The thread on bad British accents got me thinking. What do you all sound like over across the pond? Illuminatiprimus said in that thread “…the way Americans probably think we all talk i.e. we’re all from Hampshire.” Yeah, that sounds like me. So your mission is to post a link to you, speaking in your cool British accents. Tell us where you are from so we can get a feel for the different regional flavors. As to the technical aspects of getting your voices uploaded, is there a Flickr or Photobucket equivalent for non-photo files? I will let more knowledgeable Dopers chime in about that. As to what you are to say, whatever is fine. If we need something standardized perhaps the “Rainbow Passage” that OSHA uses to test gas masks:
When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act like a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Thanks Sunspace that is a great thread that I missed. I enjoyed listening to it. What I was really looking for was more along the lines of trying to separate out all the British accents (as well as Scottish and Irish). Because I, like many, think of there as being such a thing as “an English accent” when deep down I know there are many just as there are many regional ones here in the US. So I was looking for examples of say how a Cumbrian vs. Yorkshire vs. Scouse vs. Linconshire etc. would sound. But I also like to learn more about Dopers themselves be it through picture threads, sound files or what have you. That being said, I realized it was really asking a lot for people to go through this much work just for a silly thread. I also remember there was a website? that was Doper related out there that had pictures as well as sound files but I couldn’t find it.
And then, I found this website which answers my question anyway. So thanks.
I think there is. It’s RP - just like I think there is an “American accent” (though I know better), which is the oft-mentioned “midwest newsreader”.
Actually, besides RP, there’s a kind of Greater London accent which might also qualify as being THE English accent. It’s modern, fast, urban, and has Cockney bits in it, but isn’t Cockney. It’s got a slightly singsong quality to it, to my ears.
Of course, I say this from the arse end of the planet, so take it with a grain of salt - but english tourists here inevitably seem to have that last accent I described.
This BBC site is another amazing resource - not only does it “show” you the accents but you often get to hear what people feel about accent and dialect.
> No way can a London accent be taken as representative of the plethora of
> accents in the UK.
What’s being referred to is Estuary English:
This is what’s claimed to be a mix of RP and working-class London-area accents that’s only been noticed fairly recently. (I never heard the term “Estuary English” while living in England in 1987 through 1990.) What’s being asserted here is more of a prediction than a scientific survey of British accents. That is, the claim is that in the future Estuary English will be perceived to be the most standard British accent and RP will be perceived to be old-fashioned. All predictions are uncertain, especially when they’re about the future.
I can only thank my years of watching Coronation Street reruns on Canadian tv to understand those stories. They sound just like Jack and Vera Duckworth to me, especially ‘our Jack’. It’s cute that he thinks of his trip to Wales as more going abroad than when they went to France.
So, when I finally get to England someday on ‘holiday’, I should go to the North if I want to understand the locals; good to know.
Thank you for that link, CRSP, I miss watching Corrie now I’m down in Georgia and only get BBC on our satellite.
