h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...is that like posh speak?

I suppose it's a good thing I wasn't on last night then. I was wearing my jammies and fuzzy slippers. I'm relieved I won't need a tiara.

Okay, Waz, I'll bite. What the heck is Received Pronounciation?

I think we all these sort of things the best thing is to just be yourself.
I think that most BBC presenters were not so much posh as middle class, they still are to a certain extent on the news programmes.

Thassright, us hillbillies say 'pronOunciation'

Proper English. No dropped haitches, and the bath is baath.

It gets called Queens Englsh, but I don't think the Queen speaks RP. She says 'end' for 'and'...

It's accentless. It's hard to describe. Not posh exactly, no marbles needed.

(There's a Phonoly section on Wiki, but I don't understand a word of it.)

Right. Waz and Xantief have heard me speak. How much trouble am I in?

But I'm sure the Brits aren't expecting Americans to sound like BBC presenters. I think you should put on your best hillbilly accent, Hyp. Don't forget to mention moonshine.

And don't forget to say 'How 'bout them Cardinals'

A discourse on hillbilly politics. Not what one would expect to find on the BBC.

Morning Gosho. Will any of them have ever heard of the Cardinals?

It would be if he asks how much longer Bush will be in office. I could give him the exact number of days, hours, minutes and seconds using the Backwards Bush clock on my keychain.

Oh, biiiig trouble. Things are much more relaxed these days, H, but you'll have to cut right down on the swearing.

Cardinals - Church bigwigs, go around in red.

I don't recall your having a heavy accent, Hyp, neutral middle american, rather. Your level of erudition quite surpasses that of the typical bystander as well. No sweat!

Allow yourself one good homey euphemism...

We should all have Dubya Countdown Clocks...nice!

LLLwaz on RP: "It's accentless."

Don't get me started...

Seriously, no speech is accentless. The long "a"s of RP are one aspect that marks it out as compared to many of the country's (and the world's) accents.

I'll rephrase - supposed to be accentless . Wiki says it was actually based on SE Midlands, which was a surprise to me.

Right. No swearing. One homey euphemism. I suppose when the interview is over I could say "Y'all Come."

Remember Minnie Pearl? "Howdeeeeeeeeeee! I'm just so proud to be here."

The RP might be a bit difficult since I don't have a clue what it is supposed to sound like. Baggers didn't seem to have a huge amount of trouble understanding hillbilly, so I'm keeping a happy thought.

Don't try to do the accent, Hyp. It used to be compulsory for BBC presenters, but they ditched that way back. Nowadays you'll hear all sorts of accents (though not that thick), though older presenters may still use RP.

As you say, I didn't have much trouble understanding you (Xantief was probably the hardest to understand, but still not exactly difficult), so just leave out the references to biscuits and gravy and you'll be fine.

My understanding of RP is that it equates to 'BBC English'.

How many people around the world [and, apparently, Britain...]have learned spoken English with the help of the ubiquitous BBC broadcasts? The dialect occupies a valuable niche for that reason.

It's a bit of a surprise that the general dialect variances within the US are not more pronounced. There are, however, isolated pockets of humanity tucked away somewhere in 'them thar hills' that purportedly communicate in Elizabethan or some other archaic mode. [Mencken, The American Language, 1921?]

I've heard thees and thous around here in the hills. But not recently. Course I stay out of the hills as much as possible.

I was told by a wine making Nebraskan that Nebraska has the "cleanest speech in the US." Radio stations supposedly like Nebraskans because they have NO accent. Yada, yada, yada. Of course this guy is buzzard battered by a totally obnoxious, spoiled brat of a wife. He's married to the daughter of a friend. Hyp will know who I mean....

This is the same woman who thinks her children should excel in every aspect of life and pushes them to do so. They go to every sports' camp, chess camp, space camp, music camp, church camp available all summer long. I'm not sure when they get to be kids. But they have impeccable Nebraska no-accent speech.