Which of the British accents?

--
Robert Kern
rk...@ucsd.edu

The strong Appalachian accent of the guide who took us round some
caves in WV last year was the epitome of unsophistication - although
what he said was extremely informative and delved into some advanced
science.

My wife's an Okie, but she speaks the US equivalent of RP - the one
used by newsreaders on the main terrestrial TV networks and which is
commonly thought to be used mostly in Ohio and other places just south
of the Great Lakes. If there's such a thing as a standard "American
accent", that's it. It neither sounds dumb nor clever - just American.

Some of those sonorous slow talkers from the South, and majestic bass
African-Americans like James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman, have far
more gravitas than any English accent can: to us, such people sound
monumental.

But most of the obviously regional accents in the US sound cute or
picturesque, while the ones Americans tend to regard as hick accents
just sound comical.

The problem which a lot of fairly-midstream American accent users face
is that it's the same sort of thing which Brits try and imitate when
they want to suggest a snake-oil salesman. At bottom, an American
accent doesn't mark someone out to a Brit as dumb or unsophisticated,
but the immediate suspicion generated is that they're a phony and
likely to be saying stuff without much regard for its accuracy.

Cheers,

: To be blunt, I have no idea what this has to do with Python. Surely
: selecting the right forum to use indicates more sophistication and high
: intelligence than the way one speaks. ;-)

Well you could draw a tenuous Python link on the headache inducing subject of
trying to remember which spelling is which when doing
something like:

thirdparty_module_1.color = thirdparty_module_2.colour

I think James Bond did it for Americans. He always wore a dinner jacket and
played a lot of backarack--which is only cool because you have to bet a lot
of money. Anyway, if you insist on making distinctions between the backwoods
of apalachia and european aristocracy, I should remind you of the recessive
genetic diseases that have historically plagued europe's nobility.

On Tuesday 28 June 2005 11:27 am, muldoon wrote:

Perhap's Gilliam has lived in Britain long enough to be
considered a Brit, but he was born in Minneapolis, graduated
from College in LA, and didn't move to Britain until he was
something like 27.  I believe he has British citizenship, so if
that's the criterion, he's a Brit now.  However, back when he
was in Monty Python, he'd only lived in England for few years.

I assume that when I try to speak with a British accent I sound
just as bad to a Brit.

Aha! Bit of North American parochialism there. The fact
that he's a "Southern kid" doesn't say "from the southern
states of North America" to everyone. All right, in fact
it's clear from the context, but I just fancied having a
jab.

In fact, I rather like the fact that he can truthfully
claim to come from Falmouth, which his hearers (including
Queen Elizabeth!) understand to mean the town in the West
Country [of England] whereas in fact he means the town
in Carolina (apparently).

TJG

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Texan? Georgian cracker or Maine fisherman? New York taxi driver? Bill
Clinton or Jesse Jackson or George W Bush? California Valley girl,
Arkansas redneck or boyz from th' hood? Paris Hilton or Queen Latifah?

But as for the rest of you, yes, you sound -- strange. It depends on the
specific regional accent. At best, just different. At worst, dumber than a
box of hammers. Which is of course unfair: there is no connection between
accent and intelligence. But by gum, some accents just sound dumber than
others. My fiancee, from Ireland, has worked and lived in the USA for half
her life, and to her you all sound like Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy.

Lest anyone gets offended, I should point out that every English-speaking
country have accents which are considered by others to mark the speaker as
a thick yokel. In Ireland, they look down on Kerrymen. In England, even
Yorkshiremen look down on Summerset, Devon and Dorset accents. And there
is nothing as thick-sounding as a broad Ocker Aussie accent.

But don't worry, there is one thing we all agree on throughout the
English-speaking world: you Americans don't speak English.

There are a few things that you can do to help:

Herb starts with H, not E. It isn't "ouse" or "ospital" or "istory". It
isn't "erb" either. You just sound like tossers when you try to pronounce
herb in the original French. And the same with homage.

Taking of herbs, there is no BAY in basil. And oregano sounds like Ray
Romano, not oh-reg-ano.

And please, fillet of fish only has a silent T if you are speaking French.

Aluminium is al-u-min-ium, not alum-i-num.

Scientists work in a la-bor-atory, not a lab-rat-ory, even if they have
lab rats in the laboratory.

Fans of the X-Men movies and comics will remember Professor Charles
Xavier. Unless you are Spanish (Kh-avier), the X sounds like a Z: Zaviour.
But never never never Xecks-Aviour or Eggs-Savior.

Nuclear. Say no more.