On the question of RP, I'd never even heard of it until quite recently. I don't think it's actually something people are concerned about in the North of England. It's only through talking to people in the South East and Overseas that I even became aware of it!
Best way to Learn British English?
CHUM, or whatever your name is (interesting choice; it either means "friend" or "shark bait"):
You need to go rent an old movie called "Queen's Logic". Kevin Bacon does a hilarious kiss-off to a pretentious brat who insists on putting on a fake British accent to "better" himself -- "I know you! You're from Flushing, and I used to DO your babysitter! What's with the foo-foo accent?"
Don't try to pretend to be someone you're not, dude. It just looks stupid.
You need to go rent an old movie called "Queen's Logic". Kevin Bacon does a hilarious kiss-off to a pretentious brat who insists on putting on a fake British accent to "better" himself -- "I know you! You're from Flushing, and I used to DO your babysitter! What's with the foo-foo accent?"
Don't try to pretend to be someone you're not, dude. It just looks stupid.
"On the question of RP, I'd never even heard of it until quite recently. I don't think it's actually something people are concerned about in the North of England. It's only through talking to people in the South East and Overseas that I even became aware of it! "
It must have been groundbreaking to hear the Queen's accent for the first time.
It must have been groundbreaking to hear the Queen's accent for the first time.
Ariel the mermaid- or Uriel from Europe who now is in New Mexico - chill! Its totally not anything to do with something I'm not or something I am. The British word usage is to me the more proper way and I prefer to use it, I even can do the voice quite well. I've fooled many people loads of times, and they say Oh, your from England? Maybe it is because they have not the exposure of real British accents to tell the difference. If I want to live in my dream world and act British - SO WHAT! Maybe its because I'm surrounded by twits who can't even say anything more then ghetto slang wordage like "yo homee, you chillin", maybe that has pushed move all the way to "real" English. I've read your responses on other forums, it just seems to me Uriel that you don't want other people to conclude their ideas to the full... why not...
Rolls says - "Mates is being arses on me telly, all wankers, so to London I must travel, to avoid such folly... perhaps Adam and I can meet up with Samantha to travel around the city so as to get a full guided tour of a lovely area! I mean if a mate wants to slap around fake cockney and queen's english at the same time so be it. How much quid can I give you before I have to slap your Chevy Chase, I mean really. If its pounds sterling low denomination notes you want then fine! I'd rather give you that than Euros any day! This is just all bollocks, so pardon me, if you would be so kind pass the tea, its time for some Twinnings..."
As regards movies no...no...no... you've got it all wrong... I am not trying to learn imitation US style, but the authentic British style, that is why I order the PAL version of native made UK films to play here in the US, I get an interiview such as the National Film Theatre questionaire with the actors and thats not on US DVD's!
Adam has got to be around here somewhere...
Rolls says - "Mates is being arses on me telly, all wankers, so to London I must travel, to avoid such folly... perhaps Adam and I can meet up with Samantha to travel around the city so as to get a full guided tour of a lovely area! I mean if a mate wants to slap around fake cockney and queen's english at the same time so be it. How much quid can I give you before I have to slap your Chevy Chase, I mean really. If its pounds sterling low denomination notes you want then fine! I'd rather give you that than Euros any day! This is just all bollocks, so pardon me, if you would be so kind pass the tea, its time for some Twinnings..."
As regards movies no...no...no... you've got it all wrong... I am not trying to learn imitation US style, but the authentic British style, that is why I order the PAL version of native made UK films to play here in the US, I get an interiview such as the National Film Theatre questionaire with the actors and thats not on US DVD's!
Adam has got to be around here somewhere...
Rolls says - "Your sitting their at your estate... In front of your grand mansion... And you ask yourself, I have no mates, I have no journey. I completed it all...So your Jaguar comes up, with a driver and all...and you step inside...to hear "The Streets" playing. Lets push things forward, Mike Skinner says...around hear we say birds not bxxxxx... archetypal street sound... and the beat continues...next track, Harvey Nicks, where a bird gives no time to the mates who step in due to their disparging clothing style, you wonder is appearance gonna make the sale! Finally your Jaguar XJ arrives at a destination - its Brighton and you wonder how you got this far?"
Im sure the natives from England understand all what I wrote above, eh?
Oi!oi!oi! So stop gallivanting, its all rather smashing isn't eh? Give me a fiver so I can go down the local shop and grab some kippers and mash? Alright then?
Im sure the natives from England understand all what I wrote above, eh?
Oi!oi!oi! So stop gallivanting, its all rather smashing isn't eh? Give me a fiver so I can go down the local shop and grab some kippers and mash? Alright then?
Another thought, here in NY there are two roundabouts in the same town... the locals say the "circle" in town and they dread having to enter one...
Perhaps only 2 in the US - maybe more - but UK of course you have plenty so much so that they have names like towns. Its all very expansive over there, here they use intersections...
I say to them - stop being so dreary! Its not like its a bit of math equation...one moment now, I hear the tea kettle!
Perhaps only 2 in the US - maybe more - but UK of course you have plenty so much so that they have names like towns. Its all very expansive over there, here they use intersections...
I say to them - stop being so dreary! Its not like its a bit of math equation...one moment now, I hear the tea kettle!
Honestly, I find British English to be very different than US English and there should be actual courses on how to speak that way with the RP or something near that sound...It is very different for me, if it wasnt I would have been able to understand almost every English film I saw the first time or every British person I have talked to on the phone... I always miss one or two words at least...
Sense and Sensiblity
Lock Stock
Layer Cake
Snatch
The Bean Show
About a Boy - was so trickey at sometimes
I learned the words wally and slag from that movie!?
What is a slag?
Geezers need excitement!
Sense and Sensiblity
Lock Stock
Layer Cake
Snatch
The Bean Show
About a Boy - was so trickey at sometimes
I learned the words wally and slag from that movie!?
What is a slag?
Geezers need excitement!
>>Ariel the mermaid- or Uriel from Europe who now is in New Mexico - chill! Its totally not anything to do with something I'm not or something I am. The British word usage is to me the more proper way and I prefer to use it, I even can do the voice quite well.<<
Here's a little question for you: why do you think that "British" (I should actually say specifically English, as we are clearly speaking about English English and not Scottish English or Welsh English here) word usage is "more proper" than, from what is implied here, North American English usage?
>>I've fooled many people loads of times, and they say Oh, your from England? Maybe it is because they have not the exposure of real British accents to tell the difference. If I want to live in my dream world and act British - SO WHAT!<<
Well, it shouldn't be surprising that most English-speaking North Americans have very little day to day contact with English English, and with the small amount of contact that they do have with such things being just from things like the BBC (for those who actually get BBC News at all in the US), figures who happen to speak RP (and for whom English may not be a native language in many cases) and things like Monty Python. I would find it very surprising if the average English-speaking North American had any awareness of the actual different dialects in the UK beyond RP and Estuary English.
>>Maybe its because I'm surrounded by twits who can't even say anything more then ghetto slang wordage like "yo homee, you chillin", maybe that has pushed move all the way to "real" English. I've read your responses on other forums, it just seems to me Uriel that you don't want other people to conclude their ideas to the full... why not...<<
And that is your view of North American English as a whole, is it?
Here's a little question for you: why do you think that "British" (I should actually say specifically English, as we are clearly speaking about English English and not Scottish English or Welsh English here) word usage is "more proper" than, from what is implied here, North American English usage?
>>I've fooled many people loads of times, and they say Oh, your from England? Maybe it is because they have not the exposure of real British accents to tell the difference. If I want to live in my dream world and act British - SO WHAT!<<
Well, it shouldn't be surprising that most English-speaking North Americans have very little day to day contact with English English, and with the small amount of contact that they do have with such things being just from things like the BBC (for those who actually get BBC News at all in the US), figures who happen to speak RP (and for whom English may not be a native language in many cases) and things like Monty Python. I would find it very surprising if the average English-speaking North American had any awareness of the actual different dialects in the UK beyond RP and Estuary English.
>>Maybe its because I'm surrounded by twits who can't even say anything more then ghetto slang wordage like "yo homee, you chillin", maybe that has pushed move all the way to "real" English. I've read your responses on other forums, it just seems to me Uriel that you don't want other people to conclude their ideas to the full... why not...<<
And that is your view of North American English as a whole, is it?
I like it -- I'm keeping it -- you're not getting it back!
Damn, you've figured me out:
<<I've read your responses on other forums, it just seems to me Uriel that you don't want other people to conclude their ideas to the full... why not... >>
And here I thought I was being subtle.
<<As regards movies no...no...no... you've got it all wrong... I am not trying to learn imitation US style, but the authentic British style, that is why I order the PAL version of native made UK films to play here in the US, I get an interiview such as the National Film Theatre questionaire with the actors and thats not on US DVD's! >>
Well, everybody needs a hobby....
<<Adam has got to be around here somewhere... >>
...and a leader.
Rock on with your bad self, Rolls!
Damn, you've figured me out:
<<I've read your responses on other forums, it just seems to me Uriel that you don't want other people to conclude their ideas to the full... why not... >>
And here I thought I was being subtle.
<<As regards movies no...no...no... you've got it all wrong... I am not trying to learn imitation US style, but the authentic British style, that is why I order the PAL version of native made UK films to play here in the US, I get an interiview such as the National Film Theatre questionaire with the actors and thats not on US DVD's! >>
Well, everybody needs a hobby....
<<Adam has got to be around here somewhere... >>
...and a leader.
Rock on with your bad self, Rolls!
About roundabouts... in the US, we don't encounter them a lot except in New England, where I went to university, encountered one and thus learned the name they are called up there - "rotary" or the less used "roundabout". I've never heard the word "traffic circle".
Curiously we do have ONE (and only one) where I grew up in a very rich area of town. Of course, now that I think back, I have no idea how it was referred to! It had a official Spanish name dedicated to one of the long-dead patrons of area (Círculo de something?), and everyone just used that without ever knowing the general term for the thing.
One more story about rotaries (roundabouts). They WERE in the official handbook of my state when I had to learn the rules of the road and take my driving test. They must be absent from the California version because there was one installed in a plaza a few blocks from where I live and it was a mess for weeks. People did not seem to know what yield meant and coasted right through because there was no stop sign. Even worse, they would go down it the wrong way! (It's clearly labeled ONE WAY and points to which way you must drive.)
I for one would never want to walk there (they installed a sidewalk), as I think it should be labeled a dangerous intersection.
Curiously we do have ONE (and only one) where I grew up in a very rich area of town. Of course, now that I think back, I have no idea how it was referred to! It had a official Spanish name dedicated to one of the long-dead patrons of area (Círculo de something?), and everyone just used that without ever knowing the general term for the thing.
One more story about rotaries (roundabouts). They WERE in the official handbook of my state when I had to learn the rules of the road and take my driving test. They must be absent from the California version because there was one installed in a plaza a few blocks from where I live and it was a mess for weeks. People did not seem to know what yield meant and coasted right through because there was no stop sign. Even worse, they would go down it the wrong way! (It's clearly labeled ONE WAY and points to which way you must drive.)
I for one would never want to walk there (they installed a sidewalk), as I think it should be labeled a dangerous intersection.
ROLLS for the CHUMS: I think you're having a laugh...mate! .....you're having us on ain't ya? Chums??? Where the **** did you pick that one up? I know I'm only a stupid Scot (a wee bit of classic British self deprecation here...meant for effect btw..don't take it seriously)......but I reckon you could travel the whole length and breadth of England.....from Berwick to Broadstairs..from Lowestoft to Leominster and everywhere in between...and you would never hear the word "chum" uttered by anyone in the 21st century......except maybe some wheezy old duffer sitting in a corner, covered in cobbies, and reading P G Wodehouse.
You seem to have a Jeeves "I say old boy..how about a jolly old game of rugger...what?" view of British English English or whatever the **** you like to call it. Get real...mate! It's so, so not of the present time....I should know...I live next door to England....some of my best mates live in England, mate.....but I reckon none of them would recognise or identify with your "British English"...sorry, mate! That's about it.....come with me to Milton Keynes next month and do a reality check, old chum (oh ****! ..now you've got me at it...I meant mate).
Why not just be happy being yourself anyway, ffs. Cheers, mate! :-)
You seem to have a Jeeves "I say old boy..how about a jolly old game of rugger...what?" view of British English English or whatever the **** you like to call it. Get real...mate! It's so, so not of the present time....I should know...I live next door to England....some of my best mates live in England, mate.....but I reckon none of them would recognise or identify with your "British English"...sorry, mate! That's about it.....come with me to Milton Keynes next month and do a reality check, old chum (oh ****! ..now you've got me at it...I meant mate).
Why not just be happy being yourself anyway, ffs. Cheers, mate! :-)
You're right, Tiffany -- when I took the California driver's test there was no mention at all of that particular subject, and it wasn't even in the handbook. But they were VERY anal about parking on hills!
They are called roundabouts here, and this place may be the roundabout
capital of the world. They are so omnipresent here, that someone had
fears as to what may happen to the runways at the airport, or more specifically the runway intersection .
capital of the world. They are so omnipresent here, that someone had
fears as to what may happen to the runways at the airport, or more specifically the runway intersection .
"It must have been groundbreaking to hear the Queen's accent for the first time."
Quite. I initially thought it was a congentital speech impediment due to cousins marrying, but apparently the condition also has a name.
Quite. I initially thought it was a congentital speech impediment due to cousins marrying, but apparently the condition also has a name.