Don't you just hate it when this happens......

[ad_orientem]

I too have heard this discussed a couple of times on FiveLive! However, I would like to tell the professor of accents that to drop the T sound or use a glottal stop instead is actually laziness. To make the t sound, a slight movement of the tongue is required and is easily taught, but no-one can tell a lovely, caring mother who is happily teaching her little girl to say 'bu'on' - which I actually saw once - that she is missing something.

For those in regular broadcasting, to be able to speak with t and'ing' sounds should be a requirement. It is not an affectation to do that, it makes for clarity for all.

You mean only posh people should be on telly then?

[Roses]

There is nothing 'posh' about being able to speak correctly.

[Anchorman]

There is nothing 'posh' about being able to speak correctly.

   


Correctly?
By whose standard, pray?

[Roses]

   


Correctly?
By whose standard, pray?

By the standard of English grammar.

[SusanDoris]

There is nothing 'posh' about being able to speak correctly.

Agreed, although I think it is more a case of speaking clearly so that all listeners can enjoy the programme.

[Anchorman]

By the standard of English grammar.

   
There IS no 'standard' English grammer set down in law.

[SteveH]

   
There IS no 'standard' English grammer set down in law.

There are generally accepted standards of grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and to suggest otherwise is to surrender to the barbarians.
It's "grammar", by the way.

[Anchorman]

There are generally accepted standards of grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and to suggest otherwise is to surrender to the barbarians.
It's "grammar", by the way.

   


Are you suggesting that the English which was in common usage before the Brummie bard was 'barbarian'? And 'Grammar, 'Greamer', 'Gramayre', etc, were perfectly aceptable before some snob in Oxbridge deemed otherwise.

[jeremyp]

   


Are you suggesting that the English which was in common usage before the Brummie bard was 'barbarian'? And 'Grammar, 'Greamer', 'Gramayre', etc, were perfectly aceptable before some snob in Oxbridge deemed otherwise.

When you consider that, at the time of "The Brummie Bard", being a catholic priest and celebrating the Catholic Mass would get you hung, drawn and quartered in England, yes, these people were barbarians by our standards.