Clip From "the Office" About U.s. Southern Accents

[steadfast]

I love this clip. What do you guys think about the accents?

 

Edit> Note to Mods/Admins - The site software is changing, in the thread title, some upper case letters to lower case and vice versa. The title I had was Clip from "The Office" about U.S. southern accents (compare the letter case values).

 

Edited April 27, 2013 by steadfast

[Dave]

Personally, I LOVE all those southern accents.

Last year we had a whole group of about 12 brothers and sisters from those southern states, visit Auckland on a group tour. Somehow my daughter found out they were in town and invited them to our mid-week meeting. What an amazing night that turned out to be! I'll never forget it.

They came to the meeting and dominated the show. The whole congregation wondered what on earth was happening but after the meeting there was a real buzz of conversation while all the local brothers and sisters got to speak to them all.

My daughter and I decided to invite them back to our place afterwards, which was on their way back to their hotel (we didn't want it to end). We invited as many local bros and sis's we could think of who didn't have to get up early for work the next day.

What a wonderful evening that was! We stopped at the supermarket on the way home to get some food and wine, etc. Everybody thoroughly enjoyed themselves, including my unbelieving wife who up 'til then was sitting at home on her own.

I was so pleased to hear many of them say that this evening was the highlight off their whole trip.

Jehovah's organization, the brotherhood we have is AWESOME. When I think that that is just a foretaste of what the new system will be like I am all the more determined to make sure I'll be there.

The accents they spoke with was such an endearing aspect of the whole experience.

Edited April 27, 2013 by Dave

[steadfast]

How about bad Australian accents? 

 

 

[campanula]

 Now I have a question to you LUCKY   native speakers:

 

Are those Southern US English and Australian English accents fake or natural?

To my non-English ears they sound like a little bit  too strong. 

[Dave]

No, that's not an Australian accent. You're right, it sounds very fake.

You've got well tuned ears Svetlana.

Brother Jeffrey Jackson has a bit of an Aussie accent but even his is mingled with something else, so it's not pure Aussie.

[Lilac Isosceles]

 Now I have a question to you LUCKY   native speakers:

 

Are those Southern US English and Australian English accents fake or natural?

To my non-English ears they sound like a little bit  too strong. 

 

 

No, that's not an Australian accent. You're right, it sounds very fake.

You've got well tuned ears Svetlana.

Brother Jeffrey Jackson has a bit of an Aussie accent but even his is mingled with something else, so it's not pure Aussie.

 

Being a born and bred Australian I must say that that attempt at an Australian accent is quite pathetic. For starters we wouldn't say "Hello Mate!" it would be "G'day Mate! How are ya?". 

 

If you want to watch an interesting and amusing video on the Australian accent click on the link below. It only goes for 3 and half minutes. I have the full documentary at home this is just an excerpt. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5aqOgbKuUM

 

Hope you enjoy!

[steadfast]

Keep in mind, in comedies, the actors are oftentimes purposely doing poor accent imitations. Those Australian imitations were bad, exaggerated, on purpose. It's funny - well, to me anyway. I'm sure non-Americans enjoy picking fun at us Americans. 

 

True southern accents can sound a bit extreme to many other Americans, and same for some other accents - like the "Boston accent." 

 

The accents and way of speaking in the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou" are funny...

[trottigy]

I remember seeing a foreign film where Russians were pretending to be Americans. They all started chewing gum before crossing a check point - loud and unmannerly Americans - worked in the movie. And their accents weren't too bad.

[Lilac Isosceles]

This has got me thinking about accents and whether we will have the same variety of accents in the New World. No one can categorically say whether we will or wont but is interesting to ponder. What we do know is that we will all speak the same language. Will we have the opportunity to make comedic impressions of various residents of the New World based on their geographic location?

[Dave]

Being a born and bred Australian I must say that that attempt at an Australian accent is quite pathetic. For starters we wouldn't say "Hello Mate!" it would be "G'day Mate! How are ya?". 

 

If you want to watch an interesting and amusing video on the Australian accent click on the link below. It only goes for 3 and half minutes. I have the full documentary at home this is just an excerpt. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5aqOgbKuUM

 

Hope you enjoy!

 

That was a great video clip, Ashley. I quite like the Aussie accent. It sounds comical to listen to for me. Something I only came to realise in the last 20 years or so is that even in the New Zealand there is a variety of accents, especially between North and South Islanders. Jeanette McDonald a famous comedic New Zealander drew the country's attention to this with her "Lynn of Tawa" persona.

 

By the way, what's the name of the video you have. I wouldn't mind seeing the whole thing. 

[Lilac Isosceles]

It is called "The Sounds of Aus". I taped it off the television about 6 years ago. I am not sure whether it is available to watch for free online, or whether you can even purchase it. I will look into it.

[Dave]

Here's a synopsis of the New Zealand Accent...

 

[steadfast]

I'm disappointed that no one here from Texas, Georgia, etc. has commented on the "Texas panhandle" or "Savannah" accents! Are they fairly accurate? 

[campanula]

Thank you, brothers, so much!

 

 I've had a joyful time watching this video.

Looking forward for  some new posts.... 

[Lilac Isosceles]

Here's a synopsis of the New Zealand Accent...

 

Last night my wife and I watched New Zild. We both enjoyed it. It followed a similar format to the documentary on the Australian accent. The Maori comedian was quite funny. Some of the New Zealanders on the documentary could be passed off as Australian. The accents are very similar.

 

Which accent do you have? A broad, general or cultured one. My best man at my wedding was a New Zealander. He was from Kaikora. Are you anywhere near there?

 

I have enjoyed reading your heartfelt posts esp. your response to my story. I look forward to many more. till then cheers bro.

Edited May 12, 2013 by Purple Triangle