Anyone notice Americans in 50's movies talk with a strange accent?!


Question: It's like they don't know whether they're American or British. Or French. It's annoying and pretentious. I had a professor who talked like that. It was annoying and pretentious when he did it, too. Why did they speak that way? To sound more sophisticated?


Answers: It's like they don't know whether they're American or British. Or French. It's annoying and pretentious. I had a professor who talked like that. It was annoying and pretentious when he did it, too. Why did they speak that way? To sound more sophisticated?
I believe I understand what you're talking about, & it is the dialect of the blue-blood society in that era. It still exists in some circles today but is not as popular in the media because, like you, most Americans find it annoying & pretentious. But I must take exception with your 2 examples.

1) Audrey Hepburn is not American. She was raised in Belgium, England, & the Netherlands. She didn't come to Hollywood until she was in her early 20's.

2) Gregory Peck used a mild Southern US accent in To Kill a Mockingbird. He modeled all aspects of the character after Harper Lee's own father who was in no way a part of the high society that spawned the accent you refer to.
Its proper english... along with the sneer of intelligence and prestigue. Its just the way people spoke. My grandmother spoke like that, we were required to speak similar to that around my grandmother.

Thats what it sounds like when you try to take local accents and slang terms out of conversational english.
Does a particular film come to mind for reference?
its ok sweetiy, just go ahead and continue to speak with your ghetto accent. no one will ever accuse you of being pretentious, until your grandchildren end up so stupid, they can't communicate at all.


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