I was just listening to the GEICO Gecko ad where this confusion comes up. I’ve never thought he was an Aussie — the accent sounds vaguely Cockney to me. But I suspect that it’s not a pure accent from anywhere, but rather an actor (from somewhere in the Anglosphere, possibly even in the US) putting on a fake one.
Any thoughts?
With my antipodean ear I conclude definitely British. Sort of London wideboy / cockney. The person that comes to mind is Jason Statham. But a little softened, probably to make it intelligible to American ears. Definitely not Australian, no trace of “strine.”
Markus is spot on. I’d call the Gecko’s accent refined Cockney. The Australian accent was influenced by 18th century lower class English accents but has diverged from Cockney long ago. It does retain a flair for colorful expressions, though.
It’s a British cockney actor.
http://www.tvacres.com/adanimals_geicogecko.htm
As to why people think he’s Australian, well, isn’t that a more reasonable place to find geckos than Great Britain?
Henry Higgins I’m not, but I have to agree with Markus.
That lizard is NOT speaking my native tongue. It sounds like an eastender with delusions of standing.
Absolutely cockney. No question. There isn’t even a hint of Australian to it.
I think Ed wins the thread. One thing I must say, Geico adds are always odd; but their advertising agency is great at creating various themes that make you think of the company. Alas, I don’t use them though, and not interested in changing from my current property insurer.
Geckos aren’t native to England, are they? He might be a transplant but his roots are in Australia.
Cockney, no question.
But… I get asked several times a week if I’m Australian, which I find strange as I’ve fairly “flat”, received pronouciation English which is nothing like Australian.
So there is obviously a problem for some people to tell the difference. It happens more here in the North West than the rest of the country so it might a regional “tin” ear problem.
Although, just to be clear, Jake Wood doesn’t seem to be a Cockney – firstly his location of birth is given as Middlesex which plants him firmly as a North Londoner rather than a real East London Cockney, and second, he supports Arsenal… something no real cockney would ever ever do.
Spurs maybe, my Cockney grandmother (Bethnal Green) and mother (Stepney) were/are fans – more likely West Ham… but Arsenal? Given me strength!
The average American doesn’t know from Cockney. To us, there’s “British” (RP and anything that could possibly be mistaken for it), “Irish,” and “Australian.” The gecko isn’t RP and isn’t Irish, therefore he must be Australian.
Huh, and here I thought it was Mark Sheppard.
Don’t really care about where the accent is from, I just wish they’d can the gecko ads (and the caveman ones, too). They are easily the worst (both boring AND irritating at the same time – even AFLAC’s are better) ads I can remember – I wouldn’t buy insurance from this company if they were the last one on Earth because of these ads.
there’ve been three (maybe four) different people who have done the gecko’s voice including Kelsey grammar. the guy who’s doing it now is a british actor from London doing a Cockney accent. there was a time when the gecko had more of an Australian accent. that’s why.
TO Daveon Says:
September 15th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Spurs maybe, my Cockney grandmother (Bethnal Green) and mother (Stepney) were/are fans – more likely West Ham… but Arsenal? Given me strength!
Bethnal Green is closer to The Arsenal than West Ham. Ive been a season ticket holder for years and a lot of cockneys follow Arsenal. Most of Hackney are Gooners. West Ham used to be in Essex (before borders changed) and most of their support comes from there. Arsenal have and always will be supported by Cockneys.
Australians don’t really have much exposure to black Americans except in music/sports/movies. So rap/basketball fans would tend to idolise black Americans to some extent. Apart from that, they treat black Americans like any other tourist. Black Americans are so rare here that it’s hard to generalise. They might find themselves getting quite a few stares due to the novelty, outside major cities.