What's your country's version of "British"? (Special note for RevOxley)

[James the Persian]

Apparently the leads rugby clubs named after em.

You mean Leeds? I think that you're right. Barnsley Football Club supporters are called The Tykes also.

James

 

[eudaimonia]

I agree with the people who say "thespian".


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Valjean]

There's been some reference to a "London" accent. It's been my experience that big cities usually have a variety of neighborhood accents -- sometimes almost incomprensible to those in other neighborhoods.

 

[James the Persian]

There's been some reference to a "London" accent. It's been my experience that big cities usually have a variety of neighborhood accents -- sometimes almost incomprensible to those in other neighborhoods.

Yeah, there's no such thing as a London accent. There are noticeable differences between say cockney and south London accents. There is a certain general sound to all the London accents (and this is actually spreading further afield in to counties like Kent, where youngsters sound more like Londoners than their older relatives), but there is certainly no one London accent, any more than there is one Yorkshire accent.

James

 

[Djamila]

Instead of bickering about terminology and trying out-Balkanize one another, you could also just share what your favorite accent is.

 

[Valjean]

Instead of bickering about terminology and trying out-Balkanize one another, you could also just share what your favorite accent is.

Well, you're accent is rather nice....

 

[James the Persian]

Instead of bickering about terminology and trying out-Balkanize one another, you could also just share what your favorite accent is.

I already did that. It's just interesting to discuss the accents in a little more depth.

James

 

[Djamila]

I already did that. It's just interesting to discuss the accents in a little more depth.

James

I'm sorry.

I didn't mean anyone in particular, just kind of went a little Balkan on people's bummies.

 

[Mister_T]

I'm kind of partial to the SoCal accent. Not quite ebonics; Not quite "white." Just a little of both.

 

[Phil Osophy]

I am "putty in the hands" of any lady that has a soft Irish accent.

 

[Capt. Haddock]

In Spanish, I've heard that the absolute purest version of Castilian is spoken in the village of Covarrubias, near Burgos. To be pedantic, the language is called Castilian. There is no such thing as a Spanish language: there are many different languages spoken in Spain (Basque, Catalan, etc.)

In English, I think "proper" accents are more class based than regional. I don't think that "standard" American is based on the speech patterns of any specific place but rather on the way people speak at certain elite Northeastern schools and universities.

Likewise, in England, the purest English is that spoken by the Queen and the aristocracy. It is southern, but not necessarily specific to London. A real London accent would be Cockney or some other variant of what they call Estuary English.

 

[Rough_ER]

Me and my family are salopians, we are from Shropshire and have the legendary "farmer joe" accent. Listen to a radio 4 show called "The Archers" and you will die laughing, we rock!

My favourite british accent and the kind I think a lot of people imagine us all having is that of Richard Dawkins. What a pompous boob.... Still, we love him.

 

[Phil Osophy]

Likewise, in England, the purest English is that spoken by the Queen and the aristocracy. It is southern, but not necessarily specific to London. A real London accent would be Cockney or some other variant of what they call Estuary English.

The "proper" way of speaking English is called Received Pronunciation. The problem with Received Pronunciation is that no one actually speaks that way any more! It has been replaced by so-called Estuary English, which is supposedly spoken by most those living in the southeast of England, where a high percentage of the population lives. I am less than half a mile from the Thames Estuary, so this is preumably the version of English that I speak. This page gives a brief history of Estuary English:

http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/whatis.htm