There is no such thing as a "British accent". In Britain, there are literally hundreds of dialects and accents which can vary wildly (compare West Country and Scouse for example). Although it's probably unintentional, when somebody across the pond refers to a "British accent" it simply reeks of ignorance. amirite?

It doesn't matter what part of Britain it came from, it's still a British accent.

Britain may not be a country, but the areas are still grouped together. It's not a continent, but they're still grouped.
People say "American accents", even though America is a LOT larger than the general territory of Britain and we have a wide variety of accents.
Sure, you can correct people if you want, but it's not exactly ignorant.

That's like saying Japanese doesn't exist because there's so many different dialects.

Same thing applies to southern accents, New England accents, and any other type. It's just a broad term to sum up all accents from a particular country or area.

america has accents. WHAT NOW BIIIIIIITCH? :p

Generalizations about American accents are cool though. Not like we have different dialects too. We ALL speak like the southern accent English people think we all have. Every. Single. One of us.

I think the point is that Britain is made up of several countries. You can say "English accent" or "Welsh accent" even though there are many accents within England and Wales, because every country has a standard accent. The reason "British accent" doesn't work is because Britain is England, Scotland and Wales. It's like saying European accent, it makes no sense at all. Plus when people say British accent they only think English, which is kind of unfair to the Scots and the Welsh. That's all.

i'm not really educated on this whole subject, but what i'm getting from it is that because 'british accent' refers to england, scotland, and wales, it's incorrect.

.. so couldn't we just say english accent?

ahaha, imagine that .."ooohh the cockney accents are sooo sexyy"
xP

You reek of ignorance, you snob

Once I could tell they were British, I continued reading it in my head in a British Accent.

Am i the only one who read that with a british accent?

Why are there so many thumbs downs? This is true!

Apparently, people from outside this country think that an American accent is a Southern accent. This poster is making the exact same argument that I'd propose against that, albeit for another country.

But wouldn't it annoy you if you were British and every American who thought they were British came up and talked to you in a Posh accent?

Thank god someone has said it, Britain is not a country, Japan is, for example, so obviously it's OK to refer to an accent as Japanese, but Britain is made up of Wales, England, Scotland and Northen Ireland.