Has someone perchance just finished History GCSE? My father fought in Africa, a proud member of the Imperial NZ Second Expeditionary Force that joined the Eighth Army. In spite of all the re-writing of history by Hollywood, a balanced and accurate view of just how much each nation contributed should be borne in mind. If you learnt your history from Hollywood, you'd think the Yanks did it all virtually single-handed!

To say nothing of the American lend-lease arrangements that crippled the British economy after the end of WWII, the last repayment for all that wartime assistance having only been made in 2006. The Brits paid back every penny, plus horrendous amounts of interest.

My tuppenceworth... any foreign accent is of interest, whether positive or not depending on the perceived context of the encounter. It's a basic human attribute to react with heightened attention to a 'different' appearance or sound. Having lived all over the world, I've always been an outsider in terms of accent and culture, so I don't automatically associate foreign accents with attractiveness.

I speak 'cultured south-east English' - not the strangulated vowels of RP or old English films - I consider it a very ordinary sound. I shudder at the noises emanating from the mouth of Janet Street-Porter, who is a socialist fake 'Mockney', but most other true Londoners sound fine to me.

When I lived in Canada as a teenager, my London accent at first intrigued my classmates, but once they'd run the gamut of imitating (Dick van Dyke has a LOT to answer for with his ghastly attempt at Cockney in Mary Poppins) and teasing, it all settled down and stopped being amusing.

Oh, and Random... the Canadians didn't declare Independence. They were staunchly loyal to King and Crown, being proud sons of Empire until the Empire was disbanded after WWII... at guess-who's insistence.

http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/index.html


That might be a useful resource for differentiating between the many English accents around.

This is typical London:
http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sound ... d/peckham/

And this is 'posh':
http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sound ... on/london/

And this is GENUINELY upper-class:
http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sound ... am-thorpe/

Wait, what?

What do you mean by the Empire disbanded? The Commonwealth is still intact, and Bessy II (Huzzah for the Cactus reference) is still the Queen of Australia.

The Empire itself slowly disbanded following the Statute of Westminster (1930) which was a response to the Amritsar Rebellion in India, and the realisation that it was no longer profitable nor feasible to keep a quarter of the globe under direct British rule. Also, some former colonies, such as Australia, Canada and NZ were given 'Dominion' status after they had set up their own parliaments and proved they could rule themselves after the British model.

The idea was that all former colonies would be independent, but continue close trade and legal links with Britain through their systems of government and law. Sadly, most of the former British African colonies have reverted to rule by warlord and brutal oppression of any members of the non-ruling tribes - this was exactly what Colonial rule had prevented.

The economic strain of WWII - including the USA's strictly enforced Lend-Lease repayments - hastened the end of the British Empire, which was finally abandoned when Aden was evacuated in the 1950's. I have read that one condition of Lend-Lease being offered at all was Britain's promise that the Empire would be formally disbanded immediately after the War... The Commonwealth used to be a viable, effective economic organisation, but sadly the Commonwealth Development Commission in London is now simply a property management company. The EU doesn't like Britain being involved in a Commonwealth of Nations, and nobody in government has the guts to tell the EU to stuff it where the sun don't shine.

I have actually not just completed GCSE history. In fact, I'm in college education at the moment. I have studied WW2 in the past though and do tidbits of research out of simple intellectual curiosity. Yes, it is certainly a thing to be proud of that we repayed our debts.

I am also perfectly aware of the fact that the Canadians never shook off their ties with the motherland (I've been there a few times), my sentence was actually referring to the fellows just south of them. The fact they have vinegar on their chips says a lot about how British many of them truly are.

However, let's not be so hard on the Yanks for their Hollywood movies. I personally think it's just a case of wanting to cater to their own people, who had relatives who fought in the war, and as such focusing on the American-involved theatres. It's like how a Russian film would probably focus on the German Invasion of their country or a British film like Bridge on the River Kwai focusing on our own efforts. The only American film that comes to mind in terms of really pushing it with artistic license is that controversial one where they retold the capture of the Enigma machine replacing the Royal Navy with their own...

I pitty those who don't know the joys of fish and chips.

I've never had it all to my own, but I do, too ... it's so good!

accent that turns women off -


Appalachian

My accent is the same one from Billy Elliot

Yeay being neutral and not having an accent of any sort!

uhm... everyone has an accent. I heard your Manchester, England a while ago and you definately have a strong American 'r'. Your voice only sounds neutral to you and people from the same area as you.

In linguistics, it's generally accepted that California has the most neutral accent, so... You fail.