Spike's / James' accent

[Ulrikke]

So everywhere you go you seem to hear nothing but praise for James' British accent. I myself think it's pretty good (not that I'm an expert by any means), but I have one problem with it. He seems way off in his pronounciation of words like "master" or "can't", which to my knowledge a Brit would pronounce "marster" and "carnt", not "mahster" and "cahnt" (yeah, so I don't know phonetic notation, but I think you get what I mean).
Am I wrong here and do some Brits in fact pronounce it like that? It's just always sort of bugged me because it seems like such an obvious mistake to make, and an easy one to fix.

What are your opinions in general on Spike's / James' accent?

On a side-note, I think Alexis Denisof's accent is brilliant. I was thoroughly convinced that he was in fact British (but of course he has lived in England for a number of years, so I guess that's an advantage)

[ItMustBeBunnies]

His accent is pretty good, not that Im that good of a judge being an Aussie! but it does slip everynow and then, that part in Life Serial when he says "shop girl" comes to mind. Yep Alexis does a really great job with his accent, but I gotta admitt every time he says sewer it annoys me! I have no idea if this is how brits actually prononce it, hope I haven't offended any one!.

[Fake Shemp]

its pretty naff, and once you find out he had put it on in the show... remember changing his name to spike himself and changing his image......so even in btvs its not his proper accent.

[Ulrikke]

its pretty naff, and once you find out he had put it on in the show... remember changing his name to spike himself and changing his image......so even in btvs its not his proper accent.

Yeah, that's what I always tell myself whenever I find myself annoyed by it. Also, the guy's been all over the world where people don't necessarily speak with a British accent. It's not unreasonable to think that his accent might be coloured by that (I know mine was when I moved to the other end of the country for two years)

[Joyce Summers]

I always thought it was pretty good- I mean I don't know any Londoners so I'm not familiar with that particular accent personally, but it always sounds believable. Actually, I always thought it sounded more believable than James' actual accent! Haha! The one thing that did frustrate me is when he says 'poof'. Most British people pronounce that word 'Puff' not 'poof'. And I think Tony Head said he once got really stressed with James because he kept pronouncing B*****ks Bolix which is erm, wrong. And he told him time and time again to say it properly, but when it came to film the scene, he still said "bolix" haha.

Alexis' accent was also subtely excellent, but like some of you have already said- he lived in England for quite some time and so that gave him the advantage. It's much easy to do an accent when you've heard it first-hand around you.

[Fake Shemp]

yeah thats why i like it, like how its changed over the years of the show as well... peoples accents change depending on where they are and who they are with. he would be effected by that... so was Angel.

[Bluebird]

I just wanna ask - what is a British accent?;) I know me and Fake Shemp are both British but we are different nationalities and don't sound anything alike, hehe. Anyways, I do like Spike's accent a lot. I think he did a lot better job at it than others I've heard, *coughKeanuReevescough*.

[Fake Shemp]

to me the world seems to think anyone from London is 'the British'

[Ulrikke]

I just wanna ask - what is a British accent?;) I know me and Fake Shemp are both British but we are different nationalities and don't sound anything alike, hehe.

Haha, well, I know that a Scottish accent is different from an English one is different from a Welsh one and even then there are dialects. But since the question was actually about a common trait in all British accents (well, as far as I know, hence the question) .... :)

[Bluebird]

Haha, well, I know that a Scottish accent is different from an English one is different from a Welsh one and even then there are dialects. But since the question was actually about a common trait in all British accents (well, as far as I know, hence the question) .... :)

Scottish accents and English accents pronounce vowels in a completely different way so I don't think it is a common trait.:) In the London accent that Spike should be speaking in, the vowel sounds are quite long so I know what you mean about those words. You can somtimes hear his American accent slipping out.

[littlewilly]

In the last few seasons of Buffy, you know what he sounded like? an American putting on an ENGLISH accent. It was so obvious.

[JCC]

English accents are becoming a lot more Americanized. I don't pronounce anything the proper English way really, I say 'past' instead of 'parst' and whatnot.

I do however say 'peedophile' instead of 'pehdoughfile' or however you crazies say it. That annoys me so much, ugh.

Spike sounded legitimately English, but that's because there's such diversity in it. But yes, he certainly talked like I would expect someone English might.

[Ulrikke]

English accents are becoming a lot more Americanized. I don't pronounce anything the proper English way really, I say 'past' instead of 'parst' and whatnot.

I do however say 'peedophile' instead of 'pehdoughfile' or however you crazies say it. That annoys me so much, ugh.

Spike sounded legitimately English, but that's because there's such diversity in it. But yes, he certainly talked like I would expect someone English might.

Well, that's good enough for me then. The whole 'past' vs 'parst' just bugged me because I thought all Englishmen went with the latter, but apparently they do not, so I can move on now. :biggrin:

[Blondie Bear]

I do however say 'peedophile' instead of 'pehdoughfile' or however you crazies say it. That annoys me so much, ugh.


LOL! It actually drives me nuts when YOU crazies say "VIT-amins" instead of "VAIT-amins."

[JCC]

LOL! It actually drives me nuts when YOU crazies say "VIT-amins" instead of "VAIT-amins."
They're vitamins! 'Vightamins' indeed! They're an intrinsic part of an ingestible substance's genetic make-up, not some farcical bastardization of fightamins! Vightamins, ugh. I swear I should go over to America and teach people how to not sound so silly about certain words.

EDIT: Also, Amber Benson plays the popular character, Tara. Not Tah-rah. TAR-A. Tah-rah, ridiculous.

[palabravampiress]

I was pretty convinced. I liked the way it changed over the years -- how it sounded harder and more scrappy when his character was pure big bad, but softened and became more Americanized as he became more and more closely associated with the scoobies and was totally softer and more refined during his human days in London. I also liked how, near the end of Angel s5 (when the boys went to Italy), the Italians considered both Angel and Spike to be Americans either though Angel was originally Irish and Spike was originally English. I think JM did a very good job of using the accent as a tool by which to reveal subtle character growth in Spike.

That said, I was NOT convinced during his song in OMWF. I'll give him props; it must be difficult to sing with a non-native accent that you are also trying to temper according to the character's inclinations and environment. Even so, I felt like his true American accent slipped out a lot during Rest in Peace.

[JCC]

More importantly, Rest In Peace sounded horrible.

[Blondie Bear]

^ I thought so, too. I kept waiting for the song to really break out, and it never did. I was very disappointed.

[Clem Rocks]

Like any country, there isn't one set way of pronouncing words, Northeners would pronounce things differently from Southerners, Cockney's would pronounce things different from Geordie's. Some people probably would pronounce words the way Jame's pronounced them.

Although i did hear him say "Bolix" once and only just understood that he meant bollocks

[littlewilly]

LOL! It actually drives me nuts when YOU crazies say "VIT-amins" instead of "VAIT-amins."

lol, as Bluebird says, its all about how we pronounce vowels. My mates Canadian mum calls another of my mates 'Berry', and he's like 'ITS BARRY', she goes, 'Yeah, thats what i said, Berry'
hahahaha, so funny. No really, it was.:lmao:

[Ulrikke]

That said, I was NOT convinced during his song in OMWF. I'll give him props; it must be difficult to sing with a non-native accent that you are also trying to temper according to the character's inclinations and environment. Even so, I felt like his true American accent slipped out a lot during Rest in Peace.

I never really thought about that, but then I always think that people sound more or less neutral when singing (I can only think of a few examples of singers who let their accent show very obviously). Or just American apparently.

I do seem to have a vague memory of James saying somewhere that Joss wanted him to sing with an accent, but James specifically said that he wouldn't, because people don't do that. So I guess it was a deliberate choice. Or I could just be making it up.

[JCC]

lol, as Bluebird says, its all about how we pronounce vowels. My mates Canadian mum calls another of my mates 'Berry', and he's like 'ITS BARRY', she goes, 'Yeah, thats what i said, Berry'
hahahaha, so funny. No really, it was.:lmao:
This reminds me of Family Guy.

"Hey, pass the Cool H-whip!"

[Bangelxx]

I'm no judge, since I live in Canada but I thought he did really well! I thought he was actually british until my parents told me otherwise.

[UnKle]

I was married to a Brit, but he was from Hertfordshire. (I'm American.) Which, I guess even though the part he was in was technically out in the country, still just being about 40-someodd miles from the heart of London didn't give him much of a difference in accent. His buddies from the north always ribbed him about sounding all proper and bookish. :P

James' accent sounds a lot like my ex-spouse's, except back then (about 15 years ago), it wasn't so Americanized as it is now. I've noticed now that there's a tendency to hold your R's somewhat like Americans do, or drop them a little less, and give some words a more flat pronunciation. I would say James' accent is one of the best I've heard in a while. And that when he's not using it, it sounds strange to me to hear him speaking Americanese. :)

[JCC]

It's even weirder to hear Alexis Denisof talk in his neutral accent. I mean, damn.

[NightBird]

If we are talking accents then I have to say that the way americans pronounce Tara as Tera drives me crazy, it's the same in smallville when Kara becomes Kera, although strangely the name Lara is pronounced the same way with both accents.

Also i'm a brit and have a odd mix of the brummie(birmingham) accent and the typical 'British/posh/hugh grant' accent.

[ItMustBeBunnies]

Just letting everyone know to ignore my above comment on shemp's post! its early here and I did not sleep so good! Im gonna go with I was being sarcastic, that sounds good, lol.

[Fake Shemp]

glad you went with that, tho james's middle name is Wesley.... just a random happenstance

[ItMustBeBunnies]

I hate you all! (glares at computer as if to set it ablaze....no wait i need that!) As you come to know me you will relize that even though I dye my hair red, I am still a natural blond! (wow thats a shocker! lol.) Pair that with my funny funny insomnia and it makes for some pretty classic "well duh...." moments!. Dont worry it doesn't happen that often, but it does happen, hopefully when I am being foolish in you will be able to just roll your eyes and say "silly bunnies....", I hope! lol! if not get out the frying pan and konk me!.

YAY! My first konk! I dont know for some reason with my head all foggy and my eyes half open I interpreted shemp's post as James was the one to come up with the name spike or something, it took me a minute to go OH CRAP! and relize what I had said..........Mabye I should change my avatar to Harmony?, Let us never speak of this again, lol.

[Dlou444]

I'm not as picky as Willy. I really thought he did a great job on Buffy. It's close enough and the parts that aren't close, I figure he's lived here for so long, he just kind of de-accented.

Where it DOES bug me is on other shows when I think I can still hear it. Like when he was on Saving Grace and supposed to sound Southern. The more he tried the more I heard Spike. It was annoying.