My internet friend.

[mikeart]

My internet friend, who lives in Washington DC, is convinced us Brits all talk like the royal family do, she came to this conclusion, after we spoke on the phone for the first time, now I come from Souf London and i assure you I do not talk like Prince Philip, so I wonder if we all develop a different telephone voice, with out realizing we do ?????

[PeterSF]

I think we have different ways of talking on the telephone depending on who the other party is, and you probably use more local vernacular and have stronger accent when speaking with friends and family.
Hard to believe, but many Americans seem to think (if they do think about it, as it's not relevant to daily life here) there is one collective British accent rather than many widely varying ones. So you probably do sound like Prince Philip to her. Hopefully minus the jaw-dropping social gaffes, accompanied by the thought, "Did he really just say that out loud?"

[mikeart]

Oh I think my good lady, would agree that I am capable of the jaw-dropping social gaffes as well as PP

[davec]

We all clean up when speaking to furriners. I do so when abroad in this vast country, and so do many Americans. Also, of course, films and television require cleaned up speech. We tend toward neutral Midwestern, while Brits often migrate in the RP direction. And of course so much Brit TV here is Victorian stuff (starring Judi Dench), which rarely portrays a variety of accents and if so, they're out of date.

I've really had a hard time getting good samples of local British speech on the net, with so much garbage--little YouTube clips that are all noise, someone only says four words, and of course if the video has the word 'accent' in the title, you don't know if it's a real native or some drunk sod taking the mickey out of the neighbors. Or, they're plainly identified as a joke. A promotional piece for some city may or may not be presented by a native--you can't assume it.

When we do get genuine non-RP (Last of the Summer Wine, for example), it isn't usually identified as to its origins unless you go look it up somewhere. So, we don't know one British accent from another through simple lack of information. And they lighten up on the dialect for general distribution as well. Even many Brits would be a bit lost at times listening to some small town Yorkshire folk who still use the old vernacular.

As I said, I clean up too. I'm perfectly capable of graduate-degree level speech, but still say 'good' instead of 'well', etc., when talking to friends and family, and in a terse Hoosier accent when I'm back in Indiana. Chicago is 'Ch'kahgah' in Chicago. If I phoned any of you, it would be in a squeaky clean northern Illinois accent. The Indiany-talk is clear but still throws some folk not used to hearing it as it has a bit of a hard edge.

It must be said that Americans have had their way with the language. And left it smelling that way, too.

[PeterSF]

I've really had a hard time getting good samples of local British speech on the net

If you have access to the Dr. Who series that has Billie Piper (I'm still working my way slowly through those), her accent is working class London of course, and the Doctor is a Liverpudlian with a medium scouse accent. I'm quite impressed with him, best one so far since Tom Baker. My sister says David Tennant is better but I'll find out or myself later.
If you want to hear a real thick Barnsley (Yorkshire) accent, try getting the film "Kes". You *will* require subtitles
Peter Sallis, of Last Of The Summer Wine fame, is the voice of Wallace in the excellent Wallace And Gromit series. Vaguely Yorkshire, but I can't identify which part. More towards the Bradford side (west, closer to Lancashire) I would guess, but ST would be more knowledgeable.
I can't think of any other obvious ones at the moment, but could identify genuine sounding accents or point out any inauthentic ones if you need assistance.

[davec]

Many thanks. I'll look up Kes. I've yet to come across a film where I absolutely required subtitles, but a few have come close.

[SepticTone]

[quote="PeterSF"the Doctor is a Liverpudlian with a medium scouse accent. [/quote]

Er. Although Paul McGann is a Liverpudlian, Pete, the accent he adopted for his Dr Who role is Mancunian for the most part with an overall tinge of generic "North West", as he's an actor & a Doctor with a Liverpudlian accent would have been one step too far for the BBC.

I remember, in the late 60's, replying to an advert in the local paper ( I was about 16 or 17, the "Burnley Express") asking for locals to be extras in a film shortly to be made by Ken Loach.

I attended an audition, being a skint schoolboy, in a local church hall, but was turned down because my East Lancashire accent was too pronounced & I was too tall & healthy looking!

Like, I lived about 20 miles away from where "Kes" was filmed, yet my schoolboy accent differed so radically from people 20 miles away.

If you want genuine North/West accents, dave, and a flavour of what it was like living here when I was a youth, look no further than 'Kes'.

Here are some quite relevant comments, particularly the third one on this link:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064541/use ... s?start=40

Ken Loach, btw, is still very much alive & kicking, viz:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/film/201 ... -22722588/

[PeterSF]

Paul McGann is from Liverpool? That's must've been what threw me. I couldn't decide at first whether he was from Manchester or Liverpool, but one or two of his native vowels must have slipped through, which swayed me towards my scouse theory. You are correct though, it's more of a Mancunian accent, but there are bits of Liverpudlian in there IMO, or maybe bits common to both, or he's just doing a generic north west accent.
Not counting anywhere further north of course, such as Bolton. Which, being all of ten miles away, has an even more pronounced and distinct accent, and also probably considered too extreme for the BBC.

Edit: "Kes" is definitely worth a watch, gritty and unsentimental, but will get to you more than all the over-emotional Hollywood mush that's out there. If you can understand it or have subtitles available of course.
Bonus: Brian Glover (mentioned by me in Stairfoot Rarndabart thread) is in it as the sports master