And then there are those Americans who say warsh instead of wash
(appropriately making Washington Warshington).

On Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:07:26 -0400, Marc wrote
(in article
63345cb5-7e19-4961-8fe9-e5d64fb41...@m3g2000hsc.googlegroups.com>):

And then there are those Americans who say warsh instead of wash
(appropriately making Washington Warshington).

That's the local Washingtonian way of saying it.

On Apr 10, 8:50 pm, "Adrian Bailey" <da...@hotmail.com> wrote:


2. Do you really think that 4-year-olds are picked on for the way they talk?
By whom? The other kids? The teachers? If he _is_ picked on, or if he feels
uncomfortably different, you'll discover that at his age he'll learn to
conform in no time. Whatever transpires, there's no need for any
"retraining".


At age 5+ I wasn't exactly 'picked on' but I did have to answer an
inordinate number of inquiries along the lines of 'Speak (or 'talk')
some English!' This from native speakers of the language in
Massachusetts, when we emigrated there from Lancashire. Of course,
the same Bay Staters also badgered us with 'Do you know the Queen?',
'Have you met the Beatles?', and 'I love your accent, are you from
Australia?' They also frequently offered us English muffins under the
impression that so doing would make us feel 'at home'.

I didn't lose my accent until I was about 14. By the time I was about
17 I had decided that the local accents of the places where I'd been
living (the aforesaid Bay State and upstate New York) were a bit too
extreme for future use, so chose myself a different accent when I went
to university.

I am no longer asked any of the above questions, but I doubt the
accent change is the reason.

On Apr 10, 7:16 pm, Robert Bannister <robb...@bigpond.com> wrote:

Martha N. wrote:

I'm American but live in England with my English husband. Our
three-year-old must've picked up his speech from me, because he
pronounces some things the American way, especially the d for t
in words like "wadder" and "nawdy" (water and naughty).

We plan to stay here and I don't want him to be picked on in
school for the way he talks.

Can we retrain him not to sound American? How?

Is it too late? Or will he automatically pick up the local
pronunciations when he spends more time with local people?

Children always conform to peer groups (although rarely to parents). He
will quickly pick up the local accent whether you want him to or not.


Not always. My advisor's younger son, last I saw him, had an accent
much like his parents' New York accents, though he had spent all his
life (early teens at the time) in Illinois.

A bit of American would probably be considered rather glamorous anyway,
your child might be admired for it rather than bullied. But likelihood
is he'll grow up able to switch it on when talking to you, and switch
it off when talking at school.

On Fri, 11 Apr 2008, Welches wrote:
"Martha N." <martha@NOSPAM.invalid> wrote in message

I'm American but live in England with my English husband. Our
three-year-old must've picked up his speech from me, because he
pronounces some things the American way, especially the d for t
in words like "wadder" and "nawdy" (water and naughty).

I've found the replies interesting.
My parents were from the midlands and say things like "b-ar-th" and
"gr-ar-ss". I was brought up in the north where it's a short "a" rather than
"ar".

We need to remember, when communicating with Americans, that they
pronounce their 'r's. So what you write as "ar", they will think of
as symbolising "arrr". You could write it as "ah" to convey the
difference between southern and northern "bath", "grass" etc,
(then you will only confuse Russians, Arabs, etc, who pronounce their 'h's

and so will think you mean something like "ba-cough-th" where
"cough" represents a guttural sound we don't have in English).

Matthew Huntbach

"Matthew Huntbach" <mmh@dcs.qmul.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:alpine.LRH.1.10.0804111218560.31345@frank.dcs.qmul.ac.uk...

On Fri, 11 Apr 2008, Welches wrote:

My parents were from the midlands and say things like
"b-ar-th" and "gr-ar-ss". I was brought up in the north
where it's a short "a" rather than "ar".

We need to remember, when communicating with Americans,
that they pronounce their 'r's.

So what you write as "ar", they will think of as
symbolising "arrr".

You could write it as "ah" to convey the difference
between southern and northern "bath", "grass" etc,

(then you will only confuse Russians, Arabs, etc, who
pronounce their 'h's

Russians pronounce their 'h's? I didn't know they had any.
How do they write them down?

and so will think you mean something like "ba-cough-th"
where "cough" represents a guttural sound we don't have
in English).

Russians pronounce their 'h's? I didn't know they had any.
How do they write them down?

We plan to stay here and I don't want him to be picked on in
school for the way he talks.


Can we retrain him not to sound American? How?

Is it too late? Or will he automatically pick up the local
pronunciations when he spends more time with local people?
for any advice.

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:55:10 +1200, Paul J Kriha
paul.nospam.kr...@paradise.net.nz> wrote in
news:4800329a$1@clear.net.nz> in
sci.lang,uk.people.parents,alt.usage.english:

"Matthew Huntbach" <m...@dcs.qmul.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:alpine.LRH.1.10.0804111218560.31345@frank.dcs.qmul.ac.uk...
On Fri, 11 Apr 2008, Welches wrote:

[...]

My parents were from the midlands and say things like
"b-ar-th" and "gr-ar-ss". I was brought up in the north
where it's a short "a" rather than "ar".
We need to remember, when communicating with Americans,
that they pronounce their 'r's.

A majority of Americans are rhotic, but by no means all.

So what you write as "ar", they will think of as
symbolising "arrr".

Depends on where you're writing.  I can think of a couple of
newsgroups in which many of the Americans would understand.

You could write it as "ah" to convey the difference
between southern and northern "bath", "grass" etc,

This, however, is indeed safer.

(then you will only confuse Russians, Arabs, etc, who
pronounce their 'h's
Russians pronounce their 'h's? I didn't know they had any.  
How do they write them down?  :-)

They think 'this is really Ukrainian' very loudly while
writing the fourth letter of the alphabet.

and so will think you mean something like "ba-cough-th"
where "cough" represents a guttural sound we don't have
in English).

There are two common articulations of American /r/, and
neither is guttural.

Children always conform to peer groups (although rarely to parents). He
will quickly pick up the local accent whether you want him to or not.

This is true. YoungBloke is linguistically a Mancunian despite my being
a southerner and OldBloke being a West Countryman. That's from nursery.
Once he starts school in September his accent will change to Wet Yorks.

Martha - my son (4) is aware that some people say things differently. He
spent a happy five minutes recently saying "bahthroom, bathroom,
bahthroom, bathroom". At home he is more likely to talk about the
bahthroom but at nursery about the bathroom. No teasing or bullying goes
on.

On 2008-04-11 11:52:09 +0200, Matthew Huntbach <mmh@dcs.qmul.ac.uk> said:

[ ... ]



A bit of American would probably be considered rather glamorous anyway,
your child might be admired for it rather than bullied.

That is certainly true. Most people in Europe (especially children)
think that American television programmes present an accurate picture
of American life, and consequently find the idea of being Amerrican
very glamorous.

But likelihood
is he'll grow up able to switch it on when talking to you, and switch
it off when talking at school.

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:55:10 +1200, Paul J Kriha
paul.nospam.kriha@paradise.net.nz> wrote in
news:4800329a$1@clear.net.nz> in
sci.lang,uk.people.parents,alt.usage.english:
"Matthew Huntbach" <mmh@dcs.qmul.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:alpine.LRH.1.10.0804111218560.31345@frank.dcs.qmul.ac.uk...
On Fri, 11 Apr 2008, Welches wrote:

[...]

My parents were from the midlands and say things like
"b-ar-th" and "gr-ar-ss". I was brought up in the north
where it's a short "a" rather than "ar".

We need to remember, when communicating with Americans,
that they pronounce their 'r's.

A majority of Americans are rhotic, but by no means all.

So what you write as "ar", they will think of as
symbolising "arrr".

Depends on where you're writing. I can think of a couple of
newsgroups in which many of the Americans would understand.

You could write it as "ah" to convey the difference
between southern and northern "bath", "grass" etc,

This, however, is indeed safer.

(then you will only confuse Russians, Arabs, etc, who
pronounce their 'h's

Russians pronounce their 'h's? I didn't know they had any.
How do they write them down? :-)

They think 'this is really Ukrainian' very loudly while
writing the fourth letter of the alphabet.

and so will think you mean something like "ba-cough-th"
where "cough" represents a guttural sound we don't have
in English).

There are two common articulations of American /r/, and
neither is guttural.

Brian