"Tea" in English

Every nation in creation has its favourite drink
France is famous for its wine, it's beer in Germany
Turkey has its coffee and they serve it blacker than ink
Russians go for vodka and England loves its tea

Oh, the factories may be roaring
With a boom-a-lacka, zoom-a-lacka, wee
But there isn't any roar when the clock strikes four
Everything stops for tea

Oh, a lawyer in the courtroom
In the middle of an alimony plea
Has to stop and help 'em pour when the clock strikes four
Everything stops for tea

It's a very good English custom
Though the weather be cold or hot
When you need a little pick-up, you'll find a little tea cup
Will always hit the spot

You remember Cleopatra
Had a date to meet Mark Anthony at three
When he came an hour late she said "You'll have to wait"
For everything stops for tea

Oh, they may be playing football
And the crowd is yelling "Kill the referee!"
But no matter what the score, when the clock strikes four
Everything stops for tea

Oh, the golfer may be golfing
And is just about to make a hole-in-three
But it always gets them sore when the clock yells "four!"
Everything stops for tea

It's a very good English custom
And a stimulant for the brain
When you feel a little weary, a cup'll make you cheery
And it's cheaper than champagne

Now I know just why Franz Schubert
Didn't finish his unfinished symphony
He might have written more but the clock struck four
And everything stops for tea

Tea breaks......sacrosanct in the UK.....the rest of the world can go to **** when Brits take their tea breaks.

PS: I'm on my coffee break......

Stewie's accent sounds pretty fake, even to me.

<<Stewie's accent sounds pretty fake, even to me.>>

I agree - from my perspective, I can detect some pretty obvious shibboleths that make it clear that it's fake.

I thought he was *supposed* to speak some kind of southern English English dialect, if not some variant upon RP (as opposed to the eastern New England dialect(s) spoken by the rest of the family)...

Supposed to, but not accurately. You'll hear "ah" A's where they really don't belong -- he's overcompensating on some words. And you can hear from the pinched, breathy quality of his voice that the actor is straining to move his voice to a strange part of his mouth where it doesn't belong as part of achieving that tone -- it's like it's all up in his sinuses. Sounds very much like a put on.

It's nae sae guid is all I can say about it.....about as gen as a nine quid note.

Have a Cuppa Tea


Granny's always ravin' and rantin',
And she's always puffin' and pantin',
And she's always screaming and shouting,
And she's always brewing up tea.

Grandpappy's never late for his dinner,
Cos he loves his leg of beef
And he washes it down with a brandy,
And a fresh made pot of tea.

Chorus:
Have a cuppa tea, have a cuppa tea,
have a cuppa tea, have a cuppa tea,
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, Rosie Lea
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, Rosie Lea.

If you feel a bit under the weather,
If you feel a little bit peeved,
Take granny's stand-by potion
For any old cough or wheeze.
It's a cure for hepatitis, it's a cure for chronic insomnia,
It's a cure for tonsillitis and for water on the knee.

Chorus

Tea in the morning, tea in the evening, tea at supper time,
You get tea when it's raining, tea when it's snowing,
Tea when the weather's fine.
You get tea as a mid-day stimulant
You get tea with your afternoon tea
For any old ailment or disease
For Christ sake have a cuppa tea.

Chorus

Whatever the situation, whatever the race or creed,
Tea knows no segregation, no class nor pedigree
It knows no motivations, no sect or organisation,
It knows no one religion,
Nor political belief.

Chorus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3rxNCzzJpY

Hi,

I wonder if these are equally common
1. Shall I give you some tea?
2. Shall I pour you some tea?

Thanks.

I don't think you'll ever hear #1.

"Would you like some tea?" is probably the most common question of that nature.

>>Supposed to, but not accurately. You'll hear "ah" A's where they really don't belong -- he's overcompensating on some words. And you can hear from the pinched, breathy quality of his voice that the actor is straining to move his voice to a strange part of his mouth where it doesn't belong as part of achieving that tone -- it's like it's all up in his sinuses. Sounds very much like a put on.<<

You could argue, though, that that itself is supposed to be part of the character of Stewie himself, and that he is not *really* supposed to accurately speak RP or some other sort of southern English English but rather to trying to put such on - which would completely fit Stewie's character.

>><<Ok. Has the underlying reason something to do with the fact that the pronunciation in this case is rather akin to the French 'herbe', meaning grass?>>

Yes, I think it may be due to influence from French. (The English word "herb" is derived from the Old French "herbe" or "erbe".) The explanation that I've often seen is that the British attached a stigma to /h/-dropping, because it was associated with lower-class accents like Cockney, so they made sure to pronounce "herb" with an /h/ in the standard dialect; but since /h/-dropping basically absent in American dialects, we attached no stigma to it, and thus we had no problem using the /h/-less French-style pronunciation.<<

Are you sure about that with NAE? At least in this general area, one can basically /h/-drop for any grammar word in any position, regardless of stress, and additionally there are some more common non-grammar words such as "home" and "house" which are frequently subject to such.

Of course though, what happens here at least could be argued to not *really* be /h/-dropping as no underlying /h/ is actually truly lost in a uniform fashion, and furthermore one can still hear dropped utterance-initial /h/ as the glottal stop one would expect before an utterance-initial vowel is absent (which also occurs with a few words that sometimes lose initial /D/ as well).