Do you read it with an accent?

[Silentrunning]

This is mainly for the non-British in our group. When you read a post by one of our British colleagues, do you read it with a British accent? I found myself doing it without realizing that I was doing it. I noticed it particularly with Colin since he uses such proper English. Maybe I'm just strange.

 

[DeborahJane]

Nope. All Aussie which is a bit of a shame . Doesn't do justice to the lovely English language.

 

[MaryMary]

I have. Not always, but when the words are words not commonly used here, I read it with an accent. For instance, when @Upsy Daisy says "having a natter," it's only then that I notice her accent.

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Wot me !!!! I ain't got no accent @MaryMary .........

 

[MaryMary]

Aw shucks, Daisy, it weren't no insult, ma'am!!


(In case you didn't hear it, that was said...Cowboy style....)

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Yee-haw!!! I'll throw the insults and you can lasso them along with the cattle

 

[CanadianLori]

Sorta. I still have never figured out the difference between while and whilst. .. so I float betwix.

There is a great deal of argy bargy but go with the float because sometimes that's just the way the mop flops.

We have a lot of u's. Added to colour, cheque, catalogue etc... and I'm only a Canuck.

I've recently read the entire Jules Verne collection and in many places did read it with a mental Paris accent...and then Professor Liedenbrock "journey to the center of the earth " with a German accent. Too much fun. We don't need movies to send our brains to be "in the scene"

 

[Greenhorn]

Yes to a degree, having read and enjoyed some English literature, most recently probably the Forsyte Saga. A little accent and inflection also. I also enjoy the different vocabulary, for some reason "countenance" was popular (in early - mid century English writing if I recall) and I was taken by it and its use. There was also then commonly used word that now has significantly different context that would standout and make me chuckle.... the act of making a short exclamatory statement.

On the other hand I will run into words such as Huitzilopochtli, Quetzalcoatl from Aztec and I just make up my own pronunciations - words or just see the word as a reflection of it's meaning. There were lots of these type words in Aztec but it was the best book ever

 

[Daren]

This site has some handy Translators http://www.whoohoo.co.uk/

 

[marlingardener]

I enjoy the different words for the same object (spanner=wrench) and seeing posts using English with precision. I've learned quite a bit from the UK posts, Australian posts, and posts from other countries. My vocabulary has expanded, thanks to reading posts here.
UpsyDaisy and MaryMary, that isn't "cowboy style", but Texas style. I cain't hold y'all responsible, since one has to live in Texas for a few years to catch all the "phraseology"!

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Yes, I read with an Ohio accent.

 

[DirtMechanic]

I enjoy @alp using words like "posher". I have to transplant my thinking across the pond which is always an expanding excercise and good for me!

 

[alp]

@Greenhorn Your post reminds me of a list of names of school children in Dagenham, London. They are all unpronunciable with impossible clusters of alphabets.. ! Theses children could be from Poland, Latvia, Russia, Romania ... Good or bad! In a way, it enriches the cultures and might even broaden understanding. I hope they integrate and love this country with gratitude which gives them free education, free bus pass and free health care. I remember I had to buy books every year and my parents paid bus fares and yet my parents and I valued education much more than some of people here.

@DirtMechanic Reading your posts enriches my vocabulary .. Never heard of Pso?? (blushing now!) Ephiphany has a claim on the calender and suddenly I can see it in newspapers: boys encouraged to smoke on the Ephiphany .. Crikey! What an obscene way to mark a day with religious connotation!

 

[alp]

This is mainly for the non-British in our group. When you read a post by one of our British colleagues, do you read it with a British accent? I found myself doing it without realizing that I was doing it. I noticed it particularly with Colin since he uses such proper English. Maybe I'm just strange.

Colin is a brilliant "scholar". He uses his punctuation and spelling correctly. Amazing when you think of the adversities he faced growing up and he started working at a young age.

I used to find American English difficult to understand and when actors switched to Received Pronunciation in British TV programmes, I felt so much better. But now, most of them speak too softly and even mumble and even the British TV viewing public complain that they can't understand a word and have to use subtitles. I could handle most American CBS reality programmes, but films might be a bit difficult.

 

[alp]

I enjoy @alp using words like "posher". I have to transplant my thinking across the pond which is always an expanding excercise and good for me!