If Americans want to say Twat they should say it properly.

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

There is a very irritating trend in US TV where an actor will use "twat" as an insult, but pronounce it "twot" ... it is painful and I need it to stop.

All of the American accents I have heard (on TV) have used the same pronunciation of Twat - otherwise I would not have noticed it so much. I am very well aware of the many accents in the US (thanks to cultural immersion in US TV from an early age I can identity mid western, southern, New York etc. etc.) and it is not ignorance or xenophobia merely irritation that prompted my post about the use of one word. I bet the general US population are not as well versed in the range of English accents.

I don't hate the US or the TV that comes from there - I only wish we made as much enjoyable TV as comes from the US.

I love the fact that people are assuming that there is one American accent

The difference between Maine and Georgia or New Jersey and California or even Manhattan and the Bronx let alone some of the flat accents from the plains

Scouse, Geordie, Essex, RP, Welsh, Brummie, Norfolk

how words are pronounced varies massively within a country.

Parisian and Provencal French are pretty darned different even to my Anglophone ear

Of course Only! The beloved MN word that is 'froth'!

That definitely rhymes with moth.

Southern? Georgia?

Linguists have identified seven different regional accents in Georgia alone, y'all.

Co lyn instead of Col in and Berry instead of Barry irritates me -sorry :(

I still can't see how cloth and moth could be pronounced any way not to rhyme!!

Or laugh and scarf!!

I didn't know about twot.

I watch the different NCIS programmes and really enjoy the new Orleans one. Its not an accent we often here on the American rv that comes this way.

There are some universal pronunciations in the US and I think "twat" is probably one of them, although it's not really a word used in some parts of the US with regularity, being a bit rude and all. Certainly here in the South, one does not often hear any sort of reference to women's genitals.

YABU- Twat rhymes with kumquat (also an equally funny word)

I'm a bit divided on this thread- My poor son gets it in the neck over his accent here. He has your basic, run of the mill American accent and after 5 years here it doesn't look like it's leaving any time soon. So threads like this do get to me at times. I wouldn't dream of telling a Brit in the US they said something "incorrectly" or mock them for it. Once I was asking for a water and the waiter looked at me and said " A wAterrrr?? Come on love, don't you think it's time you started speaking correctly?" I about went ballistic and asked him if he speaks to all his customers like that or just us "foreigners"???

However, the way they pronounce things over here does sometimes jar me a bit. For all the same reasons that have been pointed out already. Not that it's incorrect, but that it's different and catches me out sometimes. So YANBU for finding things annoying as it's human...

Very few of those people on NCIS NO actually speak with a New Orleans accent.

Laugh and scarf don't even come close to rhyming in my accent.

I feel stupid now, as I'm thinking back and I'm sure I've never heard mention of a Craig in any US TV or films. I though it was just a name that never really made it over there. Unlike Greg, which is very common...

I've spent 30 years assuming all Craigs are Gregs haven't I?

I have a mate from South Carolina and love her accent. I've never heard her say twat though. I reckon that could be the one linguistic difference we'd not enjoy but fall out over. Hearing 'twot' does make me seethe, sorry. Not because of it's US connections, simply because it's such a cringy, childish sounding word.

Y'all need to adopt cunt more often if you're going to insist on pronouncing twat in a way I don't happen to like. You can't go wrong with a good cunt.

I like Wazzock
Blank faces all round in NYC when I use it

SmashleyHop I don't blame you one bit. So rude.

An American waiter on the other hand would just compliment a foreigner on their charming accent!

I remember, in a really old episode of ER, Alex Kingston's character called someone a twot but said it was an acronym - Total Waste Of Time. I always assumed that's why it wasn't as offensive as twat.

As a little aside...

I recently had a very heated argument with one of my brothers by text wherein I called him a pompous twat. He replied saying I was a 'half-educated sheep', as the word was twit, not twat.

Oh the deep, deep joy as I gleefully told him to brush up on his vocabulary as twit wasn't anywhere near as strong an insult as twat...

{childish )

And gobbledygook, Talkin. That gets a blank look here too!

I now say, waaaderr for water in a restaurant as otherwise they have no idea what I'm saying. And straw-berry and rasp-berry instead of Strawbrie and raspbrie.

Many years ago a UK comedian was in New York and had 80LL0CK5 as his numberplate.
I fell off the kerb laughing.
Nobody else got the joke.

My family tease me that my inflection changes about half way across the pond as I get into "talking to Colonials" mode

Craig and Greg don't always rhyme in US accents. Some Americans pronounce the names quite differently.

Except for the last name of the great character C.J. on The West Wing. Her last name was Cregg, not Craig.

I always wondered in buffy the vampire slayer why the character Tara was always called Terra?Is this another American pronunciation difference?

I was repeatedly questioned by an American waiter when I wanted water once... I ended up miming and he said "Oh you mean WADER". He wasn't being rude he just didn't seem to get it. We'd driven across america so it might have been in an area with less UK visitors I can't remember!

I also hadn't realised that tea wasn't common in all parts of America. I started asking for "hot tea" and once in a services type place a teen girl went to microwave an iced tea.

I love finding out all the differences and I'd love to travel across America with my family.

Ha - had no idea the NO accents were bad on NCIS. I've not been that way at all so whatever it is on the programme sounds "different" to me. Presumably to Americans too if its fake!

Native English-speaking Irish person here. And I pronounce "twat" as "twot". Same as I pronounce "swap" as "swop". Simple.

Cloth/moth/froth - all rhyme.

And laugh/scarf - utterly different.

So there!

I still cant work out how laugh and scarf even could be pronounced differently....

Where are you from twinjocks?

futureme people with rhotic accents clearly pronounce the 'r' in scarf. I'm assuming you have a non rhotic accent, so don't pronounce the 'r', and that's why laugh and scarf rhyme in your accent.

'And I pronounce "twat" as "twot". Same as I pronounce "swap" as "swop".'

But 'swap' and 'swop' sound identical anyway.

Ah thanks for explaining it! I can usually work them out and really enjoy pronounciation threads but couldn't see that one!