How is Estuary English perceived in America?

US Guest   Wed Oct 08, 2008 12:09 am GMT
The accent in that recording sounds pretty unremarkable to me.
WRP   Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:20 pm GMT
I think it's an English accent and the one that shows up on TV fairly often. It's as nice as nearly every other English accent I've heard, I don't have any real feelings about it.
Rene   Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:40 pm GMT
I like it.
Guest   Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:35 pm GMT
>>> The accent in that recording sounds pretty unremarkable to me.

You've probably heard it enough times in the British media that it's become fairly commonplace. If you compare the Estuary sample with a more neutral English English sample, you'll be able to pick up on its uniqueness.

http://www.lowlands-l.net/anniversary/sound/english-england.mp3

http://www.lowlands-l.net/anniversary/sound/estuary.mp3
Damian in Edinburgh   Wed Oct 08, 2008 8:01 pm GMT
Rene:

My mate from Epsom would be over the moon were he to know you said that! Cool. On the other hand, if you said you were not too keen on his accent he';d have been utterly gutted, as sick as a parrot. Bummer!


NB: very commonly used expressions in the UK.

"Over the moon" and "sick as a parrot" have strong connections with the British football world - both express totally opposite emotions as you no doubt gather. There are reasons how and why those expressions came about but without checking them out, which I haven't time to do right now, I haven't a clue what they would be.

With regard to the first of the links in the previous post the guy now sounds very much like my other Southern England mate from uni who lives in Winchester, Hampshire, only my mate sounds a wee bit younger than this guy in the recording does. He doesn't do the Estuary thing very much, in fact, hardly ever except maybe after he's had a noggin or two...or three.....

The second link is my Estuaryspeak mate from Epsom again....the bloke Rene likes....well, his accent anyway....as I said, Dominic would be chuffed.
Rene   Fri Oct 10, 2008 1:14 am GMT
Well, Damian I'm glad I could make somebody's day.

We use "over the moon" here too. I always kind of figured it came from the poem. I haven't heard sick as a parrot before though.

Isn't it interesting how many phrases come from sports. I mean, the American commander in chief is called the president because one of the founding fathers decided that if the term was good enough for the leader of a cricket team, it was good enough for the nation.
Damian in Edinburgh   Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:03 am GMT
You did.... you did, Rene.....Dom says he's still over the moon with what you said about 'his Estuaryspeak...well, semi-Estuaryspeak really - he can be quite "posh" English English when he wants to and when the occasion fits.

"Sick as a parrot" does have an origin which has nothing to do with ailing birds apparently - this must be lurking about in an internet site somewhere if you have the time and the inclination to find it.

The only affliction I know of that exclusively affects parrots is psittacosis but as I say "being sick as a parrot" has nothing to do with avian illness according to what I heard a guy say once on UK TalkSport radio which is a station heavily involved with the world of British football in which the expression "sick as a parrot" is very widely used as I said before - rife among blokes who are fed up, annoyed, disappointed, irritated, aggravated, down in the dumps or just plain mad at something which has made them feel the way they do, and the world of football tends to raise emotions quite spectacularly at times.

Being "sick as a dog" is the expression you are no doubt more familiar with, and which is probably much more likely to be linked with the act of vomiting than the other one. It's reference to a dog is obvious seeing that dogs have the habit of eating grass purely as a medicine to induce vomiting as a means of cathartically purging their canine systems.
KC   Thu Oct 16, 2008 3:23 am GMT
I keep hearing that original Cockney is almost extinct and so on. I also hear Estuary is largely based on Cockney. Can someone please tell me xactly what aspects of the Cockney accent have been lost from general usage (which is why people claim its nearing extinction)? From what I understand of Cockney (from being a big fan of Only Fools and Horses), the two major distinguishing characteristics is dropping of 't' and 'h', plus a slightly exaggerated intonation pattern. For example "whose letter" would be "oos leher" in Cockney. But I do hear many people still talking in this fashion on BBC radio.