The English Accent What Is Yours Like?

According to Dr Bernard Lamb President of the Queen's English Society

"Our aims are to improve standards of English, to encourage people to know more about our wonderful language, to use it more effectively and to enjoy it more. As well as exposing poor English standards, we award an annual prize for excellent English."

Classic Pathe newsreel with some great British accents

One of the finest English wordsmiths was of course William Shakespeare and it is clear to anyone reading his works that the English language has changed alot since he was alive and it has also been strongly influenced by his words and turns of phrase. Many of our seemingly every day words have their roots in Shakespeare. Words and sayings like "Fair Play", "Foregone Conclusion ", "One Fell Swoop", and "Into Thin Air " all originate from his writing.

In my view the English language is a tool to be used and developed not a system to slavishly worshiped.

I've always been interested in Etymology or the origin and development of word usage. I also spend alot of time with international students, many of whom come from North America and the Antipodes.

Now there is a classic case of use of English right there. Every point on the globe has an antipodes, the point directly opposite it on the other side of the world. British people use the word Antipodean to specifically refer to Australia and New Zealand. There are lots of words with varied meanings. British people should be careful asking for a 'fag' when they need a cigarette, they should avoid walking on the pavement in the USA because that means the main road and they should stick to the sidewalk.

Here on Squidoo its been interesting to see the use of keywords and tags. Wellington Boots for example are more commonly called Rain Boots in North America, home improvement is more frequently called home remodeling, sweets are candy and biscuits are cookies. More functionally Brits call the WC the the loo which derives from the medieval French phrase 'Gardez L'eau' which meant 'watch out water' , (loo being a mishearing of the word l'eau) when bedpans were emptied out of windows into the street. Other more colourful names include the bog or crapper named after William Crapper the inventor of the first flushing water closet.

Other Anglo-American differences include braces that hold up trousers, whereas suspenders hold up pants in the USA. Suspenders have a definite and precise feminine connotation in Britain. If Brits are comforting a baby they use a dummy not a pacifier which to British ears sounds more like a weapon made by Smith and Wesson (wasn't that a Peacemaker though?)

Australian English is different but strangely familiar. Sunnies are Sunglasses, Tinnies are Tins (cans) of Beer and Angry is Berko (seemingly derived from going Berserk) There also seems to frequent use of the diminutive 'ie' as in Bickie for biscuit or Barbie for Barbeque all of which convey a friendly familiarity. This also goes for adding 'Oh' to the end of words, especially names like Dan-oh for Dan or Sam-oh for Sam. More obscure is Duco for carpaint. Donkeys are Neddies, the old British name for a childs toy donkey, and I'm sure we've all hear women called Sheila's.

All in all the variations in English are fascinating and intriguing. I'm sure you have your favourites too.

My first extensive exposure to the richness of Australian English came through Sir Les Patterson the rather grotesque, slovenly and hysterically funny creation of Barry Humphries. His other character creation was Barry McKenzie famous for his rather basic words and expressions in Australian English. Barry introduced us to phrases such as:

"Point Percy at the porcelain" referring to a gentleman going to the John and chunder ,meaning to vomit, all in all Barry is a rather boorish and deliberately extreme fictional stereotype.