The Lizard Has an Accent

These days, I seem to be the only person who doesn't have TiVo. The 20-dollar a month saving has a trade off: live with TV commercials each time the tube is on. Luckily, many ads are not half bad, except those churned out by the big phama. They always urge me to "call you doctor today".

In general, the TV ads with an animal as its central character are more fun to watch. Budweiser's frog and Aflac's duck always make me laugh, which not the case with a lot of prime-time comedies. Most of the time, the animal in the ads talks funny, just as the way it usually does in a Disney cartoon.

Gecko, the big insurance, tried to do it a bit differently with its rival's duck in mind. It featured a lizard in a series commercials. That little creature is cute and cocky, and walks like a duck. But it doesn't talk in a typical exaggerated tone in a cartoon, but instead with a serious, distinctive man's accent. It sounds like this:



For a while, I couldn't figure out what exactly the accent is. Until I came to the Gecko's blog:

"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."

So, the cocky lizard has an Cockney accent.