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Fran Farmer · 08-12-2015, 07:31 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening

On 8/12/2015 6:40 AM, Janet wrote:
In article ,
says...

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 hear American bath as having the long A in Mary. Which is nothing
like the long-A (barth) bath heard in UK

:-)) I've been sitting here saying "Mary" multiple times and there is no
way known that I can't get Mary to sound anything like the American way
of saying bath. Darned Colonial accent up against Anglo/Scots
accent!!!! The things one does as a result of reading newsgroups....

Janet (short a)

That one I can say!