samkydd

Having been brought up in the 60s and 70s when BBC English was still the default accent for the majority of TV and radio presenters, I must admit I despair sometimes at some of the almost incomprehensible dialects which come out of the telly and radio these days.

"Eshchuree Inglish" is of course a common one from the likes of Jonathan Woss, Janet Street-Porter and others of their ilk, and on some radio stations it seems to be the current vogue to use presenters with tongue-rolling Scottish or Irish accents. Anonymous programme presenters on TV these days are often Geordies (and on BBC 7 Radio) and sometimes I just can't make out what they're saying. It's all such a rush to spill the words out, often running two or three into each other so that a phrase such as "Later we have another episode in the Crime and Thrillers series...." becomes "Lerhta wuhaveanutharepisorde inda creamun thrillas see-rizz".

Now I do like regional dialects, but if the person on the radio or TV is passing out information to the listener or viewer then surely it is important to ensure that the message gets across in clear well-spoken English a la Charlotte Green or Brian Perkins.

The other thing that really gets me gritting my teeth until they start to crumble is Radio 4 plays where a character is American played by a British ack-tor, and their accent sounds just like a British ack-tor trying to play an American. It's just painful to listen to (Ed Bishop we need you back).

Am I just a grumpy old b*stard or do others agree with me?

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

Lord Brett

Or the late, great Peter 'Jeff Tracy' Dyneley, the best fake American there ever was.

Steve Crook

Yes, I agree - you are a grumpy old b*stard

Steve

alan french

Hi.
I must admit that I up to a point do not mind regional accents. But irrespective, of region, it is essential that the audience understands what a person says. I was born in the 1940's and was surrounded by real life people not talking proper like an' that, as well as the BBC and Noel Coward style of talking, in the film and broadcasting media. Outside of that, regional accents were standard. I used to cringe as a child after watching westerns, and then in some play on the BBC, English actors speaking their lines with American accents, that sounded English.

I also remember however, a BBC television announcer being criticised for her Scottish accent. This I thought was taking criticizing too far.

Alan French.

ShirlGirl

But justifiably so, by the sound of it.

Moor Larkin

Yes. Accents are lovely provided everybody can understand them. There are some that charm especially. Big Brother would not be the same if narrated in anything but Geordie......... Gwen in Torchwood would be just a hefty Welsh rarebit except for her English accented by Wales........ Terry Wogan would be just a boring old fart if he did not have the charm of the soft Irish voice and Ian Paisley would not have sounded half as scary if he had spoken in anything but a harshly nasty Ulster nasal twang...........

And who's that strange Labour MP who was on TV all the time recently (McNulty?) before they found out he was fiddling his expenses as well...... He talks like someone out of Jeeves and Wooster.......

and I wonder what Anthony Wedgewood-Benn sounds like, compared to Tony Benn, nowadays........

And then there was Terry (?) from *The Word* and.... and .....and......

http://numbersixwasinnocent.blogspot.com/

darrenandtrish

With respect, this is so funny,did the Romans,Saxons or Normans care what dialects or accent anyone had and in a thousand years time will anyone care about what accents we had or how we spoke.
come on people this is the twenty first century not the eighteenth .

Darren

CaptainWaggett

As GBS said in the preface to Pygmalion " It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him." Seems that's as true now as it was in 1912.

Bernardo

The whole point of language is the communication of a message, which in our beautiful language can be wrapped in countless ways, as long as the message has been received and fully understood by those it is addressed to...Who cares?

ShirlGirl

Which is precisely what Sam was lamenting in his original post:

MB

Any accent will do and I'm glad of it.

But, I must admit to feeling mildly irritated with people who 'put on' or over accentuate in order to sound 'cooler' and this is particularly noticable on the radio. Some Lahndaners have been especially guilty of this (and I'd count myself as a Lahndaner) - but the main culprits, these days, are Mancunians, it seems..

Samkydd wrote:The other thing that really gets me gritting my teeth until they start to crumble is Radio 4 plays where a character is American played by a British ack-tor, and their accent sounds just like a British ack-tor trying to play an American. It's just painful to listen to (Ed Bishop we need you back).

Very true - highly noticable and from no particular region - just 'American'.

Chevyman

There seems to be a growing number of news correspondents who sound like Loyd Grossman....................................eg Orla Guerin

"Don't interrupt Pike or you'll be sent home!"

samkydd

Julian Manion sounds like he's trying to gargle a throat full of water and speak at the same time "Gottle of geer"

But as I've said I like regional accents but you can still speak clearly and in proper English with a dialect. Unfortunately many presenters have the dialect but not the diction, therefore they are difficult to understand.

But even accentless people can sound daft, I caught a bit of Hell's Kitchen and Marco Pierre White said "Disrespecting me is a sackable offence!". Surely that should be "If you are disrespectful to me it's a sackable offence!"

What urban American ghetto does MPW come from?

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

Rick C

People might like to know that one of the superlatives of BBC radio newsreading during the 1970's, Bryan Martin, died a fortnight ago and his career was highlighted in the BBC Radio 4 obituary programme "Last Word" a week or so ago.

The details will be on the Radio 4 website and it might be possible to catch the programme again on the podcast thingy.

EHV_Emmetts

I agree with you.

What I find irritating is that these "regional accents" don't equate to an actual region of the UK. They are in fact made-up, artificial, the result of an executive decision to make the BBC appear "diverse", to move anyway from it's perceived middle-class Londoncentric agenda. The means that there are middle-class Home Counties people who are taught, or trained, to speak in this fake accent.

If the BBC really wanted to move away from it's Londoncentric home then it should broadcast most of it's national programmes from the regions.