Are Sky taking the p*ss out of our accent???

[Leprechaun]

Has anyone heard that latest promo for Sky Movies lately? I find it a bit offensive myself. All they're short of doing is using "where's me lucky chaaaarms?!?!" as the tag line. While I'm on the subject; I think Sky are just in Ireland for the quick buck don't you? I can't wait for my 12 month subscription to be up, that box is going straight back! What a rip off

[JDxtra]

Errr, yeah right.

You don't have to subscribe to Sky you know if you don't want to you know.

Oh, and if you want to give the box back after 12 months then good luck to ya - but don't you know that the box is yours to keep (no subscription required) after 12 months!!!

[Guest]

That's rich, somebody using leprechaun as a username giving out about the Irish being stereotyped!

Next sky boardmeeting:

Director 1: Seems the Irish think we're in their country to make a quick buck.

Director 2: Go away (gets up and does a Riverdance and they all collapse in fits of laughter)

Director 1: Joking aside, this is serious. I mean, we are a company in the business of making a profit, but the Irish are complaining that we want to make a profit there.

Director 3: But we are fleecing the British too!

Director 1: But they don't complain about it. Now, I'm not saying the Irish are tick (geddit I said tick, not THick!)

(laughter all round)

but they seem to think we should become a charity solely for them.

Director 2: But then we won't be able to offer them any channels because we won't be making money from them.

Director 1: Well, that seems to be the way they want it. Anyone seen the new ad for Sky Movies!!!

And they all depart for a pint of Guinness

[KJ]

I too found the accent/voice on said promo a little too "oirish" for my liking. Sky could have used many great Irish VO artists but decided to insult out intelligence instead. That's what my ears are hearing anyway ............ maybe I need a holiday ;)

[Francis Dunne]

Well irish or not

lets hope that sky are paying him as much as the irish are paying them

[TV Tree]

I agree.

Lets boycott all channels showing Fawlty Towers for those tick Paddy bulders - but isnt that on RTE at the moment?

Boycott all channels showing Coronation Street because of them stereotyping the Irish with that character played by that popstar - but isnt that on TV Tree (no H)

Boycott all channels showing Eastenders, that has ever shown The Quiet Man, Far and Away or other American movies with the shoite Irish accents.

As a nation we have to grow up abnd get the chips off our shoulders. I did, but somebody had already put vinegar on them.

[Mike]

Anyway however bad it is it can never be as bad as the Oirish accents one hears in some American films.

If they insulted any other country in this manner thay would have started a jihad by now

Begorrah top of the morning !

[TonyCurrie]

"Och, I cannae get the engines up tae warrrp speed, Captain....they're gonnae blow..."

James Doohan was Irish, as I recall. With a truly music-hall Scots accent. Doesn't make me take offence against Irish/Universal/BBC2/Sky....

Face it - few people can "do" accents without offending somebody. In the words of "Why Can't the English?" from 'My Fair Lady' (Lerner-Lowe) "An Englishman only needs to open his mouth for an other Englishman to despise him". For that read Irish, Scots and Welsh as well.

What about those truly dreadful American accents adopted by British and Irish actors in cheap home-made dramas?

(Slightly off-topic, but the bext Glasgow accent I ever heard came from the lips of Whoopie Goldberg. I met her at a Hollywood party, and she was introduced to me as 'a guy from bonnie Scotland'. It turns out that her father came from Glasgow.)

[Liamo]

Yes, we do tend to get over-sensitive about the attempts made to "do" an Oirish axent, but there is a pretty valid point to be made....why, exactly, do the TV programme makers get someone who obviously isn't a good enough actor/actress to attempt to put on an accent ? Why not either

(a) get someone who can "do" one properly, or
(b) hire an actual Irish actor/actress

I know there are Irish comedians, etc, who take the piss out of Irish accents at times, but there's a difference if it's a comedy - some programmes who would like to think they're relatively serious tend to lose all credibility (with me at least) by having an Oirish police cop in New York or whatever. What's worse, some Irish "actors" such as (David Kelly) actually go along with the fiasco.

Case in point: Waking Ned, which started of with the actual graphic intro for the National Lottery, and then, while I was waiting for some dulcet Ronan Collins -style VO, we got a begob and begorra style stereotypical VO.

Ah, well, at least they should know that we have proper accents,considering that own Pierce Brosnan does the quintessentially English Bond, and Colm Meaney was allowed his own voice in Star Trek TNG.

P.S. Quick question, Tony: Why was Whoopie Goldberg introduced to you as a guy ?

[TonyCurrie]

That's what I get for typing too quickly. Of course I meant to say "I was introduced to her as a guy from Glasgow".

Deductions will be made for bad spelling, poor punctuation and crap writing.

And I take your point about David Kelly. I've heard him do some dreadful accents, all of them Irish. He reminds me of Wilfrid Brambell, another Irish actor who became such a 'luvvie' that his accent vanished completely. But then, these days, my fellow countryman Billy Connolly has also fallen prey to this and seems to have adopted stage Glaswegian as his accent.

My favourite line in the classic Tony Hancock episode "THE BLOOD DONOR" was the one where he greeted the Scots doctor with the standard "Och aye hoots mon the noo" and received the reply from the doctor (plkayed by Patrick Cargill) in perfect RP "We're not all Rob Roys, you know...."

[Liamo]

FINALLY!!!!!

Rachel Walsh (I think I've the name right) on DreamTeam.....a real Irish accent in a $ky TV show (and an absolute babe to boot!)

I'm a new-found Harchester United fan (well, kindof)