What you call the type of English Hugh Grant Speaks!

__ne   Fri Sep 08, 2006 5:48 pm GMT
I thought that's Posh... is it? What's other similar distinct forms yet close relative... in english pronunciation are there?.. What's J.K Rowling in Harry Potter speaks like.... well don't mind my mistakes...(spelling as well as grammr)...
Guest   Fri Sep 08, 2006 6:01 pm GMT
received pronunciation
__ne   Fri Sep 08, 2006 6:28 pm GMT
"received pronunciation"... what's that?
Well sorry.... I meant the accent...
the manner of oral expression of Hugh Grant and J.K Rowling.....
__ne   Fri Sep 08, 2006 6:32 pm GMT
Ok I got it...
"received pronunciation" = "A widely understood British English pronunciation associated with the educated classes of the south east of England"
Thx....

well what they call the manner he speaks... any distinctive name... then if there is none... whats Posh....

How would I mention someone that I would like to speak like Hugh Grant or may be J.K Rowling.... what terms would I have to use?
Guest   Fri Sep 08, 2006 6:44 pm GMT
you would say you would like to learn Received Pronunciation of English

I don't know exactly how to define Posh, I'm not English myself, but I think it's something like snotty people, people from upper classes who act it and all. However their accent is not exactly Received Pronunciation and it doesn't sound quite like Hugh Grant. I have a harder time understand a posh accent than received pronunciation. If you want to speak like Hugh, which is not what most people speak in England (only like 3% of the people speak it and it is considered to be the 'correct' English accent) you definitely want to call it Received Pronunciation.

See this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_pronunciation
__ne   Fri Sep 08, 2006 7:04 pm GMT
Thanx that's of great help... well the Wiki mentioned that "Received Pronunciation" is the way BBC speaks... but yet I don't know why I find the BBC and Hugh Grant (in Movie About a Boy) different....
Well it's been years listening to BBC, just today I saw this movie and I just liked the way he spoke so very much...
Well offcourse there are similarities... but I do see differences too... may be I am wrong... I don't know exactly....
Well usually he would take longer time to pronounce some of the words... thats sounds great... there is ample use of sound 'ay' and 'aa' in most of the words...
I don't know whether I am right... anyways Thx for the help....
Is there any particular way to learn this style of speaking... I mean other than reagular elementry classes.... and may be coming down to UK myself...
Rick Johnson   Fri Sep 08, 2006 7:44 pm GMT
By "BBC", they are referring to how BBC presenters used to sound in the 1950s, rather than the range of accents you will hear today.
Robin   Mon Sep 11, 2006 4:42 am GMT
<What you call the type of English Hugh Grant Speaks!>

obnoxious !!!

ob_nox_ious !!!

obnoxious is quite a good word. When I was very much younger, a friend of mine, called my brother 'obnoxious', and he had to go away, and look up what it meant.

Why do I find Hugh Grant so annoying?

I don't think that I am the only one.

I think it is partly because he plays on his 'Englishness'. Also there is an 'Upper class-ness' which is not very attractive.
Damian in London E16   Mon Sep 11, 2006 7:49 am GMT
Call it misplaced illogical prejudice if you like but Hugh Grant's type of English English accent grates on the ears of many Scots. Perhaps it's due to the manner in which he speaks for much of the time, at least in many of his films....a sort of stumbling, bumbling "upper class silly ass twittery" in which he hardly has any mouth movements at all.

I agree....Hugh Grant does use his "upper class" Englishness as a sort of professional trademark, both through his accent and his foppish manner, and I admit it makes this Scotsman squirm a wee bit. The sad thing about it though is that it gives the impression to people from other countries that everybody in England (it IS an English and not a British issue!) speaks like that.

Quite honestly I haven't heard many people speak quite like that since I've been down here, and those I have all seem to be of the older generation, like the mega posh man and woman I heard the other day who both sounded as if they'd just stepped out of one of those old black and white films from the 1950s. Americans may find it quaint.....Scots do not. We prefer Ewan MacGregor or John Hannah :-)

btw MacGregor was once Jude Law's housemate. Now Jude's accent is English English, but somehow not as irritating to Scottish ears as is Hugh's.
Liz   Mon Sep 11, 2006 10:30 am GMT
<<a sort of stumbling, bumbling "upper class silly ass twittery" in which he hardly has any mouth movements at all>>

Exactly! And I would add "mumbling" to your list. I'm not Scottish, but his accent irritates me, too.

The most annoying thing is that many Americans consider his speech to be THE English English (and they go even further: THE British English (sic!)) accent.

BTW, I read somewhere a few years ago that Hugh Grant hated golf and cricket. (That was the only thing we (he and I :-)) had in common, so I started to like him a bit.) I was gobsmacked at this, since I have always thought of him as a "golfing-cricketing" type of guy. You know, his accent, his manners... But, recently, I have heard that he started playing golf and cricket. That suits him!
Uriel   Mon Sep 11, 2006 2:43 pm GMT
I don't know that I can really tell Hugh Grant and Jude Law apart, accent-wise. I find neither particularly annoying to listen to. Of course, English class stereotypes mean nothing to me, so I don't really pick up on them. Hanna and McGregor just sound Scottish, and if there are differences between their accents, those are lost on me as well.
Rene   Mon Sep 11, 2006 2:55 pm GMT
I saw an interview of Hugh Grant on Oprah maybe a year ago (I'm not sure how long, it was right before Love Actually came out) and he said that he LOVED golf. Didn't mention cricket though.
__ne   Mon Sep 11, 2006 4:13 pm GMT
Ok So Hugh Grant sounds not so good... well I guess thats the conclusion... Well Haven't seen much of Jude Law's movies... not either Ewan MacGregor's.... well have seen Aviator quite a few times...
and Forest Gump...
So tell me what would you(Rene & Uriel & Liz & Damian & Robin
& Rick and unknown Guest) call the type of English following person speaks in respective movies...

Forest(Tom Hanks) in Forest Gump

Leonardo DiCaprio in Aviator

Excuse if this is silly question... since I am very new to this classification of pronunciation....

Well I am actually an Indian... in India during schooling(if you go to convent) the major influence is British I guess RP which most of the Christian(Catholic) Bro's speaks(they would actually take few classes in every standard).... when we actually grow up... our major influence becomes American English...

Well in my case... I love the way Brits speaks... but recently been influenced a lot by 'American English'... guess primarily because of movies and my obsessive interest in rock... like James Hetfield or Eddie Vedder...


At present my accent is a mix of both being corrupted by pick-ups from my listening habit... well although I always liked the way Gump speaks... but during last year I saw Aviator and About a Boy and really liked their major accent.....

Well so how would you categorise them....
Tiffany   Mon Sep 11, 2006 4:41 pm GMT
Forrest Gump and The Aviator were both American films. Though I can't remember the Aviator, I'd hazard a guess to say they both had American accents. Gump was supposed to have a Southern accent. As for DiCaprio - I'd guess it was GAE, and if anything, with the slightly affected accent screen actors had back then.

Did it sound like this? http://antimoon.com/other/shaggydog.htm
__ne   Mon Sep 11, 2006 4:55 pm GMT
I guess they sound like the above... those are 'American English' sounds similar to Gump in few places... but not all... I guess that's because of the uniquie casting of Gump...
I still don't know how you people differentiate these all... for me I do find differences but given an example I won't be able to tell for sure which one does it belongs to....

Huh! I guess I got more confused... Well may be the movies are American but they did sound different from all others.... is it not possible to have a movie which is American but has casts speaking RP... well i am not sure... just askin........

Any ways Thx a lot.......