Topic: Lily Allen- Inform The American

[Guybrush]

I’ll have Miss OddKidd over Miss Allen any day of the week.

What’s all this language business about, anyway? Has anyone ever caught her speaking RP English? Here’s what she wrote on the LDN Is a Victim MySpace page. You be the judge:

So what if w'ere middle class ? Just cause your mum was too lazy to get her fat ass up off the sofa and make some cash . I shouldn't be able to make tunes yeah ? ( which is more than you're doing by the way . ) Kate nash is well better than you , as are all the other people you talk about .
Anyways im off to meet Jack Penate , Jamie T and the maccabees , for cucumber and cheese sandwiches in the conservatory . Thanks for the song it really has made us see the light , now we know where we belong .

 

[IdleRich]

"....and all your accents sound similar to us, anyway."

Complete digression here but it's something I've been wondering about, how easily can you tell how "posh" someone is in the US by the way they talk? The reason I ask is that people often say that GW Bush is able to come across very much as an every day man of the people blue-collar kinda guy despite the obvious privileges of his up-bringing. In the UK it would not be possible for, say, Prince William to do that because his voice immediately reveals that he went to a public school and associates with a certain type of person.

 

[Guybrush]

Complete digression here but it's something I've been wondering about, how easily can you tell how "posh" someone is in the US by the way they talk? The reason I ask is that people often say that GW Bush is able to come across very much as an every day man of the people blue-collar kinda guy despite the obvious privileges of his up-bringing. In the UK it would not be possible for, say, Prince William to do that because his voice immediately reveals that he went to a public school and associates with a certain type of person.

I think William Buckley has a semi-foppish, bordering on affected, pronunciation. Occasionally, John Kerry has, too.

 

[IdleRich]

Can't listen at work unfortunately.

 

[Logan Sama]

There's probably only about 4 internationally recognised American accents.

Which is weird because you essentially own the world's media.

There's a bunch of really different accents in the UK, which again is weird because it is such a small country. Like a Mancunian doesn't sound anything like a cockney who doesn't sound anything like someone from Cornwall, who sounds nothing like a Welshman who sounds nowt like a Scotsman.

 

[Mr. Tea]

All countries have regional accents, I'm sure, but I think the UK is meant to have an especially rich assortment.

 

[Freakaholic]

Ok, going to sleep last night, and my roommate left the TV on, heard what appeared to be a ska song on Leno. "what??? ska on leno... this isnt the 90s".....

listened to the song smile and, while her voice annoyed me at first, and her face and outfit even more, her voice grew on me as she repeated that chorus over and over and over and over.

so, im to the point now where i really like that song, if only because i cant get it out of my head. listened to the rest on myspace and it all bores the crap outta me.

and yes, this is the first time ive heard ms A.

how easily can you tell how "posh" someone is in the US by the way they talk? The reason I ask is that people often say that GW Bush is able to come across very much as an every day man of the people blue-collar kinda guy despite the obvious privileges of his up-bringing.

George Bush sounds "working class" because, well, frankly he comes off as stupid. He doesnt use words that have more than 2 syllables, talks a bit slow, has a bit of a rural southern twang, and has that whole "down to earth" manner of speaking which is very unordinary for a politician, or even a newscaster. frankly i find it grating and, 2 years into his first term had to stop listening to him speak. i dont think i missed much.

 

[swears]

I heard a really awful drum and bass remix of "Smile" the other week on a night out. Imagine the worst post-No U Turn "slamming" 170 bpm beat with the vocal stuck over the top, horrible.

 

[crackerjack]

All countries have regional accents, I'm sure, but I think the UK is meant to have an especially rich assortment.

That so? Dunnit make you proud, (though in 20 years time I reckon half the country will be speaking estuary)

 

[Mr. Tea]

That so? Dunnit make you proud, (though in 20 years time I reckon half the country will be speaking estuary)

I really hope not. Innit.

 

[ripley]

in the US, Southern accents are coded as dumb and maybe poor, for the most part

But I would say as far as accents go, in the US region is intertwined with class. Almost all local/regional accents are more often associated with working-class folks. I've noticed that people who go to college, especially private ones, tend to all come out talking the same, regardless of location, and to a great extent regardless of where they came from.

The town I grew up in in Massachusetts had a very thick accent. But folks who left it (in general or to go to college) tended to lose it, usually because of pressure/mockery/not being taken seriously.

then again, there is an old New England upper class accent as well - New England Lockjaw, they call it. Try speaking while keeping your teeth together the whole time and you have it. But I'm not sure that translates even to California - not sure it would be understood as such.

and the only time I heard Lily Allen it was in a shop and almost the entire song (lyrics and some instrumental) was sung simultaneous with "Valley of the Shadows" - not even a sample. What's the point?

 

[Eric]

There's probably only about 4 internationally recognised American accents.

Which is weird because you essentially own the world's media.

There's a bunch of really different accents in the UK, which again is weird because it is such a small country. Like a Mancunian doesn't sound anything like a cockney who doesn't sound anything like someone from Cornwall, who sounds nothing like a Welshman who sounds nowt like a Scotsman.

maybe this is b/c the uk has a longer history of english speaking? most of it without high-speed mass media, which tends to homogenize things.

 

[IdleRich]

"That so? Dunnit make you proud, (though in 20 years time I reckon half the country will be speaking estuary)"

I thought that although this is what people have been predicting for years recent surveys have shown that in fact the opposite is occurring ie not only are regional accents as diverse and strong as ever but several new accents have sprung up due to combinations such as Birmingham/Bangladeshi or Jamaican/Cockney or whatever.

"in the US, Southern accents are coded as dumb and maybe poor, for the most part"

So Bush can come across as poor (if not really when you think about it but in terms of immediate sub-conscious reaction) due to the fact that he's from a Southern state (and he uses short words)?

 

[Logan Sama]

Lily Allen aside from being cyniclly marketed, completely devoid of any sort of real character or the ability to actually sing well, does record songs which are incredibly infectious yet pleasurable to contract.

But then so is gonorrhea

 

[ripley]

I thought that although this is what people have been predicting for years recent surveys have shown that in fact the opposite is occurring ie not only are regional accents as diverse and strong as ever but several new accents have sprung up due to combinations such as Birmingham/Bangladeshi or Jamaican/Cockney or whatever.


So Bush can come across as poor (if not really when you think about it but in terms of immediate sub-conscious reaction) due to the fact that he's from a Southern state (and he uses short words)?

yes, you've got it. that's his "down-home appeal."

Dude lived in Connecticut as well and is rich -hereditary rich, even not self-made- as the day is long, but somehow the accent wins people over. some of them.

it's all affect.

 

[Freakaholic]

What little respect i had for her for including ska in her repertoire has now been eroded:

---U.K. pop singer Lily Allen has cancelled most of her May-June U.S. tour because she is "tired," and believes her live show of late has been sub-par.

Allen revealed the news on her MySpace page, admitting that she's been "getting really drunk" recently, and has become "so nervous about doing bad shows." ---


Axl Rose would have never, ever cancelled a show because he was drinking too much.

 

[Logos]

The perennial complaint of British artists trying to break the States.

 

[Logan Sama]

Yeh that pesky 'having to actually do some work' must be most discouraging to prospective millionaire artists.

Bloody idiot girl. Makes it harder for the rest of new British artists to get a chance.

 

[Poisonous Dart]

True enough....

What little respect i had for her for including ska in her repertoire has now been eroded:

---U.K. pop singer Lily Allen has cancelled most of her May-June U.S. tour because she is "tired," and believes her live show of late has been sub-par.

Allen revealed the news on her MySpace page, admitting that she's been "getting really drunk" recently, and has become "so nervous about doing bad shows." ---


Axl Rose would have never, ever cancelled a show because he was drinking too much.

Yeah...he would've just gone onstage and made a drunk ass of himself and disrespected the entire paying audience (and himself and his music) in the process. One.

 

[Freakaholic]

Yeah...he would've just gone onstage and made a drunk ass of himself and disrespected the entire paying audience (and himself and his music) in the process. One.

I take it you dont like Axl? Or is particular brand of on-stage shenanigans? How about Jim Morrison? Janis Joplin?