American accents?

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-06-23 10:57am

Kelly Antilles wrote:"American" accent? There is such a beast? I speak with a nice little southern twang thankyouverymuch.

Although, Lucy Lawless is one of the best voice actresses. Xena sounds nothing like her real accent, a VERY heavy NZ twang.

A lot of the NZ actors that worked on Xena and Hercules were very good with the accents. Michael Hurst and Kevin Smith come to mind.

Kelly Antilles · Post by **Kelly Antilles** » 2003-06-23 10:59am

Kevin is Oklahomian, iirc. But yeah, Michael was great too.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-06-23 11:03am

Kelly Antilles wrote:Kevin is Oklahomian, iirc. But yeah, Michael was great too.

Really? When I saw video of him at a con he didn't have an Okie accent. Maybe he'd just lived over in NZ for awhile.

Kelly Antilles · Post by **Kelly Antilles** » 2003-06-23 11:06am

Oops, my bad. Went way too far south. Right section of the country. He's Minnesotan. Minneapolis, actually.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-06-23 11:10am

Kelly Antilles wrote:Oops, my bad. Went way too far south. Right section of the country. He's Minnesotan. Minneapolis, actually.

Are you thinking of Kevin Sorbo (Hercules)? He's originally from Minnesota.

Kevin Smith was the actor who played Ares and Iphikles. I think he was from either New Zealand or Australia.

Kelly Antilles · Post by **Kelly Antilles** » 2003-06-23 11:11am

I'm not awake this morning actually... And yeah, I believe Kevin SMITH was from NZ. So sad that he died.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-06-23 11:13am

Kelly Antilles wrote:I'm not awake this morning actually... And yeah, I believe Kevin SMITH was from NZ. So sad that he died.

Yes it was. Especially with his family and it looking like his acting career was getting ready to take off.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-06-23 11:22am

Simon H.Johansen wrote:What about THIS dialect??

"The graoun' was a-talkin' lass night, an' towards mornin' Cha'ncey he heerd the whippoorwills so laoud in Col' Spring Glen he couldn't sleep nun!"

Pure Appalachian HillBilly.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-06-23 11:25am

Stuart Mackey wrote: Interesting, a Aussie saying 'six' sounds like that person is saying 'sex' over here

Och, Scots is it lassie? dinna be asking us what we wear under our kilts.. aye, well ye can, but I shall take your hand and show ye....

(Cue chorus of alternate verse for Ballad of the Scotsman)

~Weel, put yer han' up there 'gain an' ye'll see it grew som'more!~

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-06-23 11:25am

Gil Hamilton wrote:
Howedar wrote:As far as I can tell, the Pacific Northwest generally speaks in this dialect.
I seem to remember it being from the Midwest, actually. Wisconson (sic?) is coming to mind.

Wisconsin is not pure Midwestern, they have their own distinct subdialect. Minnesota is closer, but not quite. You might have to go to Iowa to get a wholly 'neutral' accent.

Mine is a Minnesota-Midwestern accent modified by living in Florida (Gulf Coast) for awhile.

Sporkzen · Post by **Sporkzen** » 2003-06-23 01:05pm

Being born and raised in alabama it still confuses me that i am deviod of any noticable accent... maybe because i hate sounding like a redneck

But if you ever hear a southern accent and its very nasal sounding that is an alabama accent i reckun...

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-06-23 01:40pm

Southern New Jersey. Take the Philadelphia accent (very distinct from the New York accent, by the way), let a little bit of Pine Barrens hick seep in, add traffic circles, $.25 peepshows, and stoplights hung on their sides, and there you go.

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2003-06-23 03:09pm

Stravo wrote:
Gandalf wrote:1. It's Eric Bana

2. He's from Australia, that's an Australian accent, I sound like that.
New Zealand, Australia....same shit right?

**runs like a bat out of hell...well more like an elepahnt on a rampage but I digress**

Believe it or not, there are differences. I had the fortune, back in my college days, of knowing a girl from New Zealand, and a girl from Australia. And I could hear a distinct difference when they spoke.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2003-06-23 03:28pm

Gil Hamilton wrote:
Howedar wrote:As far as I can tell, the Pacific Northwest generally speaks in this dialect.
I seem to remember it being from the Midwest, actually. Wisconson (sic?) is coming to mind.

Quite possible, but whenever I'm in that area it feels like home accent-wise.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-06-23 03:40pm

I have been told that I have a Boston, New York, English, and Philadelphia accent, several times each, by many, many different people.

Perinquus · Post by **Perinquus** » 2003-06-23 04:16pm

There are distinctinve regional accents within the U.S., but they are far less differentiated than in many other countries. I have what many call the "general American" accent; I sound pretty much like most Americans you see on TV or the movies, and it is very hard for people to tell where I am from because so many Americans all over the country sound exactly the same as I do.

Contrast this the British Isles. In most cases, if you are familiar with the accents over there, you can easily pin a guy down to his home city or county by how he talks. I lived in Ireland for four years. During that time, I got to where I could tell a Dubliner from a Galwegian from a Kerryman from a Cork dweller from a Belfast dweller, etc. etc. after just hearing them say a few words. The accents are very distinctive. The same is true of Scotland and England. Once you have familiarized yourself with English accents, for example, you'll easily tell Yorkshiremen, East Midlanders, Londoners, Manchester people etc. apart.

In Germany, it is even easier to tell which region people hail from. There they don't just have regional accents, they have regional dialects, that are mostly mutually intelligible to each other I think, but it is often not easy for people from different areas to understand each other. The German you learn in schools or hear on German TV and cinema is Hochdeutsch, and has risen to become a kind of official standard. Plattdeutsch, Bayerisch, Schwyzertutsch are all quite different, so that it is almost necessary for a northern German to use Hochdeutsch to communicate with a Bavarian, for example, because they often cannot easily understand each other's dialects.

Long ago, English used to have more distinct dialects, but the East Midland version eventually predominated, and began influencing the rest until they became more and more like it over time.

Despite the distinctiveness of a Boston accent or a Michigan accent or a Southern accent, America has never developed quite this same level of distinctiveness with its accents. I think this is because Americans tend to be more mobile as a people. Two thirds of the people I know here in Norfolk were born somewhere else. It's not at all uncommon for Americans to migrate around a lot. Europeans are more migratory than they used to be, but still slightly less so than Americans, so I think our accents have tended to blend together far more.

pellaeons_scion · Post by **pellaeons_scion** » 2003-06-23 10:29pm

I once heard when I lived in Christchurch an interesting description of your average female aussie's accent. They equated it to a chainsaw going through metal, harsh and grating. Didnt notice it very much in SA, but in the eastern states I had to agree (No offence Vympel)

Lord Poe · Post by **Lord Poe** » 2003-06-23 11:23pm

pellaeons_scion wrote:Crocodil dundee should have been taken out the back and shot. No way is that a good view of australians as a people

You're right. Aussies were properly portrayed as homicidal bi-sexual biker maniacs who attack motorists in "Mad Max". Goddamn American movies....

pellaeons_scion · Post by **pellaeons_scion** » 2003-06-23 11:33pm

*tries to recall the instance of the Bi-bikers in mad-max*

Fails.
Thats about as accurate as saying Point Break was an excellent indication of US citizens..

Lord Poe · Post by **Lord Poe** » 2003-06-23 11:41pm

pellaeons_scion wrote:*tries to recall the instance of the Bi-bikers in mad-max*

Fails.

I think you'd better pop the DVD in the player and watch again..

pellaeons_scion · Post by **pellaeons_scion** » 2003-06-23 11:45pm

Hm ok.
Hey give me a break, its been about 13 years since I have seen that movie...dont even know if its in the video store on dvd...but Ill give it a shot

Lord Poe · Post by **Lord Poe** » 2003-06-23 11:58pm

pellaeons_scion wrote:Hm ok.
Hey give me a break, its been about 13 years since I have seen that movie...dont even know if its in the video store on dvd...but Ill give it a shot

(Mini-thread hijack) They have a special edition on DVD now!

pellaeons_scion · Post by **pellaeons_scion** » 2003-06-24 12:00am

Must find...must watch..
</mini_thread_hijack>

Stuart Mackey · Post by **Stuart Mackey** » 2003-06-24 03:26am

Vympel wrote:
Stuart Mackey wrote:
Stop deluding yourself, you look pathetic.
Says the Kiwi from the confines of his straight jacket.

So now your seeing things as well as hearing voices? you need to lay of the meds.

Stuart Mackey · Post by **Stuart Mackey** » 2003-06-24 03:36am

Kelly Antilles wrote:Kevin is Oklahomian, iirc. But yeah, Michael was great too.

?? I dont think so, he was a New Zealander, born in Auckland, lived in Timaru, worked in Christchurch at the Court Theatre.