# Thomas!! learn to speak..please!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 30, 2006, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450 "2006-10-30T16:33:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/41 "2006-10-31T22:13:31Z")
[QUOTE=Elza B] Hell, the whole OP is like a bad episode of _EE_. [/QUOTE] Is there any other kind? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/42 "2006-10-31T22:19:51Z")
Are there even classes in "speaking posh’ on this side of the Pond? ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/43 "2006-10-31T23:34:13Z")
pretty harsh… he’s a fucking Tank Engine… ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/44 "2006-10-31T23:43:20Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] He should move to America, where we don’t know from British accents. We can’t tell the difference between the Queen Mum and a Cockney fishwife. It all sounds classy to us. . [/QUOTE] Oh, come on, let’s give ourselves more credit than that. If you can’t tell the difference between the Queen and a Cockney fishwife, you’re not paying attention. I may not be able to tell a Scouse accent from a Mancunian, but I can certainly distinguish both from BBC English. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/45 "2006-10-31T23:53:02Z")
**chowder** , is the accent your friend has considered to give off a “Chav” vibe? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/46 "2006-10-31T23:57:43Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] Oh, come on, let’s give ourselves more credit than that. If you can’t tell the difference between the Queen and a Cockney fishwife, you’re not paying attention. I may not be able to tell a Scouse accent from a Mancunian, but I can certainly distinguish both from BBC English. [/QUOTE] To illustrate that I am not unique in this, I can point to at least one Frasier episode where Roz thought Daphne’s shlub brother was ‘classy’ because of his British accent. The point of the joke was that it was a very ‘unclassy’ type of British accent, and she had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/47 "2006-10-31T23:59:05Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] To illustrate that I am not unique in this, I can point to at least one Frasier episode where Roz thought Daphne’s shlub brother was ‘classy’ because of his British accent. The point of the joke was that it was a very ‘unclassy’ type of British accent, and she had no idea. [/QUOTE] Along with the joke that all Daphne’s family were supposed to be from the same place, yet had completely different accents. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/48 "2006-11-01T00:07:03Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold] We should get some Brit Dopes to record them speaking online - see if we can educate our friends across the Atlantic on where the different accents come from. We’re not all either cockney or posh gits. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Great idea! I’ll do the “sounds a bit like Ewan McGregor”, and you southern lot can do the cast of Eastenders! Of course, we’ll also need a “Stephen Fry”, a “Jimmy Nail”, a “Ricky Tomlinson”, a “Noddy from Slade”, a “Wurzel”, and an Alan Partridge! ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/49 "2006-11-01T07:23:45Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] “Yes, but at least he doesn’t sound like a fucking cunt, isn’t it?” [/QUOTE] 'ecky thump!! ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/50 "2006-11-01T09:12:06Z")
I think Rose from the new Doctor Who has the accent in question. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/51 "2006-11-01T11:27:28Z")
[QUOTE=sturmhauke] I think Rose from the new Doctor Who has the accent in question. [/QUOTE] She doesn’t. She’s from Swindon. Poor love. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/52 "2006-11-01T12:32:48Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] She doesn’t. She’s from Swindon. Poor love. [/QUOTE] Who cares where she’s from? She is still as fit as a butchers dog. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/53 "2006-11-01T13:44:14Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Who cares where she’s from? She is still as fit as a butchers dog. [/QUOTE] Oh yes, the best thing to come out of Swindon since the M4. ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/54 "2006-11-01T13:53:08Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] Is there any other kind? [/QUOTE] Not lately 😃 . What? We get it on PPV, okay? E. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/55 "2006-11-01T14:03:23Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] And in Australia and New Zealand, Aboriginal English and Maori English are also distinct dialects. [/QUOTE] I can’t say I ever came across any Maoris who spoke a different version of English to the one I spoke, but the South Island of New Zealand was never really noted for being the Cultural Centre of Maoridom, so it’s quite probable that Maori English was a “North Island Thing” that never really crossed Cook Strait… ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/56 "2006-11-02T00:35:30Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] She doesn’t. She’s from Swindon. Poor love. [/QUOTE] Well, what the hell do I know? I’m just a 3rd generation Northern California dude. All I know is Rose says stuff like “somefing” and “innit”. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/57 "2006-11-03T02:15:36Z")
> [@](#): > > **dropzone** : Are there even classes in "speaking posh’ on this side of the Pond? Indeed, but all of the teachers are obsessive jerks. :dubious: Seriously, there are tapes available for teaching various dialects and there are dialect coaches also – mainly in Hollywood and New York. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/58 "2006-11-03T15:12:18Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] Indeed, but all of the teachers are obsessive jerks. :dubious: [/QUOTE] It stings! It stings! 😉 > [@](#): > > Seriously, there are tapes available for teaching various dialects and there are dialect coaches also – mainly in Hollywood and New York. I was thinking more like elocution classes where yokels from wherever can lose their old “people think I’m stupid” accents and learn to speak like TV newspeople, except without the exagerated pronounciation of Spanish words. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/59 "2006-11-03T22:40:36Z")
Wait, is this the Thomas who makes the English muffins? Or muttons? ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450/60 "2006-11-03T23:36:59Z")
Why can’t the English teach their children how to speak? Norwegians learn Norwegian. The Greeks are taught their Greek. In France every Frenchman knows his language from A to Zed. Arabians learn Arabian with the speed of summer lightning. And the Hebrews learn it backwards, which is absolutely frightening. But use proper English, you’re regarded as a freak. Oh why can’t the English… I say, why can’t the English, Learn, to, speak!? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-learn-to-speak-please/378450.md?page=4)