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2018/06/05 21:55:28
Subject: What is the region of Britain with the most 'normal' accent?
Old 'BBC' English, it's a step down from strict RP and intended to be accessible and understood by most, its not really a region but vaguely Southern
The other odd accent issue is you usually only notice yours outside your usual peer group ( I'd like to think mine is the aforementioned BBC one but am painfully aware of its carrot chunching yokel inflection outside of the Shire)
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2018/06/05 22:08:32
"AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED."
2018/06/05 22:06:50
Subject: What is the region of Britain with the most 'normal' accent?
We were once so close to heaven, St. Peter came out and gave us medals; declaring us "The nicest of the damned".
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
2018/06/05 22:07:15
Subject: What is the region of Britain with the most 'normal' accent?
Zed wrote: *All statements reflect my opinion at this moment. if some sort of pretty new model gets released (or if I change my mind at random) I reserve the right to jump on any bandwagon at will.
2018/06/05 23:42:22
Subject: What is the region of Britain with the most 'normal' accent?
Absurd question. The most easily understood by the most people (in a self-fulfilling circle) is probably the BBC south-ish accent of the roughly the 70s to 90s - between the Beeb’s more strict use of RP-lite and the onset of more representative accents. That’s very different from the most ‘normal’ though.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/06/06 09:35:14
2018/06/06 09:51:32
Subject: Re:What is the region of Britain with the most 'normal' accent?
Everyone thinks their own native accent is normal, but even that varies by life experience. If you have a regional accent, and you have a musical ear, you will pick up some adaptation to the local accent where you live.
BTW although BBC English is reckoned to be the most normal, and corresponds closely to upper middle class London, Oxford University English is sometimes considered the purest accent.
I remember being in oxford and needing to get the bus. So I walked up to a friendly looking studenty type (being a student then myself) and asked her something like "You wouldn't know where I could get meself a bus 'round here, wouldja?"
She answered in the most perfect RP English I have ever heard. I suddenly felt acutely aware of my mucksavage Irish accent
I like a lot of the accents in the UK though, a lot of the Northern ones are really cute and the very posh ones are charming in their own way, though associations with Jacob Rees-Mogg have tainted them. I have to say I am not a huge fan of the Essex accent despite living there for a while.
Scottish accents beat them all though. Lovely sounds.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/06/06 10:15:32
Oddly enough it is very likely that the American accent is closer to the medieval accent and how Saxons spoke than any of the modern English accents. We changed more than they did.
The 'neutral' British accent is called RP or 'received prenounciation'.
It's not the posh accent per se, however it is the accent that posh people often speak.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/06/06 19:11:34
n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.
It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion.
2018/06/06 19:48:22
Subject: Re:What is the region of Britain with the most 'normal' accent?
Where does Elizabeth Hurley live? If Elizabeth Hurley is not the answer, you are asking the wrong question.
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
2018/06/06 19:53:42
Subject: Re:What is the region of Britain with the most 'normal' accent?
Frazzled wrote: Where does Elizabeth Hurley live? If Elizabeth Hurley is not the answer, you are asking the wrong question.
Should I say Texas and have you run around in circles trying to catch your tail?
n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.
It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion.
2018/06/06 20:21:37
Subject: What is the region of Britain with the most 'normal' accent?
I find your lack of faith in Elizabeth Hurley, disturbing...
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
2018/06/06 20:47:02
Subject: Re:What is the region of Britain with the most 'normal' accent?
Frazzled wrote: Where does Elizabeth Hurley live? If Elizabeth Hurley is not the answer, you are asking the wrong question.
Most likely that London, but its pretty much a smidge off full RP, I think the accent in Austin Powers is slightly over-egged as a sly nod to Emma Peel from The (real) Avengers
"AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED."
2018/06/06 23:01:49
Subject: Re:What is the region of Britain with the most 'normal' accent?
Clearly, this is the most normal British accent, by which all others should be judged:
Spoiler:
"Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see.
One chants out between two worlds: Fire, walk with me." - Twin Peaks
"You listen to me. While I will admit to a certain cynicism, the fact is that I am a naysayer and hatchetman in the fight against violence. I pride myself in taking a punch and I'll gladly take another because I choose to live my life in the company of Gandhi and King. My concerns are global. I reject absolutely revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method... is love. I love you Sheriff Truman." - Twin Peaks
2018/06/07 09:56:27
Subject: What is the region of Britain with the most 'normal' accent?
Da Boss wrote: I remember being in oxford and needing to get the bus. So I walked up to a friendly looking studenty type (being a student then myself) and asked her something like "You wouldn't know where I could get meself a bus 'round here, wouldja?"
Funniest post I have read on Dakka Dakka in ages. Something similar happened to me, in a strange way, that you in particular might appreciate. I was at a party and someone introduced me to a girl who spoke German. I said a few things to her in German and she responded in this bizarre, mechanical-sounding language that took me a few minutes to recognize as showroom floor Hochdeutech. I don't know how it happened but I learned my German such that when I got over to Baden-Wurttemberg they told me I had a Swabian accent. It was to the point where people there would absentmindedly speak Schwabisch to me (and I of course had but the merest idea what they were on about). In subsequent years, most of the German I heard was me talking to myself in my head so this sudden chilly blast of Hanoverian precision was temporarily debilitating.
About British accents, I listen to BBC World pretty much every day and it is a bit amusing to hear some of the reports in regional accents. Not because the accents themselves are amusing, just that it's not the sort of thing you hear in the American media.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/06/07 10:33:13
Whichever one you grew up speaking, or have come to speak in the present due to moving somewhere else. "BBC English" is a blight that was used for decades, in schools especially, to try and erase Scots, Gaelic, Welsh, and lots of regional dialects because they were "crude slang" not "proper English", and it should be erased in turn at least as any kind of standard or baseline.
"Your society's broken, so who should we blame? Should we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No, lets blame the people with no power and no money and those immigrants who don't even have the vote. Yea, it must be their fething fault." - Iain M Banks
-----
"The language of modern British politics is meant to sound benign. But words do not mean what they seem to mean. 'Reform' actually means 'cut' or 'end'. 'Flexibility' really means 'exploit'. 'Prudence' really means 'don't invest'. And 'efficient'? That means whatever you want it to mean, usually 'cut'. All really mean 'keep wages low for the masses, taxes low for the rich, profits high for the corporations, and accept the decline in public services and amenities this will cause'." - Robin McAlpine from Common Weal
2018/06/07 12:36:03
Subject: Re:What is the region of Britain with the most 'normal' accent?
Frazzled wrote: Where does Elizabeth Hurley live? If Elizabeth Hurley is not the answer, you are asking the wrong question.
She is originally from Basingstoke, which is in north Hampshire and can pretty much be considered to fall under the 'home counties' area - the term is a little nebulous.
As an aside, I actually work for Estee Lauder and keep hoping I will bump into Liz Hurley one day! Hasn't happened yet... Unfortunately if she visits anywhere it's the London office, and I'm not based there...
2018/06/07 14:58:03
Subject: What is the region of Britain with the most 'normal' accent?