Why do people get angry at americans who use british accent?

Question

most people think they are "trying to be something theyre not" but it is still english and it is the original way of pronouncing things. You wouldnt speak chinese like they do in non-chinese country would you? It would be wrong to speak english with a german accent, but english with an english accent, i dont think it is something to get angry at people.

Answer 1

I'm sure its a form of flattery, but is most annoying when one simply puts it on. Similarly to an American immitating an Australian accent (its immitation, not the correct use), most annoying!

Answer 2

Many Americans, and even Canadians I have found, consider British accents to be snobby sounding.

A lot of Spanish speakers in the Western Hemisphere look upon the Castilian Spanish of Spain in much the same light. They think that someone who talks with the Castilian lisp is putting on airs or is a snob... "ay-hair-thee-thee-oh" ( ejercicio) etc.

In some respects, American English is actually more "original" than British English. Standard British English has been influenced a lot by French, a legacy of the Norman Conquest of 1066.

For example, the British English pronunciation of Tuesday - "tewz-day" - is more the way the French would say it. On the other hand, most Americans and Canadians say "tooz-day" which is actually the more native pronunciation.

Likewise with the word 'class'. British English speakers pronounce it as "klahss" like the French do, but Americans pronounce it as "klæss" with the Old English (Anglo -Saxon) æsc sound.

In England and even on the East Coast of the U.S. to some extent, perceived snobbish behaviour is not considered a big deal. However, most of America has an egalitarian, anti-intellectual tradition that arose with the settling of the frontier in the 1800's and its people don't take too kindly to that kind of stuff. In my opinion, they have gone too far in the other direction.

Much of the reason that George Bush was elected president of the United States seems to be due to the fact that most Americans saw him as an "ordinary guy" while Al Gore and John Kerry came across as "snobbish."