Where's it from? It doesn't sound Minnesotan to my ears. Ohioan perhaps? Or a composite of some kind?

Maybe that's what you get when you cross a Minnesotan accent with a Californian accent?

He had lived in California for some years before getting the MacGyver gig so it's fair to assume he would have picked up little bits of the Californian accent eh?

Well, it seems more Midwestern than anything but never decisively Minnesotan imo. The question has been raised before on this site here.

,,,, and an interesting answer on yahoo which claims that comes across as much more Minnesotan in SG1 (I haven't seen enough episodes to discern though).

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qi...31195242AA4EYmq

I'm curious: What identifies a Minnesota accent?

I'm born and raised in Chicago. Aside from the South Side Chicago accent, people around here talk like people are taught to talk when they become news anchors. Which to me is no accent. I've never noticed any accent with MacGyver, so I guess I'd go with "Midwestern".

I'm curious: What identifies a Minnesota accent?

This:

Geez that's one weird accent! It sounds like a weird version of an Irish accent to me.

Can't say I've ever heard MacGyver sound anything like that.

Nor have I.

I think the accent actually traces back to Swedes and Norwegians, not the Irish.

Eta: Though, after a quick search online, it seems that some folks attribute at least some of that accent to the Scot-Irish.

So, what the hell do I know?

Yeah your right. In fact I think it's more of a Swedish/Nordic accent I hear rather than Irish now.

I've just been watching The Eraser episode and I can hear some of that accent now that I know what I'm listening for. It's pretty weak though - Probably a result of his time spent in California.

It makes some sense because RDA is supposed to be of Scottish, Swedish, Norwegian and Native American descent, according to Wikipedia. I noticed that he does force different accents from time to time... which a lot of people do. For instance, I grew up in Northern Virginia near Washington DC. I don't really have an accent, but while living in the North Country (near the Canadian border), I found out I had a very slight southern accent (as I say y'all a lot), which I will purposely force at times just to be silly. He probably did the same for entertaining purposes.

I like his Canadian accent in Flames End. XD

The accent in the film Fargo(an excellent flick) is suppose to be an (embellished) parody, I think - not prototypical at all.

This guy gives a good example/rendition of the Minnesotan accent - HERE. The extended vowels and ds for ts are telltale.

Mac's 'McKenzie Brothers' parody in Flame's End is hilarious and spot on but, in reality, no Canadian sounds like that and the accents are as varied as they are south of the border .... and so we know that RDA has a talent in that department and the ability to turn it on or turn it off, if when he wants. And they must have at least discussed accents on the set - especially with Bruce McGill being so talented in that department.

You also, as an actor, are wary of stereotypes and so even though MacGyver/RDA are from Minnesota - there is always a danger (for your resume, especially in a long running series) to overdo it - I would think.

That's very distinctive! Pretty easy to understand though. There's definitely a bit of that accent in Mac's, but it's not that strong, is it? Is the rest California, do you think?

I wouldn't know - I'm from the wrong continent for guessing this one... My only first-hand experience of American accents is Missouri, where we have family. That's equally distinctive but doesn't sound anything like Minnesota. Trust me, you can lose a lot in translation between a thick Missouri accent and a broad Yorkshire one!

When I was a kid my parents had a cabin in the backwoods of Kentucky that we used to spend summers at. Our nearest neighbors were about a mile or two away. Their accents were so thick that I caught maybe one out of every five words out of their mouths. And I've got a lot of family in KY so I'm no stranger to the milder form of that accent.

No it's not that strong .... but there are certain word pronunciations that are quite distinctive

As far as California accent is concerned ... I don't know what that is anymore with so many immigrants both native and non - living there. I guess he does have a bit of that hang loose, surfer dude tone at times .... which is what I would associate more with the west coast.

I love (attempting to) guessing accents when traveling abroad. Where are they from? What region are they from? Northern English/Scottish still throw me for a loop ....as do Aussie/Kiwi, & Indian/Pakistani ..... extremely difficult to separate as well.

Heh heh... They're from up in the Ozarks and we're from a bit of Yorkshire renowned for having an accent so thick you can stand a spoon up in it...

One word in five is about where it's at!

Midwest for sure Being from Nebraska Mac has a neutral accent. He may have lost the regional Minnesota accent due to spending so many years away from home and living on the west coast.

He drops his 'Gs' alot .... I'm thinkin' that maybe his time spent at Ohio University rubbed off on him .... because Ohioans seem to drop the 'Gs' off their INGs more than most Midwestern accents.

The Minnesota accent is distinctive, but you only really notice it if you're from outside the Upper Midwest, say, if you're from the South or the East Coast, though even my friends from Iowa notice mine just a little. The feature that really sets it off is the dragged-out long "o" sound. Now, people from *northeastern* Minnesota do have a pretty strong accent- even I've noticed it, and I'm from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Some of them sound like they've just stepped off the boat from Sweden or Norway... actually, they *do* kind of sound like the characters in "Fargo." For the most part, the Minnesota accent is essentially a milder Scandinavian accent.

Kiwi- The Irish accent is *much* different... I should know, one of my ninth-grade teachers was from Ireland. He was great fun to listen to, just because his accent seemed so exotic to us kids.

Heh heh... They're from up in the Ozarks and we're from a bit of Yorkshire renowned for having an accent so thick you can stand a spoon up in it...

One word in five is about where it's at!

I know! The Heartbeat TV series. I like that dialect.

Very interesting to learn about the Minnesota accent. With the exception of the southern accent, I admit that I haven't thought about the differences in American English.

Depends which part of Ireland they're from I think. I've heard at least a couple of fairly different sounding Irish accents. I heard one form which sounds very close to American, it's only certain words which gave it away as being Irish and I had to listen for a while before I picked he was Irish and not American.


Interpretation of accents seems to be different for different people. I think it has a lot to do with how we are taught to speak. i.e. our own way of speaking (or accent) determines which sounds of words and which parts of pronunciation we focus on. That's why Americans and pick the subtle differences of regional accents whereas non-Americans can pretty much really only hear that a person is American until the subtle differences are pointed out and then we start to focus on them and become aware of them. I would expect the same to be true of any countries accents.

If your not use to hearing an accent it all tends to sound the same.

Heh heh... They're from up in the Ozarks and we're from a bit of Yorkshire renowned for having an accent so thick you can stand a spoon up in it...

One word in five is about where it's at!

I know! The Heartbeat TV series. I like that dialect.

Very interesting to learn about the Minnesota accent. With the exception of the southern accent, I admit that I haven't thought about the differences in American English.

The hardcore Boston, Chicago and Bronx accents should keep you busy for a while.

Not to mention a Mainer's accent, Jersey, &/or a Cajun - all very distinct. But true if you're not from the continent or overly interested in that sort of thing - you may not have a clue. When, I travel abroad - people always assume I'm American .... probably because my accent, on the surface, sounds alot like what they hear on American TV or out of Hollywood production.

But Canadians accent are as varied as they get, from Nunavut to Quebecois, to Newfoundland to Acadia (near where I am from) ..... which comes full circle to Cajun .... which is what the Acadians A-cajians - cajians, cajuns came to be known as after their deportation by the British from Maritime Canada.

Yeah I've heard Mainer's accent on the American Loggers show about a trucking company up in Maine.

OMG that's a weird as hell accent!!

And yes your right, to an uninitiated ear Canadians sound very similar to Americans, although once some of the differences are pointed out (or should that be oot?) they become quite obvious - eh?

Sorry (or sawry) I couldn't resist.

I think it's harder to tell the difference if the persons accent is weak like they have been out of Canada for years and lost some of the accents strength. I say that because I worked with a Canadian lady who had lived in in NZ for years and lost the distinctive Canadian pronunciations of words and she just sounded straight out American. But as you say the persons location in Canada would have impact on that also.

HEY! I'm born and raised in Ohio and I pronounce my "G's" thank you. BTW, Ohio U has a beautiful campus if you don't mind playing chicken with the darned train to get to class on time.🚉😄 Been there, done that.😜

Um, I'm from the South, and Mac *definitely* has an accent.
I don't know if his accent is Minnesotan specifically, but it sounds strongly Midwestern to me. To my ears, it sounds very...flat, I guess. And it's definitely more pronounced at some times than others. I notice it most often on words like "car." Anything with a strong "A" sound in it. It's funny, because it was almost a culture shock for me when I first started watching MacGyver. I've noticed that the accent is much less pronounced in Legend, probably because the character of Ernest Pratt uses a more "put-on" voice anyway.

In my world, you're almost supposed to drop the G's, so sometimes that Midwest voice sounds unnatural to me.

And something else that sounds unnatural in my dialect? Pronouncing "W" as "double-you." Just say "dubya!" It's much easier.

It's funny how accents and dialects work out, isn't it? I'm a huge language nerd, so I spend way too much time picking apart stuff like this.