How come when I went to England nobody had a British accent?

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random_hero1981

You should have come to Birmingham.......... that's one accent that would have made your head spin.

jayjayji

british means: english, irish, scottish, welsh

you might be thinking of the english accent, however england will have many of these accents and other local variations and not everyone speaks with the same accent.

TiB

If you want real British people you'll have to go to Mary Poppins house, it just down the street and over the yellow brick road...good luck.

RichB

Never mind, I'll show you the real England. It's in that darkened room over there with the pile of Dick van Dyke DVDs in the corner. Off you go now... *(backs away slowly)*

Lizzy

hahaha surely this is a joke, someone taking the p*** out of the geordie accent? no? ok...

Many US films and TV have a stereotyped English person that does not exist. I believe this is who you are looking for. What you found were real british people. We're not aliens you know, we're just like you.
England is amazing for its diversity in such a small area. Accent is just one of those things that are amazingly different all over the Country.

Must also stress English and British are not the same thing. If you come from England, you cand escribe yourself as English or British, from Wales you could call yourself Welsh or British etc...

sparx_91

There isn't one "British" accent. It doesn't work like that. British just means that you come from any of the following countries: North Ireland, Wales, Scotland, or England. You're thinking of that posh english accent that all the rich people use in England (stereotypically, anyway).
Each region has it's own dialect. Try watching the movie Billy Elliot, and listen to the accents. It might be similar to the one you're talking about in Newcastle (I'm not sure though, not English myself). It sounds almost Irish, but it's not. Also, try watching some shows on BBC America.. you'll get a feel for how many different dialects there are.

I'm afraid many Americans stereotype the british (as they do us), and it leads to dissapointment when you visit. As you found, they usually do drink tea (more than we do), but do not necessarily have a "tea time"... and cucumber sandwhiches? Seriously? lol.

Please educate yourself in world cultures before going to any more foreign countries. It's people like you who give us Americans a bad reputation around the world.

Debbie C

yes ok you need to learn geography and then come back to us. There is no such thing as a British accent.

KavaD

You wanted to hear a snooty posh London accent over a sexy Geordie one? You must be mad.

nogolow

lol.

People in Newcastle Upon Tyne do not speak with an Irish accent. They have a North Eastern accent, namely called 'The Geordie Accent.'

Various hotels and Coffee/tea rooms in the area do indeed do afternoon tea where you can have all the scones with clotted cream and jams that you want ;-)

Half Pint

Oh dear. Typical stereotype of the British.
There is no 'British accent'! There's a different accent for every city in Britain! I'm from Leicester, the accent is quite how people would say 'common' and unintellectual.
Then you've got Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Scouse, Cockney, Brummy etc. etc...
We don't all speak with the accent that you would hear in some old fashioned T.V advert.

I rest my case.

jonal

Well I don't know I'm sure,no fly in the air I really don't....there's you talking about all the nice British accents you've heard and then saying you didn't hear any......Never mind,I'm doing strawberries and cream,some nice fresh scones with butter and jam,and a tray of cucumber sandwiches so thin you don't even have to open your lips to eat them. And a nice pot of Earl Grey tea to keep it all going down nicely. In lovely little porcelein cups that dear Daddy left me. Just a little something for the boating people when they come back..They've gone off to Windsor for the day. Why don't you join us? We'd love to have you along. You can tell us all about your adventures around England. And in return you can listen to the manner of speach you are so obviously yearning to hear. Philip will be delighted...we're so looking forward to seeing you. I'll send a note for the footman to keep a carraige at the gate to bring you down to the lawns. It's rather a walk. God Bless.......Elizabeth.

heathenvinyl66

Don't know if you're from the US, but if you are, you'd know that America has a ton of accents. Same goes for England. Each part of England has a different accent, or dialect. The one you probably wanted to hear was the London accent, which my boyfriend has. And don't listen to American stereotypes of English people, they're all wrong, lol. ESPECIALLY tea time!

Piggy

Sigh... too stupid to bother with.

xsnudgex

Geeezz Ur a bit ignorant!

All over Britain people have different accents.

You were in Newcastle so they were speaking Geordie..thats how they talk..its not Irish!

God you must be stupid!

In America..people all talk with diff accents dont they?? People from Texas talk differently the people from New York!!

guiri

The British accent you speak of, also called Oxford English, BBC English and 'Received Pronunciation' is essentially the upper middle class accent of the South of England. It used to be the accent which everyone was supposed to speak.

Fashions change and now local and regional accents are allowed on the radio and TV.

This can be negative in that some accents cannot be easily understood by English speaking foreigners. or even British people from other regions.

Some accents are VERY difficult to understand. (e.g. Newcastle - esp. pitmatic, South West Scotland, Northern Ireland, Liverpool, Brixton (Jamaican Patois) and so on.

As evidence of changing fashions, I give you HM the Queen. Nobody else speaks like that!

SJM

Lol, I'm afraid it looks like you came over here with nothing but a load of incorrect stereotypes about us in your head.

There really isn't a standard 'British' accent. Whilst Hollywood may portray every Brit under the sun as speaking with what is actually a south east England accent, the UK as a whole has a variety of accents, just as the US does. The accent you heard in Newcastle was not an Irish accent but a Geordie accent, whilst the accent you heard in Cornwall was a west country accent. If you wanted to hear the stereotypical 'British' accent then you should have gone to places such as the counties of Surrey, Hampshire or Berkshire. It's like us expecting to hear a Californian accent from the average Hollywood movie if we were to go to somewhere like North Carolina.

As for tea time, I'm afraid it seems that it's only Americans who think we still live like Mary Poppins who are under the impression that we have tea time! That tradition went out of vogue over a hundred years ago (!!) and so pretty much the only place that you can find afternoon tea these days are some of the swanky hotels in London who charge vast amounts of money to serve afternoon tea to gullible tourists who don't realise this!

No name.

That's because there is no such thing as a British accent. Britain is made up of 3 countries; England, Scotland and Wales. Each have their own accent and regional accents.

In Newcastle they have what we call a "Geordie" accent and we call them "Geordies".

Some people in Cornwall say that Cornwall is a seperate country, called Kernow, and is not part of England. They even have their own language (Cornish), flag and Saint.

You met the British people, but it seems the stereotype let you down. We try to tell people that the British accent doesn't exist, we don't all drink tea and we dont all eat scones and cucumber sandwiches.

charl

There are many different British accents:Britain is England,Scotland and Wales,and UK is Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The accent you are probably thinking of is a "Posh" accent, where people speak "proper english,the Queen's English,Recieved Pronounciation". You find that in the Home Counties (some rich people in London and the counties around London).
People from Newcastle are called "Geordies". They are very much British. Here, look at these videos of British accents! :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdx3PP5XStc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn3_bYcAnWI&feature=related

Steven S

Why didn't you hear a 'British accent'?

Because there is no such thing

Omar C

o bloody hell let me guess u are from america. u wanna hear a really hot accent then come visit me. but why do u think that we have tea time and and scones and like cucumber sandwiches???????????? i live right on london and trust me honestly nobody !!!!!!! has tea time anymore and has scones and eats cucumber sandwiches . thats why ur friend looked at u weird wen u asked her for it.. cause nobody does that. i dnt wanna sound mean but seriously please do ur research before traveling somewhere.. and if u really want some tea please do us all a favor and please go to a vending machine and get a snapple ice tea cause it sounds like u reaaallly want one.

Jamie

Britian has a wide range of accents. So you will be more likely to here another accent that is not the sterotypical bristish accent than the one you wanted to hear.

You went to Newcastle that is a Geordie accent. To get the accent you want best places to go are Surrey, Sussex and Oxfordshire.

Angel

What do you think of as a British Accent?

Like most people you may think a British Accent is a English Upper Class Accent,

Really there is no such thing as a British Accent, ( as the British are, Scottish, English & the Welsh )

There are,
English Accents,
Scottish Accents,
And Welsh Accents,

Then in each of these countries there are loads of different dialects, ( like you heard in Newcastle, a English Accent, with a Geordie Dialect )

Idio

You'r obviously taking the p!ss

eli

erm go anywhere from milton keynes/london/southampton/portsmouth/bri... etc

ie most of the south east

youll hear it there

good luck

xxRaNdOmBaBeZo9xx

When you see about England on the t.v its most likely to be people in london.So you are reffering a Newcastle accent and a cornwall accent to a london accent and even though it is all britan we have different accents depending on where you go.Its a little bit like America there is a different accent in every city.And the people from Newcastle was not talking Irish they were speaking North east.

starscream_17

your answer made me laugh out loud, even though no one is in the room
>.<
I feel silly now

well you went to newcastle
it's not really a nice town, they are what I call 'gordie scum'
I used to live there for a long time.

In Cornwall it's quote farmer-y?
(I was born in Devon)

I don't think many places have the British accent you like, or see on the media anymore.
we all have our own different accents according to where you live

though if you meet a girl from private/posh schools in a posh are
I/e Cambridge
then you may be lucky enough to find a girl with one.

Also, most of what we watch on TV is american, so that influences us too.

I don't think many people do Tea at all, and infact Tea in many places means DINNER?!!?

and dinner means LUNCH??!?

I still think of Tea as a drink and maybe a teacake.
mmm scones : )

by the way, some capitilizations weren't forgotten, I just didn't think the place deserved it. : p

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