British accent stereotypes - 'news'

[Joel S. Berson]

At 4/4/2008 02:52 PM, Scot LaFaive wrote:
>Speaking of rhyming and British accents, there was a Family Guy
>episode where one of the characters is trying to teach a Cockney
>speaking child how to speak "proper" British English and he uses the
>following rhyme to "correct" her pronunciation.
>
>"The life of the wife is ended by the knife."
>
>Is this just something the writers made up or does anyone know if it
>is from elsewhere?

The very obvious hypothesis is a mordant satire of "My Fair Lady" --
"the rain in Spain ...".

Joel

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