to hate how British people are portrayed in American TV programmes?

[500DaysofAutumn]

I've just finished watching an episode of Desperate Housewives, and it the one where Ian who is English has his English parents come and visit him and Susan.

They have a barbeque and Ian's father says -

"So one puts one meat on top of the burning coal? How wonderfully primal"

.... erm ... we may not have hot weather all year round but I'm sure most of us in the UK know what a barbeque is.

Also Ian won a poker games with a hand of "sevens and knaves" to which Carlos replies "we call them JACKS!"

• I've never known Jacks as Knaves.

Don't even get me started on Emily from Friends.

(I know it's just fiction but still )

and emiliys ex and the rugby team made me switch off cos all rugby players play ball in the street dont they

" They couldn't hear any difference at all between Cockney and Scouse."

Love it.

Before I lived in the UK, I didn't realise Coronation Street and Eastenders were different accents. I thought there was 'posh'/the Queen and 'working class' and that was it.

You can't expect outsiders to pick up on the differences. They're too small for outsider's ears - the same way Brits couldn't tell a mid-West from a Bostonian. And if you think I'm bad... I worked for an American company for years, and they couldn't tell the difference between my Scottish colleague's accent and mine. I'm a Kiwi.

I have truly loved was Charlie Pace in LOST.

I hearted charlie he was fab

I do like it when they subtitle brits on US telly.

My dh says knave instead of jack.

But he is Australian so he is excused.

"Most British people can't tell apart Australian and Kiwi accents".

Really? They sound completely different.

I suppose with sitcoms everything's an exaggeration and there's no point having an English character if you're not going to do something pseudo-funny with it. Emily in Friends might have been a stuck up, rude, posh little prig (ha de flipping haaaaar) but none of the American characters were realistic either were they? Unless being able to afford endless lattes without actually seeming to pay for them, never actually turning up at work and having no discernible familial relationships/boundaries/social awareness is normal for the average 20/30 something American.

@500days what about Desmond and Penny? Gotta love Des.

Hey, at least they know England/Scotland/Ireland exist!!

And the physicist... What was his name again...?

Whatchu yes, same! She literally thought that Britain was full of white people who live in cottages. She couldn't believe that London was a bit grimy and that everyone lived in a flat.

wasn't pennyaustralian or am I thinking that because jim robinson was her dad ? sigh desmond

ok lost had a good international cast.

I'd be quite pissed if I was iraqi watching lost though...
Or umm nigerian? Eko?

Oh dear @ brown skinned playing parts that are not even the same country they are born, omid thingy ( the comedian) has played an iraqi he is iranian

I beg to differ - Stewie from Family Guy is a legend

Emily from Friends was awful, but then Helen Baxendale's character wasnt too much different in Cold Feet. Remember Emily's parents in Friends, twas Jennifer Saunders and John Cleese, they were portrayed as bumbling toffs IIRC. Quite funny though.

YY to the Rugby playing in the street, surely they could have found a little enclosure in Central Park or a country club somewhere in the Hamptons

brown skinned actors*

Penny was supposed to be English, or at least......she must have grown up in England. Her accent wasn't good though (since she is American). Confusingly Daniel had an American accent yet definitely did grow up in England, although i suppose he was born on the island, and his mother Ellie was English, and his dad (Jim Robinson) was Australian. Charlotte had a bad accent too and she was supposedly English. Naomi was great, another proper English person playing an English person.

I'm American and I can't really tell accents apart. I can spot posh accents, but not regional ones. I notice people sound different, but I couldn't tell you where they are from, most of the time.

I can't tell Australian from Kiwi, unless maybe they were talking side-by-side.

But, then, I can't tell Canadian accents most of the time. Plenty of Canadians will be in the US for years before friends and colleagues realize they're Canadian.

HecateWhoopass

Yes, I saw that one. The 'English' accents were so Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins that they were cringe making. I also noticed that those with 'Cockney' accents were so smartly dressed in suits, shirts and ties that the accent/appearance just did not go together. I don't mean that Cockneys never dress smartly but the scenes were sometimes 'casual' and the characters just didn't fit. I smirked or giggled a lot of the time.

Angela Lansbury was good as the music hall sister with her accent though (but then she is British really).

when US people say they 'love the English accent'. Erm. Which one?

I have trouble with Australian/Kiwi -- I know they're different, and if I hear the two side-by-side I can easily tell you which is which, but I'm not confident that I always get it right from a brief snatch of conversation from one person. I'm reasonably good on Canadian (given a long enough conversation), but my grandfather was Canadian so I've had more exposure than most.

The worst collection of accents was on Buffy -- Angel's "Irish" accent in the flashback scenes and (early) Spike and Drusilla (James Marsters, to give him credit, clearly worked on it and by series 4 or so actually had a very good accent. So they introduced an "English" potential Slayer in season 7 just to torture us further). I decided for myself that labouring under the delusion that she was English was just part of Drusilla's madness.

Kiwi accents are easy. They say sux tints instead of six tents.

There!

Kiwi and Australian accents are very different, Kiwi has a much stronger vowel sound. I watch way too many of the boder patrol type programmes though so can easily spot them!

I think most Brits could hear the difference between Amercian accents from the north and south (and definitely New York!) but maybe not all the different regions in those areas. I would expect Americans to be able to hear the difference in accents from North / South England in the same way - they are very different. Fair enough if you don't speak English as you have to deal with translation on top but as English speakers you should be able to hear it.

I think you mean English rather than British. Scottish and Irish get stereotyped differently.

I absolutley hate watching any American tv show or filn that had a token Brit in it, they all have the same BBC British accent, its annoying!

When i was in New York last year i was repetedly asked if i was Scottish or Irish, i replied that i was English they would either say "London?" or "Manchester?"

I was impressed when one guy asked if i was from Newcastle (im not, but not far off) simply because i didnt know that they knew Newcastle existed.

One cop simply asked "are you from the UK"

Ariel that's spot on!