Friday, April 09, 2004, 21:58 GMT
If you want to learn "a" British accent, it would be best to avoid the temptation and well-meaning advice, and NOT use Monty Python sketches as a pronunciation guide. Most of the troupe were educated at Cambridge and Oxford, and are perfectly capable of a passable RP accent. But much of their brilliant humor is "accent humor", so they assume whatever accent suits the situation of the sketch. I've heard just about everything including Aussie ("G'day Bruce! Yer not a Poofteh, ah yeh?"), South African ("the Blecks"), and even Indian subcontinent!
Being an American, I especially enjoy the Python's idea of what an American accent should sound like. Aside from Terry Gilliam who speaks it natively, I think Eric Idle does the best American - sort of an upper-Midwest/Pennsylvania twang.
Yrs,
Raymond Luxury-Yacht (Mrs.)
(pronounced "Throat-Warbler Mangrove")
Being an American, I especially enjoy the Python's idea of what an American accent should sound like. Aside from Terry Gilliam who speaks it natively, I think Eric Idle does the best American - sort of an upper-Midwest/Pennsylvania twang.
Yrs,
Raymond Luxury-Yacht (Mrs.)
(pronounced "Throat-Warbler Mangrove")