Hey British guys, I love this accent!!!

Pete   Mon Dec 05, 2005 9:03 pm GMT
<<Have you ever heard recordings of Queen Elizabeth a few decades ago? I've never heard such a hideously strangulated accent>>

Where can I get such recordings? I've already heard this year Queen's parliament opening speech. But where can I get old speeches?
Dale   Mon Dec 05, 2005 9:15 pm GMT
From the shops.
Terry   Mon Dec 05, 2005 11:54 pm GMT
<<the Royal family don't really have an accent as no one else really sounds like them, it's sort of an accent of their own creation. I also think Prince Charles is especially prone to mumbling. >>

Oh, I see. Maybe they do have their own special accent and the Prince's mumbling, yes.

I knew about the German and the name change to the House of Windsor. I had thought it happened because of WWI, though.
Terry   Tue Dec 06, 2005 12:03 am GMT
<<Have you ever heard recordings of Queen Elizabeth a few decades ago? I've never heard such a hideously strangulated accent - just awful! It's improved a lot since then (maybe she had elocution lessons). >>

I remember her "annus horribilis" speech of the early 90's. I thought she still sounded "strangulated."

<Off topic, I've got the tutorial from langcafe, thanks, and I think it will help, but am on my way to a late meeting. So, hopefully tomorrow.>

Hope Uriel posts there too.
Terry   Tue Dec 06, 2005 12:05 am GMT
<<I have the worst time understanding him.>>

<<So do I. Prince Charles certainly knows how to use English as an instrument of torment. I suppose the Royal family's accent is a new accent of which surely deserves the term of Queen's English. >>

Oh, I see so their accent isn't really one that other people use in England.
Rick Johnson   Tue Dec 06, 2005 12:10 am GMT
<<I knew about the German and the name change to the House of Windsor. I had thought it happened because of WWI, though.>>

That was on his mother's (the Queen) side. They had to change their name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor, during WWI, because the German's weren't too popular at the time. There's not really any part of them that is actually truely English- Prince Charles, German on his Mother's side, German on his Father's side. Even the Prince of Wales motto is in German.
Kirk   Tue Dec 06, 2005 12:57 am GMT
<<Where can I get such recordings? I've already heard this year Queen's parliament opening speech. But where can I get old speeches?>>

Here's a very interesting televised speech of hers from 1957 in an address to Canada. Look down towards the bottom of the page where it says "watch the Queen's 1957 address to Canada"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/bigpicture/queen/

Enjoy! I know I certainly enjoyed listening to it and analyzing her accent (she also addresses French-speaking Canadians in French).
chiggahoo   Tue Dec 06, 2005 3:21 am GMT
I think Tony Blair's accent is dreamy
Damian in Edinburgh   Tue Dec 06, 2005 9:11 am GMT
***I think Tony Blair's accent is dreamy***

That's about the only "dreamy" thing about him......personally I've never even thought about his accent in those terms either. The guy went to college in Edinburgh, for goodness sake.....no trace of that in his accent, which he subtly changes to suit his surroundings when it suits him. He lapses into a bit of Estuary when he thinks it's personally advantagoues.

The Queen took lessons some years back to "modify" that strained, shrill, strangulated, "upper class in extremis" voice of hers. Some of those old recordings of hers are a pain to listen too. When Margaret Thatcher was the British Prime Minister she also went to elocution lessons for the same reasons.
Damian   Tue Dec 06, 2005 9:12 am GMT
typo: advantageous. (it's still early morning...sort of and i'm in a rush).
Candy   Tue Dec 06, 2005 11:32 am GMT
<<I remember her "annus horribilis" speech of the early 90's. I thought she still sounded "strangulated." >>

Oh, she still is, definitely! I can't stand the way the queen speaks, but when she was younger, she was far worse.
Terry   Tue Dec 06, 2005 6:17 pm GMT
<<That was on his mother's (the Queen) side. They had to change their name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor, during WWI, because the German's weren't too popular at the time. There's not really any part of them that is actually truely English- Prince Charles, German on his Mother's side, German on his Father's side. Even the Prince of Wales motto is in German. >>

Thanks for clearing that up for me, Rick.
Terry   Tue Dec 06, 2005 6:30 pm GMT
<<Here's a very interesting televised speech of hers from 1957 in an address to Canada. Look down towards the bottom of the page where it says "watch the Queen's 1957 address to Canada" >>


Sure was interesting, Kirk. I enjoyed it. Yes, strangulated, but then again she came across as intelligent and precise unlike some other world leader, who shall remain unnamed.

You know, I think Agatha Christie had a similar accent. Maybe it's an old-fashioned way of speaking.
Damian in Edinburgh   Tue Dec 06, 2005 8:40 pm GMT
The way she pronounced "happy" as "heppy" sums it all up to my way of thinking, just as they spoke in all those old black and white films. Nobody but nobody under the age of about 60 speaks that way now even in the South of England. Thank goodness. As I've said, Lilibet doesn't speak like that any more which make us all very heppy...ooops..sorry, I mean happy.

Her old Mum the Queen Mother used to pronounce the simple word "off" as "orf" or phonetically "awf" [o:f] Very posh English English although the lady was actually Scottish.....from Glamis (pronounced ['Gla:ms] up in Angus. Most of the Scottish aristocracy...the big wealthy landownders....used to speak in the same way...probably some of them still do I'm not sure as I don't mix in those circles. I just look at their imposing turreted castles from the other side of the surrounding walls as I drive past. I wonder if they have council tax rebates......

For those who don't know and who are vaguely interested, the Queen is called Lilibet by all her family. That name sort of stuck since her very early childhood when she tried to pronounce her own name "Elizabeth"...it came out of her wee Royal mouth as Lilibet.

Thank goodness they changed their name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha....what a mouthful. Just imagine it, Camilla would now be Mrs Camilla Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Camilla Windsor sounds much more....well, English. Could even be a name for an actress....but she is an acttress in a way living the life she has to now. Barbara could give her some tips....maybe recommend her for a part in Eastenders. She'd really have to downgrade her accent then that's for sure.
Kirk   Tue Dec 06, 2005 9:30 pm GMT
<<Her old Mum the Queen Mother used to pronounce the simple word "off" as "orf" or phonetically "awf" [o:f]>>

Yes, that is a remnant of the "lot-cloth" split which had been present in earlier British English and the vowel distinction lives on in American accents which are "cot-caught" unmerged. For instance, a "c-c" unmerged American will have [Of] for "off" but [t_hAp] for "top," whereas "c-c" merged Americans and most current British English speakers have the same respective vowel in "off" and "top" (usually [A] for Americans and [Q] for British speakers).