Percentage of Rhotic and Non-Rhotic speakers?

Uriel   Wed Sep 30, 2009 2:03 am GMT
There really isn't that much to comment on in your posts, I'm afraid. They rarely have any narrative or pose any questions -- they are just snippets of disconnected thoughts that don't really leave a reader much to work with.
Rene   Wed Sep 30, 2009 2:52 pm GMT
I don't know Damien, I've been known to sip a cup of Earl Grey while still managing to utter, "Dude, that was dope! We should like totally do that again sometime."

This probably caused a few of those ladies you spoke of to turn in their graves, but nevertheless tea is far too weak to do anything no matter how long it seeps unfortunately.
Damian Putney SW15   Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:46 pm GMT
I like it, Rene! A touch of poetic licence on my part.....I was merely following in the same vein as that American lad who simply used tea as a symbol synonymous with the British way of life......it is reputedly the panacea of all ills in this country.....any sudden crisis of whatever kind here is immediately followed the automatic switching on of kettles.....a cuppa tends to soothe shattered nerves. Those sedate ladies taking tiffin in Tunbridge Wells are infinitely more likely to sip Earl Grey than a group of burly blokes taking a tea break on their building site in Scunthorpe...for them PG tips would be the order of the day I reckon.

The only way for a non Brit wishing to acquire a British accent, for whatever bizarre reason, is to keep the tea tightly shut in the caddy and go out and consort with the natives. He or she would of course have to be quite sure what kind of British accent it is that's the chosen one....listen and imitate if you really must. My advice though would be to avoid Glasgow or Liverpool like you would the clap, and possibly Birmingham as well.

I don't really think an acquired accent other than the one you grew up with is ever completely, totally authentic, do you? Traits of your own native born accent will generally surface here and there in your speech.....that was certainly the case with that American lad in the YT clip but he wasn't all that serious about it, was he? He was just joking.

I can't ever imagine myself ever changing my own accent in any way at all, no matter where I go or for how long I stay there.
Damian Ldn SW15   Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:54 pm GMT
***So Damian - when are you going to comment on my Posts?***

I'm sure I have here and there, Happy Chappy...haven't I? I'm sure I have...if I haven't then it really is very remiss of me....I crave foregivenss.

Now say something really earth shattering......I'm hoping it will take my mind off beans. ;-)
Rene   Thu Oct 01, 2009 12:15 am GMT
I think you're right Damian, there are always slight traces. John Barrowman, for example, whom the British seem to think is so very American sounding slips back into Scottish English frequently. It only took me ten minutes to figure out he wasn't American and that he was, in fact, Scottish despite his years spent in the U.S.

Hugh Laurie on the other hand... probably couldn't spot it. But then again, I already knew he was English when I began to watch House, so I've probably ignored any slips or just filled them in with the knowledge of why he would say such-and-such in such a way.

Oh, and sorry I spelled your name wrong in the last post, I only just realized my typo.
Happy Chappy   Thu Oct 01, 2009 9:45 am GMT
I took tea as a gift to Poland. I took a large bag of Scottish blend T bags, specially blended for soft water. My gift was not appreciated. I found out later that the local grocery shop had a very wide selection of different teas. That the tea sold in the UK, far from being very special, is rather ordinary. The big difference is that people in the UK often drink tea with milk.

Unfortunately like so many things in which the UK once lead the world. We now appear to be stuck in a time warp, doing things in dreadfully old fashioned way.

So, Damian, or even someone else?

Could you comment on the use of adverbs by people in the UK, compared to people in the US?

British people often say 'tight' rather than 'tightly', so I do not think that is the difference. I think it must be this 'awfully glad', 'frightfully sorry' type of language which used to be popular.