A bit of Brit-Speak/Ameri-Speak humour...
#21
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Uncle Sam, I believe that quote is credited to George Bernhard Shaw.<BR><BR>What has always amazed me about American films concerning W.W.II is that the Germans almost always have a British accent!<BR><BR>Almost all Romans in gladiator-type films have a British ascent as well.<BR><BR>I have friends from great Yarmouth with their northern accents, they say mooz-im for museum and moozic for music. <BR><BR>(Of course if youre truly from Yarmouth you know that might just be a load of old squit!)<BR>
#28
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"Buttocks" is PROPERLY (even in Webster's Dictionary for the US) pronounced with the accent on the first syllable -- more or less, "BUTT'x." Pronouncing it butt-OX may be common in the US, and even heard on that gold standard of grammar and pronunciation, "South Park," but it's just wrong. Sorry, people.<BR><BR>Actually, there's another difference here between Brit-Speak and Ameri-Speak -- that's how a double T in the middle of a word is pronounced. In America, except for parts of Maine, the double T is pronounced almost the same as a double D -- e.g., "butter" is pronounced pretty much like "budder." In the UK (and parts of Maine), the double T is still clipped, so "butter" will be, more or less, "butt'r." <BR><BR>I picked that up once when some slightly rude Brits in Salt Lake City were giggling about the "Church of Ladder-Day Saints."<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>
#29
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Can a Canadian speak here? When a hollywood actor trys to 'act' Canadian, they will say something like hot/cold out (pause) eh?<BR><BR>It brands them a fake. The Canadian way to say this is hot/cold out tay? Always carry the last consonent into the eh and it will sound correct. <BR><BR>Not that we say eh that often eh? It is considered a very Eastern (hence bad) mode of speech.
#31
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>Lingua you're dead right! Strangely we >get an R into phrases like "The Shah >of Iran" = "The Shah Rof Iran<BR><BR>I had elocution lessons at school and one of the exercises was to say "I saw a man sawing a piece of wood in the drawing room". That "r" is uneducated speak.<BR>As for Vivien Leigh's "Southern" accent, I'll raise you Dick Van Dyke's "Cockney" one.<BR>One thing I've noticed about Americans is that they don't say "an". They'll say "a awkward situation" where we'd say "an awkward situation".<BR>Rita, since when was Yarmouth in the North? It's in East Anglia which is South East.<BR>Finally, try asking an American to say, "I'm going to marry merry Mary" ;-)
#32
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My dear Uncle Sam:<BR><BR>I believe that since you are now living in your little perverse colony of texas, you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about with respect to history of the British Empire. It was Sir Bernard Shaw who spoke those eloquent words, not Oscar Wilde. You and your fellow american savage colonials are quite cheeky.
#33
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Lord Covington,<BR><BR>I do humbly apologize as I obviously steered so far from the true course of rectitude. <BR><BR>Oscar, did however say "that he could handle anything but temptation. " (paraphrase...one of my favorite quotes!<BR><BR>What I want to know however, is how do the Brit pop artists talk with their strong Brit accents and yet sing with none at all?<BR><BR>US
#37
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Re: Language differences (even tho' we speak the same lingo!)<BR><BR>We in Britain can quite safely say 'we are rolling a fag'(ie we are making our own cigarettes). In America we would have problems, apparently we would be saying that we would be duffing up a gay person. Is this true or am I being wound up|>>
#40
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You must see the new Austin Powers Goldmember movie. In one scene, he and his father speak in code by speaking in British slang. It's hysterical. As an American I had no idea what they were saying. If we were all the same we'd be bored off our arses.