By Elaine Magliaro

On Real Time last Friday, Bill Maher explored America’s infatuation with British accents during his New Rules segment. Maher said, “Our reliance on the British accent to convey gravitas is kind of our way of admitting that we know we’re not really a serious people.” He added, “We drink wine out of boxes. We invented Mormonism. Our best-selling author is Bill O’Reilly. Most Americans don’t know that ‘The Big Bang Theory’ is also a theory.” Maher then proceeded to rattle off a list of “’childish stuff’ that defines us as Americans, like climate change denial, pajama jeans, and the Palin family.”

When there was an image of Tony Blair standing next to George W. Bush on the television screen, Maher said, “We have the air craft carriers, but they have the guy who knows a sentence needs a subject and an object.” Maher then made the following point: “That war sounded a whole lot better coming out of Tony Blair’s mouth — which is why the British accent is dangerous.”

Real Time with Bill Maher: New Rule: Brit for Brains (HBO)

SOURCE

Bill Maher: Americans respect British accents because deep down we know we’re a fundamentally unserious nation (Salon)