Annoyances

[chrishansenhome]

First, that Massachusetts elected a Republican to the Senate seat held by John F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy. Enough said about that: I'm not close enough to Massachusetts politics to be able to complain intelligently about it. But, in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a very large margin, isn't it natural to expect that Democrats will, all things being equal, put up competent candidates, run competent campaigns, and more often than not, be elected to office? And why haven't they learned the lessons taught by the succession of Republican governors the Commonwealth has elected?

Second, the BBC's pronunciation rules. The British pronounce the name of the Dutch artist Van Gogh as "van goch" with the "ch" being a slightly less emphatic form of the Scots "ch" in "loch". There is a Van Gogh exhibition here in London at the moment, and it's been in the news daily, and every time I hear them pronounce his name I wince. Americans pronounce it "van go", of course.

But what really irks me is that, while in this case the BBC bends over backwards to pronounce the name as the Dutch do, when they pronounce American words, especially place names, they take no account of American pronunciations. BBC announcers pronounce the name of the state in which Baltimore is located as "MAY-ree-land", not "MEH-rih-l'nd". I have heard them pronounce the name of the state in which Detroit is located as "MITCH-i-gan", rather than "MISH-i-gan". There are other instances of this which I can't remember now (no coffee yet).

I should found a Facebook group: Get the BBC to pronounce American place names correctly.

I need to go and forage for breakfast.

Comments

[misc-negro.livejournal.com]

so my question is... is it standardized across the channel? Do all anchors and on air personalities pronounce it the same?
I would actually be impressed if that was the case because lord knows they cant get on the same page when I watch the news here.

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

I only listen to Radio 4 and occasionally watch BBC1 TV. They all pronounce Maryland that way, but MICH-i-gan is dying out.

There is a BBC pronunciation guide, I believe.

[misc-negro.livejournal.com]

A pronunciation guide! SWEET.
Over my years working Tech Support I've grown to LOVE accents. Its always been a fun game trying to decide where somebody was from based on accents and the words they used. You're from the sates so you probably know that mostly tv stations here try to get news anchors from the local surrounding area or from the Midwest, Kansas to be exact because the voices are either familiar or so mold-able that nobody will care. In IT they wanted tech support in the south because we talked slower. So lots of call centers in Texas, Georgia and Northern Florida. And people trust somebody with a southern accent more than a fast talking new yorker or too laid baid Californian.

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

At one time the BBC only employed people who spoke RP (Received Pronunciation). RP is what the Queen speaks. Very few others use it now.

About 20 years ago the BBC moved to acknowledging regional accents and employing newsreaders who used their own regional accents rather than speaking RP.

So there are newsreaders who speak with a Northern Irish accent (Kathy Klugston, @kathyclugston on Twitter), with Welsh accents (the main newsreader on BBC1 Television, Huw Edwards), Scottish accents (John Humphreys, one of the main anchors on Radio 4's breakfast news show Today), and regional English accents (lots of the sports reporters have heavy regional accents).

I admit that Glaswegian (think Trainspotters) is almost incomprehensible to me. However, lots of the call centres are in Scotland, specifically around Glasgow (except for the ones that are in India) and I have had difficulty understanding the agent when I needed Sky satellite TV support.

I have not yet been here long enough to identify lots of the regional accents. And I so rarely hear American accents now that I have lost the ability to differentiate between general Midwest and, say, Chicago.

[momshapedbox.livejournal.com]

They would really butcher WORCESTER!!!

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

We have a Worcester here, and it's pronounced the same way here as it is there.

It's Americans who are more likely to pronounce it WOR-ches-ter rather than WUS-ter.

[tim1965.livejournal.com]

In a BBC documentary about the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, they have to talk about the city of Walla Walla, Washington.

Americans pronounced it "WALL-ah WALL-ah."

The Beeb decided it was "wall-AH wall-AH."

The class in which I saw this doc erupted in laughter for about three minutes. Sadly, the announcer says the city's name about 20 times over the next half-hour. It took two professors and a custodian to calm everyone down.

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

And Brits laugh when some American stops them on a London street and asks where "LAI-ches-ter" Square is (rather than "LESS-ter").

It is to laugh.

[tim1965.livejournal.com]

What about "LIE-ster"? :)

But if any American knows his Monty Python and has heard the "Election Results" skit from "Live at the Hollywood Bowl" or "The Final Rip-Off," then you'd know it was "LESS-ter."