I find my reactions to everything they say grossly inappropriate based on the circumstances, like a child laughing raucously at the setup for a slapstick routine.

I think part of it may be novelty, as the closest regional accent to my home state is that of the dreaded Wisconsin drawl, "yah hey der" as it were. No matter their demeanor, everything they say sounds so downright proper and well executed. Compared to the majority of the screaming 12 year olds, this is like I just flipped my FM Radio dial from an endless stream of Morning Zoo DJ sets to NPR, if that makes any sense.

I'm not really concerned with offending them, we tend to hit it off marvelously and I actually appreciate quite a few things about the culture, especially certain musical scenes that allow us to have conversations I couldn't have otherwise.

It seems to me that even though these connotations are positive I should avoid them because while not explicitly racist or nationalistic it stems from the same mental faculties of presumption and association with gross caricatures, and I try to not do that in any part of my life let alone that of pure recreation.

Well I would suggest that while your aversion to any behavior of yours that reeks of prejudice, that liking the sound of someone's accent is alright. I don't think there's much harm there, and in fact, it used to frustrate me all to hell in university that the jerks from the UK seemed to be much luckier with the ladies, due in large part it seemed, to their charming, often roguish accents.

[NOT UKIST]

appidydafoo - it's not really racist. It's class-ist. Prejudicing against someone because of their perceived social standing is pretty common, although I suppose that doesn't make it OK.

The first time I heard David Beckham speak, I was like, "Damn, he talks like he's from the streets," because he's got a rather low-class British accent. Compare his accent to, say, Patrick Stewart, who's got a classically-trained "posh" accent, and think about how you'd feel different about those people, just by the sound of their voice. Someone's accent just reveals where their from - when you make assumptions about who they are from where they're from... Well, that's pretty prejudicial. But then again, I don't really know what to do about it, besides ignoring my "instincts" and getting to know people.

There's something about an English accent that does appeal to Americans, particularly those 'in the middle' of the country.

A couple of years ago when I was in Ohio, George's sister invited some of her co-workers over for lunch. I was the only person present who wasn't a college professor. One of them said that everything I said sounded so clever, and, truly, it was only the accent and not the content that did it.

XBL players from the USA are stupid teens. XBL players from the UK are people like me.

That is why you prefer us.

This is the truth.

[NOT STUPID TEENSIST]

There chrismear, I fixed that for you.

I had a classmate in the UK who was from a well-to-do family with a proper boarding school background and the posher-tha-thou accent to match. When he called agencies for jobs I could hear him switch over to south London, or Brixton accents or anything else deemed "rough" and cool as soon as someone answered the phone.

I knew then he'd go far in the advertising biz. (and he did)

Isn't there a great quote from someone who said something along the lines of "Only in Britain can you be loathed by your countrymen the moment you begin to speak."?

I've always been fascinated by the idea of class as defined by accent, given that accents in north america are generally more regional, and less class-related. That's not to say that an upper class twit from Georgia would sound identical to a lower class lout from Georgia, but I don't think they are as distinguishable as the upper class London versus lower class London.

In Ontario, for instance, I find that most native Ontarians sound quite similar in accent and class distinctions is speech are largely only noticeable via the vocabulary. Of course, there are exceptions, but...it's way different than the UK, I think.

I dunno, richat. When people make fun of Britney Spears, for example, they emphasize her Souuuuuuthern Drawwwwwl, to show that no matter how much money she has, she'll never have class.

Interesting thoughts, thank you all for taking the time to dispense them on this rather odd query.