I can't really tell the difference between regional English accents and dialects. I can identify a Hollywood portrayal of an Irish or Scottish accent, but OTOH, Sean Connery doesn't much sound like Scrooge McDuck or William Wallace. I've met Irish people, and they just sound all mumbly, rather than like the Lucky Charms guy.

But, it seems to me like several northmen on Game of Thrones, notably Ned, Jon Snow, Ygritte, and a number of background characters seem to have what sounds like a burr. But then Tormund doesn't remotely sound like he comes from the same country as Ygritte, let alone the same region. Nor do Ramsay or Roose Bolton. I don't even think Robert, Stannis and Renly have the same accent. Can someone with a better ear for that sort of thing confirm or correct this stuff?

Although, as I am writing this, I realized I can't even really tell accents in my own country. Off-hand, I can sort of identify a New England, a Southern, a New York, a New Orleans or a northern-midwest accent. I have been told I have a heavy New Jersey accent, but I don't hear it, nor do generic American accents on TV or the movies sound weird to me, as they should if I have an accent myself (for the record, most "Joisey" accents I have heard on screen have little resemblance to the way anyone I know talks. "Joisey" is a New York pronunciation; they drop their "R"s and swallow their last letters, we emphasize them; a New Yorker says fuhgeddaboudit, a Jerseyite says "forGET abouT iT" Hollywood Jersey accents are actually ethnic, not regional). I could not tell you by listening precisely where anyone comes from. Sarah Palin, for instance, I can tell has a strong accent, but I would have guessed her to be from Minnesota or someplace like that, if not Canada. One of my mother's best friends was born and raised in South Dakota, but she doesn't sound anything like stereotypical people from that region. I once got a wrong number phone call from Utah, and the woman on the other end didn't realize it, because, according to her, I sound like I'm from Utah. My grandmother had a neighbor from Texas, but while she had a very distinctive accents, she sounded nothing like any Hollywood Texan.

Another weird one Hollywood likes to do is this thick Brooklyn accent, but my grandfather was born and raised in Brooklyn, lived there all his life until he got married and moved to New Jersey, and he sounds NOTHING like the kids in Newsies. Or Vinnie & Mona from "My Cousin Vinnie". They do dress like that, though.

I suppose if I couldn't tell a Californian from a guy who lives one town over from me, or my aunt from Florida, from my brother's mother-in-law from Arkansas, I suppose I can't really expect a British Islander to be able to parse out their accents, either.