English Language

[Hagar]

Listening to your own recorded voice is often an embarrassing nightmare..... ....!

I used to make a lot of recordings & know the feeling well. What's even worse is heaing your own voice over the phone. Before I retired I made a lot of transatlantic calls which sometimes had a time delay. I could hear what I sounded like to the person on the other end. This was nothing like I imagined & quite offputting. ::)

In my head I always hear my old London Cockney accent...but recording it and playing it back I hear a countryfied version of my local Herefordshire accent mixed in... .... ...!
Oooohhhh.... ::)....!
Imagine what that must sound like... ...!
LOL...!

Cheers all... ...!

Paul.

A scary thought indeed.

PS. My own Sussex accent is somewhere between country bumpkin & sarf London with all sorts mixed in. I'm often mistaken for a Cockney when in foreign parts.

PPS. I've even been taken for an Aussie while in the US. Mind you, they don't seem to know the difference.

Hagar runs.

[Saitek]

Hey Paul,
 I'm ENGLISH!
One of yous! I have only lived in Scotland for about 4 years. I use Scottish words - but my accent is unchanged and will remain that way.
My profile is telling the truth - I live in Scotland - but nah - we're not close to the north pole! But I have to admit during the summer I half believe Oxford and I suppose where you live is next door to the equator... Summers here are awful. :-/ Here's Invnerness -( ignore the Runnerbean/Radishes bit - it was for another site. ) We live right 'next' to Loch Ness. Almost. It's about 3 or 4 miles away from my front door. We're still getting all the tourists spending their money - *rubs hands* nothing like a good 'ol fable to trip up the foreigners!

Cheers

Ben

[Fozzer]

A scary thought indeed.

PS. My own Sussex accent is somewhere between country bumpkin & sarf London with all sorts mixed in. I'm often mistaken for a Cockney when in foreign parts. ::)

PPS. I've even been taken for an Aussie while in the US. Mind you, they don't seem to know the difference.

Hagar runs.

LOL...LOL...LOL... ....!

I love the London, (Cockney), accent as spoken by the old-time Londoners like my old Nan and Grandad...(especially when they emphasised their "H's"... ...)....!
I reckon it's the most comprehensible accent for anyone to understand....and sounds nothing like the accent spoken in that awful TV program "East Enders", which is over emphasised... .... ...!
I think it's a good, overall, general purpose, "British" accent.
It's time for a "jimmy riddle" now so I'm off up the "apples and pears".... ...!
LOL...!

Cheers Doug... ...!

Paul.

...tippin' down with rain here, me ol' fruit... ...!
LOL...!

[Hagar]

LOL...LOL...LOL... ;D....!

I love the London, (Cockney), accent as spoken by the old-time Londoners like my old Nan and Grandad...(especially when they emphasised their "H's"... ;)...)....!
I reckon it's the most comprehensible accent for anyone to understand....and sounds nothing like the accent spoken in that awful TV program "East Enders", which is over emphasised... >:(.... ::)...!

Salt of the earth.

How I hate that programme. I refuse to watch it. Even the theme tune is depressing. I'm sure the suicide rate increases dramatically while it's on.

...tippin' down with rain here, me ol' fruit... ...!
LOL...!

Nice & sunny here. You should move to the Costa Geriatrica. Hmmm, this makes me wonder what I'm doing sitting here.

[Fozzer]

..."Est Enders"...
How I hate that programme. >:( I refuse to watch it. Even the theme tune is depressing. I'm sure the suicide rate increases dramatically while it's on. ::)

Too right... ...!

My big fear is that anyone from abroad who watches our TV programs like "East Enders", Coronation Street", "Brookside", etc, etc, may be fooled into thinking that it's representative of the people who actually live in England.... ..... ...!

In the same way, whenever I watch the American TV programs like "The Shield", "CFI", "Law and Order", "Without Trace", etc, (on my neighbours TV set... ..!)..I tend to think that Los Angeles and New York are full of multi-cultural, desperate criminals, hell bent on killing everyone with really big guns.... ...!
...tell me it's not really like that.... ....!
....please... ...!
LOL...LOL...LOL...!

Cheers all... ...!

Paul.

[Hagar]

whenever I watch the American TV programs like "The Shield", "CFI", "Law and Order", "Without Trace", etc, (on my neighbours TV set... ..!)..I tend to think that Los Angeles and New York are full of multi-cultural, desperate criminals, hell bent on killing everyone with really big guns.... ...!
...tell me it's not really like that.... ....!
....please... ...!
LOL...LOL...LOL...!

Cheers all... ...!

Paul.

I can't speak for the less reputable areas. On my last visit to NYC (Manhattan) I felt much safer walking on the streets after dark than I would in my home town of Worthing. I'm not joking.

By the same token, anyone watching Miss Marple, the Midsomer Murders or even Heartbeat would get the impression that serious crimes including murder are commited in most tiny English villages on a weekly basis. TV has a lot to answer for.

[eno]

[quote]Hey Paul,

[Saitek]

There is a theory that the only place in the UK where the Queens English is spoken, apart from out of the Queens gob, is Inverness.

I think if you did a survey you would find the best English spoken would be voted inthe most populated places.... i.e everyone thinks they do. The Inverness accent isn't particularly good at all. I know a lot of people in Inverness. The accent isn't very impressive at all.
The best English is the English that is spoken according to the dictionary. Whoever prounounces words as they are supposed to be said speaks some of the best English.

Lol, just my opinions!

Ben

[Fozzer]

I think if you did a survey you would find the best English spoken would be voted inthe most populated places.... i.e everyone thinks they do. The Inverness accent isn't particularly good at all. I know a lot of people in Inverness. The accent isn't very impressive at all.
The best English is the English that is spoken according to the dictionary. Whoever prounounces words as they are supposed to be said speaks some of the best English.

Lol, just my opinions!

Ben

LOL...!

There was a time, long, long, ago,  when the best Perceived Pronounciation of the English language was supported by the British Broadcasting Corporation....
...unfortunately...that was long, long, ago... ....!
...a bit "toffee nosed", but fairly accurate...
...!

Cheers all...!

Paul.

[Hagar]

I think if you did a survey you would find the best English spoken would be voted inthe most populated places.... i.e everyone thinks they do. The Inverness accent isn't particularly good at all. I know a lot of people in Inverness. The accent isn't very impressive at all.
The best English is the English that is spoken according to the dictionary. Whoever prounounces words as they are supposed to be said speaks some of the best English.

Lol, just my opinions!

Ben

Depends what's meant by "best" English. I've been fascinated by the English language in all its variations for longer than I care to remember. Forget the accents & dialects for a moment. I've noticed that the best gramatically correct "Queen's English" tends to be spoken by people from Scotland & Ireland. I put this down to the traditional teaching methods still used in these countries. I read somewhere that many parents of Jamaican origin send their children "back home" to be educated for the same reason. Talking about "parliamentary English", Mr. Blair & many of his colleagues were educated in Scotland.

[quote]There was a time, long, long, ago,

[Fozzer]

Depends what's meant by "best" English. I've been fascinated by the English language in all its variations for longer than I care to remember. Forget the accents & dialects for a moment. I've noticed that the best gramatically correct "Queen's English" tends to be spoken by people from Scotland & Ireland. I put this down to the traditional teaching methods still used in these countries. I read somewhere that many parents of Jamaican origin send their children "back home" to be educated for the same reason. Talking about "parliamentary English", Mr. Blair & many of his colleagues were educated in Scotland.

The only people that actually spoke "BBC English" were newsreaders, announcers & actors of the old school. Give me the good old regional accents & dialects any time.

With reference to regional accents*...
I can listen for hours to someone with a high class, New York accent talking on a scientific subject, or similar...
But move that speaker to the southern States on the same subject and I will quickly re-tune to Atlantic 252 on my radio... ... ...!
Sorry... ...!
LOL...!

Paul.

*...try four pennyworth of Liz Barklay on "You and Yours", on Radio 4....
...see how long you can last...
...!