Standard of English on BBC


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I am not a snob having been born and raised in Radford but on the BBC local weather tonight just before 7pm we were informed, and I quote

'it will be a bit more fresher'

I would prefer the BBC to be proper like what I do.

Is it me?

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I am not a snob having been born and raised in Radford but on the BBC local weather tonight just before 7pm we were informed, and I quote 'it will be a bit more fresher' I would prefer the BBC to b

I'm sure I'm not alone in my irritation at the use of the word 'like' which so many people use in their conversations these days. For example: "I was like really upset..." or "I was like, what do you

Accents give people character, I have lived among the "Black Country Accent" for most of my life now; and now I understand them, I quite like it. Some of my husbands family originate from Tipton, refe

No tain't yo Letsavago................bet she had 'upspeak'.as well................lol.

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I've just had the gross misfortune to catch a snippet of Eastenders on BBC1. Disgraceful pronunciation and a complete and utter bastardisation of our beautiful language.

I'm sure Vicki Pollard from Little Britain has a lot to answer for. I can't grasp why teachers don't come down hard on this from a very early age. Diabolical !

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The standard of the BBC English has deteriorated over the years not just with the pronunciation but also the phrases that they use. The local weather presenters on the BBC really use some strange phrases especially from the male one.

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Fly2, in order to come down hard on poor use of English, it is necessary to be able to recognise the errors. Have you listened to some primary teachers recently? I have and it's cringeworthy! When I trained to be a teacher...many moons ago...things were very different.

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That's exactly the problem. Continually lowering the standards.

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The situation today has reached a crisis. Very few people want to teach. I don't blame them! I wouldn't go back to it now for all the tea in China. When there's a dearth of applicants, you have to make do with what is available.

As for standards of written English and nursery nurses, don't get me started on that one!

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There are many third world countries where it isn't considered elitist and, if one wishes to hear English spoken correctly nowadays, those would be the places to find it! Sad but true.

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No, it's not elitist, it's just common sense which seems in very short supply these days!

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Just a symptom of the times I'm afraid. I grew up when Sylvia Peters was a tv announcer. She spoke clearly and correctly. Some folks made fun of BBC English then for being too stuffy etc. I remember a kid being corrected in school for using the word "telly". He was told the word is television. Occasionally on the news here where some text is required words are spelt wrongly. Not just typos, clearly somebody who just cannot spell.

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Some real 'howlers' on things such as BBC News captions etc.

However, I've just been reading a couple of threads on here and there are some glaring ones from long time and well respected posters.. No names, no pack drill, as they say.

Language, and usage changes. We can't put the language into the deep freeze. But, this doesn't mean that anything goes.

E.g. 'We need to support are team' is just plain wrong.

' We should of won that game', is wrong.

A dam is a construction designed to hold back water. Damn is mostly a verb. Damned is an adjective.

Col

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Reckon twas me with the 'Dam/ Damn' Col. remember writing it and thinking don't look right,.....my spelling got worse as ive got older,and my use of proper Grammar def' aint up to scratch lol.........but then again methinks folk understand what i'm saying........and i was only a poor sec.mod. educated boy,and i'm not on't Telly am i ..............lol.

And best of all i don't use 'upspeak' which i hear everyday on BBC by so-called educated cretins..............

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Is anyone else finding their spelling becoming less certain as they get older? I used to be top of the class for spelling at school but I find myself more and more having to check relatively common spellings or being uncertain about double 's's etc. I suspect it's because we often write less after a point in our lives and now maybe because predictive text takes care of much of it.

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Predictive text is often to blame, plus of course many of us, myself included are so eager to post here, that we don't always read what we've written.

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The one that gets me fuming is the Asian girl on Breakfast TV, I think her name is Nana Manchetti or something similar.

She tends to shout and her voice resonates with me.

Then there are others who over emphercise their mouth movements and look ridiculous. Is this purposely done to appease lip readers, because I find it extremely annoying.

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DJB I was by no means top of the class in any subject, but English was my best effort. Reading your post made me realise that for many years, the only writing that I have done was possibly celebration cards and occasionally a letter. Communication with most people done by telephone. Consequently my Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling have suffered greatly. Even now, the only writing I do is on Nottstalgia and all my failings are on show for the World to see.

We only have to watch an old 50s news item on You Tube to see the difference in the voice of the presenters of those days and today. I do like to hear the 50s version again, but only to reminisce about my life in that era.

When I read a post on Nottstalgia, I only see what the person has written, whether it interests me or amuses me.

Getting back to television presenters, there was a time when no regional accents were heard, and then it changed (for good or bad, it depends on individual opinion). There are a lot of new words used today by presenters, the first time we heard the term "Autumnal" was by a Weather Presenter. Not keen on a lot of the new expressions, but that could down to being a Dinosaur!

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I generally like regional accents but not on TV except on the soaps where it is called for,.......Brummie and cockney are my favourites,not to everyones taste i know,i like to hear our Notts accent in the flesh but for some reason not on the Telly........funny init............

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I do not like Cockney or Estuary English, and can't stand Liverpudlian. I like Brummie/Black Country and Geordies. As for the Nottingham dialect - OK when you hear it in the flesh, but when someone is on TV talking it, it sounds dreadful, just one step away from Scouse.

As for regional accents on the media (there's a modern word); during the war Wilfred Pickles was a news-reader/announcer, and people use to complain about his dialect - on the BBC!!!!! Good neet everyone.

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I detest Cockney, Brummie, Liverpudlian and Geordie accents. The Edinburgh accent is very listenable especially the Political Editor Laura Keunessberg, and the weather girl Carole Kirkland.

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Accents give people character, I have lived among the "Black Country Accent" for most of my life now; and now I understand them, I quite like it. Some of my husbands family originate from Tipton, referred to by locals as "Tipon" which is said to be the heart of the BC.

My favorite is of course ours. After so much BC language around me, it is a great pleasure to me when I hear the"Nottingham Accent". My ears prick up if I am out and about and catch the dulcet tones of one of ours. I have got caught out sometime as Stoke and Stafford accents can sound similar.

Same here, accents sound good in soaps but I would rather have the Kings English for Presenters.

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