On 6/12/2015 11:30 PM, Tom Gardner wrote:
On 06/12/15 12:05, Fran Farmer wrote:
On 6/12/2015 8:25 PM, Martin wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 09:12:51 +1100, Fran Farmer
wrote:

On 6/12/2015 8:43 AM, Christina Websell wrote:
"David Hill" wrote in message
...
On 05/12/2015 20:44, Christina Websell wrote:


Americans think they speak English, I can assure them that they
don't.



Glad that has been sorted out once and for all.

grin Americans used to speak English once: now it's American.

I saw a very interesting TV show quite a few years ago on just this
topic. It suggested that the English now spoken by Americans is more
like the English spoken in the UK a few centuries ago than the sort of
English now spoken in the UK.

The show cited both words still used by Americans that have changed use
over time in the UK and the accent. One example I recall is the way
Americans still use the word "kettle" (ie, a cooking pot, not a spouted
water boiling thingamabob) which is the way it used to be used in
the UK
centuries ago. Also the accent in the long "a" when American say
"bath"
is the way it used to be said in the UK centuries ago.

The way bath is pronounced in UK depends on where one comes from.

Do those places in the UK pronounce "bath" with a long "a" in an American
fashion or do you just mean that there are regional variations of the
way the
word "bath" is said?

In the NW at least it is pronounced with a short "a", whereas
in the south it is pronounced "barth" with a long "a".

When I used the term "long 'a'" I was trying to convey how I've heard
Americans say 'bath' which is less like 'barth' but more like the 'a' in
'bat'. I'm sure there is some symbol that applies and which would tell
more knowledgeable peeps instantly how I menat it to sound, but every
time I've tried to figure out what my dictionary means by it's symbols,
I've lost the will to live.

I have no idea how it is pronounced in Glaswegian or Geordie.

:-)) Regional dialects are very interesting IMO