Does G.W. Bush speak Standard English?

Damian in Alton, Hampshir   Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:16 pm GMT
Gordon Brown is a Scot. His accent is that of the Fife region of Scotland - that bit just to the north of the Firth of Forth on the Scottish east coast. He comes from Kirkcaldy (pronounced in the proper Scottish way as Kurr-coddy - remembering to roll your Rs! That is something English people seem quite incapable of doing!) and is the MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, both in the Kingdom of Fife, just across the Firth from Edinburgh. Fife isn't really a Kingdom in its own right but it was at one time past, and the title has proudly stuck to this day and all road signs into Fife say "Welcome to the Kingdom of Fife".

Brown speaks with a Fife accent, and in true Presbyterian style is a real son of the manse, which is why he gives the impression of being a miserable old bugger. :-)
K. T.   Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:25 pm GMT
He doesn't sound all that SOUTHERN to me, but maybe I'm too used to southern accents and they sound just as "right" as a GA accent.
Miton   Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:02 pm GMT
He popularized the ''nukyular'' pronunciation. :)
Uriel   Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:00 pm GMT
Standard English just means that he uses the same syntax and grammar and word choices as most of his countrymen -- he doesn't have any unusual dialectical features in his speech. His accent, however, is southern in sound, rather than being the more neutral version we call General American. It is possible to speak Standard English with any accent. That is why you can read posts from Americans, British people, Australians, Canadians, and other English-speakers and be hard pressed to tell most of us apart simply by our writing, because for the most part we all use Standard English, which doesn't vary a whole lot between countries, but if you were to hear us speak, you would know our nationalities by the sound of our accents, which might be General American, New England, Southern, Cornish, Irish, Scottish, South African, Jamaican, Newfie, New Zealand, etc.
juar   Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:25 pm GMT
Yeah, he does, he just doesn't exel at it.
Guest   Tue Oct 09, 2007 9:35 pm GMT
<< He popularized the ''nukyular'' pronunciation. :) >>

Not really. Jimmy Carter used to get ridiculed in the mainstream press for pronouncing it that very same way. It's a Southern thing.
Uriel   Tue Oct 09, 2007 11:47 pm GMT
There is no such thing as a popular or unpopular pronunciation of "nuclear"; you simply say it however you say it. And it's pronounced "nukyular" all the way to Oklahoma -- one of my friends from there can't say it any other way, no matter how hard we make him try! Bet he's wishing we never upgraded from "atomic".....
Dawie   Thu Oct 11, 2007 4:02 pm GMT
Don't confuse using different registers in English with being bidialectal.
Guest   Thu Oct 11, 2007 4:34 pm GMT
It is shocking! Americans pronounce "atom" as "adam". Makes me roll on the floor!
Travis   Thu Oct 11, 2007 4:40 pm GMT
Not necessarily. For instance, "atom" for me is ["E{4_0m=:] while "Adam" is ["E{:4m=:].
elvanshalle@yahoo.com   Thu Oct 11, 2007 5:22 pm GMT
(both in the Kingdom of Fife, just across the Firth from Edinburgh. Fife isn't really a Kingdom in its own right but it was at one time past, and the title has proudly stuck to this day and all road signs into Fife say "Welcome to the Kingdom of Fife".)

Ok, before I start I have to apologize to all from Great Britian, but this sounds like the start of a good fantasy novel! Sorry about my sense of humor. :)

As for Bush, the idot who left his town behind and they want him back, it really doesn't matter what kind of English he speaks if it comes out sounding like he belongs in Kindergarten. It means even less if he is making ME as an American look stupid. Yes he has a Texas drawl which affects his anunciation of certain words. Texas drawl is different that just a Souther speak (and the Texans are more than happy to correct one on the difference). Southern speak is drawn out but Texas drawl is even slower. We midwesterners just don't have time to sit and listen as we would all freeze to death so we speak much more rapidly. If one ever gets the chance to speak with New Yorkers it is even more pronounced.

Oh, and an atom is a molecule that makes up the universe but Adam is a name. I also have aunts not ants.
Guest   Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:30 am GMT
My aunts have ants and and atom is NOT a molecule :)

Sorry couldn't resist.
Guest   Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:32 am GMT
Sorry, I meant "an" atom is NOT a molecule :)
elvanshalle@yahoo.com   Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:06 pm GMT
Atoms are the pieces of the universe that make up molecules (which to my excitement are what I will be studying once I finish school, molecules tat make us sick that is). :P :)