[78-L] Accent you hate [FWD]

[David Lennick]

The odd thing about this is that Canadian performers generally have success 
doing British and American accents, but many of them are thought to be English 
because of their theatrical training. Chris Plummer, for example..he was born 
in Montreal.

Nobody's thrown a pineapple at Laurence Harvey yet, I notice..or at Bart Simpson.

dl

fnarf at comcast.net wrote:
> The Queen's English is recent. I've heard that the closest current British accent to what prevailed then is around Bristol, or even parts of Wales; and some say that until fairly recently the hillbilly accents of remote pockets of the Appalachians were closer to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English English than anything heard in the Mother Country.
> 
> The one that I've always enjoyed is "Transatlantic English", as once spoken among certain upper-crust Northeastern Americans. Think Katherine Hepburn, or even Jackie O. I've never met anyone who spoke like that in real life, but then I don't have a cottage at Newport....
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "martha" <MLK402 at verizon.net>
> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2009 12:33:16 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Accent you hate  [FWD]
> 
>  Visiting Englishmen commented on what they heard as a pronounced American 
> accent, even before the Revolution.  I doubt that what we now hear as The 
> Queen's English existed much before the 1790s -  I've always thought that 
> the pre-Rev English sounded more like Long John Silver than Queen E II.   :)
> 
>  As for using modern, high-toned Queen's accents for Shakespeare ... that's 
> always bugged me.  Shakespeare probably would sound to us like a cross twixt 
> Cockney and L.J.Silver... which would make the lines even harder to 
> understand!  Plain, modern Yankee English makes Shakespeare easier to 
> comprehend.
> 
> To sleep, perchance to dream ....  dude  (no California english, please. 
> haha)
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Bud Black" <banjobud at cfl.rr.com>
> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2009 2:53 PM
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Accent you hate [FWD]
> 
> 
>> It always amuses me to watch an old movie where the actors are portraying
>> the great statesmen of early American history, and hearing George 
>> Washington
>> Benjamin Franklyn, or Thomas Jefferson speaking in good old Americanese,
>> when in all probability they all spoke with a pronounced English accent, 
>> not
>> being that far removed from the mother country.
>>
>> Bud
>>
>> -------Original Message-------
>>
>> From: Ron L
>> Date: 06/11/09 10:18:32
>> To: '78-L Mail List'
>> Subject: Re: [78-L] Accent you hate [FWD]
>>
>> It could be that, not so far removed in time from the Revolutionary War
>> period, and being from a wealthy background that there was still a fair
>> amount of British sounding accents at the time.  This is pure speculation 
>> on
>> my part I must say.
>>
>> Ron L
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com
>> [mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of Mike Harkin
>> Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2009 1:58 AM
>> To: 78-L Mail List
>> Subject: Re: [78-L] Accent you hate [FWD]
>>
>>
>> I've often wondered if the 'British' accents put on by American actors 
>> rang
>> as false as most British actors' 'American' accents.  Not counting GWTW:
>> I think Vivian Leigh isn't too bad.  Leslie Howard made no attempt at an
>> American accent, nor did Clark Gable attempt Charleston....
>>
>> My 2d worth.
>>
>> Mike in Plovdiv
>>
>> --- On Wed, 6/10/09, Royal Pemberton <ampex354 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> From: Royal Pemberton <ampex354 at gmail.com>
>>> Subject: Re: [78-L] Accent you hate
>>> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
>>> Date: Wednesday, June 10, 2009, 12:55 PM
>>> Ford Kiernan and Greg Patterson in
>>> the Scottish comedy series CHEWIN'
>>> THE FAT occasionally portrayed American characters in some
>>> of the
>>> sketches, and pulled them off very well!
>>>
>>> On 6/10/09, Bud Black <banjobud at cfl.rr.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>> I am constantly amazed at how well most English actors
>>> can emulate the
>>>> American accent (Bob Hoskins, Hugh Laurie), and most
>>> American actors, when
>>>> assuming the British accent, sound unconvincing.
>>> Why is this?
>>>> Bud
>>>>
>>>> -------Original Message-------
>>>>
>>>> From: Julian Vein
>>>> Date: 6/10/2009 1:56:42 PM
>>>> To: 78-L Mail List
>>>> Subject: [78-L] Accent you hate
>>>>
>>>> Watched the 1934 version of "Of Human Bondage" last
>>> night. The 78
>>>> connection was of Leslie Howard briefly working in a
>>> record shop in
>>>> London. Unfortunately, the shop window had a placard
>>> advertising Little
>>>> Wonder records.
>>>>
>>>> Bette Davis's cockney accent should be placed in the
>>> Hall of Infamy
>>>> alongside Dick Van Dyke's in "Mary Poppins" and Orson
>>> Welles's Irish
>>>> accent in "The Lady From Shanghai"! You can add Tom
>>> Hank's indeterminate
>>>> one in "Forrest Gump".
>>>>
>>>>       Julian Vein
>>>>
>>>> _______________________