2007-07-10 01:39:56 · 19 answers · asked by animewarlord5000 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
Because, my dear fellow, it is a statement of fact.
2007-07-10 01:42:20 · answer #1 · answered by Doodie 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It comes from the Victorian era. Read any novel from that period and you'll see that the words are just fantastic. The English themselves, until about the time when the Empire fell, placed a great deal of stock in the manner in which they spoke. If you wanted to be considered socially upright, you had to speak in a very proper, very articulate, Victorian sort of manner. Of course, this was all mostly just a show, the majority of people spoke the same way they always had and continue to do so today.
2007-07-10 08:44:57 · answer #2 · answered by numbnuts 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the U.S., normally if there was an English character on a tv show or something, they were articulate, prissy, snotty people (not my opinion...they were supposed to be that way on tv). Most people here weren't exposed to shows such as Monty Python or Keeping Up Appearances (yeah, they're old shows, but the best examples) in which people had HORRIBLE grammar and you could barely understand them. I realized the stereotype when Frasier was around and Daphne's super-sloshed brother came on the show. Someone I knew said "OMG, where is that guy FROM? What accent is THAT?" I guess people just always assumed there were not "regular" people in England, and everyone went around in cloaks with large pipes in their mouths and cups of tea talking about classic novels.
2007-07-10 13:21:58 · answer #3 · answered by TruthSeeker 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Most are, I met an English guy a few years back in a computer store. Perfect, exact Queen's English. You would have thought he was an English professor. But just dumb as a bag of hammers.
2007-07-10 09:18:06 · answer #4 · answered by John L 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well it makes a change from the stereotype that we shave our heads, eat crap food, get pissed every Friday night and go round Europe looking for foreigners to beat up every time there's a football match.
2007-07-10 12:16:16 · answer #5 · answered by AndyB 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Thier accent sounds abnormal to Americans, and thier speach patterns tend to be more precise. This leads Americans to think that they are all using fantastic vocubularly, pronunciation, etc, just because American English is so relaxed and accented by comparison.
2007-07-10 08:44:28 · answer #6 · answered by Some dude 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
wouldn't say that, when I think of how they usually drop the H's or add additional vowels to words like fine to foin, Also the few Brits I have known, really play up the whole I'm a sexy brit with a great accent.
2007-07-10 08:47:49 · answer #7 · answered by carpathian mage 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
hmmm? is that a common English stereotype?
next you'll be saying that Irish people are drunks!
2007-07-10 08:45:42 · answer #8 · answered by john n 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
They sound so proper when they talk. Where i live, south Georgia, a brain surgeon could speak with our country accent and sound inarticulate.
2007-07-10 08:43:55 · answer #9 · answered by reggieg 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
its our secret PR prior to taking over the world's media and forcing everyone to listen to BBC Radio4. What, what!
2007-07-10 08:53:44 · answer #10 · answered by numbnuts222 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I really don't know the answer to this!!!!
Most of us are - the remainder, however, spoil that illusion. Fick as planks, a lot of em!!
2007-07-10 08:42:22 · answer #11 · answered by Sal*UK 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋