Funny Geico Gecko

**chinthee** · 31-10-2007, 04:30 PM

Anybody else seen these insurance commercials with the talking English Gecko? Not sure if they only play them in the US or not. Are these funny to non-Americans? I see them watching TV on TVU in Thailand.

A couple of them:

**blackgang** · 31-10-2007, 07:20 PM

I saved a ton of money buying GEICO ins. on my car after I came back up from living in Mexico and no US ins. for a few years..
But I never seen the commercials on my SAT. TV here.

**Hootad Binky** · 01-11-2007, 04:20 AM

Yup, on all the time in Canada. Could any of our UK posters precisely identify the accent of this talking gecko? It sounds like a soft cockney accent.

Come to think of it, one of my hobbies when I was in Thailand was sorting out and attemting to emulate the different accent of my UK friends. So far I can identify and imitate:

Queen's English (easy)
Cockney (easy)
Liverpool/Everton (easy - rising intonation at end of sentences, making everything sound like a rhetorical question)
Glaswegian (easy)

But I can't do a Yorkshire or Birmingham or Cornish accent. Northern Irish is also tricky. Welsh, Sheffield and Newcastle accents also can't recall. Links with examples of these accents would be appreciated! So I can practice.

**Propagator** · 01-11-2007, 04:58 AM

I would say South london area. Little bit more refined than the true cockney as the 'h's aint been missed orf.

I aint true cockney as wern't born within the sound of the Bow Bells, bout 14 mile out, but wherever I is when talking to someone new am asked if im a cockney.

**Hootad Binky** · 02-11-2007, 12:19 AM

Originally Posted by Propagator

I would say South london area. Little bit more refined than the true cockney as the 'h's aint been missed orf.

Spot on!

**jizzybloke** · 02-11-2007, 01:28 AM

Never seen them before, good aint they!

bkkmadness · 02-11-2007, 01:34 AM

Originally Posted by Propagator

I would say South london area. Little bit more refined than the true cockney as the 'h's aint been missed orf.

I aint true cockney as wern't born within the sound of the Bow Bells, bout 14 mile out, but wherever I is when talking to someone new am asked if im a cockney.

Many years ago you could hear the bow bells for a fair distance but as London developed, we got traffic and industry and whatever else now the distance you can hear the bells from is considerably shorter. So I guess it means there will be less and less true cockneys as time goes on.

**dirtydog** · 02-11-2007, 01:41 AM

I think you will find the bell tower was destroyed in WW11, don't know if they ever replaced it.

bkkmadness · 02-11-2007, 02:26 AM

Much of the current building was destroyed by a German bomb on 10 May 1941 and the bells crashed to the ground. Restoration under the direction of L. King was begun in 1956, and the bells only rang again in 1961 to produce a new generation of Cockneys.

from wiki.

**Hootad Binky** · 02-11-2007, 02:39 AM

Sorry off-topic OP again but what is a "Midlands" accent? And is there a Norfolk or Greenwich accent?

**chinthee** · 02-11-2007, 11:22 AM

I lived in London for some years, and used to do the accent-guessing game too. The Gecko has a bit of those slight lisps that many of these South London/Cockneys seem to have. Why is that?

**britmaveric** · 02-11-2007, 11:58 AM

London most certainly

**Propagator** · 03-11-2007, 04:59 AM

Originally Posted by chinthee

The Gecko has a bit of those slight lisps that many of these South London/Cockneys seem to have. Why is that

Souff Lundon was always yer posher part od the capital , where all the middle class type of toffs used ter live, so the old accent and twang became a little bit more refined. In my minds eye I could see this Gecko selling friut and veg in one of the markets in Clapham

**jizzybloke** · 03-11-2007, 05:18 AM

^not any more Prop, all Indian, pakistani and Bangladeshi now!

**Propagator** · 03-11-2007, 05:52 AM

Originally Posted by jizzybloke

^not any more Prop, all Indian, pakistani and Bangladeshi now!

Yeh I know, but me mind was going back about 30 years.

or more

Originally Posted by Hootad Binky

Sorry off-topic OP again but what is a "Midlands" accent?

Meant to reply on this before. Probably find that its the Brummie accent from around Birmingham.

**Hootad Binky** · 03-11-2007, 06:22 AM

^ Like Ozzie Osbourne? He's from Birmingham

**Hootad Binky** · 07-11-2007, 06:47 AM

Here's a very clever Geico ad that spoofs the current breathless style of sensationalist investigative reporting shows.

You need to be familiar with the 60s/70s American television comedy show: "The Beverly Hillbillies" so I'm showing my age (although I watched it as a kid!).

**keda** · 07-11-2007, 07:32 AM

Originally Posted by jizzybloke

^not any more Prop, all Indian, pakistani and Bangladeshi now!

Last I returned to visit even the street signs around able Street were in Urdu or some other woggy script.

**chinthee** · 10-11-2007, 02:47 PM

Here some more video of the Gecko

MySpaceTV Videos: Geico Commercial - Eyeball by Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

And the voice belongs to British actor, Jake Wood. He played Max in Eastenders.

A lot of people are writing to me asking, “What’s up with your accent?” Some people say I sound like an Aussie from “down under.” (After all, geckos are found all over the world.) Others say it sounds like an East End London, or Cockney, accent. Cockneys are considered working-class inhabitants of London. According to tradition, the strict definition is limited to those born within earshot of the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow, a historic church in the City of London. I think I’d agree that my voice does sound a bit like an East End London accent.

Jake Wood (I)

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