British English vs Julian Marshall

From a Historical perspective, I’m inclined to agree. The English of the British Empire pre-dates that which was as bastardized by North Americans as it was by Australians. But then, I think it’s fair to conclude that the majority of the world’s population, regardless of what language they speak, has long since decided that British Colonialism sucked pucky balls, so the condescending Brits can sod right off.

A Prime BBC Global Example of Perfect English

…sucks aloud. I’m talking about Julian Marshall, famously of “BBC News Aahh”.

Lazy git will not pronounce the trailing “R” in most words. But he does not get to excuse himself by claiming he has a speech impediment or accent which doesn’t include the pronunciation of the “R” sound. He will clearly enunciate the “R” at the beginning or in the middle of words. He will sometimes (though rarely) accidentally correctly enunciate the trailing “R” of some words. So he can do it – he chooses not to, like a spoiled child.

But what’s worse, is the ever-so-uppity Julian Marshall will add a trailing “R” that is not even there. Just yesterday he said “Eboler” (Ebola) at least a dozen times. But that, at least, can be decoded on the fly because “Eboler” is clearly not a word. So in context, I can tell what the hell he meant.

Worse than that, Marshall concluded an interview with someone who he said was a “Professor of Lore” at some University. Seriously… Professor of Lore. That could actually be a thing. “Lore” is a word, and is a subject of study. What’s so god-damned hard about enunciating “Law”?! It’s almost exactly how you pronounce “Hour” except it begins with a different consonant!

There Are People Who Do, And People Who Don’t

To counter the Queen’s tweet with something more accurate, there are people who speak English in such a manner as to be easily and readily understandable by the largest swath of possible listeners, and those who don’t.

Fantastic examples of those who do:

• Dan Rather – who does not speak with a thick Southern drawl. A slight one when he’s tired (late night election coverage, for example).
• Tom Brokaw – who does not sound like he’s from Canada (except that he’s very polite).
• The entire Monty Python cast, except when they’re mocking a regional accent.
• Nigel Lythgoe.
• Her Majesty, The Queen.

I could go on and on. The point is, I have no problem understanding someone from the UK who speaks English properly. I would have no problem adopting UK English pronunciation, in a situation where that would be preferable. But a Boston, MA or Pensacola, FL accent is as grating to me as a Cockney accent is. Point being, by percentage, there are as many people in Britain who suck at pronunciation of English, as there are in North America.

The Brits are, I concede, absolutely correct about “Aluminium”. Given the names of other elements, the US scientists and educators flat out got that one wrong. That is every bit as stupid as substituting “F” for “TH” or “innit” for “don’t you think”.

But anyway, in conclusion, I like listening to the BBC journalists’ view of the United States, and our embarrassingly English-non-fluent fake President. I just cannot stand Julian Marshall. Not because he makes occasional mistakes, but because I’m convinced he mispronounces things on purpose. And if he’s going to do that, he should not be on the radio.