what you hear in movies/tv. It’s probably different than what you’re expecting as authentic or not used to it. Kind of like my mom who doesn’t think she has a New Jersey accent (it’s super strong)

25. Yeah unfortunately most of them sound kind of crass to be honest.

26. Least condescendingly phrased British question

27. I dunno. I randomly ran into a British man in a shop years ago who sounded *exactly* like Michael Caine (in terms of accent). And there are so many different British accents. Which ones are you specifically talking about?

    Are there a bunch of movies where the actors aren’t British or are British people putting on fake British accents? I might just have missed most of them. The only one I can think of is Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. But that was pretty clear.

28. Do most Brits realize that almost all accents are exaggerated in films?