Saw a tape of a British comedy show - think it was "The Fast Show." They do a
segment with a Brit imitating a U.S. accent while emceeing a jazz band. Very
cleverly and well done - and he does it with a cigarette dangling from his
lips. In fact, there are a number of accents mimicked on the show (the Latin
American weather girl is fabulous) - some of the funniest parodies I've seen.
Patricia
"Villani, Adam" wrote:
> > I think most people in the UK can understand American accents
> > okay. We are
> > exposed
> > to a wide variety of Americanese on British TV.
> OK, that's what I figured.
>
> I've read in some places that a U.S. Southern accent, or, more specifically,
> one from the back woods of the Appalachian Mountains, is actually closer to
> an Elizabethan English accent than anything being spoken in England today. I
> don't know how linguists came up with this conclusion, but that's what I
> read somewhere. I'd like to see a hillbilly Shakespeare...
>
> (For the record, I'm from L.A. and have more or less the kind of accent your
> average newscaster in the US would have.) Somehow politicians in the U.S.
> seem to keep their accents stronger than most other Americans in the public
> eye.
>
> Adam
