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Post by Sorrel on Jul 9, 2014 18:29:06 GMT
Well, I am not British, but I used to be married to an English guy. Wherever we went here in the States, people would ooh and aah over his accent. Whenever we went to visit his family in England, I got nothing. LOL, it was definitely not the same reception he got!
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Post by hennybutton on Jul 9, 2014 18:34:58 GMT
I might be wrong because I am an American, but I think your co-worker is full of crap. There is no way he can generalize like that. I know quite a few people who don't like British accents. They say they can't understand what they're saying. If I were to tell a British person that Americans don't like British accents, I'd be full of crap. Also, both the US and the UK have more than one accent. I don't particularly like certain American accents myself. And, there are people from some regions of the US that I have a harder time understanding than someone from a foreign country to whom English is a second language.
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Post by ChicagoKTS on Jul 9, 2014 18:37:14 GMT
Well, I am not British, but I used to be married to an English guy. Wherever we went here in the States, people would ooh and aah over his accent. Whenever we went to visit his family in England, I got nothing. LOL, it was definitely not the same reception he got! I am not British either and I can honestly say that while we have traveled to a lot of different countries, no one has ever said they like our accent. I am thinking no one finds an American accent charming.
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Post by justkallie on Jul 9, 2014 18:39:23 GMT
Maybe they just didn't like "his" accent?
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Post by gar on Jul 9, 2014 18:40:45 GMT
I think, as here, accents vary hugely and some are more attractive than others. I would not say that we don't like your accent but I will admit that some appeal more than others! Don't ask me to identify various ones but some are more subtle, some less so and some are associated with certain types of people which is undoubtedly the same worldwide
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LeaP
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Post by LeaP on Jul 9, 2014 18:44:32 GMT
When I was in London a long time ago, my friends were very taken with Southern accents. I don't have one, so no admiration for my vanilla east coast way of speaking.
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Post by Jockscrap on Jul 9, 2014 18:48:40 GMT
He's speaking nonsense. Huge generalisation. As with we Brits, I'm sure there must be thousands of accents that Americans speak with, and some may be more pleasant to listen to than others. Personally, I love hearing a New York (or possibly New Jersey - my ear isn't discerning enough to tell) accent. Years ago i was on a ski lift in Vail with an American lady and I asked her if she was from New York as I thought I recognised her accent. She was, and she was pretty surprised I could tell, and I'm not sure if she was impressed when I said I had watched Rhoda on the telly for years and thought she sounded like her!
I am addicted to Donald Harington's books and I adore the dialect of the Ozarks he writes in. I can hear the characters speaking in my head as I read.
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GiantsFan
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Post by GiantsFan on Jul 9, 2014 18:50:17 GMT
But wait ... we (Americans) could have had their accent except for a little skirmish back in the eighteenth century. Really though, I don't think many people go ga-ga over the American accent or lack thereof.
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BarbaraUK
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Post by BarbaraUK on Jul 9, 2014 18:51:59 GMT
I might be wrong because I am an American, but I think your co-worker is full of crap. There is no way he can generalize like that. I know quite a few people who don't like British accents. They say they can't understand what they're saying. If I were to tell a British person that Americans don't like British accents, I'd be full of crap. Also, both the US and the UK have more than one accent. I don't particularly like certain American accents myself. And, there are people from some regions of the US that I have a harder time understanding than someone from a foreign country to whom English is a second language. I agree with this! Not sure why he said that but can only think he's generalising because of something said in his own circle whilst he was here! I don't hear this dislike of an American accent talked about here on a regular basis.....and we do have a lot of American TV programmes shown over here! So no, you don't all sound terrible to our ears and we don't cringe!! Some do have trouble distinguishing between an American and Canadian accent and that is discussed sometimes!
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lesley
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Post by lesley on Jul 9, 2014 18:57:31 GMT
Usually, the closer you live/have lived to somewhere, the easier it is for you to discern subtle (or not so subtle) differences in accents. I'm in Florida atm, and regularly get asked if I'm Irish. I'm Scottish, but I can see how someone unfamiliar with both accents would confuse them. Someone who lived in England would never make that mistake! Getting back to the OP, I love NY accents, and southern ones. I was in the hot tub last night with a woman from Kentucky, and I could have listened to her all night! ETA - still getting to grips with how to do quotes, and still not getting it right!
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BarbaraUK
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Post by BarbaraUK on Jul 9, 2014 18:59:01 GMT
Well, I am not British, but I used to be married to an English guy. Wherever we went here in the States, people would ooh and aah over his accent. Whenever we went to visit his family in England, I got nothing. LOL, it was definitely not the same reception he got! I am not British either and I can honestly say that while we have traveled to a lot of different countries, no one has ever said they like our accent. I am thinking no one finds an American accent charming. I don't think this has got anything to do with disliking an accent. Brits and Europeans don't ever tend to gush over the way a person speaks - we hear all sorts of languages and accents all the time. What we are interested in is hearing about where you come from in the US or wherever.
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Post by Sam on Jul 9, 2014 19:01:13 GMT
I think, as here, accents vary hugely and some are more attractive than others. I would not say that we don't like your accent but I will admit that some appeal more than others! Don't ask me to identify various ones but some are more subtle, some less so and some are associated with certain types of people which is undoubtedly the same worldwide Absolutely! I can also add that not only are some accents over here not as 'attractive' as others, but some are down right impossible to understand!
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Post by gillyp on Jul 9, 2014 19:05:00 GMT
Oh dear. I have worked with and know a number of folk who DO generalise and say they don't like American accents ( including my husband) but I don't particularly like some of their accents either! I do like most American accents and always ask someone whereabouts they are from if they come into my work as I'm interested.
I have a friend who lives in Oxfordshire and one of her sons has a girlfriend from Georgia so don't let your dream die, benem, it could be that your British knight is just waiting for you to appear on his horizon.
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Post by julieinsweden on Jul 9, 2014 19:12:12 GMT
Your co worker is making a massive generalisation. But I would agree that you would be less likely to hear a Brit gush "I love your accent". I think it's more of a reflection of our culture to not comment - one does not gush. Rather than to say we that we hate American accents.
Personly I've not heard a regional accent that I like enough to comment on it - liking, loving or otherwise.
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BarbaraUK
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Post by BarbaraUK on Jul 9, 2014 19:13:04 GMT
Well, Oxford University is one of the oldest, and one of the leading universities, worldwide, and people from all over the UK and world go there........that could be why he his accent wasn't commented on.
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Post by gar on Jul 9, 2014 19:14:19 GMT
I think we probably have stereotypes coming into play too. I would guess that a lot of Americans think that the English accent is 'posh' but I can promise you we're definitely not all posh at all in the same way that not all French men are romantic despite their accent
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anniebygaslight
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Post by anniebygaslight on Jul 9, 2014 19:16:01 GMT
Absolute bollocks!,
Not the handsomest man in the world, but I could listen to Jimmy Connors speak forever. Something about the accent and the timbre of his voice has a knee weakening effect I find.
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craftykitten
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Post by craftykitten on Jul 9, 2014 19:17:54 GMT
Another UK pea here (oh wait, I'm not a pea anymore!)and that sounds like a massive generalisation to me. Some American accents sound amazing, and others...not so much. But I could say the same about accents in the UK; there are one or two that really grate on me.
When I went to America, everyone thought I was Australian. And I am the most-poshest-speaking British person I know. So goodness knows what's going on!
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tinseltoes
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Post by tinseltoes on Jul 9, 2014 19:17:55 GMT
I have to say that I quite like an American accent. Not all, but then I don't like all British accents!
My DH has a customer that lives in Arizona and I love how extremely polite he is. He calls me Mam, and is a complete gentleman - an art that is being lost in this country.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's the Jersey accent, that always sounds so fun! Badda Bing, Badda Boom!
However, I find the 'Valley Girls' way of speaking really annoying. Where they go down at the end of a sentence, and almost sound like they are growling!
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Post by Zee on Jul 9, 2014 19:18:57 GMT
I wouldn't waste time worrying about what one guy said. There are many American accents, just as there are various British accents. Some are very difficult to understand, on both sides of the ocean. When I was in Scotland I did find it funny the number of people that politely tried to figure out if we were American vs Canadian, because they didn't want to offend any Canadians by assuming they were US. Apparently they get touchy about that, lol! A couple Scots asked me if we hate Canadians, since they apparently like to hate us while traveling overseas. I answered that we never think about them at all. How's that for a typically American answer? Haha Actually it didn't bother us at all, we found it amusing. I figured only Canadians with an axe to grind would bother to say anything at all, certainly not all Canadians feel that way. Eh?
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Post by annabella on Jul 9, 2014 19:23:46 GMT
I always thought Brits thought American accents sounded crass and rude. Southern American accents are different because they sound friendly and polite.
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Post by austnscrapaddict on Jul 9, 2014 19:25:52 GMT
My ex is British so I might be a bit jaded but.... in my experience, a lot of british only like the british. They tend to be a very pompous society, and think that Americans wanted out( from the monarchy) so be gone with them!! My ex was a very unattractive man, even more so as you got to know him. but women would gush over his accent. yuck! the accent does NOTHING for me now, other than test my abiltiy to see if I can still determine the geography of their accent. I recently had a date with a VERY nice looking british-american man, but told him his accent was a killer for me, so he said he would step up his game in other ways. :-) My ex explained to me once that American accents aren't enviable as they are everywhere,, tv, commercials, etc.So they aren't a novelty.
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Post by gar on Jul 9, 2014 19:27:13 GMT
We definitely don't do gushing but that's what I love about Americans - their openness and enthusiasm - but now I'm probably offending Americans who don't see themselves like that at all!!
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conchita
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Post by conchita on Jul 9, 2014 19:29:36 GMT
I'm currently living abroad and it isn't our accent that the locals complain about. It's that we're (general/stereotyped "we") too loud and American. Lol!
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Post by gar on Jul 9, 2014 19:30:21 GMT
Pompous?!?!?!?! Well I hope you are jaded or generalising
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anniebygaslight
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Post by anniebygaslight on Jul 9, 2014 19:35:48 GMT
.... in my experience, a lot of british only like the british. They tend to be a very pompous society, and think that Americans wanted out( from the monarchy) so be gone with them!! ... Wow. Just. Wow. i've always wanted a reason to say this on the forum. Now I have got one. Good grief.
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Post by compwalla on Jul 9, 2014 19:36:12 GMT
I once got into a long and heated argument with my British boyfriend over the origins of the American southern accent. He refused to believe that certain accents in the US have stayed close to what was spoken in the mother country at the time of the American Revolution. He and his rugby friends did hold the opinion that Americans didn't speak as well or sound as nice as the English but I didn't ever think that was the general opinion of all his countrymen.
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Post by gillyp on Jul 9, 2014 19:36:35 GMT
We definitely don't do gushing but that's what I love about Americans - their openness and enthusiasm - but now I'm probably offending Americans who don't see themselves like that at all!! Me too. That's why I like coming here. There is so much positivity and warmth and patriotism instead of the negativity we Brits can be guilty of.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2014 19:37:17 GMT
Not British, but I agree. Ooey, gooey, over-the-top gushing/babbling is just silly.
And I also think that the guy was full of it, or at least over-generalizing.
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Post by Sam on Jul 9, 2014 19:40:19 GMT
My ex is British so I might be a bit jaded but.... in my experience, a lot of british only like the british. They tend to be a very pompous society, and think that Americans wanted out( from the monarchy) so be gone with them!! My ex was a very unattractive man, even more so as you got to know him. but women would gush over his accent. yuck! the accent does NOTHING for me now, other than test my abiltiy to see if I can still determine the geography of their accent. I recently had a date with a VERY nice looking british-american man, but told him his accent was a killer for me, so he said he would step up his game in other ways. :-) My ex explained to me once that American accents aren't enviable as they are everywhere,, tv, commercials, etc.So they aren't a novelty. Luckily, most of Brits are less bitter about losing our colonial territories in America than this American is about losing her Brit!
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