The Accent

[MissJenniPenni]

Ive seen a lot of discussion of Desmonds accent. Whether its Irish/Scottish, theres one thing we may be missing. The fact that he HAS an accent shows that either 1. He has lived in Scotland/Ireland OR 2. He was brought up by a person/people who have this accent.
That kinda puts out the idea that he grew up on the Island. It raises some questions about his life story though, doesnt it?

[*Pauly*]

The actor is Scottish, the accent is Scottish. Are you really from Scotland? lol as I can clearly tell it's a Scottish accent. I'm from England.

[RedSimmy]

I thought he was irish ??? He definately sounds irish, i live in geordie land (lol) and geordie is very like scottish .... but if you say he comes from scotland, guess i was wrong ...

[MissJenniPenni]

Im not 100% sure which accent it is supposed to be lol. But my point was that they chose an actor WITH an accent, and no attempt has been made to hide it. So does that mean Desmonds origins are in the UK, or was he brought up somewhere by people with those accents?

[*Pauly*]

Yeah the actor is definietly scottish and I am pretty sure the accent is too he sounds like someone I used to know who was Scottish aswell so yeah.

Just checked this site and it confirms what I thought.

http://www.henryiancusick.com/

HENRY GUEST STARS ON "LOST"!
Role: "Desmond"
(Character's recurring and is Scottish - like Henry himself!)

[Vegeta]

Im not 100% sure which accent it is supposed to be lol. But my point was that they chose an actor WITH an accent, and no attempt has been made to hide it. So does that mean Desmonds origins are in the UK, or was he brought up somewhere by people with those accents?

By default I thought it was Irish. Then, when thinking about it later, it dawned on me how much he sounded like Billy Conolly. He is Scottish, isn't he?

[*Pauly*]

lol he does sound like billy connolly hehe imagine him on lost that would be funny.

[qwertsta]

Ehehehe i thought someone said it was an Australian accent, it sounds nothing like a aussie accent. American shows make us sound bad lol, like in season 1 how hurly is at sydney airport and they are like gday matey OMG!!! its like a british person trying to do an Australian accent. Hahahaha it makes me ashamed of being Australian lol.

[RedSimmy]

Lol, yeh i read somewhere on this forum tht someone thought it was an Aussie accent, and i wa like WAH ??? you got to be kidding lol ... and billy connolly roxs soxs ...

[*Pauly*]

Here's Billy just before a flashback:

http://newsfeed.tcm.ie/images/people/BillyConnollyPA.jpg

[RedSimmy]

Lol, that actually made me laugh, lol ...

[Captain Panda]

He does´nt sound anything like Billy Connolly....
And the people who are saying that it´s an australian accent...seriously check your ears.
His accent is Scottish, it´s as simple as that

[Vegeta]

Well, Billy Connolly is Scottish, and to me (and some others) he sounds like him lol :p

[lost_momma]

Ehehehe i thought someone said it was an Australian accent, it sounds nothing like a aussie accent. American shows make us sound bad lol, like in season 1 how hurly is at sydney airport and they are like gday matey OMG!!! its like a british person trying to do an Australian accent. Hahahaha it makes me ashamed of being Australian lol.

Right. I have a friend in Australia and his accent is distinctly British and refined. None of that Crocodile Dundee stuff.

[Tranced]

Right. I have a friend in Australia and his accent is distinctly British and refined. None of that Crocodile Dundee stuff.

Not even a little bit?

[lost_momma]

Not even a little bit?

Nope. :D

(Sorry - answer too short - must have at least 10 characters. So, there you are.)

[watcher]

Ive seen a lot of discussion of Desmonds accent. Whether its Irish/Scottish, theres one thing we may be missing. The fact that he HAS an accent shows that either 1. He has lived in Scotland/Ireland OR 2. He was brought up by a person/people who have this accent.
That kinda puts out the idea that he grew up on the Island. It raises some questions about his life story though, doesnt it?

How can the guy grow up on the island and be in a stadium working out.. :confused:

[david6-2]

He is definately Scottish. I'm from Scotland and would recognise the accent anywhere. Just a shame the only Scot is some madman!

[L0ST_ADDICT]

The Actor is Scotish like his accent. Where he came from there or not we dont know.
Here is a link to check out.
http://www.henryiancusick.com/

[Derek]

How have all you English and Scots seen season 2, i thought you were only on season one

[soxnation21]

If anyone has a picture I belive Desmond was wearing a jersey, you could see who the team is and that might give some info.

[Mojave]

Henry Ian Cusick is from Peru, if that helps with all you accent theorists.

http://imdb.com/name/nm0193738/

[david6-2]

How have all you English and Scots seen season 2, i thought you were only on season one

We have seen it because your fellow Americans have put it up for downloading on the Internet and I must say i'm not making money out of this its simply because this show is great!

[SKaN0n56]

yeah, i kinda think that desmond is scottish because of his accent.i've only been 2 scotland once actually for about 4 days and so i've heard scots talk first hand.not saying that i knoe da place better that the ppl who live there but i've experienced it.

[david6-2]

yeah, i kinda think that desmond is scottish because of his accent.i've only been 2 scotland once actually for about 4 days and so i've heard scots talk first hand.not saying that i knoe da place better that the ppl who live there but i've experienced it.

where about did you visit and what did you think of it?

[Duff]

Im not 100% sure which accent it is supposed to be lol. But my point was that they chose an actor WITH an accent, and no attempt has been made to hide it. So does that mean Desmonds origins are in the UK, or was he brought up somewhere by people with those accents?


Well if hes origins aren't from UK then he must be grown in some VERY isolated area as the language where you live always affect the accent no matter what.
If he's not from UK then he must be grown on the island :D

[Elbatcho]

I am a Brit living in the US and it's a Scotich Accent, it's muddled with a mid Atlantic twang but the primary accent is Scotich.

[Anuskai]

It's definitely scottish! I work for Bank of Scotland in Ireland and many of my colleagues are true scots -they all talk like that! I love it!

I couldn't tell where exactly is from (all I know is that Glasgow accent is way stronger than Edinburgh) but one thing is for sure, Desmond is not Irish..!

:)

[LostSurvivors]

Woah.. weird... i thought he had irish accent, he does have irish accent, Scottish don't have accent like that... i also live in england... Scottish have similar but different, on his web site it looks like it's Scottish.. hmmm... but i looked up his name on google... and definition of Desmond is "County Desmond was an historic county of Ireland on the south-western coast of Ireland. It was later partitioned between County Cork and County Kerry. "... weird huh?

[Anuskai]

Woah.. weird... i thought he had irish accent, he does have irish accent, Scottish don't have accent like that... i also live in england... Scottish have similar but different, on his web site it looks like it's Scottish.. hmmm... but i looked up his name on google... and definition of Desmond is "County Desmond was an historic county of Ireland on the south-western coast of Ireland. It was later partitioned between County Cork and County Kerry. "... weird huh?

Desmond (or Des) is an extremely common name in Ireland but I had never heard of a county called like that..? Kerry and Cork are in south, south-west of Ireland and there's no way Desmond's accent comes from there!!! We watched the episode on friday and my fiancé (who's from Kerry) was pretty sure Desmond is not Irish but Scottish!

My colleagues here at work come from different parts of Scotland; you can notice the difference in their accents... I suppose Scotland is a bit like England: you hear someone from Sheffield, Liverpool, Essex and Newcastle and they all sound sooooo different from each other... although for the rest of the world it's all "English" accent! :)

I think it's probably the same in every country?

[someshine]

I Think its the same in every country. Here in denmark, which is a small country, the accents are very different. fx, i live in middle Jutland, and i have a very hard time understanding the old folks living in northwest jutland... and i guess he's Scottish, but my husband says he's australian.. lol.. he sound more scottish than irish to me anyway..

[MissJenniPenni]

He is definately Scottish. I'm from Scotland and would recognise the accent anywhere. Just a shame the only Scot is some madman!

well im also from Scotland, and i had trouble telling what it was. I also asked my boyfriend (also scottish) what accent Desmond had, his response was also irish. It must be a very muddled accent, its not clear thats for sure

[Elbatcho]

well im also from Scotland, and i had trouble telling what it was. I also asked my boyfriend (also scottish) what accent Desmond had, his response was also irish. It must be a very muddled accent, its not clear thats for sureTrust me on this, it's because he has been in the States for a while your hearing more of the Yank accent while they hear more of the Scott. When I go home to the UK everyone notices my American accent and comments on that, when I am in the states they all notice my English accent. Now because it sounds wierd I also get told I am from Austrailia, Tasmania, South Africa, New Zealand, Ireland, Scottland and Wales. Desmond doesn't have a strong scottish accent but it there and I would say he is from southern Scotland. Or it could be an American actor doing a Scottish accent, like Madonna doing a british one.

[Anuskai]

Or it could be an American actor doing a Scottish accent, like Madonna doing a british one.

That was class!!

:crackup:

[Raven O'Reilly]

I think you guys would be able to distinguish between someone with an Irish accent and someone with a Scottish accent if they were speaking to you right in front of you. Best but horrible example at the same time would probably be the movie "Braveheart." You can hear the difference in accents between the nutty Irish guy and the other Scots. Just using that as a loose example though, not saying it's perfect because I'm sure it isn't. lol

Way I can tell Aussies from Brits who don't have that whole Crocidile Dundee thing going is the way they say certain words like "idea." There's like always an R sound added onto the A making it sound like "idea'r." Had an Aussie History Professor last year who is often mistaken for a Brit.

[henryporter]

The Aussie accent is basically the same as the British London accent but the Aussie's is slowed down a bit because of the heat...

And New Zealanders sound like posh Aussies and Canadians sound like posh Americans. At least thats how I differentiate!

I can see why the irish/Scottish accent can be confusing, we are so close geographically and historically our accents are bound to be fairly similar to the untrained ear. It'd be like a Brit trying to tell the difference between a New York City and a New Jersey accent I suppose. Obvious if you're a New Yorker but not really that different!

[Anuskai]

The Aussie accent is basically the same as the British London accent but the Aussie's is slowed down a bit because of the heat...

And New Zealanders sound like posh Aussies and Canadians sound like posh Americans. At least thats how I differentiate!

I can see why the irish/Scottish accent can be confusing, we are so close geographically and historically our accents are bound to be fairly similar to the untrained ear. It'd be like a Brit trying to tell the difference between a New York City and a New Jersey accent I suppose. Obvious if you're a New Yorker but not really that different!

I think Scottish and Irish accents can be distinguished quite easily; Scots have a really strong "r" (a bit like spanish) while Irish is much softer... Irish also tend to pronounce the "t" at the end of a word as some sort of "s". I think the scottish is more similar to the Northern Ireland accent... what do you think..?

But yeah, I'm no expert either so I don't know! I agree with you that Canadians sound a bit like posh Americans. No offense to anyone by the way, just talking about the accent! ;)

[*Pauly*]

I can tell the difference between all British accents unless they are really soft. http://img117.exs.cx/img117/9585/q9crolleyes.gif

[henryporter]

Yeah, Northern Irish accent (I'm from Belfast) is quite similar to Scottish, our North Coast accent is actually very close. It's amazing, there's more difference in 20 miles across the Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland border than there is accross the sea in Scotland!

[*Pauly*]

Yeah the northern irish accent is more nasal than the Republican accent do you think? There a lot of different accents in Britain even though we only cover a small amount of land. Says much to our diversity I think ^_^

[henryporter]

Yes it is more nasal I suppose and the difference in accents is either an indication of our diversity or an indication of our colloquial inwardness. I prefer the diversity theory though...

[Derek]

We have seen it because your fellow Americans have put it up for downloading on the Internet and I must say i'm not making money out of this its simply because this show is great!
Irish here