I’ve checked my emails, answered comments, written a bit and read a few posts – nothing significant. Yet the day seems to have gone. This is becoming an increasingly common and worrying problem, which I need to address.
Having written that, I’m off to look at a few more posts as I meant to do more, before but found myself wandering off to look at eBay. I think one of my problems might be lack of focus.
Yes, definitely lack of focus. I started writing lengthy comments on a couple of blogs then decided not to post them. Long comments and strong opinions are perhaps best left for my own blog. It doesn’t seem polite to cause ripples on other blogs.
I’ve been listening to one of the new breed of continuity announcers on TV recently. I didn’t really pay much attention to the older type with their Received Pronunciation, because that was something I grew up with. It didn’t bother me when TV companies went over the announcers with regional accents because that’s how most people speak. However, I am getting a bit fed up with some of the newer ones. They have gone beyond regional and some are now verging on sloppy.
It’s a tricky area, as things that I dislike about it (the dropping of “t” from words and use of “f” for “th”) are features of Estuary English, which is accepted as a region, and have been known in earlier dialects. OK, there are more important worries, but if someone says “fought” to you it is nice to be clear whether they are talking about thinking or fighting. When “th” becomes “f” it isn’t always clear.
I’m in danger of becoming the modern version of the people who defended RP at the BBC, which would be strange. I could probably write a post on whether I now speak better than I used to, or whether standards are slipping so badly that I’m starting to look sophisticated.
Either way, I half expect to look out of my window and see a pig fly by as I watch souls in torment skating on the frozen lakes of fire that were once Hell.
Somewhat late here, but I had to let you know I agree with you about the sloppy diction on TV and radio. I love hearing regional accents but I feel that continuity announcers ought to speak clearly and avoid glottal stops as well as the f/th anomaly. I am old-fashioned and I like to know what’s going on.
Good to hear from you Clare. Hope all is going Ok. I think you sum it up perfectly. 🙂
Thank you, Simon – all well here though I did get rather a nasty reaction to my second Covid vaccine a fortnight ago. I hope you and your family are all coping well. 🙂
They do say that the worse the reaction, the better the immunity, so in the long run it may be a good thing. We have all become reclusive and Number 2 son is locked in an argument with the Canadian authorities after getting his paperwork in the wrong order, but apart from that, no worries.
Good to know 🙂
🙂
Language and dialects continually evolve, with increasing mobility figuring into it all. It is fascinating to watch!
Television also has a lot to do with it – my northern accent became less remarkable as “Coronation Street” became more popular. Similarly we have more Australian intonations and words creeping in with “Neighbours”.
Is there an H in haitch? Was ‘Line of Duty’ helpful with this?
Fragmented thinking at its best. 🙂 What is “Line of Duty”. People keep talking about it but I ahve managed to avoid it so far…
You’re out of line
🙂
When I taught in a relatively lower socio area I had a lot of student who said they couldn’t pronounce the ‘th’ sound and one boy actually said it was a speech impediment. So we had a quick lesson in putting your tongue in the correct place behind the front teeth. When he first pronounced the word ‘thick’ correctly he jumped in the air and said he was going to go home and show his parents. He was absolutely over the moon.
Such a small thing, but such a big difference. I never realised the “th” mispronunciation was so widespread. The only place I see Australians is on TV but next time I watch I will pay more attention to accents.
I long for long comments…
Careful what you wish for…
😆
As an American, I pretty much have no clue about the distinctions you are writing about. So many differences in the same language, yet I suspect if we were ever to meet, we would be able to carry on a conversation. How would you describe your accent?
I grew up in Northern England, was bullied for my outlandish accent when we moved 150 miles south and after 50 years sound northern to a southerner and northern to a southerner. None of this matters, but in the UK we are still hung up on accent and class. One of my workmates, when wanting to indicate a person of low intellect, tends to use a northern accent for them. My accent, as I point out to him. 🙂
Over the years my speaking style seesm to have changed as I wa asked, a couple of years ago when I was in hospital, if I was a professor. It seems that if you speak properly and read a book whilst waiting for the camera to be inserted you are considered an intellectual.
I would be pleased to have a reliable regional accent. When I hear myself on a recording, i sound unbearably posh. Just the sort of person who gets up my nose. I was taught to speak proper.
I grew up in Lancashire, was bullied for my incomprehensible accent when we moved to Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire (the teachers joined in too) and find I have an accent that is considered northern in the south, southern in the north and posh in Nottingham. 🙂
You are a hodgepodge vocally.
Yes, an insecure linguistic drifter…
I sometimes find to my embarrassment that I am drifting into mimicking the accent of the person that I am talking to.
It can happen…
I also used to notice that at family gatherings the accents used to get more northern as all the southerners went home and started to relax.
Humans are such strange things.
True.