Subject: Re: Taxi drivers have bigger brains

From: Gordon <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 18:24:38 +0100

Marian <[email-masked]> wrote
>>>> Do you think it was their slightly British accents? <g>
>>>> Somehow, some British accents sound so posh.
>>>> T'isn't fair, is it.
>>>> After all, it's only an accent like any other accent.
>>>> Why should we prefer it?
>>>> ---Sea, who thinks about things like this... <g>
>>>================
>>>Depends on the English accent. There's a huge difference
>>>in them. Cockney doesn't sound so posh, for example.
>>>
>>>Bobbie
>>>
>>I could never stand to watch Eastenders.   The accents are absolutely
>>ghaaaaastly my dear!   :-)
>>-- 
>>Gordon
>
>I keep up with Eastenders here. We're in 1999... Anyone else watch this? Brits?
>What's going on there currently? 
>
Dirty Den is back.  That's all I know, never watched it.
The bad news is - you are going to lose Eastenders.  Didn't you know?
My daughter is furious.......
-- 
Gordon

---

From: Jan <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 13:45:26 -0400

On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 10:34:13 +0100, Gordon <[email-masked]>
wrote:

>Barbara Christian <[email-masked]> wrote

Gordon and Val,
The first time Eastenders was shown here, my youngest son wanted to
watch it.  So, like a dutiful father I sat through it with him.<g>
Once it  was over, his comment was, "That looks like a good show, what
the hell were they saying?"<g>  Dad had to move into translation mode.
To side-track a little. On my last visit to England, I noticed that
regional accents were fading away and being replaced with some sort of
pseudo South Coast accent.  The older people still had the West
Country burr but the kids seemed to be losing it. Is this general?
  A very good friend of mine, a genuine Devon Dumpling maid told me
that her husband had never heard a Cornish accent. 
 She took him to a place that she remembered well from her child-hood,
which was Marazion.  They went on a tour of St. Michael's Mount, the
home of Lord St.Levan. St. Michael's Mount used to be a small fishing
village separated from the main-land at high tide, and the tours were
conducted by men and women from the village, so the Cornish accent was
very much in evidence.  To her horror, and as she described it, "The
tours are now done by toffee-nosed kids with Oxford accents who don't
know anything about the area."
She felt the guide assigned to her party was particularly obnoxious
and over-bearing so decided to have some fun.  During the tour, the
name of a famous West Country smuggler was mentioned. She raised her
hand, and when she was acknowledged, commented in the broad Devon
accent she can use on occasion, "I knows ee. Ee were my
great-great-grand-father", which he was.  Strangely she said, the
guide was not impressed and merely said, "Quite, madam".
Following the tour, she cornered one of the guides and asked if John
was home. When they asked who John was, she told them it was Lord St.
Leven, and as a child she went out in the race committee boat with him
on regatta nights, knew him quite well and would like to visit if he
was home.  She said the expressions on their faces were a sight to
behold. Unfortunately they had no luck at hearing the true Cornish
accent there.

Jan
"If you can't take a joke you shouldn't have joined"

---

From: Aries <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 22:18:18 +0100

> "If you can't take a joke you shouldn't have joined"

We used to farm in North Dev0n, our daughter is still there and her partner
is a farmer.  He and his family still speak with a lovely soft Devon accent
with lots of ee's and old fashioned country language.  I hope country
accents won't die out, we will be poorer without them I fear.
-- 
val at copelands.co.uk  14-Oct-2003 22:15:45
http://copelands.co.uk/val

---

From: [email-masked] (Marian)
Date: 14 Oct 2003 22:26:22 GMT

>My daughter is furious.......

Back from the dead? I loved Den. Grieved when he died. Lose it? Why? We're
seeing it [2 episodes] at 11:00 pm on Sunday nights, and 4 years behind...How
could PBS get away with that?     Marian
************************************************
War is Hell, but business is Great... 
http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid1209821&pathID=1753
**********************************************

---

From: Gordon <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 23:40:57 +0100

Aries <[email-masked]> wrote
>accents won't die out, we will be poorer without them I fear.

Well, they aren't in the North!     I have a definite
Lancashire/Manchester accent.   I only went to Cornwall once on a
Plymouth coach holiday, when we had a day excursion to Looe.   Our
driver for the five days had a broad Cornish accent, and we called at a
place where we were given a welcome in Cornish language by a lady. 
-- 
Gordon

---

From: Gordon <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 01:07:40 +0100

>could PBS get away with that?     Marian

I think she watches it on BBC America?
-- 
Gordon

---

From: "Barbara Christian" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 11:10:22 +1000

"Aries" <[email-masked]> wrote in message
news:[email-masked]...
> On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 22:24:37 +1000, Barbara Christian scrawled:
>
> > "> >> Do you think it was their slightly British accents? <g>
> > ========
> > A bit plum in the mouth...
> > Bobbie
>
> Doncha mean daarn in the maaff?
> -- 
> val
=========
That too.<g>
Bobbie

---

From: Jan <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 21:43:10 -0400

>accents won't die out, we will be poorer without them I fear.

Which part of North Devon Val?  I spent several years working out of
Barnstaple, with North Devon as my territory before I emigrated.  Used
to cover from Porlock down past Clovelly and Hartland Point then a
sweep inland.

Jan

---

From: Jan <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 21:43:11 -0400

>>> On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 10:34:13 +0100, Gordon <[email-masked]>
<snipped>
>place where we were given a welcome in Cornish language by a lady. 

Well me dear Oi'm real glad to 'ear  that.  It was mainly with the
kids I noticed it.  Or maybe my ear for the dialect has faded
somewhat.<g>  My own accent is  definitely West Country, now overlaid
with Canadian, or so I'm told.

Jan

---

From: [email-masked] (Marian)
Date: 15 Oct 2003 05:10:52 GMT

>I think she watches it on BBC America?

Ohhh. Well then, she's probably current with it. Still I can't imagine the BBC
cancelling it for addicted merkans...

Marian

---

From: Aries <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 10:08:18 +0100

> place where we were given a welcome in Cornish language by a lady. 

Pleased to hear it Gordon :)
-- 
val at copelands.co.uk  15-Oct-2003 10:08:03
http://copelands.co.uk/val

---

From: Aries <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 10:13:59 +0100

> to cover from Porlock down past Clovelly and Hartland Point then a

Just outside of Witheridge near Rackenford.  In the 1990's we also had a
farm in Witheridge on the Drayford Road - Coombe House, do you know of it?
We had 65 acres of our own but had to rent grass keep from time to time when
our sheep flock grew in numbers.  

I know Barnstaple well.  What was your job there?
-- 
val at copelands.co.uk  15-Oct-2003 10:09:32
http://copelands.co.uk/val

---

From: Jan <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 11:21:56 -0400

>I know Barnstaple well.  What was your job there?

I can't place it right now Val. Is it up on Exmoor or more to the
south.  South Molton way. Do you know I'm having the greatest
difficulty trying to remember the names from around there, quite
embarrassing.  Coombe House, the closest I can think of, and I'm not
sure if I've got the spelling right is Coombe Martin, or was that
Combe Martin.  Lynton, Lynmouth, Oare of Lorna Doone fame. Not to
worry, I guess after 40+ years I'm entitled to forget some things.<g>
I was the GPO telecom sales rep. for N.Devon, talk about a big fish in
a very small pond.<g> Anything to do with phones from those beautiful
red boxes to home service was my responsibility.

Jan

---

From: Aries <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 20:14:04 +0100

> "If you can't take a joke you shouldn't have joined"

How long ago were you the GPO sales rep for N. Devon Jan?  Our farm was
Coombe House, Witheridge, N. Devon - slap bang between South Molton and
Tiverton on the A361.  Does that ring any bells?
-- 
val at copelands.co.uk  15-Oct-2003 20:12:24
http://copelands.co.uk/val