The moment he talks he makes some other Englishman despise him

October 2, 2010 8:19 PM

How would you describe the accent of the man wearing the gray jacket in this Mitchell and Webb clip?

(For example, some different types of British accents are Yorkshire, Cockney, Queen's English, Private Schoolboy...)

Bonus points if you know what part of Britain this accent comes from. ^_^

posted by Year of meteors to Society & Culture (7 answers total)

Estuary English.
posted by elsietheeel at 8:43 PM on October 2, 2010

In my opinion, I would say that that is David Mitchell trying and unfortunately not quite managing a cockney accent. There is a bit of the middle class/home counties/Cambridge educated about his voice (though as a massive David Mitchell fan, I don't much mind!) so think of it as a mush of accents.

Cockneys are working class Londoners, particularly those from the East End of the capital. Cockneys tend to be the ones who run street stalls at markets, or crap fairground rides. For other examples of this accent (i.e. to hear how it definitely sounds), you might search for the word "cockney" on YouTube.
posted by marmaduke_yaverland at 9:01 PM on October 2, 2010 [2 favorites]

Pretty much what marmaduke said. David Mitchell, with his posh public school southern accent, trying to do cockney/essex talk and not doing ot very well at all. I like Mitchell, but he's pretty shit at accents. As we hear here.
posted by Decani at 9:28 PM on October 2, 2010

Yeah, this is Mitchell trying to be a wide boy and failing.
posted by ninebelow at 11:35 PM on October 2, 2010

Heartening to read the above, because I was going to describe it as an English working class pastiche, the likes of which an American might put on, with random vowels snatched from the protagonists of one gritty BBC mystery series or another... English, but otherwise a mishmash. I'm surprised that Mitchell's so broad with it.
posted by mumkin at 12:14 AM on October 3, 2010

Cockney and Essex are not really all that alike (insert disclaimer here about them sounding identical to anyone who's not from the area/lived there). This is David Mitchell's Oxbridge-educated attempt at a Kent accent I think, although it's more broadly just 'dodgy geezer with a van from the counties East of London.

Essex vs London comparison.
posted by Happy Dave at 4:12 AM on October 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

Did nobody else hear the arrrr as in ooo-arrrr, get orrff moi laarrnd! (South West England, Devon/Dorset/Cornwall).
posted by dougrayrankin at 7:24 AM on October 3, 2010