pick an accent and stick with it
-
antoni109 — 12 years ago(January 29, 2014 06:50 PM)
Thanks for the thoughtful response.
Agree totally that a Scot would say they are Scottish first, and an Englishman might call themselves British first.
Of course all countries have regional accents - I'd argue that regional differences in England are more pronounced than, say, in the US, but I guess that could be debated. In Australia there are regional differences but these are almost imperceptible to an outsider, and I'd say the difference between urban Australia vs country Australia is more pronounced than say the difference between Melbourne and Brisbane.
On your final point, I would argue the countries are indeed separate countries but are all part of the sovereign state that is the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is not a country.
Anyways, the generic catch all of "the Brits" or "British" by North Americans still annoys me, but it clearly doesn't annoy you and you are English/British so live and let live I say. -
antoni109 — 12 years ago(January 29, 2014 09:15 PM)
Not exactly. They are constituent countries within the
larger country of Great Britain.
I stand corrected, you said Great Britain was a country.
Unfortunately you are still wrong, Great Britain is an island, but not a country. Do you want to continue?
-
antoni109 — 12 years ago(January 31, 2014 06:09 PM)
You are entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts. There is no composite country of "Great Britain". It simply doesn't exist as a political entity. It has no government, legislature, police force, civil service.
As we've already discussed the United Kingdom is the sovereign state, composed of the countries of England, Wales, etc etc. There once was the Kingdom of Great Britain but as a political entity that no longer exists.
So well played thus far Stirchley, but you just lost. And the worst of it is is that an Australian knows more about the political geography of your own island than you do.
Prove me wrong. -
antoni109 — 12 years ago(January 31, 2014 08:52 PM)
And it's not. It's a sovereign state, but it's not a country. You seem to have trouble with the concept, check it out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_state
Great Britain is neither a country nor a sovereign state. Keep floggin' that horse though brother. -
Stirchley — 12 years ago(February 03, 2014 01:31 PM)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_countries_map_2.png
Back at ya. (BTW, I'm a
sister
, not a brother.) -
antoni109 — 12 years ago(February 03, 2014 10:12 PM)
Oops, my mistake sis.
So it seems that a sovereign state (eg the UK) can be considered a country (even though it's composed of subordinate countries) so you win that round.
However the Isle of Britain is still not a country -
Stirchley — 12 years ago(February 05, 2014 11:55 AM)
subordinate countries
Constituent
countries, not subordinate.
the Isle of Britain is still not a country
Probably because there is no such thing. There is the
island of Great Britain
or maybe you are referring to
the British Isles
, which is a whole other story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Isles -
AlPacinosBambino — 10 years ago(February 02, 2016 02:11 PM)
I have to say I agree that 'the idea of a "British" accent is nonsensical'. I am not sure what a British accent sounds like.
The other poster was right, there are too many different variations (I am referring to Scottish and Welsh accents mainly) for this term to be considered correct. I have always thought it was a term people use to describe an english accent, erroneously.
Stirchley, perhaps you have had experience of this accent and can tell me what it sounds like.
I am from Scotland, and have lived here all my life, so I consider myself qualified enough to comment on this post.
Great film. Bettany's accent was a bit all over the place though!
