General Chat

Did people really talk the way they're doing on Miss Marple? That's a jolly good idea. Frightfully ingenious dear chum blah blah blah?

Air hellair Daniel! Jolly hockey sticks and what-ho!! Mandy :)

Indeed madam indeed. Shall we take tea?

cant stop old bean , toodle pip heheh

And fancy walking along the beach in a bowler hat!

Oh of corrrrrrrrse of corrrrrrrse. Oh how on earth did that slip my mind. It's a jolly spiffing game which I am sure you all agree.

Ah wait there Mandy. I have pic of my cousin posing for the camera in a rain coat and hat on a beach in Australia. 1940's Madness!

Only if one went to the right school, y'know. Jolly topping! In my family, we knew our place, guv. nell

I often wonder when I see a 19th century costume drama - did they really talk posh like that? I can accept the words they use, as that's the way it is in novels, but was it really "received pronunciation" whether in Yorkshire or Cornwall?

Geoff I think it highly unlikely, especially as they didn't have BBC with announcers wearing bowties to tell them how to say things proper like. I believe George Orwell made some remarks about this in his long essay on Dickens - that the hero of "Hard Times" although working class Lancashire, spoke without a trace of an accent, and that what really made David Copperfield angry about Uriah Heep is that he dropped his aitches. nell

Nell There is an overview of RP here: http://www.yaelf.*com/rp.shtml On a slightly different tack, I looked at the GR photopages last night - please tell me you were wearing a short, dark wig for the photo, or one of life's fantasies will be forever shattered!

My Grandparents, both born at the turn of the century and both from working-class northern backgrounds spoke properly, with upperclass accents. Where they learned to do this, or why, I do not know. I can remember being told off as a child for using "slang" - something like "jolly good show". (If they could hear me now!!!!) My Grandfather gave me a lecture on the importance of speaking properly, saying that sloppy speech and regional accents meant that people from other parts of the country, or even other parts of the world, might not understand you. I have never entirely agreed with this, however I have noticed that some TV announcers have pronounced regional accents which drive me mad! In answer to the question, yes, I think many people did speak like this in the early years after the war, even if it was only in public, probably lapsing into their normal way of speaking in private.

Just checked the 1881 census and there are 135 Featherstonehaughs and around 20 Cholmondely's. I wonder how long it took their descendents to change to Fanshaw and Chumley (and how many Featherstonehaughs still exist today) ? Can anyone remember the Two Ronnies sketch when he was trying to buy a pair of 'Brine Trysers' - absolute classic !

I have a feeling it was also the Two Ronnies that had a sketch about going to the 'Rose and Cryne public Hyse but having to leave as it was full of lytes - lots of lytes, shiting abite' !