On Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:47:20 -0400, Warp wrote:

>   He certainly doesn't seem to be talking in the "heaviest" British
>   accent
> as he has done in the past, like here:

That happens when one spends a lot of time speaking in a non-native 
accent, at least for some people.

The few times I've been to the UK, I've noticed that my volume tends to 
come down (I'm not that loud to begin with), and after a week or so of 
talking with Brits, I start subconsciously mimicking the accent (probably 
not very well, but it's enough that natives can't tell where I'm from - 
I've had a few comment on that, actually).

If you want to see something really wacky, watch interviews with Renée 
Zellweger (and the other cast in Bridget Jones' Diary) around the time 
that filming completed.  Reportedly the British cast members didn't know 
she's from Texas because from the first time they met her, they hadn't 
heard her speak in her native accent - she was always practicing her 
British accent.  When she got up to accept an award (IIRC), that was the 
first time they heard her speak like a Texan, and it kinda freaked them 
out; they reportedly asked her why she was "doing a voice" and she 
explained that she was speaking in her "real" voice, but they didn't 
believe it.

Jim

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