Why are butlers in American movies usually British?

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Americans call our own language "the English language". So when you want to subdivide English between the two sides of the Atlantic Americans call the dialect from the far side "British" because it would be confusing to talk about "speaking English English".

But you're right that strictly speaking ... Americans mean dialects of England, when they say "British English". And we talk about "Scottish accents" as a different thing. And Wales, and its dialects arent even on the American radar screen at all. There is autistic guy in Britain who does a Utube show. He speaks in a (to me) odd dialect that has hints of an Irish brogue, but isnt an Irish brogue. I finnally asked him in the comment section what it was- he was amused- and said that he is from Wales.

General purpose US accent is generally the way northern Midwesterners speak.

Nigella Lawson

I have read a lot of interviews with British rock acts who discuss the difference between American and British Audiences. They talk about how self deprecating the British are compared to Americans, how as soon as you get any success the British want to cut you down.


If a British person and an American person says the exact same thing the British persons words will seem to me to hold more gravitas solely due to the accent. It does not matter how gruff or working class the accent is.


Now you have.

I believe Nigella Lawson has the "posh" accent. I wouldn't mind "biting" her

Still, I think the Cockney accent in women is cute.

I read an article in the New York Times where the British government was looking for two butlers to help entertain government and visiting foreign dignitaries. The date was within the last 5 or 10 years. Apparently some British people like the idea of a British Butler and even want a couple good ones to show off.

Jeeves and Wooster are both British.

Yes she's more tasty than the dishes she comes up with

I suspect that in many parts of the world people have an outdated idea that the UK is still a 'classy' nation. I was reading the comments on a YouTube video on this topic recently, and an astonishing number of foreign posters associated the UK with things like 'tea and scones', etc. Maybe they should have a look around places like Rochdale to get a more realistic picture of what most of the country is like these days..

Couldn't help smiling by the way at an earlier post where someone described Alan Sugar as 'upper middle class'. Jumped up barrow boy, more like, though admittedly his achievement in building Amstrad from nothing into one of the UK's top companies, albeit briefly, was exceptional.

More stuffy and old fashioned than classy. At least that's the perception.

I watched "My Man Godfrey" (1936) on youtube (whole movie is there for free if you don't mind the randomly placed ads). It is a silly screwball comedy - I liked it and I liked the performance of William Powell in the title role. My daughter would probably say the female characters were not to her liking - by modern standards.

Came out the same year as "Thank You, Jeeves!". Plot summery, a "tramp" or "homeless person" type character (in the film he is refered to as a "Forgotten man") is picked up by a rich socialite so she can win a scavenger hunt. She wins and is pleased she beat her sister and asks the man if she can do anything for him by way of returning the favor. He says he needs a job and she hires him on the spot as the new Butler. Everyone is surprised by what a good job he does despite everyone in then family being a bit daffy. I won't tell you the end but many of you can guess it. At one point in the film one of the other characters jokingly refers to Godfrey as "Jeeves".

So I think this points back to Jeeves as the original Hollywood British Butler.

Originally created "by English author P. G. Wodehouse" in short stories 1915.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeeves