To wonder if Americans hear spoken English differently?

[LordLancington]

Obv, not meaning that they have different eardrums or something, but more whether they don't have the same contextual associations that we do.

Started wondering this after going down the YouTube rabbithole earlier, as I sometimes do when aimlessly browsing. I watched a couple of UK drill videos out of interest - not at all my cup of tea, but I was interested to see what all the controversy was about.

I was surprised by how many Americans were saying things "can't take this seriously. Talking about stabbing people, but using the Queen's English." Thing is, it was about as far from the Queen's English as I could imagine. Proper London accents with loads of urban slang, and for want of a better term I'd have said pretty 'chavvy'.

I've read before that in studies English people tend to associate the Birmingham accent, for example, with being not particularly bright, and the Scottish accent with being 'authoritative'. However, American people found the Brummy accent as 'melodic' or 'friendly' - something like that.

@Harmarsuperstar Bly Manor? I really enjoyed it because it was a good old fashioned atmospheric ghost story without the gore or the jump scares, which I don’t like. But it did absolutely seem like they made the narrator more northern during the last two or three episodes, almost like they just realised “shit, we have to let on that she’s Jamie but older and she sounds wrong!” It was such a tangible change.

I also frequently get asked if I’m Australian. It’s good to know it’s not just me! I’m in the deep dark southest of south though so a LOT of people claim they can’t understand me. My British vowels have definitely elongated recently though and I’m actively trying to fight it!

Americans don't superimpose the layer of class consciousness on British accents the way British people do.

All they hear in a Brummie accent is 'friendly'. Not 'Brum' and all of the connotations of Brum in the UK.

Also, Americans see the Brits as somewhat prissy, fond of tea and china cups, etc., which in the American mind equates to 'posh'. Posh isn't a compliment in the US.

I don't think I had ever heard half the accents on the East Coast before moving here, and TV doesn't even compare to authentic white working class accents around NYC. (The Sopranos comes closest.)

When DD2 went to the east coast for university (from a big midwest city) she brought with her the local, much-pilloried accent. I don't know how she picked it up. All of my other DCs managed to steer clear of it. Anyway, many of her fellow students who hailed from points east of Pittsburgh asked her what country she was from. She stayed in the city after graduating and has lost the accent for the most part (thank goodness, because it's a doozy) though it still sneaks out in the odd word.

There are lots of regional and even very particular local accents in the US. You don't hear them on TV or in the movies apart from the odd production where the accent plays its own role - Fargo, Clueless, Wayne's World.

I took an online vocab/dialect test that promised to determine where in the US my American English came from. The result was Alabama, which was only a few thousands miles off. If you browse around you can find several accent/dialect/vocab tests which promise to identify your location or origins.

I've been here a long time and can often tell the difference between Georgia and North Carolina

I wouldn't say posh is a compliment here either @mathanxiety.

Also, Americans see the Brits as somewhat prissy.

This I don’t understand.

Current world boxing champ is British, and our soldiers are renowned for being many times tougher than our US equivalents - I believe we often assist in training American soldiers. The SAS are basically the most nails bastards in the entire world.

The UK and US army face off every year at Westpoint, and the Americans have only won the competition twice in the past 25 years!

And Americans are renowned in the UK for not being able to hold their drink...

Kiwis are usually shocked if people pick them correctly instead of as Aussies too.

There's a Kiwi DJ on my local classical music station and the accent is very distinctive. Certainly different from Aussie.

I don't know how he ended up here.

I think that (as mentioned earlier) Americans aren’t very aware of class as a British institution, so they don’t have much exposure to the British working class.

In Europe, we unfortunately have a reputation for binge drinking and starting fights, especially when football (soccer) is involved. Sadly this stereotype is often true.

Current world boxing champ is British, and our soldiers are renowned for being many times tougher than our US equivalents - I believe we often assist in training American soldiers. The SAS are basically the most nails bastards in the entire world.

The UK and US army face off every year at Westpoint, and the Americans have only won the competition twice in the past 25 years!

Americans are blissfully unaware of all of this. The rest of the world is lucky if it's a blip on the radar.

They love Conor McGregor though.
The Irish have the reputation of being fighters in the US, not the British. The sports teams of the University of Notre Dame (a leading RC research university which was identified with the up and coming Irish from its beginnings) are known as the Fightin' Irish.

I think Americans imagine the first photo rather than the second...

I think many Americans are shocking stupid. 70 millions of them to be exact.

The Wire is brilliant, but better watched with subtitles

I had it down when I first watched it in about 2009/10.

I have to lean in for the first 20 minutes now.

I've taught in inner-city London schools for 27+ years and 16 in Au, though the former is where I got my ear. And yes, it is ear, not learning accents, rather relaxed attention.

Should have said, no subtitles needed.

@knitnerd90 is making a very good point about American telly showing only a fraction of the existing American accents. It’s a shame, I’d love to hear Virginians, or Appalachians, or Bostonians etc.

I’m Canadian and within our English language accents I can distinguish east coasters, rural Indigenous, Albertans and the rest of us. Having said that, the rest of us break down further depending on age (my younger child sounds much more American than the rest the family) and urban versus rural. I work with a woman who grew up on a farm (about 2000 k from me) & I sound much more precise, and less emotional than her accent.

When I lived in England, because most English people have had little exposure to us, people generally thought I was (in descending order); Irish, American, Australian, German (!), and South African.

With English accents I can distinguish RP, older people North London & south London, Somerset, Bristol, West Country in general, Essex area, Liverpool, Manchester (thanks Corrie), Geordie, and that’s about it. Obviously class is apparent to me via UK accent (except Scots, not conversant there, though I’d guess a thicker Glaswegian accent would be working class), but I doubt it is to most Canadians or Americans.

As an American, Henry Cavill's accent and Idris Elba's accent sound different to me. I'm not sure if they are, though. 😳 I noticed today that the narrator of Peppa Pig calls her "Pepper," just like how Paul McCartney inexplicably called his wife "Lindurr."

I only liked Conor McGregor when he was fighting Floyd Mayweather. I hate Floyd Mayweather. I'm a big fan of Anthony Joshua, though.

I've noticed some of y'all refer to McDonald's as "MacDonald's." Is it actually called MacDonald's over there, like how you call TJ Maxx "TK Maxx?"

Ok- so I’m not far from where the first video was filmed- Tbf I didn’t think they have strong accents and enunciated pretty clearly compared to the mumble rap stuff. I can see how Americans could think it was well spoken as it’s reasonably clear speech, just to a fast beat. They aren’t drawling sounds or cutting many off, easy to understand.
But maybe I’ve just worked in schools too long...

@EmilianoBomba

I think many Americans are shocking stupid. 70 millions of them to be exact.

At least America has voted to replace their blond idiot in charge.

Some Brits insist I sound Canadian. I grew up 1000 miles from Canada. I don't hear a difference between people with my accent & Canadian English.

@steff13 McDonald, MacDonald and Macdonald are all pronounced the same here because Mc is just an abreviation for Mac (Gaelic for "son of").
I love accents, have lost a lot of time on YouTube watching recordings of obscure North American and British accents.

My American pal at uni (Leeds) was upset that all the locals called him Loaf which he assumed meant ‘stupid’.
We had to explain they were calling him love 😁

I watched the first video you posted op and can see that as the word "cops" is used a lot it probably does sound quite posh/English to American ears used to hearing it pronounced "cups/carps"

Remember when they brought Daphne’s brothers into Frasier? And at least one had a cockney accent, compared to her Manchester? I was never sure if it was one very knowing joke or if people in the US could genuinely not hear the difference in accents.

I loved The Wire and followed it all with no subtitles. I can hear the difference in some American accents, eg Deep South or New York, but other than that it melds into one. I struggle hearing the difference between US and Canadian for instance.

@PuppyMonkey do you mean the difference between middle of the road American and Canadian? Fair enough, I do too, though certain words are markers (not about, I don’t hear that supposedly Canadian sound, more their sorry sounds like sawree to me, the letter zed, that they drop their t’s in words like international).

I don’t hear the accent in words like Linda, I just heard Paul saying Linda. Where I grew up there are so many UK accents perhaps I had to learn to hear around them. Our neighbour who watched me after school was from Northern Ireland and my best friend’s mum was very posh Home Counties..