Candy's English is improving!

Question

Pretty Liverpudlian Hannah Kiernan (Candy from Partyland) used to say,

'Keep them texts coming in',
but now she says,
'Keep THOSE texts coming in'.
Why she's even better spoken than Jacqui Smith, 'the British Cabinet Minister in charge of homeland security and the police' as Katie Couric described her on CBS News.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Pretty Liverpudlian Hannah Kiernan (Candy from Partyland) used to say, 'Keep them texts coming in', but now she says, 'Keep ... 'the British Cabinet Minister in charge of homeland security and the police' as Katie Couric described her on CBS News.[/nq]
Well now, part of Couric's job (or rather, that of her writers) is to make the news understandable to a vast American audience, and I suspect "Home Secretary" would be meaningless to most of her viewers.

Here's the Wikipedia (insert OB slam here) entry:
"The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the United Kingdom Home Office and is one of the Great Offices of State. The Home Secretary is responsible for internal affairs in England and Wales, and for immigration and citizenship for the whole of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland).
The remit of the UK ministry includes policing, national security, immigration, and matters of citizenship."
I think Couric's description may not have been comprehensive but it was far from inaccurate.

"When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand." ? Raymond Chandler

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Pretty Liverpudlian Hannah Kiernan (Candy from Partyland) used to say, ... the police' as Katie Couric described her on CBS News.[/nq]
[nq:1]Well now, part of Couric's job (or rather, that of her writers) is to make the news understandable to a ... immigration, and matters of citizenship." I think Couric's description may not have been comprehensive but it was far from inaccurate.[/nq]
It struck me when I heard it as a very reasonable way of indicating the general areas of responsibility of the Home Secretary.

Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]The reason Candy can speak better English than Jacqui Smith is that, unlike Smith, Candy tends not* to drop her ... texts comin' in', whereas her American counterpart, Hillary Clinton, would not drop her 'g'. One *can have elocution lessons! :-D[/nq]
There have long been rumours floating around Westminster of how various plummier members of the House of Commons have subjected themselves to voice training to shed their Eton, Harrow or Oxbridge-bought (at least in the minds of the voters) Received Prounciation and trade it in for a mockney-leaning Anglo-soup popu-lect. Evidently, sounding like Common Man wins you more votes than enraging those of us who care more about what is said than whether it sounds particularly posh or regional.

The Daily Mail from November 2008 has an article describing how Conservative politician George Osborne had his voice tamed by an expensive London speech therapist. See

Thatcher famously had voice training to lower the pitch of her voice in order to sound more authoritative. But I do find the idea of spending enormous amounts of money purchasing an expensive education at an Eton or Harrow, followed by attending an elite university, then spending more money to unlearn the pronunciation one picks up at the elite institutions slightly baffling.
It reminds me of the adverts you see in Paris with the slogan "Change your life! Speak Wall Street English!" As an English-English speaker, I find that strangely amusing. I have this vision of young Parisian yuppies wandering around talking about subprime mortgages and credit default swaps while learning the best way to plead with President Obama to pay their multi-million dollar bonus this year.

Tom Morris

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]The reason Candy can speak better English than Jacqui Smith ... not drop her 'g'. One can have elocution lessons! :-D[/nq]
[nq:1]There have long been rumours floating around Westminster of how various plummier members of the House of Commons have subjected ... an elite university, then spending more money to unlearn the pronunciation one picks up at the elite institutions slightly baffling.[/nq]
I hope these people learn much more at school and university than just a distinctive accent.
It's a question of successful communication. If you need to get ideas and information across to someone you need to avoid doing anything that distracts attention from what you are saying or makes them take you less seriously than you wish them to.
A problem with the "posh" accent that some people pick up at the elite institutions is that it can sound supercilious and condescending.

Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]A problem with the "posh" accent that some people pick up at the elite institutions is that it can sound supercilious and condescending.[/nq]
Most of the people with that accent, experience teaches, are clueless ***. To assume that a person with that accent is probably a clueless *** is only playing the percentage shot.

SAm.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]A problem with the "posh" accent that some people pick up at the elite institutions is that it can sound supercilious and condescending.[/nq]
What would you think of a surgeon who greeted you with "How yer doin' me old *** sparrer; tek yer kecks off and let's have a butcher's at yer ***"? Or a privately-educated prime minister who deliberately cultivated a glottal stop in order to be seen as one of the common folk?
=20
Robin=20
(BrE)
Herts, England=20

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]A problem with the "posh" accent that some people pick up at the elite institutions is that it can sound supercilious and condescending.[/nq]
[nq:1]What would you think of a surgeon who greeted you with "How yer doin' me old *** sparrer; tek yer kecks off and let's have a butcher's at yer ***"?[/nq]
I'd think "WTF, I only came in with a sore throat."

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]A problem with the "posh" accent that some people pick up at the elite institutions is that it can sound supercilious and condescending.[/nq]
[nq:1]What would you think of a surgeon who greeted you with "How yer doin' me old *** sparrer; tek yer kecks off and let's have a butcher's at yer ***"?[/nq]

I mentioned accent not dialect.
[nq:1]Or a privately-educated prime minister who deliberately cultivated a glottal stop in order to be seen as one of the common folk?[/nq]
Who could you possibly be thinking of?

Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]What would you think of a surgeon who greeted you ... kecks off and let's have a butcher's at yer ***"?=20[/nq]
[nq:1] I mentioned accent not dialect.[/nq]
Just imagine Wallace Greenslade saying it.
[nq:2]Or a privately-educated prime minister who deliberately cultivated a glottal stop in order to be seen as one of the common folk?[/nq]
[nq:1]Who could you possibly be thinking of?[/nq]
I've forgotten.
=20
Robin=20
(BrE)
Herts, England=20

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