There's no such thing as a 'British' accent

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

Today's horrible news about the apparent death of a US journalist is not being improved for me by the chronic news reports pointing out that one of the people responsible had a 'British' accent. It's bad enough when American networks use the meaningless expression. The man has an 'English' accent, surely?

Yes agree Boca, Pausing and Bohemian.

YABU. I think somebody can have a British accent. My parents are English but I was born and raised in Wales and then move to South England when I went to university, where I have stayed. I picked up my parent's accent initially and then at school picked up more of a Welsh way of pronouncing things but then when I went to uni I lost some of the Welshness.

Now my accent is sort of standard English but with a Welsh twang to some words. It is neither an obviously English or Welsh accent though and people do struggle to work out exactly where in the UK I'm from as they usually don't recognise the 'twang' as being Welsh until I tell them. My accent is definitely mixed and I would consider myself to have a British accent rather than an English/Welsh.

Undoubtedly there are other people who don't have a standard English, Welsh, Scottish or Irish accent because they have lived in different parts of the UK (or even the world) but whose accents are still undoubtedly British. Equally if somebody has been brought up bilingual or spent part of their life in another country their accent may not sound obviously English/Welsh etc but may still have a British accent.

I also agree that to a lot of people outside of the UK the differences between different UK accents don't always sound as pronounced as they do to us. It's why you occasionally get American TV shows where they will cast British actors with wildly different accents as siblings or friends who grew up together (eg: in Fraser mancunian Daphne's brother is a cockney).

The actor who played Daphne's brother in Frasier is actually Australian chester. I only know because my mum is completely obsessed with him and his show Without A Trace (boring and off topic I realize)

You're right OP and Sky News have started to describe it as an English accent. It is. It sounds to me like SE with a touch of the Marlon Brando Godfather-cheeks-stuffed-with-cotton-wool. I'm sure the security services are all over it.

It's fine if international news services want to describe it as a British accent But in Britain we know the differences and domestic news outlets should say that.

I don't see the issue at all. An English accent is a British accent. Plenty of people would also refer to an 'American accent' which, by your logic, should be even more absurd given the size and diversity of the country.

And sorry, I'm with others who're bemused how you could possibly give a toss in the situation.

OP, I don't think it matters when you say
Today's horrible news about the apparent death of a US journalist is not being improved for me by the chronic news reports pointing out that one of the people responsible had a 'British' accent.

I doubt anything can improve today's horrible news for his family and who really gives a whether his accent was British, English or Klingon.

YABU (though normally I'd agree with you, just not in this context of the sad death of somebody)

You can describe an accent as "British", just as you can describe a person as British, but it tells you not all that much about what he sounds like, except "not[other country accent]".

It's a set which contains many other subsets, eg "English", "Welsh", etc, which all have their own subsets, eg, "London", "West Country", "Cardiff", etc etc, all of which also contain their own subsets, on and on, like Russian dolls.

I have to agree that the semantics of this are barely relevant under the appalling circumstances. :(

But in general YABU - it is better to describe an accent from the British Isles as British, than get it completely wrong and call e.g. a Scottish accent "English" (as Robin Williams, God rest his soul, does in Mrs Doubtfire for example.)

Oh yes I'm sure you're right OP. Despite this being an unthinkable, dreadful, no-words-for-it act, the deceased man's family must be up in arms about the incorrect description of the accent.

A man has his head lopped off the news is using the official initial report as brittsh accent and you are offended jeez

John Humphrys on the Today programme referred to it as an English accent. I've listened to the recording and actually think there is a hint of somewhere else about the accent - perhaps due to the time this person has spent abroad, or maybe he was brought up or educated in the UK rather than born in the UK.

Doesn't change the fact that this was another horrific murder for sick publicity.

And english northern irish scots welsh are brittish accents

LRD The issue for me is with accuracy. If it's an international outlet then describing the accent as British is fine. I've confused US and Canadian accents and been berated for it - by Canadians, never US citizens. I didn't argue, but I couldn't hear the difference and didn't want to cause further offence.

Same thing with Australians and New Zealanders - though I could tell the difference there but didn't butt in while I listened to a blameless person being slated by a really quite unreasonable Kiwi.

But if you are a British news outlet, pinpointing the accent when you know what it is, is surely better in the pursuit of accuracy.

It's not a blame-game; it's just accuracy. Just like getting addresses is right. That matters to me and I really think accuracy should matter to everyone.

But it is accurate. It may not be precise, but it is accurate. And I do think there's a certain irony in blurring the distinction between those two things.

Honestly, I'm British, but I have a tin ear and I wouldn't necessarily tell the difference between Irish and Scottish. I try not to offend people by being over specific.

I cannot see why it should matter?

(Irish and Scottish just as examples, obviously.)

Seriously? A man is beheaded on camera and you're fretting about oesky US nomenclature

God knows I'm a massive fan of the trivial myself, but there's fucking LIMIT, surely.

PESKY

Pesky typing

John Humphrys on the Today programme referred to it as an English accent

Did he? He was right. I don't imagine he was blaming anyone. He was just being accurate on a programme that goes out to a primarily British audience. That's the audience he serves.

He's Welsh but lots of people think he's English.

What a strange thread.

If the guy had been American, would you have accepted the use of "American accent"? Or would you have said "hang on, that's not right, that was clearly a Texas/Boston/California accent"?

All right LRD there might be a distinction between accurate and precise.

As it happens, I described someone from the west of Scotland as being Irish. Embarrassing, particularly since part of my family is Irish. I couldn't hear the difference.

Like you, I also have a tin ear for accents. Mine is for the Notts, Lincs, Yorks and Lancs.

Many people would be appalled by that, but I just can't hear it.

A mistake is fine

But when you have been told, you should report properly.

I think that's what OP was getting at.

And I do find the posts rending their garments are OTT and unfair to her.

Very much agree with Fraggle.

Well the term covers every accent from anywhere in Britain doesn't it? An accent from New Orleans will sound totally different to an accent from Maine, but they're both appropriately titled "American" accents. Not sure what your complaint is?

Can Americans not tell the difference? SErious question.

I think it depends on the American and how much exposure they've had to non-American accents. But given that most of them seem to think I'm English (I learnt English in the UK, but I still most definitely have a foreign accent), I'll venture a guess that as a rule, their ears are not exactly attuned to such subtleties.