Steven, Very well written... I enjoyed reading your post!
Brian --- Steven D'Aprano wrote: > On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 11:27:40 -0700, muldoon wrote: > > >>Americans consider having a "British accent" a sign of sophistication >>and high intelligence. Many companies hire salespersons from Britain to >>represent their products,etc. Question: When the British hear an >>"American accent," does it sound unsophisticated and dumb? > > > Which American accent? > > Texan? Georgian cracker or Maine fisherman? New York taxi driver? Bill > Clinton or Jesse Jackson or George W Bush? California Valley girl, > Arkansas redneck or boyz from th' hood? Paris Hilton or Queen Latifah? > > >>Be blunt. We Americans need to know. Should we try to change the way we >>speak? Are there certain words that sound particularly goofy? Please >>help us with your advice on this awkward matter. > > > Speaking as an Australia, the typical "film voice" (eg Harrison > Ford, Tom Cruise, etc) doesn't sound unsophisticated. In fact, when we > hear it, it doesn't sound like an accent at all, such is the influence of > Hollywood. (Which is linguistically impossible, of course, since *every* > way of speaking is by definition an accent.) The Hollywood voice is a > mixture of West Coast and very light mid-Western. > > But as for the rest of you, yes, you sound -- strange. It depends on the > specific regional accent. At best, just different. At worst, dumber than a > box of hammers. Which is of course unfair: there is no connection between > accent and intelligence. But by gum, some accents just sound dumber than > others. My fiancee, from Ireland, has worked and lived in the USA for half > her life, and to her you all sound like Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. > > Lest anyone gets offended, I should point out that every English-speaking > country have accents which are considered by others to mark the speaker as > a thick yokel. In Ireland, they look down on Kerrymen. In England, even > Yorkshiremen look down on Summerset, Devon and Dorset accents. And there > is nothing as thick-sounding as a broad Ocker Aussie accent. > > But don't worry, there is one thing we all agree on throughout the > English-speaking world: you Americans don't speak English. > > There are a few things that you can do to help: > > Herb starts with H, not E. It isn't "ouse" or "ospital" or "istory". It > isn't "erb" either. You just sound like tossers when you try to pronounce > herb in the original French. And the same with homage. > > Taking of herbs, there is no BAY in basil. And oregano sounds like Ray > Romano, not oh-reg-ano. > > And please, fillet of fish only has a silent T if you are speaking French. > > Aluminium is al-u-min-ium, not alum-i-num. > > Scientists work in a la-bor-atory, not a lab-rat-ory, even if they have > lab rats in the laboratory. > > Fans of the X-Men movies and comics will remember Professor Charles > Xavier. Unless you are Spanish (Kh-avier), the X sounds like a Z: Zaviour. > But never never never Xecks-Aviour or Eggs-Savior. > > Nuclear. Say no more. > > -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
