The British need to get over it...
>>People who grow up in another society won't learn the same biases the British have learned>>
If you've not lived in America, Thaddeus, you'll be forgiven for not knowing that Americans are quite aware of the basic divisions of different British accents into posh or not. They take their cues from films and television and the interaction of various British characters, or of real personages, in the case of interviews. They do have a fair idea.
It's with the middle-class accents that things can get confusing for Americans, but again, context will often point the way for them. And, to furnish just one example, the multitude of Ian McKellen's fans in the U. S. will have learned from his interviews on the talk show circuit or cable TV profiles that he grew up speaking with a Lancashire accent, then modified that upward (socially) and southward (geographically) in order to advance his career on stage and screen.
You might not realise it, but there has been quite a British invasion going on in American media, both in Hollywood and Manhattan, and everywhere from PBS and CNN to network television's singing and dancing contests.
If the trend may be said to have begun with Alec Guinness and Stan Laurel, then on to Richard Burton, Liz Taylor, Peter Sellers, Benny Hill, Quentin Crisp and Helen Mirren, you may be sure it continues a-pace with Bob Hoskins, Elijah Wood and Robert Pattinson and so on. (Necessarily, these names are very selective instances of what is a huge phenomenon in the States.)
Actually I am an American and I definitely don't know the basic divisions of different British accents into posh or not. To me they're all just British accents, in fact I would probably have great difficulty distinguishing between the different accents let alone tell which ones are considered "posh" or not by British people.
Shut up Thaddeus, you talk American shit..!!
"The Americans don't speak English grammatically worse than the Brits in any way at all."
You're wrong. The literacy rate for the US falls within the range of only 65% to 85%.
A five year study asserted that an incredible 46% to 51% of U.S. adults read so poorly that they earn "significantly" below the threshold poverty level for an individual.
The government study showed that 21% to 23% of adult Americans were not "able to locate information in text", could not "make low-level inferences using printed materials", and were unable to "integrate easily identifiable pieces of information."
The US Dept. of Education, Institute of Education Sciences has conducted large scale assessment of adult proficiency in 1992 and 2003 using a common methodology from which trends could be measured. The study measures Prose, Document, and Quantitative skills and 19,000 subjects participated in the 2003 survey. There was no significant change in Prose or Document skills and a slight increase in Quantitative skills. As in 1992, roughly 15% of the sample could function at the highest levels in all three categories. Roughly 40% were at either basic or below basic levels of proficiency in all three categories.
Thus, if this bottom quantile of the study is equated with the functionally illiterate, and these are then removed from those classified as literate, then the resultant literacy rate for the United States would be at most 65-85%
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States
Another one talking shit..!! Adam piss off please..
Just ignore the messages at
Apr 21 6:30 pm GMT
& Apr 21 8:04 pm GMT
They are a poor attempt at a hoax.
The leader of the British Conservative Party (aka the Tory party, it's original name) is David Cameron...he is comparatively young and was educated at one of England's premier and exclusively elite public schools....Eton College....which over the decades past has educated many of Britain's subsequent Prime Ministers, as well as many of this country's military leaders. It is said that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.
Anyway David Cameron not only looks a wee bit elitist...a representative of the proclaimed "privileged classes" but he also sounds it from his accent, which can best be described as being..well, posh, seeing as that is the word being bandied about in this thread....to many ordinary British people he does sound "posh"...he comes from that sort of background, there's no getting away from that.
Be that as it may, David Cameron is currently leading his Conservative party into battle on the hustings...the General Election battleground, and he is now touring the whole country on his campaign to win over the voters. He did not win over a 16 years old student when he was down in Cornwall today Wednesday 21/04/10.....the lad was wearing a top which displayed the logo "Come on outside, Posh Boy!" as he chucked an egg at the Tory leader Cameron.....the egg struck him on the shoulder but it actually splattered all over the uniform of a nearby police officer, so the yolk was on him and not on Cameron, who actually treated it as a joke, saying it was his very first time as the target of an egg while electioneering.
The student was immediately arrested but later released without charge.
Posh English English RP accents are pretty much regarded as quite a social hindrance in the uK today, and are no longer seen as being advantageous, which explains Tony B'liar's attempts to lapse into assumed Estuary to suit certain audiences during his time as PM in the UK, and why the Royal Princes William and Harry, especially, pepper their accents with strains of Estuary and do not speak anything like their granny, Queen Elizabeth II who has also received coaching in the "downgrading" of her former cut glass vowels which can be heard in some of her old speeches and which were excruciating to listen to, to say the least.
Cameron is yet another Scot or son of a Scot, like Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Remarkable, is it not ?
I hang my head in shame! ;-) .......the name Cameron can hardly be any more Scottish can it? But from his accent, no doubt reinforced during the years he spent at Eton and also through his privileged background, you would never guess he had Scottish connections would you? It's not all that rare a phenomenon anyway - there have been several other prominent politicians in Britain who have had similar family backgrounds, hailing from the so called "landed gentry" and invariably representing the Conservative Party (or the Tories if you are not all that well disposed to them politically) and who are in fact Scottish through and through.
One such was Sir Alec Douglas-Home (pronounced "Hume") who was MP for Perth and East Perthshire for very many years, commanding a huge Conservative majority, which in itself is now a thing of the past here in Scotland where Conservatism is seen as very much an "English thing" politically - until fairly recently Scotland had no Conservative MPs at Westminster at all, and even now there are only two, and their constituencies border onto England anyway.
Alec Douglas Home was the British Prime Minister for a short while in the early 1960s - each of his names is about as Scottish as could be, but the man's accent bore no trace of Scottish whatsoever....he looked every bit the English aristocrat, he spoke mega posh English of the English upper classes, and looking at old clips of him speaking he hardly seemed to move his mouth at all as he issued forth pure Etonese almost in a way which now makes the Queen sound like a housewife in Camden Town being interviewed in her local Waitrose store while shopping for scallops and quails' eggs.
It's strange how so many of the so called "landed gentry aristocrats" with huge country estates out there in the glorious Scottish countryside, all of them with names as Scottish as haggis and Arbroath smokies, mostly sound just like Alec Douglas Home, but I reckon that reflects their background and the fact that they all received their education at all those very illustrious English public schools and their military training at Sandhurst or at Dartmouth College, which no doubt had a great effect on their accents.
Tony B'Liar - sorry, typo....that should be Blair - is of Scottish origin I must admit but does he sound it? No chance..... He attended the exclusive Fettes College here in Edinburgh where many of the teaching staff and many of the pupils don't sound Scottish either.
Blair is a verbal chameleon anyway - he tailored his accent at will to suit the audience he addressed. When he directed a speech to the bankers and financiers and leaders of commerce and industry at a dinner in the Guildhall in the City of London out came his "posh" English, in accordance with the whole atmosphere and ambience of the place.
The next day he may well have been speaking in front of a group of students from a Comprehensive School in Walthamstow, in the East End of London - and - hey presto! - out came his own strange form of Estuary, dropping his "h's" and "t's" all over the place....."Call me Tony" at work in his own inimitable style, following on from two other former residents of this city of Edinburgh who were two for the price of one in one single body - Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Sir Alec Douglas Home speaking in 1964 following his defeat by the Labour Party in the General Election in October of that year.
Does he sound Scottish to you? Well, he was Scottish by heritage but his accent really was something else......
How sedate people seemed to be in those days!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBezNAaEE3c
What is it about QE2's "cut glass vowels" in those speeches that distresses you, Damian?
They are surely simply noises. Just varying wave lengths. Why would you be upset by such things?
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░▄▀▄░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
░░░░░░░░░░░░░▄▀░░░▀▄░░░░░░░░░░░░░
░░░░░░░░░░░▄▀░░░░▄▀█░░░░░░░░░░░░░
░░░░░░░░░▄▀░░░░▄▀░▄▀░▄▀▄░░░░░░░░░
░░░░░░░▄▀░░░░▄▀░▄▀░▄▀░░░▀▄░░░░░░░
░░░░░░░█▀▄░░░░▀█░▄▀░░░░░░░▀▄░░░░░
░░░▄▀▄░▀▄░▀▄░░░░▀░░░░▄█▄░░░░▀▄░░░
░▄▀░░░▀▄░▀▄░▀▄░░░░░▄▀░█░▀▄░░░░▀▄░
░█▀▄░░░░▀▄░█▀░░░░░░░▀█░▀▄░▀▄░▄▀█░
░▀▄░▀▄░░░░▀░░░░▄█▄░░░░▀▄░▀▄░█░▄▀░
░░░▀▄░▀▄░░░░░▄▀░█░▀▄░░░░▀▄░▀█▀░░░
░░░░░▀▄░▀▄░▄▀░▄▀░█▀░░░░▄▀█░░░░░░░
░░░░░░░▀▄░█░▄▀░▄▀░░░░▄▀░▄▀░░░░░░░
░░░░░░░░░▀█▀░▄▀░░░░▄▀░▄▀░░░░░░░░░
░░░░░░░░░░░░░█▀▄░▄▀░▄▀░░░░░░░░░░░
░░░░░░░░░░░░░▀▄░█░▄▀░░░░░░░░░░░░░
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░▀█▀░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
12:23 am GMT was not written by Damian. It is a poor attempt at a hoax.