Accents According to James May | Head Squeeze

[@VerboseSlayer]

James's Scottish telephone bank waifu is probably the most endearingly amusing story I've ever heard in my life.

[@joh1372]

I could listen to this ramble for hours

[@valerkand9270]

"Richard Hammond is from Birmingham and therefore a potential threat"

[@TheUltimateBlooper]

That remark made laugh 🤣

[@arturosanchez6554]

I love James May way of speaking...!

[@MegaMech]

One day James will regret that someone uploaded this video with a blank green screen...

[@ROCKETMAN191]

"I still want them to meet an un-timely death" - James May

[@zinastanescu]

His voice is calm and its a pleasure to hear him speaking

[@thatlazguy]

I've just heard James May say 'Omegalols', my life is complete.

[@RetroSoulGirl]

3:58 LOL Poor Richard

[@niklaspilot]

I love the way australian girls and women pronounce the word "no"... Especially when they're in an argument. It's like they say "norrrrr" :D

[@Ravenholm337]

Music to my ears! There's like three different tones to that one "o".. I love it.

[@wufongtanwufong5579]

Not if you have to live around it 24/7

[@ryannicholls3662]

Indeed, it's bloody annoying, really.

[@JonatasAdoM]

It always amused me that the voice of a singer changes so much when they start talking.

[@Dr3Mc3Ninja]

The Australian accent is fantastic *_* I also love the Japanese and Southern Ireland accents.

[@klooger28]

im australian, and im curious why do people like our accent so much? i love scottish accents myself, just because its so funny :p

[@Chonkula]

I find most non-American accented English to be pleasant listening. Not bashing Americans, I'm one myself. But a man speaking in an Irish accent? Looove it! One pet peeve of mine is people who try to do an American Southern accent and do it *badly.* I've lived in Texas for years. I can tell when it's authentic sounding and when it's not.

[@Ravenholm337]

I love the Belfast-style Irish accent.. or brogue. Ulster, I guess it's called. That and Glaswegian.

[@HitodamaKyrie]

Aye. Perhaps many people think a southern accent is somehow a simple thing but it really isn't. The "South" is very large region anyway with plenty of (perhaps decreasingly) distinct accents. For example, I'm from Alabama, and while Texas and Alabama both count as "Southern", their accents are still detectably different. Though I'll also admit, my own accent would be a terrible example of a typical Alabama or even Southern accent. I possess many of the dialect traits such as "y'all" and the dawn/don distinction, but otherwise my accent probably sounds rather like that "General American" one. I think.

[@noman.reigns]

To that i'd say Brad Pitt nailed it in the movie, Inglorious basterds !!

[@appelpower1]

Scottish, Australian and Indian are my favourites. I like the way Germans speak English too.

[@WickerMan504]

Being American I love British accents

[@DarkPock]

It's funny to see how people react when they don't notice your accent, after a while they assume you are local, and then find out you are foreign. They always seem very surprised.

[@NadaMajdy]

How can Hammond be a potential threat? He's so nice, he's the nicest one of you guys (I mean the top gear presenters)

[@1bestrafung]

He's a potential threat any time he drives a car. Any other time he's probably fine.

[@Bzorlan]

All brummies are potential threats

[@brandonpayne7240]

James could have a podcasts about different subjects, I would definitely listen. Have occasional car podcasts with the Hammond and Clarkson.

[@Randystudio217]

But where is James’ accent from? He grew up all over the place but I love his accent. Does anyone know this exact accent?

[@Katie80-501]

Bahahaha! When James is talking about the indian accent on and educated woman it occured to me that he would really like my gynecologist because she's indian and she sounds jut like that!

[@Ramekenas]

2:15 are you really talking about vowels ?

[@KuntaKinteToby]

I agree with James about the Indian/Pakistani accent on women. If its too thick it can be off putting, but as he said when they are educated (that is speak good English), the accent becomes less thick and very attractive I think. Also like the West London accent quite a bit, like how Kate Beckinsale sounds.

[@veilside33]

I'm Aussie. My top 3 favourite accents are Irish, New Zealand and Eastern European.

[@veilside33]

***** It may not be perfectly spoken English or easy to understand but I still really like the way the accent sounds. Sorta like you can really like the sound of a song even if you don't understand the words.

[@MrDOB1000]

***** There's no perfect or correct English accent, between nations and regions accents vary and differ.... And who are you to judge accents in the UK if you're from Central Europe?? An accent from any city or region can be heavily accented , harsh or hard to understand - a bloke from "up north" can slag a person from Down south for having a cockney accent or West country accent but in my opinion that's also part of the beauty of language. If you think it's factual you must be some pretentious twat

[@VOLKAERIN]

I really like his voice. Probably my favorite accent.

[@Taino21]

Thank you so much... This is funny and interesting. I loved it

[@debbiethemadbee]

It depends what it is used for because people at Uni would use it because it is also the name of a collection of online journals and articles that academic places can login to.

[@coryman125]

I know it's oddly specific, but my favourite accent seems to be people who have lived both in Northern and Southern England. Like James, who Wikipedia tells me was born in Bristol and moved to Yorkshire. Or a friend of mine who's from Yorkshire, but goes to university in Gloucestershire. That said, regular British accents can be quite good, but some of them are a bit harder to understand with my untrained Canadian ears

[@wsc31]

The goal of language is to communicate with others and depending on the who/what/when/how of the moment we will alter our vocal and verbal patterns. It is important, though, to have a relatively fixed language to which we can refer to sort out the differences in meaning, intonation etc between individuals and groups. We are, as noted, mimics who can and do adapt to our environment even if unconsciously. We speak differently meeting the queen than when at the pub. Cheers/G'day

[@ze_rubenator]

You're not the only one who's a fan of Welsh,James. Tolkien built Quenya (one of the Elven languages) on Welsh. They both sound absolutely astonishing =D

[@ale58301]

These freestyle(?) rambles are even better than the actual Q&As!!

[@celestial_crash0]

THAT'S WHY I LOVE SCISHOW SO MUCH MORE, NO ANNOYING BGM

[@roshangomez]

'The Indian doctor' series had both of James favorite accents; Polished , educated Indian with rounded vowels and Welsh, well a different kind of Welsh though (Southern Wales)

[@sianwarwick633]

I've noticed fewer people attempted a middle class accent who aren't. That's a relief

[@kevinlumoindong3498]

i love Bill Nighy's accent.. :D :D

[@reNINTENDO]

I've noticed the similarities in accents when singing as well. Even from artists with quite rich English accents, they tend to sound more "American" when singing. I'm guessing some sounds we find in certain accents are just generally easier to sing in, much like high notes don't cater well to long E's for most singers.

[@Arcterion]

A slight Belgian accent is absolutely lovely on women. :D Makes it sound very soft.

[@mercatorpsi]

Glad you mentioned the Shibboleth Factor (which would be a great Ludlum novel title).

[@fredrikhedstrom4239]

thumbs up for James May!

[@irishelk3]

This is what James May does all day, even by himself.

[@TheFowlFint]

Glad I was here to see the misspelling

[@coyotehinderstein37]

I'm an American from new York and I really dig the Australian accent

[@nickrich56]

... every voice is unique ... accents become unique ... uniquely James May

[@sureallifebouy8690]

This man reminds me of someone that was in the Monty Python Troop, but I don't know who. As an American from the south, southerners tend to have a bit of a drawl to their speech patterns and speak very slowly. I've been told that I don't have a noticeable accent making it hard for people to guess where I'm from originally. I love the British accent though. It sounds so very prim and proper . There's an air of dignity in it. I heard this a long time ago that the difference between England and America is that we are two countries separated by the same language.

[@wasabus2]

For some reason I find bloopers more interesting than the actual episode.

[@magnomizer]

Do not be so hasty to make these assumptions. The title WAS incorrect, but they changed it within 10 minutes of its release (because they realized it, or because of my notice).I arrived at the 2 minute mark, so I was there to see the error.

[@emilyaisling233]

Brit from North Wales and my favourite accents are Welsh, Northern Irish and Manchester

[@RMoribayashi]

I didn't start making friends in my neighborhood until my late teens. From an early age my ears were filled with "Top 40" disk jockeys with flat Midwestern accents so I had only a slight Philadelphia accent. To fit in with these auto mechanics and weekend drag racers I had to consciously learn my native accent from them. Because of that I still have a bit of echolalia and have to be careful NOT to subconsciously try to sound like someone I'm speaking to.

[@jordanslater7264]

Our sat nav has a UK accent and is terrible at pronunciations of street name over here.

[@EdGeyy]

This was even better than the proper show xD

[@darkshad109]

Happens the other way too, I was watching a video the other day and the guy had a thick east London accent, some Americans in the comments were in agreement that he was from Australia.

[@daedra40]

James is so poetic :P

[@bircheyboymagic]

i think they forgot to do something in the editing suite... not sure what it is though...

[@KAMIKAZE-dk8xd]

omg im in love with the music, what is it called? u should put song names in ur discription.

[@BOXAXIU]

Anyone Know The Background Song Name??

[@BricksOfAwesome]

I want Glados as my sat nav voice

[@linky8899]

James may you sound like a bank manager. And we are a potential threat!! Beware!! Lol

[@nizodizo9549]

You Should do a video on body language.

[@Baggytrousers27]

I do have to agree. Certain female indian accents are surprisingly pleasing to the ear.

[@been01010]

"Richard Hammond is a potential threat" lol i can dig that bro :3

[@magnomizer]

The title is mispelled. Awsomesauce, instead of Awesomesauce

[@hugo46]

Does anybody know the name of the song in the backgound? It's cool, innit?

[@JoaoPessoa86]

Trying to learn English I noticed that sung English sounded a lot more similar across the board regardless of where the singer was from. I also only recently began to hear the difference between European English accents.

[@Fahrvergnugen]

There's something dreadfully endearing about James May saying "amazeballs."

[@klooger28]

What part of england is the accent from where the t is silent? like in the word better

[@ShinyHall]

Thats the accent people have from around Manchester, I and most of the people I know don't pronounce our t's

[@falcychead8198]

You'll hear it in a few different "common" accents, like Cockney and some Scottish. It's called a "glottal stop," which you would pronounce "glo'l." If you can leave the T out of "stop," you're getting it right. I've noticed what differentiates the islanders from the Americans is that there's no middle ground; Britons will pronounce "butter" either as "bu'er" or they'll really hit the T sound. Only Americans say "Budder."

[@rockandclassiccars]

Falcy Chead Try as I might, I just Cannot leave the 't' out of 'stop'. I only get 'sop'.

[@ShinyHall]

then you are leaving the t out..

[@klooger28]

Alex Hall that doesnt sound like that accent to me though :/

[@debbiethemadbee]

James must have to ring them up a lot with as many vehicles as he has lol

[@FigTreeCinemas]

My personal favorite accent is going to be a tie between the Fairouzeh and the Damascus way of speaking arabic.

[@rebelguy9487]

The accents that make me weak in the knees are Southern US, Broad Australian, Northeastern British (Yorkshire especially), and English spoken with a German accent

[@debbiethemadbee]

Or any of his other programmes or read any of his books.

[@alflurin]

I love to County Donegal accent!

[@TheFowlFint]

Does Head Squeeze ever respond to comments? If so I was wondering if James has ever done long Podcasts and f not I would love to see it.

[@TheVildee]

What accent does James have? I've noticed that when he for example says "mouth", he pronounces it like "meuth", and same with "now", it becomes "neuw". Right? Is this a part of some dialect, or is it just his way of speaking? Coming from a country with many dialects myself (Norway), I'm fascinated by the British accents, but find it hard to place them on the map!

[@cl-qe8rx]

Those examples sound a bit "West Country", he did say that his family were from that sort of area.

[@TheVildee]

c l Oh, okay! Thank you :)

[@TheDeadlyOrchids]

TheVildee Maybe a bit late, but like the person before, he has a West Country accent from Bristol. West Country could also range down to the south coast of England, specifically Cornwall, Devon or Dorset, they sound a bit more like pirates... not so much now but the older generation of people usually do. :)

[@TheVildee]

Katrina Beagley Haha, that's so cool! :)

[@TheDeadlyOrchids]

TheVildee haha kind of is when you're a child from London and when you go on holiday to the south coast. You think everyone are pirates; you could listen to them all day. Well... maybe that was just me lol.

[@demoniack81]

I lol'd so much at that episode

[@lol11able]

didn't even notice until you said

[@stevesnowcrash7308]

I find the Australian accents don't vary all that much. Urban to rural is the biggest difference. I'm a Brit so we have hundreds of accents over a relatively small area but at least 3 X the population. My favourite in a female is Dublin Irish.

[@mac16one]

I love scottish accents, Gerard Butler could talk my ears off and I wouldnt mind!!!!! I also love, what we call, the "English Brothers", Edidris Elba, Chewetel Edjofor, Eammon Walker. They just sound sooooo charming.

[@kibromley9261]

i have a question what if we as humans evolved to have more than two arms legs etc

[@Coryboy210]

WILL THERE BE MORE TOP GEAR EPISODES.

[@TheIcem4n01]

An Irish accent which isn't too strong is the best!

[@cl-qe8rx]

Welsh mentioned, swell with balchder.

[@cameronguitar5782]

Falling asleep to Captain slows explaining again, Lol

[@eruno_]

I really like Glasgow accent

[@jamiegrant6204]

Women with Dutch accents I like, Danish and Swedish too. Texas accents kinda cute too. (have a oxford accent myself I allways thought I sound shit but oh well)

[@wrux]

whats an oxford accent?

[@GreatlakesdenNetNews]

Have to agree with him on the accents. My personal faves are American Southern and Australian, but the Indian, Welsh and Scots accents would get me to say "Well, hello there."

[@DaffaBun]

Yeah haha, a green shirt with the rectangle picture in the middle, he'd look like a floating billboard with a head (or two to be exact) :P

[@arrdcore]

I tend to customize my accent to the one of the person I'm talking to, this is rather unintended though.

[@debbiethemadbee]

Oh dear lol. Just imagine: "You have the slowest car............ in the world" "GET ON WITH IT! And get a decent car you idiot"

[@robot7759]

My favourite accent is "shut up", aka silence. Most people make so much more sense with this accent😇

[@end8316]

As North Welsh person, I did not expect that. I usually get called a sheepshagger

[@darkshad109]

Are you highlighting that he said "Welsh" and "north" or am I missing something here?

[@sufyanhussain15]

I have a daffy duck voice on my sat nav. It makes car journeys quite entertaining.

[@IanSantopietro]

James needs to wear that shirt on Top Gear.

[@appletree8441]

I like the sound of singers in a Chinese opera. It sounds like a cat being cut into its main parts

[@allan.n.7227]

My dad likes the female voice of the Garmin (danish) like Hammond likes the bank lady's... he named her Inge.. according to him she always wants him to turn left ..

[@TheOriginalEviltech]

When i'm looking at you on the green screen you seem to have a glow arround you, but when i look at it, it disapears... Why is that?

[@nomad6337]

hmmm my accents changes according to the person im currently conversing with

[@williamschlich8389]

lol well wicked innit bruv :D

[@Chartranos]

can we alter the rotation of the earth with wind generators???????

[@guusbouwmans5667]

No

[@MrKoiking1]

i live 40 minutes from Birmingham. i can confirm everyone from Birmingham and within this area IS a potential threat.

[@MatekTF]

"proper hardcore welsh from the north" - james may 2013

[@afluka]

"very rounded", "very bubbly", "over inflated"... I wonder if he has other things on his mind other than sound.