BBC English

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussion' started by clueless1, Nov 3, 2011.

  1. gcc3663

    gcc3663 Knackered Grandad trying to keep up with a 4yr old

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  2. Sheal

    Sheal Total Gardener

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    Shiney,
    Just to be picky! You'd have to be born within the sound of Bow Bells to be genuine Cockney. But you probably know that. :)

    I know the Cockney accent has spread far outside Bowbells reaches, me to and I'm an Essex girl. Cockney, now with a slight Manx twist to it!

    What gets me is when people tell me I've got an Essex accent. I haven't, the real Essex accent sounds very much like the South West accent, Somerset, Dorset etc. which I'd much rather have! :)
     
  3. ClaraLou

    ClaraLou Total Gardener

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    I think that probably depends which bit of Essex you're talking about, Sheal. My Dad came from Ilford and I don't remember any trace of Somerset in his voice!
     
  4. Sheal

    Sheal Total Gardener

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    Clare, you have to go further east. Colchester, Ipswich and Harwich, where you'll still hear it. I lived in Colchester before moving here to the island although I was reared in the Southend area. :)
     
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    • daitheplant

      daitheplant Total Gardener

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      Sian Williams is a Londoner of Welsh descent. So is English.:dbgrtmb: Huw Edwards is another along the lines of Carole Vorderman. Both, thankfully, are now based in England.:loll::loll::loll:I have to stick up for John Humphries as he is another Newport boy, and, of course, Evan Davis has the most famous "Albert" piercing in broadcasting history.
       
    • ClaraLou

      ClaraLou Total Gardener

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      Thank you for that fascinating piece of information, Dai.

      Huw Edwards sounds pretty Welsh to me. Does he have any interesting piercings?
       
    • daitheplant

      daitheplant Total Gardener

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      Huw Edwards is indeed Welsh, but as I said, he is, thankfully, now based in England. Evan Davis`s piercing is well documented, so nothing to be shocked about.:heehee::heehee::heehee::D:dbgrtmb:
       
    • ClaraLou

      ClaraLou Total Gardener

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      I told you not to read the Daily Mail. :heehee:
       
    • daitheplant

      daitheplant Total Gardener

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    • shiney

      shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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      Bow Bells has had an interesting history as they were destroyed by the Great Fire and then again by bombing in WWII. There are a number of aguments, for and against, how far the sound of the bells travelled but the Cockney accent has travelled much further than the sound has. To be a Cockney you were supposed to be born withing the sound of the bells (don't know what that did to the title of the people born in 40's and 50's before they rebuilt the church :scratch:) but to have a Cockney accent wasn't, and isn't, restricted to those areas. It is thought that the accent was, originally, greatly influenced by Essex and the accent of the town of Harlow, near where I now live, is officially accepted as being Cockney/Essex.

      The Essex accent you are referring to is more to the northern part of the county where it's influenced by Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. (When I was at college I had to do research into all this as I had to give a talk on the East End and the Cockney language - Oh joy! :heehee:)

      The original definition of what was the 'East End' didn't fit the same area as the 'Cockney' area but the two became synonymous. The East End is that part of London north of the river and east of the Aldgate Pump Whereas the Cockney area stretched to south of the river and further north than the East End.
       
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      • ClaraLou

        ClaraLou Total Gardener

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        The lady at a local Chinese takeaway has a very interesting accent, having learnt English as a second language in an area where most people sound (approximately, at least) cockney. 'Noble House' comes out as something like 'No-ball Ar*e'.
         
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        • miraflores

          miraflores Total Gardener

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          You can tell the Chinese take away lady that China is "coming up" and so is East London (although in this last case it will be a much longer process!) since everything goes around...
           
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          • Fidgetsmum

            Fidgetsmum Total Gardener

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            Having use their 'BBC English' for decades, it was only relatively recently that the organisation realised no-one (apart from them) actually spoke in 'Elexaaarndra Pelace' mode. That, combined with research which showed that people with 'posh' accents were seen as elitist or 'snobby', was presumably the thinking behind their decision to employ people with 'regional accents'. I can only assume they then looked for the most deprived areas of the country and, having identified Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Manchester, Hull etc., and parts of Scotland, promptly set about recruiting almost exclusively from these areas, with a few from other regions thrown in, no doubt in the name of being an 'equal opportunities' employer. By the same token, I'm guessing it won't be long before newsreaders start waving their arms around, sticking their fingers out at odd angles and peppering their bulletins with 'Yo bros. Cotch down cos we got some right dry, heavy stuff fo sho aiiiightt?'

            I'd just be happy if they stopped saying 'different to' and 'h-aich'. Much as I dislike him, there's one thing upon which I must agree with Jimmy Carr 'This isn't an accent, this is how it should be pronounced'
             
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            • shiney

              shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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              I like that Jimmy Carr quote :yess:

              The different to/from (and the horrendous 'than' as used in America) argument is bitterly fought but I agree with you - and so would most people educated during most of the last century.

              There can be lengthy explanations of why 'to' is almost always incorrect whereas 'from' is always correct. It would take up too much space on here but a few quotes might help. :D

              There have been notable instances where ‘different to’ lets us, or rather the user, down. A BBC Radio 4 reporter on 25/09/2002 was wanting to explain that the message Britain was trying to sell to the United nations was different from the message the Americans were trying to sell to the United Nations. But what he actually said was – ‘Britain is trying to sell a different message to the Americans’. (Britain was, of course, trying to sell to the UN, not to the Americans.)

              More ridiculous was a circular letter issued by MacMillan Cancer Relief in 2005, which stated: ‘When men have cancer, they tend to react differently to women.’ In other words, when men have cancer they don’t react to women in the same way as they did before they had cancer. That is what they said, but of course it isn’t what they meant.

              More recently, the BBC told us (06/11/2005) that ‘David Cameron would take a markedly different approach to Tony Blair’. Dave’s attitude to Tone was surely not at issue. :heehee:
               
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              • ClaraLou

                ClaraLou Total Gardener

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                I think we should all try to speak and write as clearly as possible. However, whenever some pedant contacts the Beeb complaining about a split infinitive or a minor grammatical sin, I tend to shout: 'Go get a treetreetree life!'. Ungrammatical, but immensely satisfying.
                 
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