Inquiry to the Limeys

There is one accent that I find incredibly sexy and what I believe English SHOULD sound like when spoken properly. I tried hunting this accent down years ago and based on what I discovered, I referred to it as "Oxfordshire English". I recently searched again for this accent and I think now people are calling it plain old Oxford accent. I know a couple of you guys were English... and I am realizing now that I have not seen you two post in a while (Red Headed 15 year old and 30'ish married guy) I'm terrible with names.

What creates this accent? Is it just anyone from that region or is it taught in all schools across the island?

As an example, I will use actresses for what I like and dislike.

Emma Watson - This is Oxford yeah?

Penelope Keith - Perfect. When you hear this accent as a Brit, what does it tell you about the person?

Emma Thompson - This is Oxford as well? Sounds strict and well pronounced, but a little more jagged than Emma Watson's.

Helena Bonham Carter - Close to what I like, but with some laziness in the vowels

Alan Rickman - More proper than Helena's but with little chutney ends here and there.

Spice Girls - All their accents are offensive to my ears. Very throaty T's and D's. Vowels are VERY dragged out as if someone were pinching their cheeks together while they spoke. Sporty spice is by far the worst, followed by Scary, and the best of them being Posh, but "ih ainh puh-feck"

actually hes more like 21 and engaged, but their screennames are Dukeuke and Liam... I am sure they can help you with your dialect quandary, England's not a very big place.

that said, careful with british actors accents as an example, their screen voices do not always reflect their actual accents or any particularly English dialect, particularly if they had classical Shakespearean training or spent time in the state funded repertoiry theater circuit.... for over 100 years its been the goal of the royal college and similar institutions to imbue their students with a homogenous accent.... this was hevily rebelled against in the 60s by northern actors like Albert Finney etc

but listen to the homogenous accent of Kenneth Brannagh on screen.... he's IRISH! He can lapse backinto his native accent at will in interviews, but on camera he will typically use his big stage voice unless the role requires a specific dialect.

their screennames are Dukeuke and Liam

What the hell happened to those two? They were a lovely lot to intercourse with.

maybe they got tired of your non-consensual intercourse?

I think you meant 'discourse with'.

lol. I read intercourse and it truly paused me for a second.

there's a town an hour or so north of philly in rural PA called Intercourse PA... the next town over is called Bird In Hand

I am not joking. Look it up

I think you meant 'discourse with

You are certainly correct.

Yeah sorry, I've not been around the forum for ages, partially because my PC committed suicide and was dead for a month. I'll do a big update thread, or whatever in a bit. But I'mm thinking I'll come back.

Obviously Liam had a kid, so he's probably doing his bit in raising her. How's Lucian btw?

Narcy said you had an England querie?

Is the forum literally just you three, and me however intermittently? It was hotting up for a while then it sot of died down

how's Lu, well, his mom died of a heroin overdose in a condemned house in the armpit of Ohio that we inherited but never visited before we separated.... that was about 3 months ago and I figured out how to explain it t him about 2 months ago, other than that he's great. Thanks for asking.

also, this is the best way to create whatever accent you are looking for:

http://www.tinyloops.com/tb303/images/sound_accent_settings.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/RFaxg.png

see the last knob on the right and the button in the step sequencer marked 'accent'? that's what adjusts the accent and select where its applied, cranking the knob up is a fairly british accent circa 1990 on any steps that you press the button on.... start at 3 o'clock for Rickman and then turn her up as desired to approach Finney... down at noon you get Thompson LOL

PS: turn her way down to 9 o'clock to sound alla 'merican like an African American from Chicago

Shit, I'm sorry to hear that, I know you didn't exactly hold her in high regards, but it must still've been a shock. Did you find her, or did her fellow junkies pull her out? Must've been a fucker to tell the poor lad, but you seem to have done well.

fellow junkies, Lucian and I live 9 hours away in Philadelphia... I am actually very upset about it! I never saw this coming as she has survived so much during her relapses that I assumed she was immortal.

Hey boom, There is an array of accents across England, you just sort of pick them up from where you live, and the people you're around, like any accent tbh, you can't teach an accent, or nnot legally in schools anyway. Accents get stronger as you go more into working class areas generally, as they are mostly populated by people who've been there for generations. Personally, I live in South Yorkshire, so I'd be expected to have a strong, quite broad colloquial Sheff. accent, but as it is even though I've lived in rough parts, my parents both speak cleanly (My Dad is from Bristol in the south, but thankfully instead of picking up the awful Bristol/West country accent,which you probably haven't heard of, but is incredibly annoying, just sounds what English people would call "Southern", which is basically just a natural voice. My Mum is from St Helens near Liverpool, and about half an hour away from Liam, but has lost her St Helens accent which is like a more broad Scouse, because of her time at a middle class education system from the age of 13. )

So yeah its regional, and there's a lot more than people think: You have the obvious ones, which break down further into different subvariations.

Scouse: Liverpool basically. Sounds awful. Example could be Steven Gerrard

Geordie: Newcastle. Pretty bad. Cheryl Cole.

Manchester: Fairly nasal. Generally nasty.

Birmingham. Again fairly nasty.

Yorkshire: Broad. Lot of variations. Countless examples

West Country: Tractor speak. Bit like pirate accent. Irritating. Variations

Welsh: Poetic. Bit annoying

Scottish: Obvious. Quite nice

Thats just a very brief list...

Shame. I thought you were in Illinois for some reason, idk why.

nope, never lived in Chicago though its a great town. I am from Philadelphia and Like Johnny I have lived in New Jersey and near Washington DC. Not unlike Cash, I've been EVERYWHERE, man. Including the UK

I can understand your confusion as Chicago and Philly have very similar personalities, just very different accents!

Can you make a video or audio sample? :) Would be sweet to hear your accent, then your parents' accents.

Then it would be fun to hear you guys do an American accent of your choice.

just keep it clean no matter how much their british accents turn you on... hands on the keyboard!

just keep it clean no matter how much their british accents turn you on... hands on the keyboard!

Sigh

Zip

I'll see what I can do, when I get home, but being the absolute gangster I am, I have a 20 minute detention after school...

Also my name is Josiah, or Joe/Jos for short. If y'all want to can use that as opposed to my cringy screen name; I've been on EB for ages, and back when I set it up, I actually played ukulele, and ran a youtube channel, and soundcloud of the same name, as well as being afraid of saying my real name -In case I would be "abducted". It's sort of stuck though, and I can only change it once, so I might as well leave it.

I had an assortement of nicknames before I settled on Narcist. Not sure how I got there, but it's way betterthan the old screen names. And didn't all the younger kids think we'd be abducted? How odd.

are teenaged musicians commonly abducted by adult musicians in the UK?