10-08-2011, 10:42 AM
Without wishing to make an inaccurate caricature of myself, I can best hint at my own speech thus: when deriding some loud-mouth speaking to the public at large, although theoretically to his companion beside him, about his time on 'Rodney's Ocean Racing yacht'. my own children give me a funny look, and the more forceful say that it's fine for me to talk. Yet I do speak with a London twang; if the Queen keeps on the way she has been going, we shall meet, linguistically.
There are many accents in Britain, some quite incomprehensible: a strong Jordie accent, some Glasgow accents, and the accents of the Northern Isles. As to America, that piece reminded me of the joke about Americans getting the check and paying with a bill, and British people getting the bill, and paying with a cheque. I suppose everyone knows that what Americans call an eraser, the British call a rubber, which must have given rise to some raised eyebrows over time. (Imagine asking your new American colleague casually for a rubber-- that must have earnt more than one slap in the face!) And what's all that drug-store nonsense?......
There are many accents in Britain, some quite incomprehensible: a strong Jordie accent, some Glasgow accents, and the accents of the Northern Isles. As to America, that piece reminded me of the joke about Americans getting the check and paying with a bill, and British people getting the bill, and paying with a cheque. I suppose everyone knows that what Americans call an eraser, the British call a rubber, which must have given rise to some raised eyebrows over time. (Imagine asking your new American colleague casually for a rubber-- that must have earnt more than one slap in the face!) And what's all that drug-store nonsense?......