I was lucky enough to see ASH once at a MoonLight Rising event and he was so much fun to see, actually he seemed to be having as much fun as the fans.

Nice article - Thanks for posting it Simon.

Passion | August 18, 16:28 CET

Yes -- thanks, Simon. What an interesting account -- and he seems like such a lovely, funny bloke.

JudithS | August 18, 17:11 CET

A couple of corrections , (courtesy of the lovely Dawn who was working at the event) have been added at The Cross And Stake.

debw | August 18, 17:42 CET

He seems like an absolutely delightful person. A wonderful actor, committed family man, animal lover...not to mention a wicked sense of humor.
A question for our friends across the pond: since we now know (and James apparently forgot) that ‘bollocks’ is not pronounced ‘bollix’, how is it pronounced? ‘Ball-ux’? ‘Bull-uks’?

bloodflowers | August 18, 18:38 CET

I'd suggest Boll-ocks
ETA: or possibly boll-ucks
Kind of depends where in the country you're from :)

[ edited by Paul_Rocks on 2004-08-18 16:43 ]

Paul_Rocks | August 18, 18:41 CET

Great report! Thanks debw! Tony is simply a lovely guy - as I would expect, since both he and I hail from Camden Town (not "Camdentown" as some online biogs would have it).

What ASH said about Spike's accent was interesting: that he was a character "originally from the North of England" who then travelled. Spike definitely had a more northern tinge to his accent when he first appeared, and then became more and more southern as the seasons progressed. But, from his origins in "Fool For Love" and "Lies My Parents Told Me", it's clear that he's actually a middle-class southerner. I always assumed that Spike had spent some time up north and simply had adopted (or affected) a bit of an accent. JM did do a great job with the voicing, although it was a wee bit shaky in Spike's first few appearances. As ASH says, it's much more in the intonation than in individual word pronounciation. (For comparison, Gwyneth Paltrow did a wonderful English accent in "Sliding Doors", but her phrasing was slightly off every now and again.)

bloodflowers: as a native Londoner, I say "BOLL-ux", heavy emphasis on the first syllable. And I say it a lot . . .

SoddingNancyTribe | August 18, 19:07 CET

Hmm, I'm gonna speak for the group of Americans who are relatively clueless about accents from abroad--Spike sounded British. Rougher British than Giles. That's as descriptive as I can get!

Now this just makes me more nervous about meeting him....I'm gonna swoon like a fangirl!!

And hey, what's this about 'it's un-English to jump the queue'?? (BTW, it's LINE, not queue, silly Brits) Are they implying it's American to jump line??? (Hey, it's very American to see threats everywhere, even when there aren't any!! hehe)

Rogue Slayer | August 18, 19:51 CET

Well, RogueS, we Brits are here to eju-cate you on our colourful accents . . . :) Spike is certainly rougher than Giles, although it's again interesting to note that Giles's own accent took on more of Tony's intonations in the last few seasons, making him sound, at times, like a nice london boy.

BTW: don't Americans say "cut in line", not "jump line"?

SoddingNancyTribe | August 18, 19:55 CET

As if I would say anything against out Transatlantic cousins!. It's just that we Brits are great at queuing , it has been said that even if there are only two of us we will immediately form an orderly queue and queue jumping is the gravest in the litany of grave sins!

Deb
( still feeling guilty)

And it's a queue , trust me I was in it .

debw | August 18, 20:00 CET

One of the more amazing things about life is that the Americans are as good at standing in lines as the Brits are at queuing. I'm Israeli BTW, and we believe in shooting first and queuing up later...

WWBD | August 18, 20:16 CET

I have heard from a few Americans that they're very impressed with our natural tendancy to form queues. On this very subject I was in a queue for the metrolink on monday and a couple of, shall we say, slightly inebriated gentlemen sauntered past most of us and seemed about to attempt to integrate themselves into the front of said queue when a number of people, firmly but politely told them to return to the back and queue up like the rest of us. Hmm, never thought I would use the word queue so many times in one sentence :) An extremely long sentence at that.

Paul_Rocks | August 18, 20:32 CET

Thanks, Paul_Rocks and SoddingNancyTribe.
My copy of British English A to Zed says “bollocks” see: “ballocks” and then says it may be the origin of the phrase “all ballocksed (also bollixed) up” with “bollocks” now the common spelling. All that and I still didn’t know how to pronounce it!

So what’s the opinion of Alexis Denisof’s accent? It seemed “veddy proper” in the beginning and then mellowed out. I wonder if he and James Marsters screwed each other up? “No, *I’m* the posh one... ”.

I don't like standing in a queue, but I don't think I've ever jumped one. Apparenly my American side is in conflict with my part English ancestry.

bloodflowers | August 18, 20:33 CET

I thought Alexis had a very convincing English accent, very public schoolboy. Not sure if I've ever heard him speak in any other accent though.
I'm not exactly a huge fan of standing in the queue, but I consider myself a fairly patient person and never rush to try and get to the front as a queue is forming. I'm sure there are plenty of British people of queue jump all the time and plenty of Americans who wouldn't dream of it, but racial sterotypes generally have at least some basis in fact :)

Paul_Rocks | August 18, 20:40 CET

Concur with Paul_Rocks: I always thought Alexis's accent as Wes was impeccable. It certainly changed a little through the years, but appropriately so, given how Wes himself was changing. What's more fascinating to me is Alexis's own accent, which I find utterly indeterminate, and which derives, I suppose, from his long sojourn in the UK.

Oh, and Juliet Landau did an equally great job as Dru, although perhaps a touch heavy in the "Spoike" department.

Spike was never really posh of course (as Spike I mean), but he came close to it. "Touched" comes to mind: when he's giving the great pep-talk to ailing Buffy, he starts to sound very much like William, which I suppose may have been what JM was aiming for.

"Best" queuers I ever met were the Soviets, when I lived in Kiev back in the late 80s. They'd stand patiently forever, then when they'd get to the front of, e.g., the bus line, they'd literally hurl themselves forward to be assured of a place. Great combination of timing and aggression . . .

WWBD: ouch! That's black humor, that is . . .

[ edited by SoddingNancyTribe on 2004-08-18 18:54 ]

SoddingNancyTribe | August 18, 20:45 CET

Well Spike should say bollocks correctly, after all it is in the title of one of the Sex Pistols album!

Passion | August 18, 20:48 CET

Well Spike should say bollocks correctly, after all it is in the title of one of the Sex Pistols album!
The only Sex Pistols album. The others are all just pointless rehashes of the same songs :) Granted there are different songs strewn about, but unless you're a completest I wouldn't recommend most of them (gets off his high horse)

Oh, and Juliet Landau did an equally great job as Dru, although perhaps a touch heavy in the "Spoike" department.

I agree SNT, very good, but a touch too Dick Van Dyke at times :)

Paul_Rocks | August 18, 20:57 CET

“What's more fascinating to me is Alexis's own accent, which I find utterly indeterminate, and which derives, I suppose, from his long sojourn in the UK.”

You know, I’ve never heard Alexis’s natural accent. I tend to pick up people’s accents as I talk to them, but it doesn’t last. I always worry that people will think I’m making fun of them, but I can’t help it.

I remember being impressed by JM’s accent (as William) in “Lies My Parents Told Me”. Possibly because I can never quite comprehend it’s the same actor who plays Spike. Or “Spoike”. Heehee!

bloodflowers | August 18, 21:12 CET

Bloodflowers, you should really try and find some extras with Alexis and Juliet. To hear them speak sans accent was shocking, to say the least. Probably even moreso than James.

Meanwhile, I'm simply going to practice saying "Je suis canadienne" for time abroad, so as to avoid my inevitable, like, stereotype fulfillment as a southern Californian, like, native.

randygiles | August 18, 21:50 CET

Clips of Alexis speaking without accent

Clips of James speaking without accent

Clips of Juliet speaking without accent

There's a pattern here :).

Simon | August 18, 22:02 CET

Once a group of English teenagers cut in front of me in a line at a fast food chicken joint in Moscow. The only English the girl behind the counter knew was "French fries", and the Brit kids yelled at her for using the stupid Yank word. I had to end up helping the little buggers order because they couldn't speak any Russian at all, and I wanted food within the next century.

Why can't they all be proper stereotypical non-queue jumpers? ;)

lalaa | August 19, 01:58 CET

lalaa: ah, English teens are like teens all over, I fear; no respect for conventions. But I don't get why they would fuss about "french fries". Folks in the UK also use that term, generally to mean the skinnier fried potatoes one finds in MacDs, KFC, et al. "Chips" is really reserved for the honking great greasy slabs. At least, that's my experience . . . The kids sound bloody obnoxious either way.

Interesno, kak vyi popali v Moskvu? (Excuse transliteration - don't have cyrillic access).

SoddingNancyTribe | August 19, 03:06 CET

Canadians also stand in queues and can get quite upset when someone jumps ahead but we are generally too polite to say so!

Lioness | August 19, 21:22 CET