This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Trogga: I thought the non-punctuated title fit the bad accent better, but then again, I liked the non-punctuated titles in general better.
Daibhid C: The Red Dwarf story doesn't jibe with Llewellyn's RD memoir The Man In The Rubber Mask, which says that from the first time he met Grant Naylor, everyone agreed that he would not have an "English butler" accent (although David Ross's Kryten, who only appeared in a single episode, did). It also doesn't jibe with my unremastered VHS copy, in which Kryters isn't talking in an "English butler" accent, but in Llewellyn's own Northampton accent. It looks to me like this is an example of the trope, after all.
And if it's not, it shouldn't be here anyway.
Joseph Leito: Removed this bit:
- Truth in Television; For some reason, British people trying to sound American, or even Canadian, will always put on an American Southerner accent.
- Really? Like Gary Oldman? Or Hugh Laurie, hallowed be His name?
- I think it has something to do with the fact that Southern accents evolved from British ones.
- Unlike the rest of America?
- This American Troper thinks that other countries consider a Southern American accent (Texan ones are common) to be a typical American accent... and it's not. Southern stereotypes seem to be a favorite of any non-American actor playing a Fake American. While there are definitely different British dialects, they are probably more subtle compared to the different American dialects simply because American is a lot bigger than Great Britain.
- And other countries consider a Southern English accent (posh London ones are common) to be a typical British accent... and it's not. In fact, 2% of the people in the UK speak like that. Size doesn't actually make much of a difference. What's more important is that English comes from England and was spoken there for centuries before it was spoken in America. So there was more time for different dialects to develop there compared to in other countries.
- This troper suggests that it's at least partially because a Southern accent is far more distinctive, at least to British ears, so it can be easier to get away with an over-the-top Southern drawl than a "normal" American accent, whatever one may consider that to be.
- Supposedly, the general accent that people from the Midwest have is the standard American accent.
Last thing we need is a Brit-American War. Again.
Britninja: To the person who removed the Molly from Buffy line - fair point that it's not an example of an accent slipping exactly, but I promise you there are *no* English people who actually sound like Molly.
@Britninja, regarding Matthew Goode's accent in Watchmen: trust me, it's not a German accent, it's a fake one that is not even particularly good, but it's obviously what he was aiming for, so yes, we can leave it at that.
