Do some Brits really don't speak English that well?

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

saint mark wrote:

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

saint mark wrote:

When I studied for a year in England, in Lancaster to be precise I had a hard time with local lingo as well. The regional differences do however make the whole thing charming. But I have met very few people in the North of England that spoke High English.

But no one finds a person questioning other peoples ability to speak proper English with this question: "Do some Brits really don't speak English that well? " even slightly ironic?

I believe JWild7 is a genius. I believe he's actually a lot smarter than he appears, and that his persona as a 15 year old, linguistically-challenged adolescent is an act. Why does that seem so familiar?

I have decided a long time to mostly ignore his initial quest or remarks, somehow along the way we find out that he is actually nuts or has a very different view on the world from the average person. Both options are fine by me.

This time I presumed he had trouble with the different accents from the various parts of the UK.

I think I remember JWild7 from over at CBn, and if I recall correctly, he irritated a lot of people over there with his postings about every inane piece of minutiae that went on in his life (one post about his car dying on him generated tons of hateful responses). But I find him harmless. I get he might not be everyone's cup of tea, but that's what "diversity" is all about: tolerating people that are different from you.

Still, I believe he's a stealth "genius" and by "genius" I mean he intentionally dumbs it down in order to be more memorable; and for the most part I think it's working.

Pretty much what happened over at MI6, though he's banned from new MI6 I believe.

Bloody hell, I still get emails from them. It's like a curse.

I'm British, oddly some people in the country speak English rather well, while others do not. similarly some regional accents are strong while others aren't. I somehow, foolishly perhaps, assumed this was typical of other countries and their native tongue.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

But no one finds a person questioning other peoples ability to speak proper English with this question: "Do some Brits really don't speak English that well? " even slightly ironic?

Don't worry, I'm sure we're all highly amused.

Chang wrote:

If I had to choose I'd rather be English than American.

Racist.

Mr. Brown wrote:

Chang wrote:

If I had to choose I'd rather be English than American.

Racist.

Well, I guess I'm a racist then, because all Americans, Canadians, Aussies and Britons look the same to me. I can't tell one from the other. When I was a little boy I used to wonder how they all recognized one another because of how they all looked so similar.

Sharky wrote:

This is all correct, but I like my cockney accent, and it ain't goin nowhere.

You have a cockney accent, Sharky?

Very interesting.

Fae wrote:

Sharky wrote:

This is all correct, but I like my cockney accent, and it ain't goin nowhere.

You have a cockney accent, Sharky?

Very interesting.

Yes luv.

I love that I can now say the phrase "I'm giggling like a schoolgirl"

... I mean what?

Giggling wasn't the first thing that came to mind Fae, but please keep the schoolgirl bit.

If I wasn't young too, I'm be coming off as a right nonce.

Sharky wrote:

Giggling wasn't the first thing that came to mind Fae, but please keep the schoolgirl bit.

Yeah, can't do that what with just having left school and all. It's only forwards from now on, Sharky.

So you're not taking me backwards? Shame.

Do you have a uniform?

I did.

Well I still have one of my school dresses left ...

Are stains easily removable?

Sharky wrote:

Are stains easily removable?

No. Just ask Bill Clinton.

Mr. Brown wrote:

Chang wrote:

If I had to choose I'd rather be English than American.

Racist.

Why? Most of the instances I've had to deal with Americans in the past, I've found them to be arrogant idiots.
No offence. I'm sure they're not all bad.

Glottal stops and other phonetic variances differ greatly from place to place, but do not mean that someone isn't speaking 'properly'.

RP is hardly how Shakespeare sounded.

Quote :

Do some Brits really don't speak English that well?

Santa wrote:

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

But no one finds a person questioning other peoples ability to speak proper English with this question: "Do some Brits really don't speak English that well? " even slightly ironic?

Don't worry, I'm sure we're all highly amused.

I confess I assumed that was deliberate!

Chang wrote:

Mr. Brown wrote:

Chang wrote:

If I had to choose I'd rather be English than American.

Racist.

Why? Most of the instances I've had to deal with Americans in the past, I've found them to be arrogant idiots.
No offence. I'm sure they're not all bad.

I wasn't being serious.

I can't stand most Americans that I encounter, either.

Mmmm I've liked most the Americans I've met ... mind you I still remember meeting one guy who was telling my father and I about how his wife didn't realise Australians spoke. That was just funny though.

I knew as Australian who couldn't understand how everyone in England knew she was Australian. She didn't think she sounded Aussie at all (she sounded like she'd be right at home in a Fosters advert).

Bizarre :D

Her husband couldn't understand why I sounded so different to someone else (me being Staffordshire, and someone else being Windsor).

See I was the opposite. I don't consider myself to have a broad accent ... compared to some one like Steve Irwin but when I went over to Europe I noticed how different my accent was. It was so weird.

But awesome.

In other news ... English accents - I could pick up the difference but not enough to know where they were from. In the end they would fall under the blanket term of 'English accents'. It works.

What regional Ozzie accent you got Fae?

Fae wrote:

See I was the opposite. I don't consider myself to have a broad accent ... compared to some one like Steve Irwin but when I went over to Europe I noticed how different my accent was. It was so weird.

But awesome.

In other news ... English accents - I could pick up the difference but not enough to know where they were from. In the end they would fall under the blanket term of 'English accents'. It works.

Interesting. At uni' one of my floor-mates was from Melbourne and it took her three months to understand my accent.