Simon Cowell's Accent

Sarah   Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:32 am GMT
I am wondering what is the accent that Simon Cowell, in American idol Show, speaks with?
I Like it so much!!
Damian in London E14   Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:01 am GMT
Simon Cowell originally comes from Brighton, a large seaside city in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, so he speaks with a general Southern English English - basically a form of RP with just the merest hint of Estuary sometimes, but not all that marked. So basically - a typical accent from Southern / South Eastern England outside of Greater London.

I love the way he winds up his American audiences as well as that guy who hosts the show who Simon loves the take the piss out of! :-) His British style of "saying it exactly how it is" with no wishy washy fakery to try and ease the pain of the dodgy performers. Paula Abdul should follow his example instead of showering them with totally false sugary sweet icky wicky analgesic crap, but maybe that's the American way of not telling the truth if it's going to hurt.

http://www.womenrepublic.co.uk/entertainment/simon_cowell/bio.htm
Liz   Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:33 pm GMT
<<I love the way he winds up his American audiences as well as that guy who hosts the show who Simon loves the take the piss out of! :-) His British style of "saying it exactly how it is" with no wishy washy fakery to try and ease the pain of the dodgy performers. Paula Abdul should follow his example instead of showering them with totally false sugary sweet icky wicky analgesic crap, but maybe that's the American way of not telling the truth if it's going to hurt.>>

How interesting that most people outside the UK think it's the other way round (i.e. Americans are strait-talking and Brits are beating about the bush). Oops...I almost capitalised the "bush"...I don't know why. :-)
Liz   Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:38 pm GMT
BTW Damian: You read WOMENrepublic? :-0
Damian in London E14   Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:07 pm GMT
Not until today, Liz. Great isn't it? - makes such a change from Rugby World Magazine. :-)

Actually that link is the first one I came across on Simon Cowell as I searched for his birthplace - I thought he was a Londoner - it wasn't until later that I found it was a Woman Republic, which I never new existed anyway, not that it matters a hoot.

You're probably right in a sense - Brits beating about the bush - but don't you think that's all gone out the window now? It may be a generational "thing" and even more of an "English" thing? I reckon younger generation Brits are more forthcoming with their opinions and views than the oldies who are/were more reserved, but if you watch Simon Cowell give his views on American Idol he says exactly what he thinks about the performers, and if it's negative he gets yelled down big time, and sitting next to him is Paula Abdul who glares at him as if he has said something heretical and against nature! Americans on the whole are more polite than Brits and maybe that's why they take care not to offend people by confronting them with the full on truth. When Brit Cowell does just that he gets shouted down!

I must remember to get my copy of Rugby World mag on my way home tonight.....ha!
Liz   Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:34 pm GMT
<<You're probably right in a sense - Brits beating about the bush - but don't you think that's all gone out the window now? It may be a generational "thing" and even more of an "English" thing?>>

Yes - it's (or it used to be?) definitely an English thing, stereotypically a Southern English thing and not at all a Northern English, Scottish, Irish or Welsh thing. Besides, it being a quintessentially "English" thing is a stereotype, too, and - as you put it - it's all gone out the window (as far as the younger generation is concerned).

I've never watched American Idol, though. I don't have access to it (I'm stuck with Dieter Bohlen's "Deutschland sucht den Superstar" - if it's still on TV...I don't know...I don't have TV in my dorm...what a crappy dorm.) - Probably I could watch it online, I don't know. Currently I have another fish to fry, but you've made me curious by mentioning Simon Cowell's bluntness.
Andy   Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:55 pm GMT
People, pull yourselves together. Simon is just a typical guy from Brighton. Everybody knows that some of the best people are born in Brighton. That's not arrogance, that's just a fact. Most people on those idol programmes have the misguided idea they can sing. They can't. Clearly, somebody has to let them know the truth. It's really quite simple when you put your mind to it. Go on, give it a try.
Liz   Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:00 pm GMT
You are right, Andy. Why are you telling it to *us*? :-)
Milton   Tue Jul 31, 2007 7:06 pm GMT
and how is the accent of Bristol?
is Bristol more beautiful than Brighton?
kiss to Liz
Damian in London SW15   Tue Jul 31, 2007 10:11 pm GMT
***Clearly, somebody has to let them know the truth***

That's my point exactly - Simon the Brit was the only person on the American Idolfest with the balls to tell the harsh truth as he saw it......his eyes rolled up into his forehead whenever he heard the other two repeatedly give sugar sweet false hope to demonstrably "hopeless cases". :-) Maybe American PC prohibits them from being totally upfront, or maybe Americans tend to look for positives far more readily than we do? I reckon that must be it.

Bristol accents are quite different from Brighton accents - the first is in the West Country and the second on the coast of SE England. In fact the Bristol accent is a bit weird - for some reason they seem to add an "L" to words that end with a vowel, especially "A's". People in Brighton go to the opera but in bristol they go the the operal. God knows why they do that. They also roll their Rs in Bristol - very West Countryish.

Brighton is very cosmopolitan, and for what it's worth it has the largest gay population of any UK city outside of London, so if it attracts people from all over the UK then I reckon the accents of Brighton are pretty varied. Like most other towns and cities in the UK it has a large immigrant population from Eastern Europe so that adds even more flavour to the linguistic scene down there on the South coast of England.

I've never been to Brighton (yet!) and only passed fairly close to Bristol on the M5 motorway so I can't compare one with the other in any beauty contest. From what I saw of its outer outer suburbs it looked pretty cool.....quite hilly too from what I could see.
Jasper   Wed Aug 01, 2007 1:41 am GMT
<<I love the way he winds up his American audiences as well as that guy who hosts the show who Simon loves the take the piss out of! :-) His British style of "saying it exactly how it is" with no wishy washy fakery to try and ease the pain of the dodgy performers... but maybe that's the American way of not telling the truth if it's going to hurt. >>

There is nothing good about being tactless, insensitive, boorish, and verbally abusive. Cowell is a bully.

Surely the average Brit isn't like that, is he?
furrykef   Wed Aug 01, 2007 2:14 am GMT
Although I don't watch the show, I like Simon Cowell... I don't think all three judges should be like him, but he provides some balance to the other two. And there's an extent to which creative people *need* to be told that they can't do what they're trying to do... it's always hard being told that -- and I can imagine it'd really hard on national TV -- but it provides a strong reminder that you can do better. It gives you a goal to shoot for. If everybody always heaps praise on you, how can you improve? The people who can really come out on top are those who have really thick skin and can withstand that enough until they get it right.

- Kef
Andy   Wed Aug 01, 2007 4:53 pm GMT
I agree with Kef.

To reply to Jasper: Simon's comments may be tactless and insensitive but they are generally founded in the truth. Are his harsh comments any worse than the sugar-coated lies the other judges are prone to spout?. Is he typical? no, I would say not. Most Brits have a little more tact than Mr Cowell.

My accent is totally different to a Bristol accent. The Brighton accent is a south-east accent rather than a south-west accent. I've always wondered why pirates never speak with a Scottish, Cockney or Geordie accent. Did they only ever come from the South-west of England???.
Jasper   Wed Aug 01, 2007 6:28 pm GMT
Andy, I believe in telling the truth in a tactful manner, and get very angry with myself when I slip.

Telling the truth tactfully isn't always easy, either. One coworker asked me if I liked her haircolor. I told her,"I think the color is beautiful, but a lighter, warmer tone would flatter your skin a little better than this one."

Cowell, by contrast, is just downright cruel, and I don't think any excuse can be made for him. Andy, I just don't like to see people abused, that's all.
Guest   Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:07 pm GMT
Please, explain to me which one is the truth:

1. I think the color is beautiful (it's OK)
2. I think a lighter, warmer tone would flatter your skin a little better (it's not OK)

I think you're just messed up.