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Saoirse Ronan’s been getting a lot of unnecessary flack of late for allegedly having altered her accent to sound even more Irish, when compared to the much softer tone we’d have heard in some of her earliest interviews (see her Atonement press as an example). More pointedly, some folk are getting fired up about the fact that she’s got a thick Dublin lilt to her words, which seems to bother some very bored individuals, because given that she grew up in Carlow, she should sound like she’s from Carlow, goddammit. Adding our two cents to this ‘debate’, we think these naysayers just need to build a bridge and get over it. Every single one of our accents are fluid and malleable and easily influenced by our ever changing environments. It’s rather lovely to hear an Irish accent that hasn’t had to be rounded out, complete with a grating vocal fry, for the sake of fitting in across the Atlantic. So many other Irish celebrities (not pointing any fingers, ahem, Bono) seem to lose that Irish tone that they should be really bloody proud of, especially when they find themselves as Irish ambassadors on a global platform.
Anyhoo, credit where it’s due to Saoirse for bringing the unmistakable Irish accent to the masses and correcting America’s longstanding habit of making us sound like leprechauns. Here she is with Stephen Colbert, schooling him in the art of fitting in on Moore Street. Take note, world.
Do you think her accent is contrived? Share your thoughts below.