[HPFGU-Movie] Re: Accents

[TACtalk at adelanta.co.uk]

Previously I wrote, re the Masons' accents

>> How interesting. They both spoke with a Northern English accent,
>and Mrs M
>> had that 'upwardly mobile' pretentiousness that I mentioned earlier.

Jen replied:-

>That's what Northen English accents sound like? Do you know American
>accents? Did they sound even faintly American at all to you?
>I really am astonished. Either my ears are really letting me down or
>my, we (as in two peoples not sharing a common language...) have more
>in common than I ever guessed.

Yes, I do know American accents, though obviously not all of them; I am
usually in the States 4-5 times a year, in  many different parts of your
country. I see what you mean, but they key difference is in the vowel
sounds. When Mr M says 'I play ocasionally', his consonants are an almost
American enunciation; but the vowels are clearly
northern-English-with-pretentions. Mrs M's the same.

In fact, it's usually vowel sounds which give away one's place of origin.

Audra said:-

(snip)  so many upper-middle class kids
>here in The States try to use slang and talk like they're from the streets
>just to sound cool, and maybe that's what Draco is doing.  He definitely has
>a point about American kids doing that. I don't know about British kids.
>Does that go on over there too?  If so, maybe that explains it.

Not at the level at which Draco is supposed to be. Upper-middle class kids
might use street vocabulary, but it would be extremely unusual for them to
emulate a working-class accent, except as a joke.

I'm afraid it was just Tom F unable to keep up his upper-crust accent. The
surprising thing is that he was allowed to get away with it. There must
have been dialogue coaches on the set?

Regards,
Nicholas