Why Did the Transatlantic Accent Suddenly Vanish? | Make This Make Sense

Why are old movies and news reports full of people talking with a weird, fast-paced, vaguely-British accent? It's so iconic and distinctive that we treat it like a historical window into how the entire country of America once sounded. But the truth is: Most people did not actually talk like that. The Transatlantic (or Mid-Atlantic) accent was a made-up, manufactured accent. It was created during a time when America was trying to establish itself as a cultural power. And it was the predominant sound of actors, politicians and public figures during the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. But then... it suddenly vanished. So who created it and what killed it? Let’s Make This Make Sense. Chapters 00:00 - The "old timey" accent 01:19 - The accent vanished overnight 02:23 - What is the "Transatlantic" accent? 03:30 - Why and how they created it 04:28 - How to speak it 06:28 - Why Hollywood adopted the accent 07:17 - Old microphones were terrible 08:20 - Most Americans sounded "normal" 09:40 - The 1950s killed the accent #accent #transatlanticaccent #midatlantic #makethismakesense The New York Post is your source for breaking news, news about New York, sports, business, entertainment, opinion, real estate, culture, fashion, and more. Check out our three new podcasts: NYNext (week):    / @nynext1   Pod Force One with MIranda Devine (weekly):    / @podforce1   NY POSTcast (daily):    / @nypostcast   Get The Post’s latest headlines everyday with our Morning Report newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/NYPOSTSIGNUP Catch the latest news at http://www.nypost.com. Follow The New York Post on: Twitter -   / nypost   Facebook -   / nypost