The "British" Accent

Natalie Wolchover writes in Life's Little Mysteries that what we think of as the upper class British accent developed after the U.S. won its independence. She holds that the American accent of today (other than Boston and greater New York City) closely resembles how the Brits formerly spoke. Who knew?

The difference is whether the language is rhotic or non-rhotic - ours is rhotic, theirs isn't. "Rhotic" means the letter r is pronounced "in words like hard and winter," a non-rhotic accent doesn't pronounce the r.