|
Guttural
Words for other people's accents are nearly always pejorative. Why don't everybody speak nicely like what we does?
thick, stench On the death of actor Tony Curtis, his obits endlessly recycled that "yonda is the castle of my fodda" line. Was it from The Black Shield of Falworth? Son of Sinbad? Oddly, English writers were particularly fond of it, throwing in extra sneers about his "thick Bronx accent" and even "the stench of the Bronx". Would any of us know a Bronx accent if we fell over it in the dark?
bay, bray = mobs always bay, while the upper classes bray
flat Accents you disapprove of are always ‘flat’. You can’t say you don’t like the South African/ Birmingham/Liverpool/Ulster accent because you think it’s common or you disapprove of the people (or think THEY’RE common), so you say it’s “flat”. Apparently in South Africa they say Zimbabweans have “flat” voices and vice versa.
guttural Ugly and probably German.
heavy Ugly and probably foreign.
lilt Americans use for any language or accent other than their own
modulated American for speaking in a low, gentle voice, not yelling out of the window. They think all English people speak like this.
plummy voice posh voice Nigella Lawson’s voice is described as “plummy” but actually it is light and unresonant. The Guardian May 9, 2006 even has Kirstie Alsopp working for a couple of “plummy magazines”. If you have a plummy voice, you sound as if you have a plum in your mouth, it’s not like a plum job.
sloppy, slovenly Accent we don't approve of.
strong = we don't mind a "strong" accent
twang Accent you don't approve of.
vocal warmup singing lesson
| 
