Brit. English (was: to suss, dwarves etc.)

[Peter A. McGraw]

Gosh--I don't care much for prescriptivist fuddy-duddies (and though I
missed this program, Sewell sounds pretty objectionable), but I do like the
sound of RP.  It was one of the enjoyable aesthetic experiences of my first
visit to England, in 1955.  I'm distressed to hear that it has apparently
retreated so far that it now sounds "extrawdnrih" even in its own country.

Peter Mc.

--On Thursday, March 8, 2001 10:07 AM +0000 Michael Quinion
<editor at WORLDWIDEWORDS.ORG> wrote:

>> Let that old Mr. Fuddy-Duddy, Jesse's foil on last night's 60
>> Minutes II show, put that in his craw and smoke it.  American
>> slang ruining the grand old mother (country) tongue indeed.
>
> It was simultaneously amusing and saddening to hear that the old
> fuddy-duddy was Brian Sewell. Mr Sewell occasionally appears on
> British television, where his accent sounds as extraordinary as
> it must do to Americans. For many of us, it evokes echoes of
> class conflict: whenever I hear it I want to rush out and man a
> barricade somewhere. It's a great pity that his appearance must
> have reinforced American prejudices about the English.
>
>
> --
> Michael Quinion
> Editor, World Wide Words
> <editor at worldwidewords.org>
> <http://www.worldwidewords.org/>



****************************************************************************
                               Peter A. McGraw
                   Linfield College   *   McMinnville, OR
                            pmcgraw at linfield.edu