Re: [h-cost] OT Re: Regional accents, was Making history hip
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In a message dated 4/4/2008 8:30:29 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Someone recently told me that it was a sign of refinement/education to be be to spell a word in different ways. Anyone ever hear of this? Not your, you're and yore. Or two, to and too. I suppose it might seem cosmopolitan to know color is colour in Britain or that you can shop at a shoppe... but it's really just having a good vocab. English has like 3 times more words in it than other languages... stolen from other languages... which is why we have so many different spellings and homonyms. There's a quote from Mark Twain, I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way. Maybe that's what they were thinking of? Rather out of date now that standardised spelling is the norm. Jean ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
Re: [h-cost] OT Re: Regional accents, was Making history hip
Ruth Anne Baumgartner wrote: And then there are the Americans who assume EVERY British accent is a HIGH-CLASS British accent. Someone said to me about an acquaintance who does indeed speak with a Cockney accent, I love to hear his accent! It's so refined! That's hilarious. Guess they've never seen My Fair Lady, then My favourite is when folks mix up Aussie with British of any sort. They really are quite different. On the evolution of American accents--I've been told that the Appalachian dialects are descendents of Scots and Irish dialects, while the Virginian/mid-Atlantic accent is probably closest to an upper-class British dialect (although I'm not sure I've ever heard what region of Britain). Susan ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
Re: [h-cost] OT Re: Regional accents, was Making history hip
In a message dated 4/4/2008 8:30:29 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Someone recently told me that it was a sign of refinement/education to be be to spell a word in different ways. Anyone ever hear of this? Not your, you're and yore. Or two, to and too. I suppose it might seem cosmopolitan to know color is colour in Britain or that you can shop at a shoppe... but it's really just having a good vocab. English has like 3 times more words in it than other languages... stolen from other languages... which is why we have so many different spellings and homonyms. **Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides. (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv000316) ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
Re: [h-cost] OT Re: Regional accents, was Making history hip
To try to relate my improve your vocab post to costumes: I love Handel, particularly the oratorio L'allegro, Il Penseroso, et il Moderato which is [mostly] Milton set to music. Now I don't sit around the pool reading Milton [might be nice though] but because Handel set his English verse to very nice catchy tunes, one tends to learn the words and sing along. One fine tenor aria is I'll to the well trod stage anon. The second line being If Johnson's learned sock be on. What? What the hell does that mean? The next line is Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child, so Johnson refers to Ben Johnson, a younger contemporary of Shakespeare. But his sock? His learned knitted footwear is laying on the stage? So I looked up sock... one definition I didn't know was: 3 a : a shoe worn by actors in Greek and Roman comedy b : comic drama. [there...a costume reference] So Johnson's learned sock is one of his comedieswhich are full of biting satire so there's also an implication toward a punch, smack! See...improved vocab skills and costuming the feet. **Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides. (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv000316) ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
[h-cost] OT Re: Regional accents, was Making history hip
And then there are the Americans who assume EVERY British accent is a HIGH-CLASS British accent. Someone said to me about an acquaintance who does indeed speak with a Cockney accent, I love to hear his accent! It's so refined! And a friend who works at the stage supply company says she can always recognize one particular community- theater box office tape on the phone because the speaker has a phony British accent, which people seem to equate with being artistes! (No offense intended to any true Brits out there who ARE artistes, or to Cockneys who ARE refined!) --Ruth Anne Baumgartner gipsy scholar and amateur costumer On Apr 3, 2008, at 8:47 PM, Chris Bertani wrote: On 03 Apr 2008, Kate M Bunting wrote: Dianne wrote: Point was simply that it would be harder for an American to distinguish between regional British accents, as it would be hard for someone from England to distinguish between say, Michigan and Ohio. and Susan Carroll-Clark replied : Those states in particular are a really good case in point. There isn't an Ohio accent--there are three or four, at least. There's the Cleveland/Northern accent (fairly nasal, somewhat akin to the typical Michigan accent), the Appalachian accent (SE part of the state, akin to West Virginia and eastern Kentucky), and two Midwestern accents -- one a little more generic than the other (which involves people saying warsh for wash and crick for creek). So are there several varieties of Yorkshire accent, as it's a large county (my mother came from East Yorks.). My original point was that Northern English speech in general is very different from Cockney (working-class London) speech. Even I can tell the difference between a New York and a Deep South accent! I may not be able to tell a Tennessee accent from a Kentucky accent, but I also know better than to call something a Kentucky accent when I can't tell the difference. I've noticed a disturbing tendency among some Americans to call all british accents Cockney, which bothers me no end. I've even heard the pirate accent (which is descended from Robert Newton's Cornish accent in Treasure Island) described as Cockney -- Chris Bertani www.goblinrevolution.org/costumes ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
Re: [h-cost] OT Re: Regional accents, was Making history hip
We have a lady in our local group who is British, complete with accent. There have been those who didn't know she was British complain about the cheesy accent, thinking she was faking it. Even when pointed out she's not faking, they still insisted it sounded cheesy. alex On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 7:01 AM, Ruth Anne Baumgartner [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: And then there are the Americans who assume EVERY British accent is a HIGH-CLASS British accent. Someone said to me about an acquaintance who does indeed speak with a Cockney accent, I love to hear his accent! It's so refined! And a friend who works at the stage supply company says she can always recognize one particular community- theater box office tape on the phone because the speaker has a phony British accent, which people seem to equate with being artistes! (No offense intended to any true Brits out there who ARE artistes, or to Cockneys who ARE refined!) --Ruth Anne Baumgartner gipsy scholar and amateur costumer -- I'm buying this fabric/book now in case I have an emergency...you know, having to suddenly make presents for everyone, sickness,flood, injury, mosquito infestations, not enough silk in the house, it's Friday... ;) ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
Re: [h-cost] OT Re: Regional accents, was Making history hip
A friend of mine at work gets this all the time. People often remark on how awful his attempt at a Scottish accent is, being unaware that he was born and raised in Glasgow. Ron Carnegie -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Alexandria Doyle Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 9:51 AM To: Historical Costume Subject: Re: [h-cost] OT Re: Regional accents, was Making history hip We have a lady in our local group who is British, complete with accent. There have been those who didn't know she was British complain about the cheesy accent, thinking she was faking it. Even when pointed out she's not faking, they still insisted it sounded cheesy. alex ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
Re: [h-cost] OT Re: Regional accents, was Making history hip
- Original Message - From: Ruth Anne Baumgartner [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... And a friend who works at the stage supply company says she can always recognize one particular community- theater box office tape on the phone because the speaker has a phony British accent, which people seem to equate with being artistes! (No offense intended to any true Brits out there who ARE artistes, or to Cockneys who ARE refined!) Reminds me of a favorite line from some movie I can't think of: Is she British, or just affected? The whole topic, though, reminds me of something that I love to research when I have a spare second: the development of the American (and British) accent. I always wondered what, for example, people like Benjamin Franklin actually sounded like when they talked. I mean, it would make sense that their accents would be a lot closer to modern British than modern American, right? As it turns out, no, but not the other way round, either. If anyone in the 18th century sounded like anyone in the 21st century, it was the 18thC Brits; they sounded like 21st century Americans. Apparently the Brits had this thing for following linguistic fashions, which the Americans largely ignored, leaving regional British accents almost intact in the associated American regions. (Although we did finally follow suit and rid ourselves of that whole thing where the a in father sounded like the a in modern-American-accent apple, though. Whew.) OK, completely off topic, and I'm explaining it poorly anyway! -E House ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
Re: [h-cost] OT Re: Regional accents, was Making history hip
No, you are explaining it very well. Although mass communication is affecting regional accents in the world, and not always postively in my small opinion, isolated areas in Britain and the U.S. can still understand each other better than most citizens living in Britain and the US can. I had a professor in college that would read passages from Shakespeare and Chaucer as closely as was known then to original pronunciation, and I found it fascinating to hear what sounded like French and Scottish words within early modern English. We also read some passages ourselves reprinted from the oldest surviving source aloud after being told to start by pronouncing the words as they were spelled. Of course, the caveat was that we were also told that we might be closer to how the typesetter pronounced the words, rather than Chaucer or Shakespeare. I fear we are losing a lot of expression within languages through the present mass-media homogenization. Cindy Abel -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Exstock Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 1:36 PM To: Historical Costume Subject: Re: [h-cost] OT Re: Regional accents, was Making history hip - Original Message - From: Ruth Anne Baumgartner [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... And a friend who works at the stage supply company says she can always recognize one particular community- theater box office tape on the phone because the speaker has a phony British accent, which people seem to equate with being artistes! (No offense intended to any true Brits out there who ARE artistes, or to Cockneys who ARE refined!) Reminds me of a favorite line from some movie I can't think of: Is she British, or just affected? The whole topic, though, reminds me of something that I love to research when I have a spare second: the development of the American (and British) accent. I always wondered what, for example, people like Benjamin Franklin actually sounded like when they talked. I mean, it would make sense that their accents would be a lot closer to modern British than modern American, right? As it turns out, no, but not the other way round, either. If anyone in the 18th century sounded like anyone in the 21st century, it was the 18thC Brits; they sounded like 21st century Americans. Apparently the Brits had this thing for following linguistic fashions, which the Americans largely ignored, leaving regional British accents almost intact in the associated American regions. (Although we did finally follow suit and rid ourselves of that whole thing where the a in father sounded like the a in modern-American-accent apple, though. Whew.) OK, completely off topic, and I'm explaining it poorly anyway! -E House ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
Re: [h-cost] OT Re: Regional accents, was Making history hip
In a message dated 4/4/2008 3:09:30 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: We also read some passages ourselves reprinted from the oldest surviving source aloud after being told to start by pronouncing the words as they were spelled. * Lord! I had a book of early Tudor plays [like Roister Doister] printed with their original spellings. They'd spell if 3 different ways in the same speech! if iff iffe . **Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides. (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv000316) ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
Re: [h-cost] OT Re: Regional accents, was Making history hip
Someone recently told me that it was a sign of refinement/education to be be to spell a word in different ways. Anyone ever hear of this? -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 2:17 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [h-cost] OT Re: Regional accents, was Making history hip In a message dated 4/4/2008 3:09:30 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: We also read some passages ourselves reprinted from the oldest surviving source aloud after being told to start by pronouncing the words as they were spelled. * Lord! I had a book of early Tudor plays [like Roister Doister] printed with their original spellings. They'd spell if 3 different ways in the same speech! if iff iffe . **Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides. (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv000316) ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
