1940's accents?

Discussion in 'General' started by marcus69x, Nov 15, 2009.

  1. marcus69x

    marcus69x I love WW2 meah!!!

    What is it with the 1940's accents? Why does everyone from that era have that posh type of accent? That "oh Hello chaps" kind of twang.

    The guy who speaks to the German trying to surrender in A Bridge too far is a classic example.

    I just think it's strange that people don't talk like that now. Do our Vets on here sound like that? I doubt it. So why did people sound like that back in the 40's?

    Odd question I know, but it's just something which has always intrigued me.

    Cheers.
     
  2. urqh

    urqh Senior Member

    Did you not though see also the Brummie and Geordie blowing up the ammo store behind pillbox on bridge? Their accents defnately to the fore.."oh right corp" T he Welsh medic at end ..."morphines for the real wounded" Urquharts connery jock accent... Know what you mean but B.T.F is wrong movie to quote for that Now if youd said Battle of Britain..
     
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  3. urqh

    urqh Senior Member

    Think we have had a simlar thread...noticing all the escapees in movies from pow camps and most of pows are usually officers...BBC3 did a war documentary recently on ww2 movies and both these accents and officer enlisted man imbalance was highlighted.
     
  4. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Marcus

    1940's accents?
    What is it with the 1940's accents? Why does everyone from that era have that posh type of accent? That "oh Hello chaps" kind of twang.

    The guy who speaks to the German trying to surrender in A Bridge too far is a classic example.

    I just think it's strange that people don't talk like that now. Do our Vets on here sound like that? I doubt it. So why did people sound like that back in the 40's?

    Odd question I know, but it's just something which has always intrigued me.




    In the 40's there was a much sharper "divide" between what were described as the "working class" and the so-called "upper" class. In the main, the officer class were drawn strictly from the "upper" class and the non commissioned ranks from what were then considered to be the middle & lower classes.

    Then, in addition, the accents to which you refer above were mainly as shown on the cinema screens. In those days, the classes as portrayed in the films of those days were largely "gor-blimey" cockney characters or Noel Coward stiff upper lip, Naval officer types.

    By contrast, in today's climate and with most young people aspiring to a college education, the accents have almost disappeared.

    If your curiosity extends to wondering what my accent sounds like then click on the "Audio Clip" on my Blog Profile :)

    http://www.petergh.f2s.com/ron-audio.mp3

    Cheers !

    Ron
     
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  5. marcus69x

    marcus69x I love WW2 meah!!!

    Quality Ron. Nice one mate! There's a slight twinge to it at the end where you say Thank You. :)

    And a nice explanation too. As for upper class actors in cinemas etc, you also hear the accent on most newsreels from the time too. It's almost as if everyone from those days sounded the same.

    Yeah Bridge too far may be the wrong example but you all know what I'm getting at.

    Cheers.
     
  6. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Hot air manufacturer

    Oh, so it sounds Goldstin, not Goldstine. I had no idea :)
     
  7. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Za

    Back in my army days there was a saying that went:

    "You can call me anything you bloody well like, as long as you don't call me late for dinner"

    I've always settled for Ron :)
     
  8. Jamie Holdbridge-Stuart

    Jamie Holdbridge-Stuart Senior Member

    WW2 was fought in black and white with Kenneth More and Richard Todd playing the Occifers with plums in their gobs. Sam Kydd and Richard Attenborouh played the...

    "Cor blimey Sir, that was ruddy close!"

    Bits.

    :poppy:
     
  9. urqh

    urqh Senior Member

    well thee would say that wouldnt thou.
     
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  10. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Some people still speak like that Marcus, I promise you.

    Look up 'Received Pronunciation' for the technical term for it's purest form (the BBC insisted on it for decades), and bear in mind that many actors were Toffs (or wanted to be), or had risen through the music halls (or Rep) and learnt the 'correct' way to enunciate. it was just how it was done.

    I wish it was still in force for TV announcers... :unsure:
     
  11. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Some Officers still talk like that today - Listen to James Blunt (The singer). He's Ex Cavalry and speaks 'POSH'.

    I remember 7 Armd Bde's LEGO (legal officer) in Iraq...He was straight from the Raj and he was a right charactor who always refered to the locals as 'peasants'.

    'Corporall Newson!'

    'Sir!'

    'Get those damm peasants away from my Land Rover - Shoot them if you need too!'

    'Ermmm....Yes Sir!'


    The accents are still there it's just a case of are they in your social circle?

    Regards
    Andy
     
  12. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    interesting thread

    as an example
    on the local london news item the other day,there were 2 mature ladies with what I would call old fashioned cockney accents straight out of the 30/40's.

    The normal London accent in many areas is now turning into twockney
    "hello mate ows it going ,laters innit"

    anyway orvf to elocution lessons

    ow naw brawn caw
     
  13. urqh

    urqh Senior Member

    Leggit..youz too ..ders a scuffer up der jowler.
     
  14. James Daly

    James Daly Senior Member

    in Band of Brothers: "you're 'avin a bath if you think you're half-inchin that!"
     
  15. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist

    Haw, Ah canny unnerstaund aw yooze blidy Ing-lish yins by the way. Kin yis no talk the same as normal folk?:p
     
  16. Driver-op

    Driver-op WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Don't forget way back then you weren't allowed anywhere near a microphone unless you had an Oxford accent. Lord Reith insisted the news readers were to wear dinner jackets, and actors had to talk proper unless they were playing a cockney or northener when there was 'trooble at'mill'. Anyway officer had to talk posh otherwise they couldn't talk down to their batman.
     
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  17. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    A little bit of bread with a bit of butter on it =A li'le bi' of breab wiv a bi' of bu'er on i'

    Sociolinguistic issues of Cockney English:

    The Cockney accent is generally considered one of the broadest of the British accents and is heavily stimatized. It is considered to epitomize the working class accents of Londoners and in its more diluted form, of other areas. The area and its colorful characters and accents have often become the foundation for British "soap operas" and other television specials. Currently, the BBC is showing one of the most popular soaps set in this region, "East Enders" and the characters’ accents and lives within this television program provide wonderful opportunities for observers of language and culture.

    the above from an American web site about cockney English



    goday mary poppins
    im enry the eifth iy am
     
  18. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    The cockney slang was originally started by homosexuals who wanted to keep the sexuality secret and was used as a means of identify and communicating with each other.
     
  19. urqh

    urqh Senior Member

    And still is...whereas Scouse is spoken by mens men...
     
  20. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    just found this
    Where did Cockney Rhyming slang come from? Who invented it?

    The phenomenon of Cockney Rhyming Slang (or Rabbit) is a code of speaking in which a common word can be replaced by the whole or abbreviated form of a well-known phrase which rhymes with that word.

    Cockney Rhyming Slang has been evolving in the East End of London since the sixteenth century. It is thought to have originated from the seamen and soldiers who used the London docks, from the gypsies who arrived in the 1500’s, and from the Irish residents, the Jewish faction and all the other ethnic minorities which have made up the population of the East End.

    It is also said to have originated as a secret way of communicating by coster mongers when carrying out illegal street trade in the mid-nineteenth century and has evolved into a complex and often very confusing “language”.
     

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