Please note: This trivia was suggested by Jem. It has not been approved.
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In Into the Woods when Riley comes and stakes Spike with the plastic woodgrain stake, as he turns to leave and Spike begins laughing, when he says “Oh, man”, his American accent slips through and you can distinctly tell. Then he’s back into his English accent again. |
| Suggested by: | › Jem |
| Added: | › 4th October 2005 |
| Updated: | › 24th February, 2006 |
| Hits: | › 475 |
October 28th, 2005 at 4:14 pm
By now, this is off topic, but I think James’s accent is awesome. I loved it later on (like 6 and 7) but I’m probably not a very good judge of British accents, as currently I am living in Missouri. Very few English people here.
October 28th, 2005 at 7:24 pm
Its a great accent. it makes him a really captivating character. but its sooooo not english. if he came over here to england and spoke like that he would stick out like a sore thumb. its a very strange accent. like an impression of english, almost a stereotypical send-up. like the english potentials. they are doing victorian accents!!!!
while giles speaks normal english (obviously, as he is english) he is still speaking in a very posh manner, which makes spikes accent blend in more.
October 28th, 2005 at 10:04 pm
Oh.
October 29th, 2005 at 12:12 am
The thing about Spike’s accent is that he gets the sounds more or less English, but where he puts the stress on words is still quite American. To get technical for a moment, in unstressed syllables in English (of both types) we tend to turn vowels into a sort of “uh” sound (which is called “schwa”). For example, in the name “Nicholas”, we say “Nick-uh-luhs”, not “Nick-o-lass”.
Since the accent often falls in different places in the word in British English and American English, James Marsters often tends to properly realise vowels, rather than just say the schwa. Even though the British vowels are British-sounding (as opposed to American vowels, which are actually articulated quite differently), it sounds funny to a British person, because we’d expect a schwa.
Another example of the same sort of thing: Quentin Travers’ accent is really good, but there’s an episode where he gives away his American-ness. He says “evi-DENT-ly” where a Brit would say “EVI-duhnt-ly”
Hope that wasn’t too boring…
October 31st, 2005 at 5:55 pm
one might also consider the fact that Spike hasn’t been living in England for a long time, and it’s likely that over time, he’s picked up a few new and exciting inflections. I doubt this was intentional, but it does happen. Someday I will tell you the story of my stepfather’s accent and all its transformations and the eclectic way he talks now.
I mean, somehow Angel lost his Irish brough (sic)…thankfully, so it’s just as likely Spike’s accent would become transformed.
Also, remember that Spike changed his accent when he became a vampire, so if much of what he says sounds forced or inauthentic, it’s somewhat consistent with his character.
SDB’s description regarding English accents is very interesting and all, save for the fact that it doesn’t encompass the differences regionally, which I know exist because my bestfriend’s fiance who is from Birmingham sounds different from other English folk I’ve met.
Personally, I’d like to believe that despite accent and dialect commonalities, British people also sound very different from one another and pick up unique ways of speaking from being exposed to people from different regions of the nation and the world, be it through music or movies or through human interaction. In the Boston area alone, there are at least four different ways you can eliminate the R’s from the ends of words.
November 3rd, 2005 at 11:47 pm
you are of course correct, oh great one. Tho’ I think it might be his brogue that Angel lost…
November 4th, 2005 at 2:14 am
Well, at least he lost it.
November 4th, 2005 at 2:47 am
No offense to David B. but his Irish accent kinda sucked. Did he still have the accent when he got his soul? Maybe he lost it because he wanted to start over and be, like, a different person.
November 4th, 2005 at 5:25 pm
thanks mr. superdinoboy, i can NEVER spell that word correctly ever. does anyone ever get physically embarassed for David B./Angel when you hear his brogue? I do.
November 15th, 2005 at 6:23 pm
no i dont think he decided to lose the accent when he got the soul because he didnt realise for a few seconds that he had the soul back. he was just confused so i think he gradually lost it earlier