Accents

Writes Ryan McMaken:

The article you posted on 1920s english reminded me that I think the last working relic of old-school pronunciations retired last year when Vin Scully retired after 63 years as the Dodgers announcer. I bought an MLB.tv subscription a couple of years ago, and ended up watching probably more than 100 games called by Scully in his last two years. If you listened carefully, you could still pick up his northeastern broadcaster’s accent. When he said “errors” for instance, he pronounced it “eras.” There were a couple other tell-tale signs too, but none spring to mind at the moment.

As a fan of old-time radio, I’d have to say he sounded at times a little like George Jessel or 1940s George Burns.

Nowadays, every single person in broadcasting sounds like he’s from Nebraska. Or they have the hated (by me) “proper” English accent.

I have a similar accent to the Nebraska one (mine has a little California in it) and I like the accent, but the world would be more interesting if we heard from more accents every now and then. Only the working classes still maintain any local flavor.

I remember a while back you posted a video of the old Boston Brahmin accent. I realized that even a conversation about grocery shopping becomes fascinating with enough variety in accents. My grandmother had the remnants of a Mexican borderlands accent – she said “jess” instead of “yes.” It was fun to listen to. If it’s diversity we want, let’s cultivate some diversity in accents.

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1:47 pm on February 17, 2017