Billy Elliot the Forum

Sorry, but we don't do politics on this forum.

As for pronouncing your little test: I grew up with a Tidewater, VA accent, in which the pronunciation of the ou dipthong in those words is fairly close to the Canadian pronunciation, but it isn't quite all the way to oo. In fact, it's closer to Margaret Thatcher's pronunciation of the vowel combo in question. Why? Well, Virginia being England's first permanent colony here still has an effect on the speech of native Virginians from the Tidewater region. Although I have lost that pronunciation in my everyday speech as a result of moving out of state and having contact with people from other regions, I can still do it when called for. I expect that many Canadians' and British peoples' accents have modified themselves as well as they have moved away from certain areas to new ones, and people from other places have come to their areas. Contact with other accents can change the one you started out with without your even realizing that the change has taken place.

As you said, Eltonjohn, your cousin came back sounding like a Kiwi until it wore off.

It will be interesting to see if Tade Biesinger picks up a British accent while he's doing the show in London, as Adam Vesperman and Tanner Pflueger did. Interesting that it was just these two who did (correct me if I'm wrong), as I don't remember hearing any accent change from Hogan Fulton, Corey Snide, Trent Kowalik or Colin Bates in any of their post-London Billy interviews.

Without going into an unnecessary history lesson, I will simply point out that Canada is considered the most multicultural country in the world, and Toronto is considered the most multicultural city in the world. Therefore while our heritage is British and French, we have much influence from many cultures from around the world.
As for our accents, considering our closest neighbours are the Americans, it is not surprising that our accents are so close. Plus add in the fact that pretty much everything in our media from movies to TV to music is American, they would definately be the dominant force in influencing our sounds.
It makes me happy and proud that we can represent so many beautiful influences, from British and French and American, to Chinese and African and Persian.

And as for the reviewers having problems with the accents... I dunno. I can't imitate the accent myself, but I can understand it fine. Perhaps I've had more experience with many accents since I spent a few years traveling and working on ships though.

ERinVA wrote:Sorry, but we don't do politics on this forum.
As you said, Eltonjohn, your cousin came back sounding like a Kiwi until it wore off.

Ahhh, so we can't debate the merits, or otherwise, of Thatcherism?

Apparently, the biggest readjustment challenge that can be faced upon returning home is getting used to the way the water drains out of the bath tub in the northern hemisphere, the direction of the tiny whirlpool reversing (anti/ counter/ clockwise) compared to Down Under

rob_hanson1979 wrote:Canada is considered the most multicultural country in the world, and Toronto is considered the most multicultural city in the world.

I have come across these oft'quoted assertions and always wondered By Whom exactly are these two claims being considered and espoused. Now Canada I believe is the only nation known to have a federal statute viz. Multicultural(ism?) Act, of 19?? So multiculturalism is state policy enshrined in national legislation. But the reason I have wondered is that London and New York City easily have larger populations than Toronto that have significantly more ethnic cultures represented therein compared to Canada's largest city (don't they?) So wouldn't / shouldn't LON and NYC be considered more multicultural than TOR on that basis? What am I missing or failing to consider? Is it that Canada's immigration record reflects a broader range of origin countries and cultural identities compared to the UK and the USA, which are both far older 'nations'. Can you unperplex me?

I think we can agree that such claims are based on opinion. There is no shame in taking pride in one's city's, or nation's, multiculturalism.

It may interest readers of this Forum to learn that the real-life Easington is purported to be the least multicultural town in England (99.2% are white). The 2001 census also revealed that it has the lowest percentage of Jedi knights!

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/ce ... /jedi.html

Hey, I'll give you this link from a UNESCO page. http://www.unesco.org/most/usa9.htm

One of the quotes in the article is "The United Nations recognizes Metro Toronto as the most multicultural city in the world."

In reading another article it listed Toronto as being 2nd in the world after Miami for most foreign-born residents, however since Miami's residents are primarily Cuban/Latino, Toronto actually has a wider variety of foreign-born residents.

That being said, the truthiness of the matter would say that we are all right, lol.

Eltonjohn wrote:

ERinVA wrote:Sorry, but we don't do politics on this forum.
As you said, Eltonjohn, your cousin came back sounding like a Kiwi until it wore off.

Ahhh, so we can't debate the merits, or otherwise, of Thatcherism?

We have discussed Thatcherism from time to time as it relates to the show, but debate about current politics, regardless of country, is something for other forums, not this one.

I agree! I like politics and keep fairly up to date on certain issues, but BE is an escape for me, and I like the board to be the same way!

My opinion on Thatcherism is that houses with straw roofs look nice, but thatching doesn't work well in some climates.