Tom Hiddleston and stephen fry are the best impersonators of Australian accents I have heard.

watch from 5:10

5:25 for this

There is no specific English accent I have trouble understanding but there are specific people.

Myself I think Tom Hiddleston and Benedict cumberbatch have awesome accents. I like just listening to them.

I have always been interested in the class system in the Uk? In Australia the class system is very blurred. In tv shows I see a trend of people defining themselves as middle class.

New Zealanders, who really hate to be confused with us, usually give vowel sounds a different value, so that they might say they bought "sex tuns of beer with their fush and chups", which is saying they would have bought six tins of beer with their fish and chips

People in other countries find it hard to distinguish between us; it is also true that younger children nowadays identify a broad NZ accent as Australian (the broader accent is less common - used to be rural or certain regions).
When I am overseas and people ask which country I am from, I teach them about the short 'i' sound which is a good test; if they ask the unknown person to say "Sydney", it will sound more like Seed-Knee from an Australian, and more like Sud-Knee from many NZ-ers.

When I am overseas and people ask which country I am from, I teach them about the short 'i' sound which is a good test; if they ask the unknown person to say "Sydney", it will sound more like Seed-Knee from an Australian, and more like Sud-Knee from many NZ-ers.

In 2000, I used to work with someone who had spent time in NZ who would constantly refer to the Sydney "Oalumpic" Games. I can't wait until NZ decides to stage the said "Olumpics" in Auckland or Christchurch. Remember Antonio Samaranch, who awarded the games to Syd-er-ney? A frequent pronunciation here is "Sinny". As one of my in-laws did comment - publicly by the way - "Sinny" was always a city of redemption. Like Canbraaaa? Brisb'n and Melbun?

I say sid-nee. You really can only say perth properly one way which is good.

We never had subtitles for "The Dukes Of Hazzard", even though we couldn't understand a word they said...

I'm not a linguist or anything but it is somewhat mysterious to me how the Southeastern US accent came about. Everyone knows it when they hear it but unless you have lived in the region for a while it's a bit incomprehensible. I understand it fine since I've lived here most of my life, although some of the deep Creole-speak in Louisana makes me have to ask for repeats sometimes. They do have good food though...

Ha I am not familiar with the sutheastern US accent. The USA has so many different accents.

I may have mentioned this before in this thread or in another thread but I love British comedy and comedians and I have a dislike for american comedies and comedians(in general). It is a matter of taste I guess. I know people who love american comedies but dislike or simply don't understand the British ones.

I may have mentioned this before in this thread or in another thread but I love British comedy and comedians and I have a dislike for american comedies and comedians(in general). It is a matter of taste I guess. I know people who love american comedies but dislike or simply don't understand the British ones.

I agree with you; I far prefer British comedies/comedians over American ones. Maybe it's partially a matter of taste. But I think American comedy relies too much on gimmicks and cliche humor a lot of the time, while British humor is more fresh. So that could play a big part in it.

~Riella

British humour is often also more intelligent and sarcastic. It has depth but a certain sadness and darkness to it. I also prefer British comedies and comedians to American ones.

Yes I agree with what both of you have said. I also find that American comedians do not go into deeper issues on the risk of offending someone.( I think people take offense too easily but the jokes they tell are rarely aimed at people such as myself). It is not meant to be serious.

Alan Davies and Jimmy Carr are two of my favourites both of which are touring Australia next year and I have bought ticket to both.

We have some pretty good comedians in Australia to( wil Anderson, Adam Hills and Tim Minchin just to name a few) which have a similar style to the British ones.

Going back a bit ...

In Russia, we have this tradition that on someone's birthday, you pull the ears of the birthday person the number of years he is turning plus one for the upcoming year. For example, if he/she is turning 20, you pull their ears 21 times, 20 because he turned 20 and then one more time for next year.

I've never heard of pinching, but when you're a child here, you often get birthday spankings. If you turn six, somebody close to you (usually a parent or a grandparent) will give you six light, gentle smacks on the bum This is usually something that is only done in very young children. . . although it is fun to threaten older people with it

Dittoing Dig's remarks on birthday spankings for small kids or older people. I've not seen it actually done for many years. An added thing I've heard, after the spanking, is "and a pinch to grow an inch."

LOL, rose, that tradition of pulling people's ears on their birthday sounds so annoyingly fun. I echo DiGs and stargazer re the "birthday spanks". In fact, full-blown, kids would line up, standing with their legs far apart, and the birthday person would crawl through them, receiving usually more than one paddy-whack from everyone. Of course, the poor birthday guy/girl would try to crawl through as fast as possible, so to keep those smacks limited. Like 'gazer, though, I have not seen this done for years. I definitely remember the "pinch to grow an inch", although I thought there was a 2nd half—can't recall what it was though. Aha, just Googled it: "a smile to grow a mile". There ya' go. Guess they were trying to balance out something quite unpleasant. Of course there would be much chasing around the house as the birthday boy or girl tried to escape from those pinches. Ahhh, fun memories!

I have always been interested in the class system in the Uk? In Australia the class system is very blurred. In tv shows I see a trend of people defining themselves as middle class.

In sociology, as far as I know, middle class is often defined by land ownership, income, education and occupation, in particular, such occupations as teachers and other professionals, such as doctors, lawyers etc. Lower middle-class would include business people and other white-collar workers, including shop-owners, but what about retail workers? Working class is often associated with blue-collar and other industrial occupations. Which begs the question of the "class" of a factory-based quality control laboratory technician with a degree in chemistry.

Then there is the upper class, which might include professors, and others at the top of their field. Traditionally, owning your own house and land is a ticket to social mobility as well. I'm not an expert on the UK class system, but have at least been there and read that.

In UK there is a lot of confusion, I think, about who is royal, who is a commoner and who isn't. Technically speaking, there are only three "classes". The Queen, herself, the titled peerage, and all the rest are commoners, according to this Royal Central article. There seems to be a heavy bias against someone like Kate Middleton marrying the grandson of the Queen, even though both were technically commoners at the time of their wedding in April, 2011. According to the article I linked to, even the Duke of York's daughters are commoners since they do not have a title.

In Australia, teachers would come under the umbrella category of low-to-middle class (but heading more towards middle-class).

Referring to the discussion of comedies on the page behind (I hope I'm not too late to comment on that!), I think it depends on what kind of humor is being catered to.
I appreciate British comedies because of how much they rely on fluency of language (Sherlock's "Pity, we could have split the fee." to Watson ) to joke, probably because that's my kind of humor. Again, a lot of it could be exposure to culture--like Riella said, British humour is very fresh and new, and therefore, really humorous to me. (And hearing a person who has a British accent frustratedly speak about something is kind of entertaining for me, with the posh but slightly nasaly accent. )
American humor contains cliche and slapstick, but sometimes it can be pretty hilarious because of how spontaneous and laid back it is. (Candid Camera, America's Funniest Home Videos) Americans, generally, tend to throw in a refreshing humour to situations. I'm not one to enjoy slapstick, but I'm all for spontaneity and laid back humor as much as I am for sarcasm and intelligence.
One problem I have with some American comedians is that they rely far too much on crass humor as a quick plan B if the audience isn't responding as desired. It happens in British humor too (it happens in pretty much all cultures, I'm sure) and is probably better paced, but I've witnessed it more in American comedies.

@Aslansisthebest When you say nasally and posh the first person that comes to mind is David mitchell. He is great at complaining and has the voice for it. I watch way so many British shows that when I hear an Australian voice I think it sounds strange.

The one American comedian I do like is rich Hall. Though I have only seen him on qi and wilty(Though he has been on both often). I must say he needs a new jacket however( He has wore that one with the cards too many times over a time span of 5 or more years).