If I had to guess, I'd say that it's because the "accentless" cornbelt dialect is quite popular in movies & TV, and fairly consistent between speakers. If you can tell the difference between someone from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska, I'd be flabbergasted. So of the thousands of famous people who speak "Normal American", you can pick any one of them to emulate & pass yourself off as a Yank.
Famous British accents, however, are numerous and conflicting in style. If you're in-country and travel 20 miles down the road (or even across town in London), it's going to be noticably different. It's just harder for an American to pick one and find enough examples of it to master it properly. Who should I pick? Mick Jagger? Pierce Brosnan? Benny Hill? John Cleese? Tony Blair?
So my short answer is: because Hollywood is a district of Los Angeles, not London.
1
Really? MJ has British family and they all do truly reprehensible American accents. We spent some time with them at Bro in laws wedding and they were shooting BB guns and trying to act like cowboys...
It wasn't pretty!
Posted by: Jake Jacobsen at February 23, 2006 02:55 PM (8rEm3)
2
Aren't you forgetting Madonna? Who can forget her wonderfully authentic British accent.
'Scuse me while I vomit.
Posted by: Raging Mom at February 23, 2006 03:19 PM (7L3I1)
3
I can pick out accents from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Ontario.
It's easy if you actually live near these states.
Posted by: Machelle at February 23, 2006 03:29 PM (ZAyoW)
4
When I was in NY (briefly) I learned to distinguish a Lon Giland from a Brooklyn. It is a proximity thing.
Also, some people's brains pick up accents easier than others.
Also, accent-less speech (such as computer speech) is closest to west-coast US (including California), so maybe it's harder for someone who doesn't normally use the tools of accent (pacing, inflection, tonal quality, etc) to utilize them than for some who already does....
Posted by: caltechgirl at February 23, 2006 03:55 PM (/vgMZ)
5
So, after all this readin', somebody tell me, how do you say "Wanker" properly.
Posted by: RedNeck at February 23, 2006 04:59 PM (tSJ8V)
6
Redneck? It's pronounced "Michael Moore."
Posted by: Ogre at February 23, 2006 05:39 PM (2IrwV)
7
It might also be a factor that a central or south central accent is how rock and roll is done. Or was. Whether you grew up in Helsinki or Crumbly-on-Cheese you could do Mellencamp or Fogerty.
Posted by: Sluggo at February 23, 2006 06:30 PM (8WuIi)
8
I've also marvelled at Hugh's accent, being a fan of Blackadder as well as House. I thought maybe he'd lived in the US for a while or something, but then in the movie Flight of the Phoenix he was back to a strong British accent. Guess the guy is just a major talent. Mind you, I'd like to see him try an Aussie accent, it seems no one but us aussies can get that right. Still cringing from Meryl Streep's attempt in the Lindy Chamberlain movie ...
Posted by: Amanda at February 23, 2006 11:38 PM (L4Sch)
9
Rachel Griffiths, the Aussie who played Brenda in "Six Feet Under" did a great American accent as well. However, I prefer to view Hugh Lauire and Rachel Griffiths as losing their "foreign accents" to play these parts.
:-)
Posted by: Jim - PRS at February 24, 2006 03:55 AM (njBz/)
10
Wow.
I just thought it was because when Americans do a British accent, they try to make it as annoying as they percieve real British accents to be.
Or may that's just me; nudge, nudge, wink, wink, knowwhatImean...
Posted by: jimmyb at February 24, 2006 08:02 AM (lmeFW)
11
I don't think there are more accents in the UK than here in the US - it's just that they are all squished up into a tiny little space - if you squished up all the accents here into a space the size of the UK, then I think the accents would be much more noticable.
I can tell the difference in regional accents here - St. Louis, Chicago, Kansas City, Southern Missouri and Western Kansas all have distinct sounds and even words.
Posted by: beth at February 25, 2006 06:15 AM (9FPYz)
12
I've heard some awful American accents from British people and some great British accents from Americans. Most people on both sides of the Atlantic stink at doing the other accent, but a few are great. Mark Addy from "The Full Monty" does a great American accent on "Still Standing" too, by the way.
Posted by: MikeTheLibrarian at March 01, 2006 01:03 PM (ATcxA)
13
Thank you!
http://wevugnxt.com/eoba/pzaj.html | http://fytqpovb.com/vbmg/wvil.html
Posted by: Rex at May 04, 2006 11:13 PM (/BK4F)
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