Why is Rory McIlroy putting on a fake American accent?

Jimmy Garlic

Heard him on the radio today putting on a really cringeworthy American accent that he seems to have developed overnight. Why does he feel the need to do that? At least Bono only hams up his fake American accent when he is talking to American audiences.

Nodin

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

Heard him on the radio today putting on a really cringeworthy American accent that he seems to have developed overnight. Why does he feel the need to do that? At least Bono only hams up his fake American accent when he is talking to American audiences.

Why is Rory McIlroy putting on a fake tan?

Lights On

I've noticed that most Irish golfers do this. Must be something in the water.

The Backwards Man

Us nordies have to adapt to our surroundings

When I'm in the States I can't say 'I'm away out here to smoke a fag hai'.

Nichard Dixon

Probably because he is tired of his accent being described as "cute" by Americans.

Grid.

Has to keep up with McDowell:rolleyes:

Cee-Jay-Cee

Yer wan from Gurls Allowed was on Some morning show last week ( looking like an oompaloompa) and she has the worst god awful American twang on certain words. Her Derry accent was woeful as it was but it is dire now, how anyone could listen to her for more than 5 seconds is beyond me. I'd just want to slap her as soon as she opens her mouth and tell her to quit putting on a stupid accent!

Tarzana2

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Yer wan from Gurls Allowed was on Some morning show last week ( looking like an oompaloompa) and she has the worst god awful American twang on certain words. Her Derry accent was woeful as it was but it is dire now, how anyone could listen to her for more than 5 seconds is beyond me. I'd just want to slap her as soon as she opens her mouth and tell her to quit putting on a stupid accent!

Her accent is truly awful. I honestly don't believe she is putting it on.

Some people seem to pick up accents quickly. It seems to be a form of imitation but I'd say in a lot of cases, it's not intentional. I know when I started working the UK, my co-workers told me that withing a month, my accent had softened. I didn't even realise!

Gaygooner

Yanks don't understand Norn Iron

Frostbit boy is eloquent in Norn Iron

TheLastMohican

Grid. wrote: »

Has to keep up with McDowell the Kardashians:rolleyes:

There, fixed your post sunshine!

kneemos

Heard him on the radio with a slight accent,probably picked up from living and working there.

MakeEmLaugh

It's a Northerner thing. Loads of Northerners head to the States and start talking in a weird mid-Atlantic hybrid accent.

Listen to Nadine Coyle - 1 min 50 secs into this video (“You see, I actually had her in January...”)

Or Van Morrison – 1 min 45 seconds (“...and then I just got back into it about a year and a half ago.”)

Grid.

TheLastMohican wrote: »

There, fixed your post sunshine!

Much obliged;)

TheLastMohican

Just saw to the vid and didn't hear much different from her early accent. A lot of Nordies sound a bit USAish.

The Backwards Man

TheLastMohican wrote: »

Just saw to the vid and didn't hear much different from her early accent. A lot of Nordies sound a bit USAish.

Wrong way round mucker. A lot of yanks sound like us Nordies. It's a common misconception that Iraq was the cradle of civilisation, it was actually Islandmagee

TheLastMohican

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Wrong way round mucker. A lot of yanks sound like us Nordies. It's a common misconception that Iraq was the cradle of civilisation, it was actually Islandmagee

OK baby! Tell me one American that sounds like wee Danielle! And we all understand where the "wee" bit came from.

The Backwards Man

TheLastMohican wrote: »

OK baby! Tell me one American that sounds like wee Danielle! And we all understand where the "wee" bit came from.

Jim Reeves.

There's millions like, but you only want one

Andrew Laeddis

:D:D

TheLastMohican

Andrew Laeddis wrote: »

:D:D

Whaddau laughing at?

DivingDuck

There's been some interesting research done on verbal imitation, the general theory being that it's born out of an unconscious desire to empathise and affiliate, i.e., to belong, understand, and be accepted. It's not just accents, either, it's speech patterns in general-- cadence, pauses, and word choices.

While some people obviously have reason do it intentionally, either to increase appeal to the group they're speaking to (politicians trying to be seen as representative, for example) or to present themselves in a certain way (anyone wanting to be perceived as being from a different social class or group to their actual origins), the majority of people just pick up accents as a natural behaviour.

I know I'm not talking to someone for two minutes before my accent starts to slip and mimic theirs. It's almost never intentional, it just happens.

Hammer89

Lights On wrote: »

I've noticed that most Irish golfers do this. Must be something in the water.

If that was the case McGinley would sound like John Wayne or somebody,

Jinonatron

The comment a few posts back nails this on the head. Accents change and adopt to the surroundings we live in. Not just accents but all behaviour.

As an Irish person if you have a strong accent and you move abroad and you retain Irish accent you will not be understood by your peers.

As an Irish man working in A german international company in China I am dealing with foreigners all the time. I don't have contact with the Irish language that much when I am working. As a result I have been told I sound like a German person speaking to an idiot child. Lots of my old friends at home tell me to talk faster and ask why I use certain phrases and speech so slow. The reason is because in the environment I work in my Irish accent is just not other stood. I am presenting some trainings to Chinese people who have not an iota of English. I have to have a translator in the room with me. She is Chinese. If I speak in an Irish accent I have to work longer because things get lost and are not understood.

Normally about 3 hours back in Ireland and I am back to speaking like an Irishman again.

Badly Drunk Boy

DivingDuck wrote: »

There's been some interesting research done on verbal imitation, the general theory being that it's born out of an unconscious desire to empathise and affiliate, i.e., to belong, understand, and be accepted. It's not just accents, either, it's speech patterns in general-- cadence, pauses, and word choices.

Yes, some people are more susceptible to it also. A friend of mine moved to London and once I decided to give him a call (when people used phones for that sort of thing). He started off talking with a really strong English accent but after a few minutes, the flat Kildare accent kicked it.

Back in the 80s, the athlete Eamon Coughlan had the most irritating American accent. Even as a kid, it really annoyed me.

SeantheMan

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

Back in the 80s, the athlete Eamon Coughlan had the most irritating American accent. Even as a kid, it really annoyed me.

McGregor has the worst accent, the way he tries to pronounce and enunciate all his words with T's...drives me mad. You can tell it's not his real accent at all.

MadsL

Jinonatron wrote: »

The comment a few posts back nails this on the head. Accents change and adopt to the surroundings we live in. Not just accents but all behaviour.

As an Irish person if you have a strong accent and you move abroad and you retain Irish accent you will not be understood by your peers.

As an Irish man working in A german international company in China I am dealing with foreigners all the time. I don't have contact with the Irish language that much when I am working. As a result I have been told I sound like a German person speaking to an idiot child. Lots of my old friends at home tell me to talk faster and ask why I use certain phrases and speech so slow. The reason is because in the environment I work in my Irish accent is just not other stood. I am presenting some trainings to Chinese people who have not an iota of English. I have to have a translator in the room with me. She is Chinese. If I speak in an Irish accent I have to work longer because things get lost and are not understood.

Normally about 3 hours back in Ireland and I am back to speaking like an Irishman again.

I had a hard time following that and you are typing!

screamer

I think people who change their accents overnight to fit in just shows herd mentality. I know foreign people who have lived in Ireland for 30 years and yet retain their own accent and then I see the tools who leave for a few months and come back talking like they've lived in that other country all their lives.

Omackeral

Tarzana2 wrote: »

Some people seem to pick up accents quickly. It seems to be a form of imitation but I'd say in a lot of cases, it's not intentional. I know when I started working the UK, my co-workers told me that withing a month, my accent had softened. I didn't even realise!

My accent is way more apparent to me when I'm somewhere exotic like Drogheda or Portlaoise. I don't get how fully grown people can lose an accent. I see it as, maybe unfairly, an insecurity or weakness in someone.

valoren

Read an interview with Graeme McDowell where he said during his college days there that trying a dozen times to order a Subway with his Nordie accent became frustrating. He developed the twang to make his life a LOT easier.

topper75

Ulster Scots had big influence in early days of the U.S.A. There is still a mild echo of their accent in the American accent today.

But that is only a part of the story. Much of Rory's changeover is probably rooted in his own insecurity.

K-9

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Us nordies have to adapt to our surroundings

When I'm in the States I can't say 'I'm away out here to smoke a fag hai'.

"I could murder a fag" gets an odd reaction there too.

Tarzana2

Tarzana2 wrote: »

Some people seem to pick up accents quickly. It seems to be a form of imitation but I'd say in a lot of cases, it's not intentional.

There's one poster on here (who shall remain nameless) who picks up accents very quickly. We were out one night and chatting to an Ulster native. The drunker he got the thicker his ulster accent got despite him trying to stop. By the end of the night he would have given Gerry Adams a run for his money

It's just just America. Someone I know was over in England doing a course in radio production and they were told to try and flatten their accent as much as possible. Rory McIlroy was likely told the exact same thing. Hell.. people tell me I sound American, because I speak clearly and pronounce things fully.

hardCopy

SeantheMan wrote: »

McGregor has the worst accent, the way he tries to pronounce and enunciate all his words with T's...drives me mad. You can tell it's not his real accent at all.

To be fair to McGregor. He has a massive media presence in the US and they would have needed subtitles if he hadn't adapted his speech. At least he has been left with an over affected Irish accent rather than taking the easy option and just picking up an American one.

FortuneChip

He probably put it on to destract people from that stupid debate over what country he'll represent in the Olympics.

Not least because golf has NO place being in the Olympics

RobertKK

Maybe the Americans find him hard to understand.

I say this as I was with a friend in the US, I don't think my voice is any great shakes but the Americans seemed to understand me better, when my friend spoke with his rougher Irish accent, they didn't understand him some of the time and I was like an interpreter

SEPT 23 1989

topper75 wrote: »

Ulster Scots had big influence in early days of the U.S.A. There is still a mild echo of their accent in the American accent today.

But that is only a part of the story. Much of Rory's changeover is probably rooted in his own insecurity.

Hillbilly

Mr Freeze

Did anyone mention Steven Mcclaren and him speaking English with a dutch accent?

Pure cringe it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZnoP4sUV90

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZnoP4sUV90

R.D. aka MR.D

This kinda ****e really pisses me off!

He's not 'putting on an accent'. It's not some affectation. It's being understood.

I'm from Donegal and my first couple of weeks in college in Dublin, I would come in and sit down and say 'Ah it's wile cowel day the day' and they would look at me like I had 15 heads.

You soon learn than even your fellow countrymen can't understand you. You have to slow down and use 'proper' words. It's really annoying to be accused of 'putting on a fake accent' when all you're trying to do is help people to understand you. What's so wrong with that?

With Americans they find it really hard to understand even British people sometimes (My OH is American and he found this girl from Newcastle that we used to work with totally incomprehensible and her geordie accent was the mildest I've ever encountered!). They aren't exposed to as many Irish/British accents as we are American because of the pervasiveness of American pop culture so at the end of the day, the easiest thing to do is compromise and help them to understand you by using words etc that you know they know.

Special Circumstances

Accent fluid. Brave.

Cienciano

Mr Freeze wrote: »

Did anyone mention Steven Mcclaren and him speaking English with a dutch accent?

Pure cringe it is.

Joey Bartons is worse

My accent is all over the shop and while you'd prob still know I'm from Ulster, I know OP would be disappointed in me.. And that makes me happy.

Turfcutter

topper75 wrote: »

Ulster Scots had big influence in early days of the U.S.A. There is still a mild echo of their accent in the American accent today.

I remember some linguistics study that pointed out the similarities between the Ulster accent and the Southern United States accent. A lot of the same twangs and intonations.
Obviously a lot of the Ulster Scots settled there back in the day.
It isn't such a huge jump for McIlroy, McDowell and Nadine Coyle to veer into American accent territory.

Menas

When I was practicing for my driving test I took some lessons. The instructor had this mad Texan drawl and dressed like something out of Dallas. The thing is that when I was doing the actual test all I could hear in my head was his Texan voice telling me to check my mirrors, keep my distance etc etc. I passed the test.

I found out years later that the instructor had never been outside of Connaught in his life and put on the Texan accent only when giving lessons so people would remember what he said. Genius.

kneemos

FortuneChip wrote: »

He probably put it on to destract people from that stupid debate over what country he'll represent in the Olympics.

Not least because golf has NO place being in the Olympics

Ooohhh! Controversial.

The Backwards Man

K-9 wrote: »

"I could murder a fag" gets an odd reaction there too.

Of course there are also times when we forget ourselves and the Donegal comes out regardless.

Wander into Walgreen's halfcut,

'Hai, go on a gi us a box a fags there hai'

Cashier looks stunned, hand on the panic button 'Excuse me, Sir?'

'Aye, throw us out twenty Marlboro Light there'

Cashier goes to get a carton

'Naw, ya eejit, fcuking apt, I only want the wan twenty'

Andrew Laeddis

When I come back from a weekend in Leeds I lose the ability to say 'the'


"I'm going down pub to get pint'

Tarzana2

Deleted User wrote: »

There's one poster on here (who shall remain nameless) who picks up accents very quickly. We were out one night and chatting to an Ulster native. The drunker he got the thicker his ulster accent got despite him trying to stop. By the end of the night he would have given Gerry Adams a run for his money

Well who doesn't want to sound like Gerry Adams?

:pac:

Bubbaclaus

American girlfriend and spends majority of time in US.

NotASheeple

Grid. wrote: »

Has to keep up with McDowell:rolleyes:

Couldn't thing of that sap's name. He wins a major and turns into a yank. Bad enough when it happens to a student working for the summer. But coming from a man of his age, it's beyond embarrassing.

castletownman

Putting on accents happens quite often in Ireland actually. It's particularly prevalent among young female culchies that move to Dublin and "develop" a South Dublin jersey over-night. Usually accompanied by a rugby jersey too.

dirtyden

NotASheeple wrote: »

Couldn't thing of that sap's name. He wins a major and turns into a yank. Bad enough when it happens to a student working for the summer. But coming from a man of his age, it's beyond embarrassing.

He has been living there for about 10 years.