Will Americans know what the f*** Cheryl Cole is talking about

I'd have to throw myself on the mercy of the court.

Another "Fair Lady" in the making?

No more difficult that trying to comprehend what some hillbilly is trying to relate as he gives his family recipe for "Shine".

We have a small group of Piedmont blacks and Tangier Island WHites who speak in an ELizabethan dialect. Whenever we go to TAngier Island it takes me about a day to catch on and then another two days for me to lose the accent. I am like a chameleon when it comes to dialects and accents.

Ispent several years of and on in Ireland and was most amused at how the dialect changes all the way from Cork to Dundalk. I only found a few people who sounded like BArry Fitzgerald oin "The Quiet MAn".
The worst dialect for me to pick up was EDinburgh Scot. I had to work with several geologists who were Speaking Edinburgh and I never fully understood what the hell they were saying. Id often just nod and smile. Besides, the one geologist from up there had a huge beard and you couldnt easily see his mouth wagging.

anyone who watches something called xfactor, deserves what they get

I must admit I don't watch any of those sorts of programme, X factor, Strictly come dancing, Britains got talent etc etc. I lived in Newcastle for three years and Geordie's something else. It's north of the danelaw, so their English comes primarily from Norse as opposed to Anglo Saxon. They say that when Geordie fishermen meet Norwegian fisherman at sea they understand each other even though they don't speak each other's language.

i'm never sure of all the accents by name, but i've watched enough british tv to have little problem understanding most of the speakers, the one exception being the very brief run of fair city (i think that was the name) a soap from ireland, that one took some listening

it's more the speed of the language being spoken, than the actual language that causes any problems for me

I had no trouble understanding that.

I went on holiday to Houston, and stayed with a friend who worked at the British consulate. I'm from the South of England, and my accent would be described as 'Estuary English,' not that difficult to understand. I didn't have any problems in the city, but when I went out to the countryside they had real problems understanding me. My mate, who had been there a while didn't have the same problems. When we stopped off in a diner half way to Austin, the waitresses spoke to my mate, instead of me, even when they were talking to me, expecting him to translate, but I could understand every word they were saying. They just couldn't understand me.

Later on I watched an episode of Eastenders (A British soap opera) on Texan public tv. It was only then, after spending time listening to Texans talk that I realised how much less we enunciate our words, how much we use the glottal stop, and run things together. In the end I had to speak in a really posh accent, because that's how they expected me to talk, and that way I was understood. I've never had to do that anywhere else, and it was hard work, almost like playing a character in a play, a posh version of myself.

In most forms of mainland English the 'ugh' sound is used extensively. It's probably the most common vowel sound. That's not the case in America where you tend to sound most of the letters. A wierd example is Tottenham, most Americans say it as it looks. We say Tott 'nam. But really we don't, we actually say Tot 'en 'am, but we run it together so quickly it sounds like Tott 'nam.

Anyway my point is, is that if someone like me, with a rather mild accent had such problems being understood, (admittedly only in rural Texas) what chance has Cheryl Cole got.

I live in Austin izzy.
Yeah, it's in the places between places that have more of a twang.

I don't want to come off as snotty izzy, but I just looked up an interview video of Cole.
Is this (below) the same person you're talking about?

Can't see where anyone would have a problem understanding her, and I've never seen or heard her before.



The guy interviewing her is a real douchebag, don't you think?

like the posh radio 4 lady, who reads scott mills emails

You don't come accross as snotty, that is Cheryl Cole. And yes the bloke interviewing her is a total arsehole. It's not just me postulating that Americans would have problems understanding her. It's been a topic of hot debate in the newspapers over here. She has softened her accent quite a bit. Out of interest, if you didn't know she was English, where would you say she was from?

To be honest I don't really like her, she used to be called Cheryl Tweedy, and even though she has now divorced her husband the premiership footballer Ashley Cole she's kept her married name. The main reason for this was that, like a lot of celebrities, she thinks she's a lot better than us lowly mortals, and was up in court for abusing a cloakroom attendent. There was a lot of talk about this being motivated by racism, but she managed to escape this charge. All of this happened when she was called Tweedy.

A far better ambassador for Geordies is the comedian Ross Noble. I'm going to have to let you google him for yourself, as I don't know how to post links to You Tube. Sorry. By the way I had a great time in Austin.

Probably, but I'm sorry I don't know the reference, even though I do listen to Radio 4. One interesting thing a bout Radio 4 presenters, and this has happened quite a few times now, is that when the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has been interviewed he's been called Jeremy C***. Again it's probably on You Tube, but look at my last posting. It is funny.

there's a BBC announcer, her name is kathy clugston, she does intros, weather, coming up next sort of things, if you enjoyed this podcast blurbs and other bits and pieces, scott thought it would be fun to get her to read listeners emails in a posh voice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Clugston

Here's how to do a youtube clip...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOORvpiu4co&feature=related

Then, in front of it type [youtube]
at the end of it type [/youtube]

so you get [youtube]your link here[/youtube]

cheeky muslim clip, as above...

Thank's for that I'll probably wait until my daughter gets in to guide me through it. Anyway, this is from today's Guardian. 'It remains to be seen how US viewers take to Cole's Geordie accent.'

What do ya'll think when you hear Hugh Laurie doing his American accent?

I'll tell you, he's dead on. I didn't know he was British until I saw him in an interview.

The thing that amazes us, is who makes it in America out of our celebrities. Hugh Laurie was originally part of a double act with Stephen Fry. Most people over here regard Stephen Fry as the more talented. The same with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Peter Cook was the more talented but Dudley Moore got recognition in America. That's probably why people are so interested with how Cheryl Cole goes down, there's no way of predicting who clicks with America.

One of my favourite comedians is Rik Mayall. I saw him live and it's the only time I wanted the laughter to stop. I was literally in agony he was so funny. I wanted him to go off stage so I could get a breather. That's never happened before or since. He goes to America, makes one film Drop Dead Fred, and that's it. Back to the UK with his tail between his legs.

I'm not surprised that Laurie can do such a good accent, because America has so much exposure over here. About half of our television programmes are American, so we do have a lot of exposure to the accent. I understand you don't get anywhere near as much exposure to our television programmes, but what's worse is you get a lot of exposure to people doing 'English' accents and failing. The worst offender is the voice actress who does the voice of Lisa Simpson. Hers is a master class on what not to do when attempting an English accent. At the other end of the scale is Denzel Washington in the film Queen and Country. He didn't attempt some generic accent, but spent time on the London Estate where the film is set, and copied the accent he heard around him. He was spot on.

The actor to look out for is Michael Sheen. He plays real people and gets them spot on, Tony Blair, Kenneth Williams, Brian Clough and David Frost, and all spot on. You may not have heard of any of these people except Tony Blair but they're all rather well known over here, and Sheen was incredible. I've never heard him attempt an American accent, but if he is asked to play an American I wouldn't be surprised if it was a real person.