Is Scotty's accent actually bad?

[Neopeius]

And Jupiter was replaced with the Thor…and I have had it in for the USAF ever since

Thor proved to be more reliable as a booster, by far. Some of that was the indifference of the Jupiter launch crews after their program was cancelled, to be fair.

On the other hand, thanks for wasting taxpayer money, grunts.

 

[publiusr]

Wwell the ABMA was treated rather badly. Medaris got the Saturn IB through.

 

[SpocksTricorder]

James Doohan has said that he based Scotty's accent on a Scottish man he knew during WWII. Scotty is characterized as being "an Old Aberdeen pub crawler".

Aberdeen and the surrounding area is known for a dialect called Doric, a form of Scots. This accent isn't heard often in media and it makes sense that a lot of people wouldn't be familiar with it. Less people speak it these days and those that do tend to tone down their accent when speaking with others not from the area. I have heard people say that Scotty sounds Irish to them but this could be because Scots is also spoken in Northern Ireland (Ulster Scots).

In my opinion Doohan does a good job with his accent. Scotty does use some strange phrases such as "The haggis is in the fire for sure" but that's more of a writers issue. Doohan also does a number of different voices for TAS and it's not really surprising that he was able to do a fair impersonation of someone he knew. His son's accent is Star Trek Continues is also pretty good.

Interestingly, Simon Pegg based his version of Scotty's accent off of his wife's, who is from Glasgow, which gives the character a different feel as the Glasgow has a rougher reputation than Aberdeen. It also changes the character's backstory from the East Coast to West Central which is never addressed. Pegg's accent is very good.

I'm interested to hear the opinions of other people familiar with Scottish regional accents.

James Doohan has said that he based Scotty's accent on a Scottish man he knew during WWII. Scotty is characterized as being "an Old Aberdeen pub crawler".

Aberdeen and the surrounding area is known for a dialect called Doric, a form of Scots. This accent isn't heard often in media and it makes sense that a lot of people wouldn't be familiar with it. Less people speak it these days and those that do tend to tone down their accent when speaking with others not from the area. I have heard people say that Scotty sounds Irish to them but this could be because Scots is also spoken in Northern Ireland (Ulster Scots).

In my opinion Doohan does a good job with his accent. Scotty does use some strange phrases such as "The haggis is in the fire for sure" but that's more of a writers issue. Doohan also does a number of different voices for TAS and it's not really surprising that he was able to do a fair impersonation of someone he knew. His son's accent is Star Trek Continues is also pretty good.

Interestingly, Simon Pegg based his version of Scotty's accent off of his wife's, who is from Glasgow, which gives the character a different feel as the Glasgow has a rougher reputation than Aberdeen. It also changes the character's backstory from the East Coast to West Central which is never addressed. Pegg's accent is very good.

I'm interested to hear the opinions of other people familiar with Scottish regional accents.

Mel Gibson's in the fire for sure. Great thread.

 

[SpocksTricorder]

James Doohan has said that he based Scotty's accent on a Scottish man he knew during WWII. Scotty is characterized as being "an Old Aberdeen pub crawler".

Aberdeen and the surrounding area is known for a dialect called Doric, a form of Scots. This accent isn't heard often in media and it makes sense that a lot of people wouldn't be familiar with it. Less people speak it these days and those that do tend to tone down their accent when speaking with others not from the area. I have heard people say that Scotty sounds Irish to them but this could be because Scots is also spoken in Northern Ireland (Ulster Scots).

In my opinion Doohan does a good job with his accent. Scotty does use some strange phrases such as "The haggis is in the fire for sure" but that's more of a writers issue. Doohan also does a number of different voices for TAS and it's not really surprising that he was able to do a fair impersonation of someone he knew. His son's accent is Star Trek Continues is also pretty good.

Interestingly, Simon Pegg based his version of Scotty's accent off of his wife's, who is from Glasgow, which gives the character a different feel as the Glasgow has a rougher reputation than Aberdeen. It also changes the character's backstory from the East Coast to West Central which is never addressed. Pegg's accent is very good.

I'm interested to hear the opinions of other people familiar with Scottish regional accents.

 

[SpocksTricorder]

It's a Scottish 1960 American accent. Stop it now!

 

[Nerys Myk]

I think it stopped on June 24th, 2022.

 

[Delta Vega]

James Doohan has said that he based Scotty's accent on a Scottish man he knew during WWII. Scotty is characterized as being "an Old Aberdeen pub crawler".

Aberdeen and the surrounding area is known for a dialect called Doric, a form of Scots. This accent isn't heard often in media and it makes sense that a lot of people wouldn't be familiar with it. Less people speak it these days and those that do tend to tone down their accent when speaking with others not from the area. I have heard people say that Scotty sounds Irish to them but this could be because Scots is also spoken in Northern Ireland (Ulster Scots).

In my opinion Doohan does a good job with his accent. Scotty does use some strange phrases such as "The haggis is in the fire for sure" but that's more of a writers issue. Doohan also does a number of different voices for TAS and it's not really surprising that he was able to do a fair impersonation of someone he knew. His son's accent is Star Trek Continues is also pretty good.

Interestingly, Simon Pegg based his version of Scotty's accent off of his wife's, who is from Glasgow, which gives the character a different feel as the Glasgow has a rougher reputation than Aberdeen. It also changes the character's backstory from the East Coast to West Central which is never addressed. Pegg's accent is very good.

I'm interested to hear the opinions of other people familiar with Scottish regional accents.

Doohan sounds absolutely nothing like an Aberdonian, that's not to say I didn't enjoy his attempts at what he thought was a "Scottish" accent
As for Pegg, as a Glaswegian myself, I find his attempts at Glaswegian to be laughable, verging on insulting, but hey ho
I don't really care much for the Kelvin Universe films
Why don't they actually cast a Scot as Scotty in the future, seeing as he will soon make an appearance in SNW?
That would be novel.

 

[Noname Given]

Is James doohan's fake Scottish accent bad? I'd have to say yes, it's very much a caricature. Is it as bad as say the English Cockney accent used by Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins? No, it isn't quite that bad as fake accents go.

 

[SpocksTricorder]

Keeping in mind when the Beatles hit America, everyone thought that was an English accent. No, it was a Liverpool accent.

 

[XCV330]

Keeping in mind when the Beatles hit America, everyone thought that was an English accent. No, it was a Liverpool accent.

 

[fireproof78]

Keeping in mind when the Beatles hit America, everyone thought that was an English accent. No, it was a Liverpool accent.

Wasn't that part of their marketing? That they were from Liverpool? I mean, I didn't grow up with the Beattles save for my dad, but I though from Liverpool was pretty clear.

 

[SpocksTricorder]

Wasn't that part of their marketing? That they were from Liverpool? I mean, I didn't grow up with the Beattles save for my dad, but I though from Liverpool was pretty clear.

 

[SpocksTricorder]

No, Americans didn't have a clue. An English accent was the entire British Empire. But we're getting off course. In the year 2370 Engineer Scott spoke the same as a 1590 Scotsman. Not sure if Robert the Bruce would agree.

 

[Silvercrest]

Kirk tells Shahna that he was born on Earth in "The Gamesters of Triskelion." Kirk tells the mess hall in "Charlie X" that he wants them to make their meatloaf taste like turkey in commemoration of Thanksgiving, implying that he's American. (Yes, there's a Canadian Thanksgiving as well, but TOS was an American TV series, and Occam's razor applies here.)

They could've had Thanksgiving turkeys on Tarsus IV! (Granted, not many would be left after 2246. But still.)

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

You want REAL Scottishness in Trek, you'll have to check this out...

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"Set phasers ta Malky!"

Why don't they actually cast a Scot as Scotty in the future, seeing as he will soon make an appearance in SNW?

Really? Where'd you hear that?

You're not referring to his offscreen appearance in "A Quality of Mercy", are you?

(wasn't actually identified onscreen as Scotty, but it obviously was him).

 

[Haggis and tatties]

^^^I love a ootsider and a mug of royle game soup. ....but no one eats a "couple of ootsiders"' that would mean you opened both sides of the bread packet at once and no one does that. Lol

 

[plynch]

A Liverpudlian accent … is an English accent. Am I missing something? Liverpool didn’t secede yet, right?

 

[Nerys Myk]

No, Americans didn't have a clue. An English accent was the entire British Empire. But we're getting off course. In the year 2370 Engineer Scott spoke the same as a 1590 Scotsman. Not sure if Robert the Bruce would agree.

Liverpool is in England. What's your point? That England has a number of accents?
Are there sound recordings from 1590? Must be quite a find.

The idea that North Americans from the 23rd century will sound the same as North Americans from 1960s is probably farfetched as well. But then again, Star Trek was made in the 1960s for an audience of North Americans.

 

[Tomalak]

A Liverpudlian accent … is an English accent. Am I missing something? Liverpool didn’t secede yet, right?

Not yet, but Liverpool has always had an independent streak that doesn't sit well with 'English' national identity.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/so...the poorest areas of,used to mock the poorest.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

I have heard people say that Scotty sounds Irish to them but this could be because Scots is also spoken in Northern Ireland (Ulster Scots)

Actual Ulster Scots would be unintelligible to American viewers, but there's a strong Scottish influence to the accents of spoken English around the North coast.

Not how Scotty sounds though.