posh American English

Blue Andy   Saturday, January 31, 2004, 09:26 GMT
Someone told me that the northeastern English is quite of upper social classes. Native speakers, I wonder if it's true or not. The fact is that the northeastern U. S. has a wide variety of distinct accents and dialects, such as Boston English, NY English or whatever. Could you please tell me which one is the so-called posh American English? How can I acquire it? By listening in to programs on VOA or CNN? Thank you in advance.
Blue Andy   Saturday, January 31, 2004, 09:43 GMT
P.S. I don't mean to discriminate against any accent or any dialect. I'm just very curious about it.
Jerry   Saturday, January 31, 2004, 18:01 GMT
most people don't care what kind of accent you speak with, i think.
Eastie   Saturday, January 31, 2004, 19:03 GMT
The poshest American English accent is Boston Brahmin. However, I doubt that you'll find much current source material on acquiring this accent since speakers of this accent are a dying breed.
Quicksilver   Tuesday, February 03, 2004, 04:06 GMT
I think Jerry is correct. Most of the time, people don't care about your accent as long as it is not too thick to understand (yes, occasionally, native speakers will have such thick accents that other native speakers find them imposible to understand.)

I personally like my Brooklyn accent, but that's simply because I grew up with it, not because it is more cool than a Bostonian or other New England accent.
Juan   Tuesday, February 03, 2004, 06:17 GMT
"posh American English"

Is that an oxymoron?
Blue Andy   Tuesday, February 03, 2004, 07:20 GMT
Hi, Juan. Why is it an oxymoron?
David Winters   Tuesday, February 03, 2004, 08:10 GMT
Because, Blue Andy, Americans are anything but "posh". They're all disgusting pigs. Every last one of them.
Juan   Tuesday, February 03, 2004, 08:31 GMT
I know there are wealthly folks in the U.S, but as far as I know a "class system" only exists in England where the accent of an individual varies depending on the background (geographically, social status etc, etc, etc...) they come from. I really can't tell the difference between a rich American's accent and a poor one's. They more or less sound the same or at least to my ears anyway. Bush Jnr has a southern accent and he is as important as you can get and I'm fully aware that a lot of Americans commonly tease their accent. Well, that's what I think anyway you can be important and wealthy in the States regardless of what accent you possess. Am I wrong in thinkin that about the U.S?
Jim   Tuesday, February 03, 2004, 08:40 GMT
I think you'll find that there exists (a) class system(s) all around the world.
french man   Tuesday, February 03, 2004, 08:51 GMT
In France some people have more sympathy for some accents but there's not really posh accents. Of course when you hear someone, you realize where he is from but you won't think that accent is posh or not. There is one accent which is not popular in France which comes from the north. Because these people with theire funny accent seem to be a little bet "degenerated". USA use french just because it's posh, like "there is a je ne sais quoi".
french man   Tuesday, February 03, 2004, 08:53 GMT
i wanted to say, is that true some people in USA use french words to be posh like "there is a je ne sais quoi". I heard that on a movie, and some americans told me it was true.
frecnh man   Tuesday, February 03, 2004, 08:54 GMT
What is posh in fact?
Some people will think it's posh, some others won't.
Juan   Tuesday, February 03, 2004, 08:56 GMT
Yeah true Jim, class systems (rich and poor) exist all over the world. The point that I was trying to make was that in England if your rich or have sort of social importance you have X accent, if your not so rich or not as socially important you have Y accent and if you are from W region in England you have Z accent etc, etc, etc. The latter example exists in the U.S like anywhere in the world, accents vary from region to region. But I don't think there is a Received Pronunciation equivalent in the States or a "class based accent system" . Well to do people in the U.S have all kinds of accent, there isn't a standard as far as I am aware. Is there?
Boy   Tuesday, February 03, 2004, 08:59 GMT
French man,
I'm too curious to know about it. What is posh? I just checked its meaning and it meant elegant and fashionable.