History Main / AccentDepundent

* "The Anteater" in ''BeastlyRhymes'' by Creator/RoaldDahl, specifically makes the unfortunate anteater's owner American to justify the creature eventualy eating his aunt, and even explains the American pronounciation to a presumed British audience.

* An African-American guy is walking down the street and asks an Irish fella how much further he must go to get to O'Reilly's Pub. He answers "You're a block past it!"[[note]]Black bastard[[/note]]. Cue one punch in the nose.

'''Lady Tottington:''' In an hour?[[note]]Pronounced as "ow-er"[[/note]] I can't wait an hour, I have a major infestation!

* Some of the {{Punny Name}}s in the English translation of ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}''. Most characters with '-a' names (Gaulish and Roman women, and Numidian men) are named actual words that end in '-a', but a few characters get plays off '-er' words that only work if you have a non-rhotic accent - for instance Flaturtha (Flat-Earther). There are also some names that only work in London accents with dropped 'h's, like Sendervictorius & Appianglorius, and Mykingdomforanos[[note]]My kingdom for an 'orse (a horse)[[/note]]. Another pun relied on the words "flawed" and "floored" being pronounced identically, which only works in non-rhotic accents.

--> ''[After Phill has confused Stephen by speaking in a Geordie accent]''
--> '''Phill Jupitus:''' There’s that great joke about the little soldier who’s with General Custer, and they can hear the… ''[taps a war drum beat on the desk]'' …and he says to the little Geordie soldier, “Listen, they’ve got war drums,” and the Geordie soldier goes, “The thieving bastards!”
--> '''Stephen Fry:''' Is it, like, a naval wardroom? Is that what they’re saying, “wardroom”?
--> ''[Phill sighs in exasperation and puts his head on the desk]''
--> '''Stephen Fry:''' Well, it’s where naval officers gather for their pink gins, it’s called the wardroom.
--> '''Phill Jupitus:''' ''[to the Pudsey plush on his desk]'' Oh, Pudsey, make him stop!
--> '''Stephen Fry:''' Well, ''[Geordie accent]'' “they’ve got wardrooms, the thieving bastards”? [Normal] What…?
--> '''Phill Jupitus:''' [[DontExplainTheJoke In Newcastle]], they say, instead of “our”, they say, “wor”!
--> '''Stephen Fry:''' Well, they simply must go to school; it’s just ridiculous.

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

-->'''Wallace:''' [as he's on the phone] Just stay right where you are, Your Ladyship, and ''(accidentally pressas a button which yanks him upstairs)'' we'll be with you in an- AAAAHHH!!\\
'''Lady Tottington:''' In an hour?[[note]]pronounced as "ow-er"[[/note]] I can't wait an hour, I have a major infestation!
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'': In the song "Be Prepared", Scar's line "A shining new era / is tiptoeing nearer" is dependent on Jeremy Irons' non-rhotic English accent; additionally, "era" is pronounced with a short "e" in many North American accents.
* ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine'' - the following pun only worked thanks to Music/RingoStarr's Liverpool accent:
--> '''Ringo:''' Hey, I wonder what would happen if I pulled this lever.\\
'''Old Fred:''' You mustn't do that.\\
'''Ringo:''' Can't help it. I'm a born lever-puller.

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]
* ''Film/DoctorDolittle'': The song "Talk to the Animals" includes the line "If people asked me "Can you speak rhinoceros?"/I'd say "Of courseros!" This is obviously a less PainfulRhyme in Rex Harrison's non-rhotic British accent than it would have been in a rhotic accent.

** A DoubleSubversion: Djelibeybi is a pun on the name of a British candy that was lost on Americans. So Pratchett created the nearby country Hersheba - which is equally lost on people who speak with a rhotic American accent. It can also be misinterpreted as having the stress on the second syllable, like "herSHEEba".

** Christopher Robin's line "He's Winnie-''ther''-Pooh. Don't you know what 'ther' means?" The spelling is supposed to represent the word "the" as it would be pronounced in Pooh's name ("thuh", as opposed to "thee"). To readers with rhotic accents this is much more difficult to understand.

** Diagon Alley is a play on the word "diagonally," but this is missed by many non-UK readers; for example, the "ally" in "diagnonally" and the noun "alley" sound nothing alike in American English. Knockturn Alley is a play on "nocturnally," which is missed for the same reason. The films make the pun a little clearer, particularly in ''Chamber of Secrets,'' when Harry mispronounces Diagon Alley as "diagonally" (though with the AccentOnTheWrongSyllable) while using the Floo Network.

--> ". . . I wish I could remember his name. I had it about a dozen times tonight. It's something with a window in it."\\

** When discussing spelling mistakes: "The suspect was wearing a car key jacket." [[note]]khaki jacket[[/note]]

* ''Series/TheTwoRonnies'': In the Four Candles/Fork Handles sketch, a customer at a hardware shop (who sounds like he comes from one of England's more rural counties) asks for "fork 'andles." The shopkeeper hands him four candles, thinking this is what he wants, but the customer then clarifies that he wants "fork 'andles - 'andles for forks [[note]]as in garden forks[[/note]]." The rest of the sketch is based around the customer asking for various items and the shopkeeper misunderstanding what he wants, with the shopkeeper eventually becoming exasperated and accusing the customer of "having him on." At one point the customer asks for "O's" (the letter), and the shopkeeper thinks he wants either "hoes" or "hose", which only works because the customer drops his H's. %%"Four candles"/"fork handles" itself doesn't actually depend on H-dropping; in fact they sound LESS similar if the H is dropped, ironically.

* In another Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical, ''Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat'', Joseph tells the Pharaoh "All these things you saw in your '''pyjamas'''"/Are a long-range forecast for your '''farmers'''" – a dead giveaway that the show is British in origin, which becomes a very PainfulRhyme in a rhotic accent.

-->And so from whore to whore, we rape, and rape,\\

[[folder:WebAnimation]]
* ''WebAnimation/{{Eddsworld}}'': "Beaster Bunny", the first proper episode headed by Matt Hargreaves, opens with show Matt complaining about Tom's car... but pronounced in Edd's accent, it sounds like "Creator/TomSka", aka the previous showrunner, and the complaints are [[TakeThat criticisms of Ridgewell's management]] phrased as criticisms of a vehicle.
* [[WebAnimation/WeeblAndBob Weebl's Stuff]]:
** In "Giraffe In My Loft", the singer states that the giraffe "Wears my chimney for a scarf / Oh giraffe, you're having a laugh!", which only works in a non-rhotic accent that pronounces "laugh" with a long a.
** "Fat Santa Claus" rhymes "Claus" with "floors", "doors" and "course", which is dependent on the singer's non-rhotic accent.
** "Magical Trevor : Episode 02" rhymes "saw him" and "adore him", which relies on an accent with linking r.
[[/folder]]

* An inverted example. In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' one of Sam's relatives is "Halfast Gamgee"[[note]]The "cousin Hal" who saw a "Tree-man" walking on the northern moors[[/note]]. American commentators suggested this was a pun drawing attention to the character being a little bit of a dolt to his Shire neighbours. British readers went "huh?" as they couldn't see it (Halfast = Half-assed), since Creator/JRRTolkien and other Brits would probably say “half-arsed” instead.
** Though Tolkien ''does'' make that joke - with the name of Sam himself - "samwise" meaning "half-wise" in Old English. In fact LOTR is ''stuffed'' with [[BilingualBonus obscure philological puns]] which go right over the heads of readers who don't have Tolkien's level of expertise.

* To Americans, ''Literature/WorldWarZ'' is an obvious pun on "World War 3". English speakers from any other country won't get it instantly. To them it would be "World War Zed".

* ''{{Series/Seinfeld}}'': Dolores rhyming with a part of the female anatomy, or anything else, depends on regional pronunciation.

* The rhyming phrase "criss cross applesauce," used to describe a casual variant of the lotus position where the feet are placed under the thighs rather than atop them, is built around the American pronunciations of the words "cross" and "sauce" rhyming. In other parts of the Anglosphere, the phrase would fall short due to "cross" and "sauce" not rhyming.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

-->'''Nabors:''' What right do you have to be here?
-->'''Rowlf:''' What rat? This rat ''(Produces rat)''.
-->'''Nabors:''' Put up your hands!
-->'''Rowlf:''' Put up my hens? Sure ''(Places a pair of chickens on the counter)''.

* ''Series/KathAndKim'' frequently speak of their desire to be affluent - which, in a broad Australian accent, sounds very similar to "effluent".

[[folder:Films - Animated]]

[[folder:Films - Live Action]]

* One of the many {{Punny Name}}s in the LongList at the end of ''Radio/CarTalk'' is "Al Takaka", which depends on the Boston accents of the two hosts to sound like AlterCocker.

* A classic American reclining chair, as seen in ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', loses some of its ring in Britain. "La-Z-Boy" only makes sense in American English. Over here it's "La Zed Boy". Weird name. What's it meant to mean, then?

* The fact that a long "a" or an "aw" turns into an "ar" or "or" on the end of certain words in some American dialects (mostly East Coast areas like New York and New England) wrecks several jokes that use this in wordplay. For instance, the fact that the "law" of "law enforcement" turns into a "lar" or a "lore" is used in a Music/DropkickMurphys song for a rhyme.

* The rhyming phrase "criss cross applesauce," used to describe a casual variant of the lotus position where the feet are placed under the thighs rather than atop them, is built around the American pronunciation of the word "sauce." In other parts of the Anglosphere, the phrase would fall short due to "sauce" rhyming more with "horse" (i.e. "hōas") over there.

* The last line in "The Alphabet Song" only rhymes if you pronounce Z "Zee", as the Americans do, instead of "Zed", as Canadians and most Europeans do.

* "Marmite, but Pa might not." Supposed to sound like "Ma might". Then again, Marmite isn't as familiar to non-Brits.

** ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'': The Mock Turtle's line, "We called him 'Tortoise' because he taught us!". With the right accent, "tortoise" is pronounced "TAW-tus". This pronunciation is common for English accents and r-dropping American accents, such as a Brooklyn accent (as demonstrated by at least one community radio theater adaptation).

* In the musical of ''Theatre/{{Matilda}}'', "School Song" features words which sound like letters of the alphabet in order (e.g. "'''I''' have suffered in this '''ja'''il I've been trapped inside this '''ca'''ge for ages, This living ''''ell'''") and ends with the warning about how Miss Trunchball teaches "Phy'''s-ed'''", using Zed instead of Zee. Also, the word used for R is "asked", which doesn't work in any rhotic accent or, for that matter, in the north of England.

* In WesternAnimation/''Cars1'': Mater's declaration that his name is 'Mater, like Tow-Mater, but without the 'tow'' only works if the audience is used to pronouncing 'tomato' as 'tuh-mater' or 'tow-mater'.

# '''Pronunciation:''' Does "caught" sound like "court" or "cot"?[[note]]In England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand, "court" and "caught" sound the same but "cot" is different; in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_low_back_vowels#Cot.E2.80.93caught_merger Scotland, Northern Ireland, Canada and some parts of the United States, "cot" and "caught" sound the same]] but "court" is different; in most of the rest of the United States and Republic of Ireland, "cot", "caught" and "court" all sound different![[/note]]

* In WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}: Mater's declaration that his name is 'Mater, like Tow-Mater, but without the 'tow'' only works if the audience is used to pronouncing 'tomato' as 'tuh-mater' or 'tow-mater'.

* An interesting inversion of this trope occurs in ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' with the character Lord Farquaad. In a rhotic American accent (or indeed, the Scottish one put on by Creator/MikeMyers as Shrek), his name sounds perfectly innocent, but in non-rhotic accent it sounds indistinguishable from "fuckwad".

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'': In the song "Be Prepared", Scar's line "A shining new era / is tiptoeing nearer" is dependent on Jeremy Irons' English accent.

* In WesternAnimation/{{Cars}: Mater's declaration that his name is 'Mater, like Tow-Mater, but without the 'tow'' only works if the audience is used to pronouncing 'tomato' as 'tuh-mater' or 'tow-mater'.

* There are a few jokes, most often told in the midwestern U.S., that rely on the contrast between the North Central accent (think "MinnesotaNice") and more "mainstream" American accents.
-->''A man from the big city came back to his cabin on the Upper Peninsula after a long winter, and realized that he needed a monkey wrench to make a few repairs. So he went down the road to his nearest neighbor's house, knocked on the door, and asked "Good morning, do you have a monkey wrench?"''\\
''His neighbor replied, "Gosh, I hate to disappoint you, but no we haven't. Dere's a few cattle renches around here, and my brother in Nort' Dakota's got a horse rench, but it's way too cold fer a monkey rench."''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing'': In the song "Be Prepared", Scar's line "A shining new era / is tiptoeing nearer" is dependent on Jeremy Irons' English accent.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV''
** The game has a jetski manufacturer named "Speedophile", a pun that only works with the British pronunciation of "pedophile".
** There's a trucking company called "RS Haul", a pun on the British word "arsehole" that doesn't work if you pronounce it as the American "asshole".

[[folder:Film: Animated]]

[[folder:Film: Live-Action]]

* ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'': It's far from obvious to many Americans that Eeyore was named after the sound a donkey makes (eee-aww = hee-haw).

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' has a jetski manufacturer named "Speedophile", a pun that only works with the British pronunciation of "pedophile".

* This exchange from the ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit'' film ''WesternAnimation/TheCurseOfTheWereRabbit'', which depends on Lady Tottington's very posh RP accent.
-->'''Wallace:''' [as he's on the phone] Just stay right where you are, Your Ladyship, and ''(accidentally pressas a button which yanks him upstairs)'' we'll be with you in an- AAAAHHH!!\\
'''Lady Tottington:''' In an hour?[[note]]pronounced as "ow-er"[[/note]] I can't wait an hour, I have a major infestation!
* Most Americans didn't get that ''WesternAnimation/ArthurChristmas'' was supposed to be a pun on "Father Christmas", partly because the words don't rhyme in most dialects of American English, and partly because most Americans are used to saying "Santa Claus".

* ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine'' - the following pun only worked thanks to Music/RingoStarr's Liverpool accent:
--> '''Ringo:''' Hey, I wonder what would happen if I pulled this lever.\\
'''Old Fred:''' You mustn't do that.\\
'''Ringo:''' Can't help it. I'm a born lever-puller.

* In one episode of ''Series/LambChopsPlayAlong'', Shari teaches Lamb Chop about silent letters, and she use "poem" as the first example of a word with a silent letter, the "e." While this works in Shari and Lamb Chop's New York accent, it doesn't work in other accents that clearly pronounce the "e" in that word

* Music/JoannaNewsom has a song called '81 (referencing a year from a recent century), but when spoken in the song itself, the lyrics book says "A.D. 1". This pun only works in American English, since in British English, the D and T sounds would be completely distinct.

* The English fan translation for '' VideoGame/Mother3'' makes a brief quip about a sparrow's fluency in game lingo being "rarrow", before correcting itself to "rare". This gag makes no sense to accents without the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_vowel_changes_before_historic_/r/#Mary%E2%80%93marry%E2%80%93merry_merger Mary-marry-merry merger.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', Vanellope's "duty"/"doody" pun only works in an accent that exhibits both flapping and yod-droppping; in non-flapping and/or non-yod-dropping accents, the two words aren't homophonous.