British Accent

[ChasUno 101]

Asking for wadder in resturants instead of warter is the main one lol

Car names are always funny, Jagwar, Neeesan, and Marzda are my faves

But as mentioned before the 'are you Australian' is getting a little boring now, I just say 'are you Canadian' back lol

Keep the comments coming this thread is funny

I always had problems asking for "Tomato" juice, i.e. saying "Toe-mah-toe" would just get confused looks. It still feels weird saying "toe-may-toe", but at least I get what I wanted! I also think it still sounds funny when Americans say "Aluminium" as "Al-loo-me-num"!

Funny sounding car names also include Americans saying "Hyundai" as "Hun-die"!

Having a home counties accent generally means I never get mistaken as anything other than English when I speak with Americans. I very often get the "I LOVE your accent!" Interestingly, in the UK I have been questioned if my accent was Australian, South African and Canadian but never over here in the USA. Weird!

[crazyworld 54]

OK, I am neither British nor married to a Brit, but I love languages (and first learned British English before I moved to the US, so am well versed in both versions), but I have to ask: what or who is "granny kip"?

granny kip is a short nap

[Jonathan and Tina 4]

Having a home counties accent generally means I never get mistaken as anything other than English when I speak with Americans. I very often get the "I LOVE your accent!" Interestingly, in the UK I have been questioned if my accent was Australian, South African and Canadian but never over here in the USA. Weird!

Same here, in the UK I've been asked if I'm Australian, Canadian, and Australian again. As far as I'm concerned I just have a 'normal' British accent. Maybe Tina's accent is rubbing off on me and creating a hybrid.

[JennyandVaughn 3]

My fiancé is from South Africa but has lived in the UK for almost 20 years. As a result, his accent is somewhat of a hybrid and most Americans would assume he's British, but Brits can spot the difference right away. People are always tickled by the different words he uses for things or how he pronounces certain words. My friend's six-year-old daughter couldn't get over the fact that he calls pants trousers. We're still going through the visa process, but I'm sure people will be fawning all over him once he gets here. =)

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

To be honest folks, I can't always identify an accent as British/Australian/SouthAfrican. There are lots of variations of accents. Does Simon Cowell sound like Russell Brand? Not really. We Americans don't naturally have the ear for all accents. And when I watch British TV shows, I have to turn on the subtitles. We recently started watching Season 1 of Sherlock and I missed at least 50% of the dialogue. I gave up midway through Episode 1 because my husband is distracted by subtitles. I found something else to do. Meanwhile my husband has no clue what our Mexican accented lawn crew is saying, while I have no problem having grown up hearing such. They don't understand what my husband is saying either.

[SunflowerSweet 1,321]

I always had problems asking for "Tomato" juice, i.e. saying "Toe-mah-toe" would just get confused looks. It still feels weird saying "toe-may-toe", but at least I get what I wanted!

My fiance asked for toe-mah-toe on his burger one time when we were at a restaurant in the states and the waitress gave him such a hard time haha. I may or may not have been teasing him too.

In regards to the restaurant scene (not necessarily accents/language) he is still blown away that you can take unfinished food with you when you leave! It's such a common thing here I never questioned it but when I was visiting and we stopped at a restaurant over there and I told him I was going to ask for a "doggy bag" and he gave me this strange look and I was like "what do you mean I can't take the food I paid for home with me? What else are they going to do with it?". It was interesting haha

[DJ6372 111]

I have to admit as the American I do something similar. I either ask is that near London or where is that in comparison to London. Since Jon is there I am trying to learn more and more about it but London and Norwich are the only two cities where I actually know where they are on the map, so I always ask where people are in comparison to those two cities.

The region or county thing still confuses me a bit ex. Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, East Anglia, etc. I am struggling to find what I can compare those to in US terms which I probably shouldn't do because they probably don't have a US equivalent but that's where my American ignorance comes out I guess lol.

Can any of you explain how the term Loo(sp?) came about for the toilet? I still don't get it and Jon hasn't really been able to explain how it started.

[yuna628 9,671]

My husband has been coming here for many many years now, and obviously having a north-east UK accent can be an unusual one for some people to pick up on. I've never had trouble with it, as it's not as strong as some in that area... but it is a lovely one, that an American won't used to be hearing on typical ''British TV'' fare. North-easterners like Kevin Whately or Sting have 'cleaned' the accent up a bit to the point that an American would think they are ''british'' but not understand the region they are from has accents that can be much thicker and very different than the rest of England.

When people here encounter my husband they will either get what he's saying or they won't. Sometimes they will give blank stares of terror, other times they are obnoxious, and sometimes they will fall into a befuddled panic of stumbling over themselves trying not to be rude. Still other times they'll try and act like they know he has an accent but don't want to act like they know he has an accent but are just itching to ask tons of questions.

In America I don't think he has ever been asked if he's Australian.. but in the UK he has been asked if he is Welsh or Scottish, or even a little bit American. Here, I think the worst times is at the drive-thru... 99% of the time it's a futile effort or some sort of confusion ensues. But everywhere we go, if someone does recognize him as English, it would usually cause a boatload of questions as to what he's doing here, how did we meet, etc... they gush over him. It's cute.

I don't think we'll ever forget the day a salesperson thought he was looking for a ''mary kate and ashley'' videogame instead of Metal Gear Solid... or the numerous times people have been rude or whispered about him. Or the day someone said *loudly* ''oh look it's a limey!" ((....my protectiveness of him was at a max that day)).

A few days before our wedding he went to go find his parents outside of a store, while I waited inside.. after a while I wondered what was taking so long. When he finally returned he told me that someone had told him he was wearing an ''awesome shirt'', so he told the person where he could buy one. The person gave him an absolutely *STUNNED* face and thought he was the best thing ever with a beautiful accent! They chatted away for ages. We both like the positive and friendly experiences he has because of his accent, it usually leads to interesting conversations.

He has also received more than a few giggles from girls at restaurants and onlookers from back corners. They will tell him they love the accent, and become very friendly. He usually doesn't let them ask the follow-up question of where he is from, he'll tell them where automatically. All in all he says he loves the reactions in people, especially if they become flustered. He doesn't really enjoy having to repeat himself all the time I'm sure and I hope he doesn't mind the times I have to step in and 'translate'.

[scotinmass 588]

I am Scottish but everybody thinks I'm Irish. Even the people I work with and know I'm from Scotland ask me stupid questions about Ireland. I have never been to Ireland so their guess is as good as mine!

I used to get the odd comment about my accent when I first came here. When I was applying for membership at my local Costco the woman asked me to repeat my phone number then admitted she just wanted to hear my accent some more. Nobody seems to notice it much anymore. My wife says I'm losing my accent. I know I've watered it down a bit to make myself easier to understand but it's definitely still strong. I'll never pass for an American although people back home tell me I'm picking up and American accent.

[ChasUno 101]

The region or county thing still confuses me a bit ex. Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, East Anglia, etc. I am struggling to find what I can compare those to in US terms which I probably shouldn't do because they probably don't have a US equivalent but that's where my American ignorance comes out I guess lol.

Can any of you explain how the term Loo(sp?) came about for the toilet? I still don't get it and Jon hasn't really been able to explain how it started.

Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Hertfordshire etc. are "counties". Think of them like US states on a smaller scale to fit into the smaller country of England. Only difference is that unlike US states, UK counties cannot set their own criminal laws (those are set nationally), though they can set lesser council "by laws".

As for "Loo", I suspect it is a sort of shortened and colloquial version of "Lavatory". In return, I never understood why Americans sometimes refer to a toilet as "The John". At least when UK people call it "The Crapper", it's because Thomas Crapper manufactured and popularised a flushing toilet!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Crapper

[Kat&Jon 85]

Thanks ChasUno! I definitely understand the difference better now! It seems so simple the way you just explained it. I wonder why I couldn't wrap my head around it before!

As for calling the toilet "the John" I have no idea where it came from, but it does make it slightly funnier when my dad says, "Mention my name you will get a good seat" to Jon when he uses the restroom. I crack up because I usually follow it up with "Don't worry dad its already named after him." Which then causes Jon to shake his head and smilse.

Oh my family is so weird sometimes... I usually tell people who announce they are going to the restroom not to fall in since one of my friends did that once while SOBER! That was a good night.

I honestly can't wait for when Jon's Nephew comes to visit here. Mix the English accent with someone who looks like a California surfer and I am sure many girls will swoon. I plan to keep my phone at the ready for when we all go out because I imagine it would be some good video!!!

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

I think of the English counties just like I do the counties in my state. They have local government functions. On a bigger scale you have the states/countries and on top the United Kingdom umbrella much like the United States over the whole thing.

Hard for me to think of Oxfordshire on the same level as my state when the entire UK is smaller.

[DJ6372 111]

I have to admit as the American I do something similar. I either ask is that near London or where is that in comparison to London. Since Jon is there I am trying to learn more and more about it but London and Norwich are the only two cities where I actually know where they are on the map, so I always ask where people are in comparison to those two cities.

The region or county thing still confuses me a bit ex. Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, East Anglia, etc. I am struggling to find what I can compare those to in US terms which I probably shouldn't do because they probably don't have a US equivalent but that's where my American ignorance comes out I guess lol.

Can any of you explain how the term Loo(sp?) came about for the toilet? I still don't get it and Jon hasn't really been able to explain how it started.

There are several theories about the origin of this informal British term for a toilet. The first, and most popular, is that it derived from the cry of 'gardyloo' (from the French regardez l'eau 'watch out for the water'), which was shouted by medieval servants as they emptied chamber pots out of upstairs windows into the street. This is historically problematic, since by the time the term 'loo' is recorded, the expression 'gardyloo' was long obsolete.​

[ChasUno 101]

I think of the English counties just like I do the counties in my state. They have local government functions. On a bigger scale you have the states/countries and on top the United Kingdom umbrella much like the United States over the whole thing.

Hard for me to think of Oxfordshire on the same level as my state when the entire UK is smaller.

image.jpg

On a physical scale comparison, yes, though not on an operational comparison.

Think of the UK and its counties as the USA and its states in miniature.

Also, English counties on their own have little say (I believe they have no say at all) or power over laws or regulations. Each county is divided up into "borough councils", which have their own budget and DO have a say over by-laws and borough council specific legislation (though not any criminal law - these are all set by the Government/ Houses of Parliament). Thus UK "borough councils" operate similar to US "counties", UK "counties" are physically the equivalent of US "states" (though with no county specific legislation/ governing bodies), and the United Kingdom itself as the equivalent of the USA encompassing all states, except the UK "states" are "counties". If you scaled the UK up to the size of the USA, then these comparisons would become much more similar. All a question of physical scale!

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

On a physical scale comparison, yes, though not on an operational comparison.

Think of the UK and its counties as the USA and its states in miniature.

Also, English counties on their own have little say (I believe they have no say at all) or power over laws or regulations. Each county is divided up into "borough councils", which have their own budget and DO have a say over by-laws and borough council specific legislation (though not any criminal law - these are all set by the Government/ Houses of Parliament). Thus UK "borough councils" operate similar to US "counties", UK "counties" are physically the equivalent of US "states" (though with no county specific legislation/ governing bodies), and the United Kingdom itself as the equivalent of the USA encompassing all states, except the UK "states" are "counties". If you scaled the UK up to the size of the USA, then these comparisons would become much more similar. All a question of physical scale!

We'll have to agree to disagree. Scale or not, I can't compare it to a state when the English counties have no legislature and do not decide the rules of education, marriage, driving, taxation, insurance, occupational licensing, etc for their political subdivision.