Having a go: US parents say Peppa Pig is giving their kids British accents | Hacker News Reader

Having a go: US parents say Peppa Pig is giving their kids British accents

theguardian.com

39 pointszeristor35 comments

I actually find this fun. I worked in the UK for awhile and I mentioned that many Americans find British accents charming. I asked if they felt the same about American accents to which I heard, “No, they just sound monotone.”

Back in the days when people could pay $$$ to change the voice of their cars GPS, the most popular soundpack in US was "the British butler".

On the other hand, "surfer dude" was pretty popular in Europe. Not sure how to interpret that one...

I would pay any amount to make my GPS sound like Samuel L Jackson.

“Turn right NOW Mother…!”

“Did I stutter Mother…?!”

“I know a stupid Mother… that better take that 3rd exit of the roundabout!”

Biggest disappointment of my new Garmin is that they no longer offer the British voices. I got accustomed to the “take the slip road on the left…” every time I got into the highway. But I can’t really complain overall, I tested it out by driving around Washington DC where roads layouts and intersection configurations are just insane and it’s lane assist was spot on, I actually enjoyed the drives.

Not GPS, but you can get his voice for a subset of Alexa interactions: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089NGHR7K

Hah, I used Surfer dude for a long time when I had a Nokia Windows Phone with Here maps. Seems like a lifetime ago.

Not just monotone but nasally. As if they have a bad cold. I'll be honest I don't personally know a single person that finds any American accents pleasent or attractive.

And yet most people in the US seem to think there's a single British accent, which is simply not true. Maybe if they heard a scouse, or geordie, or black country, West country, bristol, etc. they wouldn't even recognise it as a british accent

Americans complaining about TV teaching their kids foreign accents... Payback's a b***, eh? ;)

The article just says that Americans noticed that accent, not complained about it. Big difference.

Payback is a 'Brit' (quantity of asterisks replaced).

The French are renowned for being over-protective of their language. But I've been surprised at how fragile Americans also seem to be about their version of English.

Several times, I've downloaded ebooks off the intarwebs, written by British authors, and found that they were the US published edition and had all the spellings and even vocabulary changed to American versions.

It's very disconcerting to read a British authored book set in London where people notice the 'colors' of things, step down off the 'curb' and open the 'hood' of their 'auto'.

I wonder why this is? I've never read a UK published edition of a book by an American author which didn't retain the US spelling and vocabulary. Why are Americans so fragile about this kind of thing?

Famously "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was published in the US as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" because some apocryphal market research said that US kids wouldn't get the reference and would be turned off by the reference to "philosopher"

While the title was changed I find it hard to believe a significant number of 8 year old kids had even heard of the profession "philosopher" much less had any opinion positive or negative.

No argument with your statement, but wanted to say that I think any kid - American or otherwise - would find a Sorcerer cooler than a Philosopher. I would have to think that this alone would cause a change in title.

Well I am 42 and I would find a Sorcerer cooler than a Philosopher. With a few exceptions such as Diogenes.

Too many syllables? :) Should be happy it wasn’t changed to “magic dude”.

Maybe in Quebec they are, but in France, there’s tons of English. You may find yourself shopping at “The Market” grocery store where you can buy “Daddy Sugar” sugar or my favourite cleaning brand: “Okay”.

Big movie releases will often be available for watching dubbed or in English with French subtitles because enough people prefer that.

Studying another language is compulsory (and often English, but that often doesn’t mean much).

I recently read Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary and was taken aback by his use of the word "tyre" considering both he and the publisher are American. It was also the only word I noticed with distinctive British spelling -- for example, "color" was left without the "u"

For what it's worth, Americans say "car" and not "auto."

We're also far less tolerant of our own native dialects than how words are spelt across the pond.

It is fun to read old books on spelling and pronunciation from the 19th and early 20th century (I can't reference any, I just find them in old bookshops and antique stores from time to time). The absolute rigidity of language seemed to be a fascination of our forebears.

The oddest one for Americans when getting directions is "just turn left at the robot".

The etymology of the word derives from a description of early traffic lights as robot policemen, which then got truncated with time.

I first heard this term from some visiting South Africans. My immediate response was, “A robot? Where?!” followed by great disappointment.

Better than speaking like the Teletubbies do.

The Dutch have developed quite a good English because of English-spoken TV during their youth, with a fairly neutral accent.

By British accent one assumes they mean Received Pronounciation, RP.

It’s sad to see all the regional dialects blending into an amorphous English, perhaps we need a Campaign for Real Accents, could call it CAMRA.

I recall an interview with the Blue Peter presenter John Noakes regretting changing his Yorkshire accent to RP so he could work as an actor.

Can confirm. At the height of Peppa, we had a long (and hilariously fun) conversation with our 4 year old about whether the word 'lever' was pronounced "LEE-ver" or "LEH-ver". He also likes to ask if we'd like to "have a go" and other little Britishisms.

Unless the exposure is kept up, all this will go by they wayside by the end of first grade.

Australian has become heavily influenced by US TV over the past few decades. I think it's OK...as the result is hardly universal.

My otherwise awesome US girlfriend is indeed offended* by Australianisms in my speech. Nevertheless she has unwittingly absorbed some terms like brekky and duna.

* literally offended sometimes. The other day I learnt about one: using the word "mummy" when speaking to her kids. Apparently where she grew up (Manhattan) the word was used as a pretentious (or pejorative) word. How would I have known that? And how would she have known my use was innocent?

I grew up in a borough adjacent to Manhattan, but I'm not quite sure what's offensive about "mummy." It's not something we use, but it's not something we'd take issue with either (though it'd be a little out of place).

The only thing I can think of is it's proximity to mammy[1], which IS offensive, but it's clearly a different word with very different connotations.

I'm curious as to her line of thought here!

[1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammy_stereotype

This pejorative form sounds familiar to me from the US west coast too. As far as I understand it, the derivation is pretty much a conflation of WASP/blue blood/snob which kind of resonates with one thin American stereotype of Brits. Depending on context, I think it could imply the accused is infantile and/or positioned by nepotism...

Yeah hate to admit my kids watched enough of that and the Australian Bluey in the past few months she says some words and phrases with a heavy British or Aussie accent. Just things like the word “no” or short phrases like “grab the tawch (torch aka flashlight)”.

It’s honestly offputting but I figure when she has more time with random American kids in playgroups she’ll sound like an American again sooner or later.

why do you find it off-putting?

Swap the word “the” with raisin. “To” with cat

It makes following raisin conversation quite difficult. Raisin cognitive load is upped significantly trying cat keep up raisin conversation.

This example is so extreme and unrealistic as to be a straw man. The differences in language are not nearly so pervasive.

What? And not what because of your sentence but I didn’t get the point.

actually by the start of the second sentence of your demo i found i'd adapted

It's nowhere near as bad as you're making it out to be.

As a Brit, we get a ton of American TV and no-one bats an eyelid understanding flashlight, sidewalk, apartment, etc.

Can confirm "to-mah-to."

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