# Why do the "Preppy Types" talk like Mr. Howell?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-preppy-types-talk-like-mr-howell/640309>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 8, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-preppy-types-talk-like-mr-howell/640309 "2012-11-08T00:37:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-preppy-types-talk-like-mr-howell/640309/21 "2012-11-10T19:09:12Z")

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> [@Hottius\_Maximus](#):
>
> That’s fascinating; I never heard that. That being said, I have to wonder why Bryn Mawr faculty and staff encouraged or actively taught their students to speak in such a manner.

Students at elite schools learn their accents from peers, not from the faculty or staff. It’s a well-known phenomenon, the premier example perhaps being the “Oxbridge” accent.

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-preppy-types-talk-like-mr-howell/640309/22 "2012-11-10T23:13:18Z")

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> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> Students at elite schools learn their accents from peers

Children in general learn their language from their peers. That’s how it goes with immigrants, too: First generation is almost monolingual Old Country, second generation is bilingual Old Country and whatever the local dialect is, and third generation is monolingual local dialect. There are exceptions, but they are rare.

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