The American Invasion

In a short piece entitled "The American Invasion" (1887) Oscar Wilde comments on the accent of American girls in England:

"As for their voices, they soon get them into tune. Some of them have been known to acquire a fashionable drawl in two Seasons; and after they have been presented to Royalty they all roll their 'r's as vigorously as a young equerry or an old lady-in-waiting. Still, they never really lose their accent..."

I should imagine that the standards of English society in the 1880s were close to what we see today as a very traditional and conservative RP. What do you think is meant by a "fashionable drawl" here? And the rolling of the 'r's? Is this a comment on rhoticity? I'm not sure whether Wilde was rhotic or not (he was born in Ireland, after all). Did English Royalty roll their 'r's ([r] [4]?) in the late XIX century?

<<And the rolling of the 'r's? Is this a comment on rhoticity?>>

One feature of archaic RP is pronouncing /r/ as [4]; it seems as if he must have been referring to this, and not to rhoticity. (By the 1880s I think that rhoticity had mostly rural and unsophisticated connotations in England.)

<<Did English Royalty roll their 'r's ([r] [4]?) in the late XIX century?>>

I think they probably did.

When I saw the title, I thought that the days of Iran's death are numbered by George W Bush. Silly me!! It just shows that how much fear we have from Bush's war of terror.

guest - yer a stupid cunt. aren't ya?

umm I thought it is going to be about the americanisation !!??

i do not think there is any problem in american accent, but the real problem is to use the new american " grammar "
sometimes they use past simple instead of present perfect.

am i right ?