BSV Forum - General - The Bloodshedpub
Accents: Spike, Dru & AngelFeb 22 2008 07:41 pm #1ya_lublyu_tebya
Just a little thing that continues to bug me and I'm hoping someone might have an answer!
I just wanted to know if there is a reason for Angel losing his accent, whereas Spike and Dru both have strong accents. Aside from the fact that, as far as I recall, Boreanaz's Irish accent is not good (to give him some credit, there are few people who can really pull off an Irish accent), is there maybe a canon reason or at least some sort of reason given for his American accent and the loss of his Irish accent? (Furthermore, does he have an Irish accent in some flashbacks? I think he does in some but I forget)
Any ideas/ theories?
Feb 22 2008 07:48 pm #2TammyDevil666
I don't think it was really mentioned, but my theory is that maybe Angel lost his accent because he was in America for a long time and it eventually just went away after a while, but Spike and Drusilla haven't been for as long. They were in Prague before they came to Sunnydale, as far as I know. Angel does have an accent in some flashbacks.
When I say, "I love you," it's not because I want you or because I can't have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you, and I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You're a hell of a woman. You're the one, Buffy.
Feb 22 2008 08:21 pm #3slaymesoftly
Moderator
Angel's loss of accent (aside from the practical reason, which you had mentioned) could also have to do with his age (he's much older than Spike and Dru) and the need for long-lived vampires to be able to adapt their speech, clothing and mannerisms to fit the times, the fact that his sire was an American, and, as pointed out, the fact that he'd apparently been in the US for quite a while. And, yes, he does have an accent in the flashbacks. Sort of, anyway.
Spike and Dru, being younger, would have less need to lose their accents - particularly in Spike's case, where it was an adopted accent in the first place. I think Spike thinks the way he does because he likes it - and I'm sure it has changed with the times to some extent. Dru is insane, so worrying about blending in probably isn't a big thing for her.
And the bottom line, of course, is that Joss and the writers did whatever they pleased at the time and didn't give any thought to poor ff writers who would have to try to bring some sense and logic to their muddled backstories.
Spike and Dru, being younger, would have less need to lose their accents - particularly in Spike's case, where it was an adopted accent in the first place. I think Spike thinks the way he does because he likes it - and I'm sure it has changed with the times to some extent. Dru is insane, so worrying about blending in probably isn't a big thing for her.
And the bottom line, of course, is that Joss and the writers did whatever they pleased at the time and didn't give any thought to poor ff writers who would have to try to bring some sense and logic to their muddled backstories.
I am not a minion of Evil...
I am upper management.
I am upper management.
Feb 22 2008 09:33 pm #4Guest
Guest
Angel seems to really lose the accent once he comes to America after the soul. It's gone by the '20s (or '30s, can't remember) when he saved the puppy from being run over.
I think it helped Dru and Spike to keep theirs that they were too English people always traveling together. Granted, they have different accents, but iron sharpens iron, so to speak. And of course as Slayme mentioned, Spike's going to do what he likes, and I think sounding like an American would probably be an insult to him.
CM
I think it helped Dru and Spike to keep theirs that they were too English people always traveling together. Granted, they have different accents, but iron sharpens iron, so to speak. And of course as Slayme mentioned, Spike's going to do what he likes, and I think sounding like an American would probably be an insult to him.
CM
Feb 22 2008 09:38 pm #5Always_jbj
Moderator
Also, some people are more prone to losing their accent than others. My husband and I each moved from England to Australia when we were very young (he was 4 and I was 3), he has no trace of an English accent, I still have a strong enough English accent that everyone picks it...and strangely my children both have an English accent too.
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Some will love and some will curse you, baby
You can go to war
But only if you have to
Fanfic ~*~ Artwork ~*~ Live Journal
I was about to suggest the same thing. Accents are very versatile. My grandfather moved from Norway when he was in his twenties, going back there forty years later for a visit they all thought he was American.
And it's easy to pick up an accent when your around people with a similar accent all the time. My mother and grandmother were raised in New York, and even though I'd never been there, everyone always use to tell me that I had a New York accent.
And it's easy to pick up an accent when your around people with a similar accent all the time. My mother and grandmother were raised in New York, and even though I'd never been there, everyone always use to tell me that I had a New York accent.
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Feb 23 2008 12:39 am #7Guest
Guest
Yeah, I had Midwest words from my mother's side of the family, until I'd been living on my own for a while. It was very annoying to be asked if I was originally from the South, when I've lived in CA all my life.
CM
CM
Feb 23 2008 03:38 am #8slaymesoftly
Moderator
Good point, Always. Some people seem to automatically, and unintentionally, pick up whatever accent is common where they are living; while others never change. (I will vouch that Always_jbj sounds very English on the phone. lol She sounds nothing like the other Australians I know.) My own accent (which, of course, I don't think I have; because everyone always thinks it's everyone else who speaks with an accent.), seems to slide around depending on who I'm talking to. Maybe that comes of being a military brat and having been exposed to a lot of accents growing up?
), seems to slide around depending on who I'm talking to. Maybe that comes of being a military brat and having been exposed to a lot of accents growing up? I am not a minion of Evil...
I am upper management.
I am upper management.
Feb 23 2008 08:44 pm #9Guest
Guest
Yeah, I had Midwest words from my mother's side of the family, until I'd been living on my own for a while. It was very annoying to be asked if I was originally from the South, when I've lived in CA all my life.
I'm from the Midwest, but live in Connecticut now. People here never understand me when I say "pop" instead of "soda." I once told a co-worker that her pop was in the kitchen. She wondered why her father had come to visit her at work
People also mistake me for being from the South, which only tells me that they've never met anyone from the South 'cause I sound nothing like them. I actually consciously make sure my accent doesn't change. My husband, on the other hand, is from Canada, but he's pretty much adapted his speech to ours. Now, he sounds like he has an accent to his family
I'm from the Midwest, but live in Connecticut now. People here never understand me when I say "pop" instead of "soda." I once told a co-worker that her pop was in the kitchen. She wondered why her father had come to visit her at work
People also mistake me for being from the South, which only tells me that they've never met anyone from the South 'cause I sound nothing like them. I actually consciously make sure my accent doesn't change. My husband, on the other hand, is from Canada, but he's pretty much adapted his speech to ours. Now, he sounds like he has an accent to his family Feb 23 2008 09:41 pm #10Immortal Beloved
Crap 
That was me just above
That was me just above Give me Spuffy, or give me death.
One thing that Angel always wanted to do too was fit it, he could not fit in, in Sunnydale with and Irish accent. I was in the USA for a long time after he got his soul.
I myself know that I have changed my way of talk with the poeple in the city I live with, I grew up where in my language books it even mentioned the different more British dilect that we spoke in my part of Ontario, Canada.
I have been able to revert back to it when talking with friend,over in England, my parents never had it as they are not from where I grew up, Mom from MI and Dad from southern Ontario.
smlcspike
I myself know that I have changed my way of talk with the poeple in the city I live with, I grew up where in my language books it even mentioned the different more British dilect that we spoke in my part of Ontario, Canada.
I have been able to revert back to it when talking with friend,over in England, my parents never had it as they are not from where I grew up, Mom from MI and Dad from southern Ontario.
smlcspike
Feb 25 2008 12:42 am #12SpikesKatMac
One reason that Angel doesn't have an accent may be that he deliberately lost it, as a way to distance himself from Angelus; it's just another way to show that they are two different people; Angel hates who he was, so does everything he can to change himself; clothes, behavior, and accent. Spike and Dru have no such reasons; in fact, as pointed out earlier, Spike adopts a certain way of speaking, to sound like more of a bad ass.
A beautiful and ineffectual angel, beating in the void his luminous wings in vain - Matthew Arnold
Feb 27 2008 08:58 am #13Guest
Guest
Aside from david's appalling accent, i think it's because angel wanted to distance himself from angelus, when he lost his soul he probably couldn't even remember his original accent it had been so long since he used it.
Also i think Angel was probably ashamed of his accent, it wasn't easy to be irish in america in the early 1900s (no blacks, no dogs, no irish...), where spike was proud of his, being that england ruled half the world at one time.
Dru? well she's just crazy..
Aoife
Also i think Angel was probably ashamed of his accent, it wasn't easy to be irish in america in the early 1900s (no blacks, no dogs, no irish...), where spike was proud of his, being that england ruled half the world at one time.
Dru? well she's just crazy..
Aoife
One reason that Angel doesn't have an accent may be that he deliberately lost it, as a way to distance himself from Angelus; it's just another way to show that they are two different people;
That is how I always explained the loss of the accent. Angel always made such a fuss about how he was not Angelus that, to me, losing the accent would be one more way for him to tell himself that.
As for accents I find that mine changes a bit according to what I have been watching or who I have been talking with. I grew up in Utah with a mother from Ontario, Canada and an aunt from Manchester, England. I have the gift of speaking with the odd grammar that is very common in Utah but with the correct pronunciation of the words. I have actually been told before that I mispronounce the word ‘Saturday’ because I don’t pronounce it ‘Sadurday’ which is the way it is usually pronounced here.
Hey, eu andava a tentar juntar dinheiro para finalmente comprar um portátil de jogos, mas cada tentativa de apostar acabava sempre em pequenas perdas que só me deixavam mais frustrado. No meio disso, um amigo comentou sobre algo pensado para jogadores de Português e decidi experimentar, e acabei a clicar em playjonny. Comecei no Sweet Bonanza sem grandes expectativas e, depois de uma sequência péssima, aumentei ligeiramente a aposta e veio uma rodada que compensou tudo. Foi a primeira vez que senti que podia realmente aproximar-me da meta, então deixo aqui a recomendação final.
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