Sandi Toksvig’s British Accent Is Fake | Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled | Dave

Alan Davies is joined by long-time sparring partner Stephen Fry and future QI host Sandi Toksvig for offbeat chat. With Sara Pascoe and Alex Edelman.
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[@m27d42]

I love her! Always have, always found her so funny, so glad she's doing QI now and bake off, she should be on more stuff! 😘

[@ajhiflyer]

You are so right!

[@philipleworthy7871]

Agreed. Bring back No 73

[@action963]

She is awful

[@francaperotti5934]

I remember her doing her first gig has a children TV presenter then she came out.

[@Station9.75]

Yeah. It’s too bad Bake Off is a farce of a competition.

[@JakeJustIs]

Goodness, she really is the proper replacement for Stephen Fry. They both have similarly mischievous beginnings.

[@JohnJohnson-ok4gf]

Probably the only host (ever) who had taken over form another host (of any show) who was able to fill the enormous shoes left behind.

[@briansammond7801]

@@JohnJohnson-ok4gf I don't know if that's true. I think Rob Brydon on Would on Lie to You? not only filled Angus Deayton's shoes, but had to get a new, larger pair. But then, Deayton's shoes were not enormous.

[@matthewrandell5055]

@@JohnJohnson-ok4gf what about This Morning

[@ildix]

Kaian凯安 Stephen was expelled from a boarding school because of credit card fraud. He was also regularly stealing sweets from the local shop and fled from school to London without permission. He ended up in prison for young offenders

[@punkisinthedetails1470]

Simon Anstell has let himself go

[@iansmith101]

I'm not being funny but, as a Scotsman who has spent many years travelling this planet, it's COMMON to every human to change their accent to suit their surroundings, I sound very very strange to people from my home town when I return but, that only lasts for a few hours until my brain slips back into my original accent and vise versa.

[@annmitchell4663]

ian smith I know..I only have to go to Skegness for a week and I end up sounding like a local..lol

[@RustlessPotato]

Yeah, it's called echolalia

[@finding_aether]

Steve McLaren Dutch accent is cool

[@animerlon]

I agree, especially with kids, i think they don't even notice. My mum lived in a very diverse urban area when a child & my gran always knew whose house she'd been to by the accent she had when she came home.

[@robertballasty395]

Fairly common, probably, but certainly not all people change accent to surroundings. I wonder if it's indicative of perception of variations in tone. My father was immutable New York (mostly New York, that is - but definitely immutable) no matter where he lived until the day he died. My sister never varied much, either. On the other hand, a short visit to or with a few people from the old country and my mother sounds like she just got off the boat! ....and me - I spent time in speech therapy in elementary school as my accent slid back and forth.

[@hannahaidastitcher8098]

I could and would watch HOURS of Alan, Stephen and Sandi just sitting around a table discussing their lives.

[@holidaysinsweden]

I Love Sandi Togsvik's storytelling.

[@ChaseEverything]

Lol 90210

[@eizhowa]

I love how fast she talks. Saves time.

[@action963]

I hate it...she the most unfunny boring dull oul sac of shit ive ever seen!

[@ballscrusher4]

@@action963 i think someone misses stephen

[@toberwine]

@@eizhowa Yes, she respects her audience enough to not keep pausing to give them time to get the humour!

[@CalvinLimuel]

"When I'm tired, I speak with an American accent." I'd love to hear more of that!

[@lohphat]

All accents are acquired. I have a close friend who I first knew as an American, then when she picked up the phone one day it was her gran from Surrey and she switched into her native RedHill/Croydon accent without skipping a beat. She too will slip into it when tired or drunk. It's really fascinating when it happens.

[@lornallewellyn1520]

@Joe Dick She was 8 when she moved to the US so like Sandi in reverse, she had to acquire a local (Californian) accent to survive at school.

[@nunliski]

Your friend is faking an accent, idiot.

[@hobmoor2042]

@@nunliski Have you ever lived in another country for a few years and picked up the local accent? It's not "fake" to absorb the local way of speaking, it's natural.

[@pineapples8503]

yeah but you generally don't purposefully adapt an accent bc you're literally shunned bc of the one you have, how do you not understand the difference lol

[@junbh2]

It's weird to me that if you learn a completely new language and pronounce things correctly, people call it becoming fluent. But if you learn to speak a slightly different dialect of your language equally well, and can switch between your two dialects and speak both perfectly, rather than calling you fluent they call it fake!! If she was 14 when she learned this accent she's been speaking it often for most of her life! It's as much her 'real' accent as her other one.

[@junbh2]

FWIW, when she does the american accent it's fairly good but it actually sounds a little exaggerated. She's doing that thing many British people do when they're mimicking an american accent, where they're making it unusually nasal (come to think of it, Canadians and Americans kind of do that when they do a fake English accent sometimes, too). What I'm saying is, I find her american accent a little off somehow. It's actually more fake sounding than her English one. I wonder if after so many years in the UK she's slightly lost her ability to do a real US accent. Though she may just be exaggerating it a little to do a caricature of the person she's making fun of.

[@terencekreft482]

She's probably exaggerating it for effect and because she is forcing it. I switch accents depending on who I'm talking to without effort (because childhood) but I am sure it sounds very false when I think about it and try to "do" an accent.

[@storageheater]

@junbh2 she exaggerated an american accent? to make a point about how brash and gauche she seemed to uptight british people? on british tv?! and then after 40 years of disuse it turns out she doesn't really sound 100% american? what is the world coming to thankfully america only has one accent that's never changed or it'd be too much to even consider

[@nancylindsay4255]

"America only has one accent that's never changed" You're kidding, right?

[@storageheater]

Yes, why?

[@lovelygirl18]

When in college to become an English teacher they told us to either pick the 'American' or the 'British' accent and stick to it. Now they had no idea that when they send me off to actual England I'd come back with a Northern dialect, which they were not pleased about.

[@rtarbinar]

haha that's awesome! northern's my favorite!

[@seth1455]

"they told us...." who is they ? where are you from ? which northern dialect ? There is good story in there somewhere , but you only told half of it.

[@Nabend1402]

@@seth1455 They might be German, cause that's how it went when I studied English at university. I picked British English, i.e. proper RP, but then spent a year as a foreign language assistant in Scotland (Dundee) and now the Scots accent is here to stay.

[@Mad5am]

Oh God. I would love to hear that.

[@samaraisnt]

I always laugh my ass off of how much people don't know about British accents and what "English" is supposed to sound like. I tutored these Spaniards who had these GOD AWFUL tapes of English speaker's with *the world's strongest* Cockney horrendous accents, which was supposed to demonstrate proper pronunciation(from the curriculum!!). I literally couldn't understand all of it. They'd be like "Oh he said this" I'm like great, so now you have an ear for this shite. Good luck with speaking to anyone raised outside the rough parts of London. It's also funny because there's a huge bias against my accent as a teacher (North American) though I have a neutral accent that's especially easy to understand for many languages, but they have absolutely no concept of "accent" outside of "British." Hence, a friend with a very distinct Geordie accent went off to teach English, now he'll have dozens of little Geordie speakers goings out into the world...and they'll have a perfectly easy time being understood...on one side of the Tyne. :)

[@morphman86]

For anyone wondering, this is from the episode titled "I don't know if it was the embarrassment or the narcotics, but I have a nosebleed". One of my favourite episodes!

[@signebuhlandersen8566]

where can you see the full episodes? :)

[@morphman86]

@@signebuhlandersen8566 On Dave/UKTV Play.

[@DanDownunda8888]

@@signebuhlandersen8566 If you have a VPN, just set it to London then go to the UKTV website.

[@Alowishius]

@@signebuhlandersen8566 you can find them online as a podcast if you search for alan davies as yet untitled podcast

[@sarahjones8396]

I must find that; is it available on KZbin or UKTVPlay?

[@Truffle_Pup]

The saying "sent them to Coventry" is still to this day one of my favourites. I hope it never gets forgotten.

[@pivinne5536]

it's called code switching, loads of people do it. I speak with a cockney accent when i visit my family in south london, and have the typical middle class accent everywhere else.

[@thehoneyeffect]

That's slightly different, what Sandi did was cultural appropriation, she took on an accent from a culture that was not hers. She purposely learned an RP english accent which allowed her to exploit her white privilege to the utmost.

[@adieljonsson864]

@@thehoneyeffect This is not what cultural appropriation is in the slightest, you loon.

[@johnbeer4963]

I remember the first time I experienced code switching. A member of my family used to talk like the rest of us, not a strong accent. When he talked to his friends, he used a broad yorkshire accent. I always considered it a bit disingenuous even at six. To this day it takes me living in a place with very strong accents like Liverpool for a couple of weeks to pick up a slight accent from there.

[@somefuckstolemynick]

I work in engineering. I’m from a small town on the countryside, but studied in the capital. When I’m talking to other engineers I speak with a city accent, when I speak with colleagues on “the floor” I use my hometown accent. It’s completely unintentional, I have not conscious control of it. Kinda funny though.

[@somefuckstolemynick]

@Paraig Mc Gee whoosh

[@spencerraney4979]

English teachers love to stretch books out to infinity.

[@xonxt]

Which is weird to me, because we've had both Russian literature and Ukrainian literature classes (separately) every year at my school and we usually tackled at least a dozen different novels and/or books during every year. How can you stretch one book for an entire year is a mystery to me.

[@frantisekzverina473]

And Catcher in the rye is not a particularly long book on top of that

[@totalweirdo8538]

While this is true, the 'Catcher in the Rye' part of this story was while she was still in America.

[@Mi5terMarc]

I believe Sandi was engaging in a bit of hyperbole. No curriculum, even in dumb ole 'Murica, would spend an entire year on one book. High School english classes (at least, when I was enrolled) generally covered anywhere from 5-10 books per semester (depending on the length of the works and other subjects that required covering).

[@feebeedoc78]

Our final English class when I was growing up consisted of various segments - comprehension (which could involve any piece of prose or poetry); Shakespeare (usually King Lear); a play (often Arthur Miller), a novel (just to be safe, Gatsby). The best thing my teachers ever taught me was to read outside the curriculum.

[@gremlin.x]

'' I didn't realise we were going to read the book one word at a time'' Literally my classmates when they try to read a word that has more than 4 syllables

[@TheMDJ2000]

I grew up in Australia with a father who was Australian but a terrible anglophile. He used to train me to speak with a kind of faux RP English accent. To this day (I'm 62) my accent is a strangled mixture of Australian bloke and English radio announcer. I can speak with a broader Aussie accent if I try but it doesn't feel natural.

[@JuiceBoxAndTicTacs]

"They sent me somewhere I've never even heard of... ...*Coventry*" 😂

[@ricardobimblesticks1489]

@bw 1506 you are aware of the idiom 'Send to Coventry' meaning to ignore?

[@zetetick395]

Ignorance really is bliss!

[@ricardobimblesticks1489]

@bw 1506 well ignore my previous comment then :D

[@r0bw00d]

It's better than Slough.

[@Lancer7117]

Ricardo Bimblesticks what is this idiom

[@ryancoulter4797]

I’d love to see her and Hugh Laurie talk and each using their fake accent - her UK accent and his American - and then just switch

[@marieravening927]

They are not fake accents, they are learned so they fit in with the locals. If they spoke with a heavy accent, many people would accuse them of not trying to speak as others do.

[@RIXRADvidz]

these snippets are enough to keep me tantalized...but seriously, if there is ANY compassion in the Universe, somebody PLEASE upload these shows

[@StreamOnU]

Hi there. You can watch episodes of Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled on UKTV Play: uktvplay.uktv.co.uk/ or download the app.

[@RIXRADvidz]

UKTV cheers right! but I only have a laptop and not a hand held device. thanks for the link!

[@steindorh]

And if I live in Iceland? =(

[@DrewKane]

Why not just upload them to youtube? I'll never pay for your shitty region-locked app.

[@Xyzabc998]

On podcast as well.

[@andywright8803]

That's how every single english teacher strangled out of me any love I had for literature

[@splitpitch]

I think schools do this on purpose to both literarure, art and even history, so they can pump out workforce ready drones. But I had a rebel English teacher at age 12 who read us 4/5th of John Wyndham's 'The Chrysalids'. I had to hunt it out and finish it myself.

[@peterolsen9131]

Nun's and christian brothers beat it out of me, as well as any faith in the school system

[@splitpitch]

@@peterolsen9131 nowadays, you have to pay good money to get a nun to beat you.

[@peterolsen9131]

@@splitpitch lol

[@AdmiralBonetoPick]

I remember when we studied "Decline and Fall" by Evelyn Waugh: week after week, chapter by chapter, we had to scrutinise characters' motivations and such like. It wasn't until we were 90% of the way through, that a student came in one morning and announced that he'd realised the book was supposed to be funny/ironic/satirical. Up until then, the entire class had been taking everything at face value and assessing it dryly and unironically, and the teacher had never explained that the book was supposed to be a comedy.

[@ericacrombie9035]

Woww I have much respect for this great woman. I've never actually heard anyone admit to purposefully changing an accent so the way Sandi just comes out and says it shows to me how confident and sure of herself she is. *bows down*

[@rocketcon]

Erica Crombie John Barrowman did the same thing when he moved to America. He only slips back into his Scottish accent when he is in Scotland or with his family.

[@PHlophe]

when you get older you admit to it lol! whne you are younger if you are accused of faking the melody of the language , you get jumpy. she is ok with me lol!

[@junbh2]

+rocketcon Is that why his American accent is so unusual sounding?

[@danidejaneiro8378]

Having lived out of my native Australia for several years and speaking mainly to non-Australians and non-natives in English, I'll admit that I have altered my pronunciation to be more easily understood - especially when teaching!

[@ynotnilknarf39]

I did it when I moved South from the North of England as a late teen, despite my fairly good elocution my regional accent meant certain folk simply didn't understand me, I also had that 'Northerner' tag which in some circles were fine, in other circles not so. I drop back to my 19 year old self after a long chat with my mum or after a few days when visiting family and friends back in the 'motherland' :o)

[@gcooper642]

I've lived in Scotland for most of my life and have adopted a Scottish accent, but I have a 2 year old nephew and I've noticed that I talk to him with a Geordie accent. It's the accent people spoke to me when I was that age. I just fall into it naturally.

[@kokoken1]

In a way, it's like John Barrowman using an American accent when he's there and a Scottish one the rest of the time.

[@mrcaboosevg6089]

For the longest time i never actually knew where that man was from, he's great with accents

[@williamrance5086]

Some years ago, my wife was a medical staffing officer at the local NHS hospital in a town in northwest England/UK. During a new recruitment drive the hospital took on a group of young German doctors. One of them, a female, was so loved by the hospital staff that she got invited out to many a party with the Brits'. When she returned home to Germany for the Christmas break, many of her friends and relatives who tried out their 'English' upon her were completely stumped with her Lancashire dialect!

[@Lilithly]

That's not really fake, is it? She learned it. My english isn't fake just because I studied it in school, it's just not my mothertongue.

[@SummerBayJournal]

She's talking about her accent not her language :)

[@handsoffmycactus2958]

She made it up to fit in, therefore she faked it. So yes it is

[@annainspain5176]

If she says it's fake, then you can say it's fake. She put it on to fit in, as a conscious decision. Many politicians do the same thing.

[@BrianOfAteionas]

Fake it 'til you make it, as they say.

[@cipher88101]

It was fake, she is fairly fluent in both. She is just saying it's "fake" because that's what it was, but she has lived there her entire life.

[@ChaoticAphrodite]

Title is partially misleading. Technically speaking, she's bidialectal, as is Gillian Anderson. She can speak both British and American,even if both dialects are heavily accented (even a posh New York accent is a N'Yawk accent).

[@hugolindum7728]

Aphrodite She's bilingual I think in that her first language is Danish.

[@Tripserpentine]

safe to say she is multilingual and multidialectical then again everyone can put up another accent/dialect of their mother tongue right?

[@hugolindum7728]

Tripserpentine I don't think she's a polyglot. She is however bilingual.

[@eizhowa]

She most likely simplified to make the story telling better :)

[@morganetches3749]

I think she went to a French lycee at some point - so she may speak French

[@ffrreeddyy123456]

I have always adored Stephen, but Sandy is growing on me a lot! Proud to be myself, happy to be an American. Never proud of something I did not do, but always happy to relate to others. Cheers💛

[@stiras1]

I'm Norwegian and I speak English with a British AND an American accent. Not at the same time and I try to be consistent with my British accent, but I cannot get rid of the American accent because I have lived both in the UK and in America. Therefore, most of the time when I speak English, I will speak British English, but if I am stopped by an American on the street, or if I talk to my friends who know me from when I lived there, I speak American. To me it's like two different languages, two different parts of me. When I speak Norwegian I only talk one way because that is how I learned to speak, and if I change my dialect it's only a pretense, but I have two ways of speaking English and that's just how it is.

[@stiras1]

Oh yeah. Like I use typical American words when I speak British. I will say "pants" instead of "trousers" when we all know that "pants" mean underwear in Britain! I remember wearing jeans too big and I said "Oh these pants keeping slipping off", and my friend was like "you do know that means underwear in this country, right?" :P I also mix American and British spelling.

[@stiras1]

Hehehe... yeah. **blushing** But I didn't really think about it, and because I actually sound like a native people might actually think I meant knickers... :P But I don't think it's THE worst. My American friend told me that her mum went to Britain and told a funny story where she ended up falling on her fanny. xD

[@ThatDamnPandaKai]

Most people who take ESL (English as a Second Language) in school tend to sound more American, because it's generally the standard used, because it's the most prominent (due to pop culture)

[@hwren9845]

My girlfriend is Danish but lives in the UK and whenever she speaks English here she has a British accent but when we go to Denmark she speaks English with an American accent, even if she's talking to me! It's really bizarre.

[@magnusgranskau7487]

I speak english with english, american and norwegian accents at the same time

[@Finians_Mancave]

She grew up in New York, but moved to London sometime in grade school. Under those circumstances, it's completely normal and reasonable that her accent shifted into an English one. In every interview I've seen of Linda McCartney (Paul's wife), she has an English accent, despite her having lived in the U.S. until the age of 27, when she moved to London with Paul. Even at that late stage, I wouldn't consider her accent "fake". She simply adapted to her new surroundings/lifestyle.

[@nunliski]

No, it's not normal. It's a conscious choice. It's fake. Sandi even explains in this very video that it is a conscious choice she makes.

[@francesquinn-escott744]

Madonna faked an English accent when she was married to Guy Ritchie and living in the UK. Check AbFab comments on"Madge"

[@brendanlinnane5610]

Paul McCartney's accent has soften considerably over the years.

[@Gabu_]

@@nunliski You've clearly never left your tiny personal bubble.

[@nunliski]

@@Gabu_ However tiny my bubble is, it's a bit unusual to live life with a fake accent.

[@theblanketfortcohort7332]

Wow! I kinda assumed she'd be Nordic or European not American aha. Wow

[@cherieuk4488]

She has Danish grandparents I think...She wrote a children's book about life there in WW2

[@realitymatters8720]

Born in Denmark to danish parents, her farther was a correspondent for danish state radio, stationed in the US, back in the 60´s and 70´s. He loved the states, but hated its political system and its callus foringn policy´s, he made very good indebt analysys of the american condition. Growing up in the 70´s I remeber him explaing the problems Nixon inflicted on the US, loyaly and factualy, keeping nothing hidden, but with a clear hope and expectation that the state would recover, this violent assault on US law.

[@amysmagicalworld5969]

British mother, Danish father

[@realitymatters8720]

@@amysmagicalworld5969 did not know about the mother, thx.

[@kristianbrandt3012]

She is, in every way which matters on paper, Danish. However off paper, well she's like the goal keeper Kasper Schmeichel, born in Denmark, fluent in Danish, Danish parents but hasn't spent that much time in Denmark. Everybody knows Kasper because he's the son of a legend, but I'm pretty sure most Danes don't know that Sandi is Danish.

[@SuperNoX86]

I didn't like her at first on QI, but now she's amazing on the show and her laugh is so amazing. She should do the rest until it finishes!

[@type17]

"...until it finishes!"? ..........IT FINISHES?! - WHAT kind of nonsense is this?

[@arthurpewtey]

@Joe Dick Congratulations - you win "Most Appropriate Name of the Day" for today, and it's only 7am here. Well done, you!

[@nunliski]

She sucks. It's like having Alex Trebek hosting QI.

[@flyingpenandpaper6119]

She's fine, probably one of the best possible replacements for Stephen. But I do really miss Stephen.

[@worrywart1311]

@@nunliski I disagree and anyway I far prefer my hosts to be living, breathing people.

[@hg82met]

I can listen to both Stephen and her read the phonebook and not be bored. They're great storytellers.

[@ooglefluffg857]

I wouldn't call it "fake." That is, unless it's a constant charade the she has to actively keep up. I personally know about five or six people that have changed their accents with varying degrees of intention. All of them slip back and forth occasionally depending on exhaustion, intoxication, or just who they're speaking to, but their accent isn't something they consciously think about; it just comes naturally after a while. I also sometimes find myself slipping into a much thicker Canadian accent when an engaging conversation gets going, and it's entirely unintentional.

[@Sigart]

To be honest, I think Americans especially has a weird definition of whatøs fake and what's not. I'm not sure if the British are similar but I've noticed this trend with US Americans. Basically if you're not always forthright about everything (even things that have nothing to do with the other person) you're fake. Like if you don't tell your casual workmates that you're gay, regardless that your sexuality have nothing to do with work, or, as here, if your accent or dialect doesn't reflect where you're from.

[@domm.427]

@@Sigart I know that this comment is 4 years old, but it explained so much about Americans that I didn't really understand until now. They've often come across to me (an Aussie) as frustratingly in-your-face and I didn't know what it was that caused them to be that way until this cleared things up for me.

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

She’s now a British citizen since 2013 and was a danish citizen since she was born in 1958

[@StefanTravis]

It's John Barrowman in reverse.

[@shaggydog9789]

Namworrab Nhoj?

[@blessedbees4247]

I’m Scot/Irish but grew up in the deep south,Georgia in the US, so you can imagine how thick and odd my accent was. Anyway, I moved to Hawaii for two years and my accent faded almost completely. Then one day when a few friends and I were sitting on the patio outside a tapas bar I overheard a couple talking with a southern accent laced with a Scottish lilt and we all chatted for a bit. After the couple left I noticed my two friends were staring at me with a confused look on their face. When I asked what was wrong they said after about five minutes of the couple and I chatting our accents became so thick they had no idea what we were talking about lol. So nice to hear Sandi’s story, read the comments about having odd accents , and know that I am not the only one who goes native when around others with the same accent.

[@annettefournier9655]

It's so true. When tired you slip back into your first speech pattern most of the time. But it's drop dead tired exhausted. Not simply nap time tired.

[@famprima]

I can relate to that experience in school. I missed my entire final years German for exactly that kind of teaching. Thank god my mother didn't bother much with school as long as I got good grades and read my head off.

[@Widdekuu91]

I've got several stages of accents when I speak. I am Dutch and I speak Dutch with a slíííght Amsterdam accent (that I am not proud of nor happy with.) When I speak British-English, others would say it sounds like a mixture between an American accent, a British one and a Dutch accent. If I'm surrounded by Americans, the accent changes to American. British changes it to more-British. Once I get tired, the pronounciation becomes more lazy. The Dutch accent will grow stronger. And if I'm exhausted or angry or distracted and busy with important things, the Dutch accent will overpower and might even become Amsterdam. Normal day: "Hellooooh, I'm Emma, dis is my Brííítish accent and Iii law-ve German Pretzels.." American day: "Hí, I'm Emma, this is mááh-y Bwritish accént and I lááhwve German Pretzels." Tired day: 'Helloow, I'm Emma, dis is my Bríítish aksund and I lahve German Pretzels.." Very tired day: "Hellooooow, Ai'm Emma, dis is mai Brittis aksund and I lav Germun Pretzols." Exhausted: "Hehlloow, Ai em Emma, dissis mai Brittus eksund end Ai laf Djurmun Pretzols."

[@markduffy7685]

I've got to find this full episode, 4 of my favourite QI stars all telling stories.

[@allanmoncrieff5579]

I remember Sandi from who's line is it anyway and I've always loved her dry sense of humour...😁

[@WildwoodTV]

We often tend to speak in an accent matching those we are speaking with, I used to get into terrible trouble with my Welsh Auntie Dote... but I couldn't help it at 10

[@angelhelen84]

Come on UKTV, bring back more!! Why stop As Yet Untitled?

[@shmookins]

You know your true accent when you are genuinely angry and are shouting (even if alone). Somehow, insults don't feel effective unless you say them like you heard them as a kid. :)

[@navrupsandhu2031]

News

[@sakatababa]

extreme pain is even better...

[@dorrolorro]

That's not fake, that's human behavior. There are plenty of people who move far away during childhood or teens and naturally change their dialect to fit in. Both consciously and unconsciously.

[@thetessellater9163]

Sandi had sufficient character to come through such a difficult situation and make a sucessful career, where others may have crumbled. Respect.

[@keiraroberts2113]

I have this too! I’m Scottish by blood, grew up in the north of England then moved back to Scotland as a teenager and had to learn a lot about the Scottish dialect, particularly Lothian. I then went to uni in London and have stayed there since, so I most of the time have a distilled Northern accent but my Scottish comes out when I go home to visit and I can slip into it very easily when speaking to a Scot, it’s just an ear thing!

[@Dawghome]

She can have any accent she wants, I love me some Sandy! Keep it up lady!😁

[@StephSancia]

The one and only breath of fresh air in my feed tonight ✌️ I just love love LOVE this program ❤️ Absolutely Fabulous and never a Dull Moment 😄❤️

[@JakeV100]

i wish you could do any accent you wanted without being ridiculed, because the manchester version of me is 10x funnier than the new zealand version.

[@GalileoFigar0]

Oh I just absolutely adore Brief Encounter. Undeniably one of the most wonderful films of all time.

[@TheStonesQT93]

I have never spent more than 10 years in one place since birth. My accent is considered a bastardization by both Americans and Brits 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@djcol7742]

Anyone else remember her as Ethel in number 73? I also loved her in who’s line is it anyway and various shows since. Sandi has been in my life since my earliest t.v memories!

[@Mattsta2010]

"I don't care about Frankie goes to Cricklewood!" One of her Number 73 lines that stuck in my head to this day.

[@djcol7742]

@@Mattsta2010 hahahahaha!!!

[@sophiegafney8312]

First saw Sandi on Number 73 when I was a kid. Anyone remember that tv programme?!

[@rachaeljones837]

I do!

[@thelastmotel]

I do! They built a hovercraft out of a wardrobe!

[@puirYorick]

This was one of the best panels for Alan. The young twerp who knew he was out of place set his foot wrong a couple of times but still a great episode.

[@Klamath2046]

Alice Eve said something similar in an interview but in reverse, she’s British but went to school in LA

[@johnmcquilkin]

This American absolutely loves Sandi Toksvig and all her delightful accents! ☮☮☮

[@MrMikeyt65]

Love Sandi . She's hilarious and such an inspiration

[@ellenmadsen7308]

There is not a single school in the US where an English class consisted of reading Catcher in the Rye word by word.

[@Josh-dm5eq]

I feel her I'm from Germany, but picked up quite an accent by watching British TV shows. It's always funny when English speaking tourists wander around Cologne and ask me for directions or tips on what to visit, only to hear an accent that's typically not too far away from their own

[@Knappa22]

I feel like Sandi has always been there somehow, as a kind of background character in my life. I adored No.73 so this probably has something to do with it. She made a very early formative impression on me. When I see her in anything it’s like seeing an old friend. I can’t explain it better than that.

[@FutureAbe]

Thats insane

[@knowinthatrowan]

I had a similar situation moving from USA to Australia. My American accent comes out when I'm angry or when I'm trying to be clearly understood.

[@omfug7148]

consider Mel Gibson who moved to Australia when he was 12, his accent was so thick that they dubbed it in the first Mad Max movie to make it understandable to American audiences, now he has lost most, if not all, of his Aussie accent, that is sort of sad in a way.

[@alexanderfreeman3406]

My sister tells of a similar experience during her semester abroad at Oxford. If she spoke in her normal manner people would give sideways glances and leer at her, but if she put on a fake British accent people were much more friendly. Weird.

[@beachgirl1947]

I did the same ! I’m an American girl who learned to speak with an English accent, too. And...my name is Sandi, as well.

[@GravesRWFiA]

When I was 14 my english teacher said we were going to read "animal Farm." not being a complete dork i waited until AFTER class to say to her "I've read that already." "Well we're putting a new spin on it" "Something other than the anaolgy to the russian revolution...." and I completely laid out the next 6 weeks of her class. She looked at me and said "you're read\ing something else' and I got 1984. for the rest of the year i was constantly given different books than anyone else in the class. when it got to a book i hadn't read, 'giants in the earth' she actually didn't believe me when I said i didn't know that one.

[@Lommy9999]

I searched her because her accent is so beautiful and I wanted to listen to her voice to sound more like her! Wow

[@thomasborgsmidt9801]

If I'm not all that wrong: Her native language is Danish.

[@samos4924]

I was born/raised in Australia to Iranian Farsi speaking parents. Spoke Farsi/Persian at home and spoke English outside the home at daycare/preschool and was exposed to it on TV. Both are my first languages as I learned both simultaneously as I was learning to speak. Both are native to me. Sandi Toksvig has been in English speaking nations probably as long as she could speak, so English is also native to her. In fact, I'm not even sure how exposed she was to Danish growing up as only her father is Danish and it probably wasn't spoken in her household.

[@thomasborgsmidt9801]

I heard her on Danish Television many years ago - nothing wrong with her Danish then.

[@PHlophe]

Her Dansk is perfect thanks. But if you were born in AU with foreign parents it makes sense that you'd be 100% fluent in both, that's not special. We can tell her brand of english is British inspired and on the phone to a casual non native she'll sound posh even but yes she does not sound organically British and that's ok.

[@TheTurkishLinguist]

Lechiffresix six organically British? Wth does that even mean... she sounds 100% British to me. I had no idea she was even American. Ppl these days...

[@danishgirl8211]

Thomas Borgsmidt jeg har forsøgt at finde et dansk interview med hende men uden held. Har du set et her på KZbin jeg kan søge efter?

[@petergaskin1811]

"They picked the one with the highest walls." Ah, Roedean of blessed memory.

[@TheStonesQT93]

I’ve been living outside the UK since I was 13, almost 28 now. Every time I go back people say I have a funny accent. I mix a Londoner accent with New York American and end up sounding a little Irish 😂 happens to all of us when we travel

[@epilotdk]

Funny to read this because I experience the same. I'm Danish but have lived in USA and UK and have had been asked on several occasions if I was Irish.

[@williamjones7163]

I am from Montana but was living in Phoenix with my boyfriend. He had an Airforce buddy that lived in Charlotte, North Carolina. We went out to visit him for a week in the Spring. Hurricane Hugo had just passed through there a few weeks earlier. We arrived on a Saturday and by Tuesday I had picked up the Southern accent. I found it pretentious to come back with an accent after only a week. For the rest of the time there, I had to consciously sound like a Montanian. I really gave it away when we went out to a Cracker Barrel and had to ask the waitress about our food. I first asked her what was sweet tea. Her face kinda crinkledl but she explained it was ice tea with a lot of sugar in it. You know, Sweet Tea. Then I had to ask her what grits were. Everybody at my table were starting to giggle. She smiled and started to look around looking for a camera because she knew she was being punked. One of my friends spoke up and said, "Mam, you will have to excuse him and be patient. He is from Montana. They don't have Sweet Tea or Grits there." Her expression immediately changed and said "You poor boy, Grits and Sweet Tea for you. Along with chicken fried steak and greens." It was one of the best meals I have ever eaten. I think I tipped 40%.

[@AnonymousCaveman]

That's so fascinating genuinely interesting story 😊

[@thewhat531]

That's how I lost interest in school too. I thought I was alone!

[@admthrawnuru]

Lol, I want to hear her tired now. I've noticed this phenomenon before, because I did my undergrad in Tennessee. Everyone there in acedemia tries to shed their drawl, but they get it back when tired. It's so amusing.

[@autumnatic]

Me with my Texas accent in Oregon

[@sorchara9119]

what a fantastic break for alex edelman oh my god, i love his standup and its great to see him with industry titans

[@ljc6535]

Who'd have thought. You learn something new everyday.

[@ruthgiles8926]

For our US friends - there is no such thing as a "British" accent. There are literally hundreds of regional and 'class' accents used by the residents of the British Isles. Sandi's is that of an 'upper-class', English, public (as in private) school pupil. Just as she explained. Except that she is far more eloquent than most toffs who go through public schools. Especially as English is her second language

[@keithmclean4283]

She is another example of what the Brits (not just the English) do so well. They have clever articulate people who wear their intelligence lightly and can be funny to make a serious point. Some call it wit. I think of Sandy, Stephen Fry, Clive James and even Dave Allen, Billy Connelly and so forth as having this wonderful talent.

[@jeanspittles852]

Clive James was Australian.

[@jeanspittles852]

Dave Allen ... Irish. Sandi, Danish ... 2 out of 5 ain't bad! Lol. No offence intended. I just thought it was a bit funny.

[@keithmclean4283]

@@jeanspittles852 Yeah, Adopted by the Brits though in the most adoring manner. Clive James tells the story of returning to Sydney and loving it but, in fact, after all those years he was a Brit. I do not know Sandi;'s history but Clive James left Sydney soon after graduating (as an engineer I understand). Dave Allen worked in the UK and on British television. Again, very much adopted by the Brits. ( Dunno how he got on in Ireland if he ever performed there.)

[@jeanspittles852]

Loved them all, Keith. As an Australian I still choose British comedy over in-your-face, not even funny American stuff. And watch the British shows played on our ABC tv.

[@keithmclean4283]

@@jeanspittles852 Among my bunch of Nzers it is the same, People like Bill Bailey get good audiences when they visit. Not sure about Jimmy Carr ( but then nobody is sure about Jimmy Carr!). Been reading the bio's of some of the 70s to 90's comedians and writers from the UK. A talented and thougtful bunch.

[@BaddaBigBoom]

"They sent me somewhere I'd never even heard of which is Coventry" ..genius :-)

[@annesilva3542]

When I speak English I tend to mimic the person I’m speaking with, I think that happens a lot with people who have a second language

[@alextoevs_9386]

it happens to me and english is my first!

[@pljms]

I saw her probably as many as 30 or 40 times with the Comedy Store Players in the early 90s and off the stage at the bar she was by far the warmest and most approachable of the group.

[@Hyperplaterine]

I so fancy Sandi. She's gorgeous.

[@johnwhittington2998]

Bethan (Beth) Henshaw so do I, even though I'm half her age and a male I find her to be the most delightful person ever. She's really interesting as a human being

[@JonyTony2018]

I, for one, find her an absolute bore. She is also quite unattractive and her political views are abysmal.

[@SuperBurninguitar]

Are you the real Alan partridge

[@sirderam1]

@Paul In Kyushu Your joke would be funnier if the word lesbian was not, in fact, derived from a place name. The Greek island of Lesbos. Google it.

[@sirderam1]

@Paul In Kyushu Then I fear the point of your joke escaped me - and still does.

[@Ivy3h]

I know someone who lived in the Bahamas until they were 10, then came over here to England. They can switch between both accents and still speak with an American accent to their American friends (they claim the Bahamas accent is slightly different to American actually but nobody else can tell)

[@hlwhhlwh2351]

My daughter and husband thought I was being stupid picking up the Australian accent again after my brother and family came over, they could not get their head around I had an Australian father and started school in Australian. Even now when an Australian programme or person is on tv I pick the accent up again. It's if they wanted me to deny that part of me.

[@phosphoros60]

"When I'm tired, I speak with an American accent!" No, Sandi, Americans are just British people who talk lazily....

[@McLeanAmy]

Thank you for uploading this. Toksvig is amazing.

[@AllIsWellaus]

Gobsmacked. I never realised that she was an American.

[@gwishart]

She was born in Denmark to a Danish father and a British mother. She holds dual Danish-British citizenship. She isn't an American, she just lived there for a few years while she was growing up, as her father was a journalist based in New York.

[@Mochrie99]

Sandi later appeared on another tv show called The TV That Made Me, and the host surprised her with footage of her father reporting on the space mission (actually sitting inside the cockpit and reporting in Danish), and it almost brought her to tears. I love Sandi so much.

[@DavidOakesMusic]

John Barrowman is a scot with an American accent who just reverts to his Scottish accent when in Scotland.

[@violetskies14]

My grandma wanted me to speak properly as she put it so whenever some of the Nottingham accent started slipping in to my voice she'd correct me and so I grew up with a much posher accent than even my younger siblings and mum. After a while I purposefully "roughened" up my accent a bit and when around other people with a Midlands kind of accent you can hear it but with anyone else my natural accent my grandma made sure I had comes out. It's not even conscious anymore.

[@makiburgess5733]

I grew up in a part of Toronto where many of my neighbours were West Indian immigrants or the children of West Indian immigrants. Those who were in Canada long enough were fluent in the working class Canadian accent/dialect of our school and in the accent/dialect of the islands. They moved from one to the other with ease.

[@ConstantChaos1]

I have a fake American accent, and a fake southern accent I naturally sound rather irish due to a hereditary accent I first went to speach therapy and that didnt do any good so I just decided to talk like my friends (except my aussie friend, that wouldn't help) and over shot it so I ended up like a southern belle and then I did the same for the midwest and got that right, so i have the neutral American accent and a southern one And also a bit of a yankee accent but that was a short stint so it only ever kinda comes out

[@LesserKnownMedia]

My grandparents did the same thing to my sister when we came back from living in the U.K. for a couple years. Since she was only 8 at the time, she had developed a British accent quite quickly, but our grandparents refused to speak to her until she "talked like an American"

[@but_iWantedTo_speakGerman]

Funnily enough you’re grandparents were probably British Americans themselves

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

I had really wondered about her accent, after I found out she was Danish. Which I didn't actually find out about until a couple of years ago.

[@Amadeus-ms9lt]

She is well spoken in Danish too.

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

Amadeus190890 Are there any videos of that you can point me to? I'm curious now.

[@Amadeus-ms9lt]

pixel girl N series, episode 28th October 2016. The theme is "North Norse" but I think the video has been taken down. Sandi is hosting and as it is about the Norse north, Danish gets thrown around and she says a couple of whole sentences is. It is the episode with Jason Manford, Rhod Gilbert and Lucy Beaumont as guests.

[@effyleven]

No. Nobody is "well spoken" in Danish. They told me in Norway that all Danes sound like they're talking with a potato in their mouths.... (or was that the Swedes....?)

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

effyleven Many English people will tell you that the Welsh have a propensity for becoming intimate with sheep, that doesn't actually make it true. Friendly, or not so friendly rivalry and stereotypes between nearby countries is a common thing.

[@Envy_May]

i know someone (in australia) from an indian family who speaks with an australian accent but then sometimes switches into what some might think of as a more typical "indian accent" when speaking english to their parents specifically. this reminds me of that

[@KyleSfhandyman]

The accent is part of the language. If you insist on maintaining your native accent while speaking another language be prepared to be misunderstood. Many of us are taught imitating a foreign accent is rude, because it can easily sound like mocking. But if you are trying to speak in that language, by all means, you should be leaning heavily into the native accent.

[@StillRooneyStarcraft]

It becomes trickier when the language is the same from where you moved and where you moved to, but the accent is different, such as in Sandi's case. If you adopt the local accent you will have more success there, but once you go "home" everyone will think you are fake / claiming to be better than them because you switched your accent.

[@junbh2]

+StillRooney Some people can switch back and forth between accents in the same language. It's impressive, because it's hard on the brain to keep them entirely separate when they're so similar.

[@junbh2]

+junbh2 I mean when the languages are similar or the same. The accents themselves may be just as different as the accents in two different languages would be. But I wonder if it's easier for your brain to remember what accent to use if it has the constant reminder of the different languages.

[@KyleSfhandyman]

I grew up in Idaho, Colorado, Nebraska, and Texas. I was already 11 years old when we moved to Texas so my accent was pretty well established. It is a mix of all of those. Just a bland, general American accent. It's hard to pick up where I'm from, especially because I did pick up Texas words like "y'all". I think being so middle of the road makes it easy for almost any English speaker to understand me. I think the blending happens for many people especially those that live in both Europe and the US. In the 1910s to 1950s there was a popular accent called "Mid Atlantic". It common in upper classes and the same in England and New York. Katherine Hepburn had a pretty good Mid-Atlantic accent.

[@knuthalvorsen1196]

Y'all want some sweet tea?

[@leotter3683]

As a kid I loved watching Sandi on No73 doing the sandwich quiz

[@martincurrie6243]

happy memories

[@oxcart4172]

Her voice wouldn't be a problem. She went to public school-a shoe in for British television!

[@alexchannon]

My aunt spent a lot of time working overseas doing translation work for movies and tv, so read many languages fluently, now she was born and raised in England, and met her husband in Italy (he is Italian) and they have lived in Spain for a few years now, running their traditional Italian restaurant. My aunt can speak Spanish almost perfectly, but got caught out once by a customer who said she spoke Spanish with an Italian accent 😂

[@illegalsmirf]

A lot of English people have a fake put-on accent and a casual one, especially 'down south'

[@effyleven]

Yes, that USED to be true. People had a "telephone voice" and one they used for the milkman. But that has all changed. We don't have milk delivered anymore...

[@coralsnake1000]

Kind of... I have an average southern accent , so , generally , it's fairly easily understood . I travel a fair bit , though and I find that it's best to 'clean up' my accent when speaking to non-native English speakers , who , oddly , seem to have no difficulty understanding each other , even with their own thick accents . Aussies and Kiwis often have to do the same , but Brits and antipodeans don't generally bother when speaking to each other .

[@Isleofskye]

I certainly do. I am from the staunch working-class ( wc ) Elephant and Castle and grew up on the Millwall Terraces but attended an academically excellent Grammar School ( they gave "wc" kids like me a chance in those days ) and learnt BBC Southern English and words like onomatopoeia so all through my life I have dual WC and MC passions and interests and now live ( like most " Londoners" ) in The Home Counties....chameleon :)

[@Isleofskye]

Many Women ( in particular ) still have a Telephone voice I have found in running my Businesses, which is quite hilarious..lol

[@trevor_1963]

I have a standard working class west London accent and have lived here most of my life but I haven't known anyone that's adopted a fake 'put-on' accent. I sometimes make an effort with enunciation to make sure I'm understood, but I don't change my accent.

[@francomckellar]

Acquired perhaps, maybe not fake? We all choose the accent/register/dialect/voice we want to use.

[@kindnessfirst9670]

British accents and the different pronunciations they use have always fascinated me. I'm an American and our accents are entirely regional - little to nothing to do with social class. I can remember as a small child suddenly realizing that the Beatles sang with American accents and how odd it would be for an American band to sing with a British accent.

[@TheJTMcDaniel]

Arguably, so are British accents, but you don't have to travel as far to move from one to another.

[@oakesave]

I know a family who moved to Paris from Rochdale. The children are constantly told off in English classes because they are not speaking properly.