What a great thread! Wish I understood the jokes better as I'm sure they're very funny. Besides the Hanks/Gump I can't think of another accent that annoyed me half as much. Saw a movie w/Kristen Scott Thomas last night and she did a very credible if generic American accent. The main thing I was impressed with was the consistency she maintained in the pronunciation of 'ands', 'the', 'um'...things like that. Thought her imterpretation of an educated/cultured American woman of privilege was pretty accurate. As a result of this thread I listened much more carefully than I would have, otherwise. Used to cry thru 'How Green Was My Valley' until I went to the motherland and realized how wrong the accents were. Now it just makes me cringe.