How to speak the kings english?

@oristarA,

You don't know what the hell you're talking about, but that doesn't stop you from lecturing native English speakers. That's why i no longer respond to your threads. If you so goddamned well informed about English, you don't need my help.

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@Setanta,

Forget it, Set.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

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The actual term King's or Queen's English actually refers to a type of speech known as Received Pronunciation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation

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When i was looking around online the other day, i saw one comment to the effect that the term "King's English" referred, originally, to Ælfred of Wessex, who had translated The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius into Old English--the English of his day. According to that source, people were encouraged to use "the King's English" when writing. However, that source did not give his or her source, so i can't speak to how reliable that is. If true, it takes the expression back almost 1250 years.

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

When i was looking around online the other day, i saw one comment to the effect that the term "King's English" referred, originally, to Ælfred of Wessex,

This guy? This is in Winchester, about 14 miles north of Southampton.

http://www.britainexpress.com/counties/hampshire/winchesterphotos/images/winchester-alfredstatue3-s.jpg

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@izzythepush,

Had a close look at him in Winchester.
Somebody said for fun "If he had not won over the Danes "king´s English" would have been "King´s Danish"

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@saab,

saab wrote:

Somebody said for fun "If he had not won over the Danes "king´s English" would have been "King´s Danish"

Clever line. But the fact is that at that time the two languages were mutually intelligible. The King's English sounded a lot more like modern German than modern English and the language of the Danes was a proto-Scandinavian, one step removed from German. In a battle, the two sides could yell insults at each other in their own language and be perfectly well understood.

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@Lustig Andrei,

Lustig Andrei wrote:

saab wrote:

Somebody said for fun "If he had not won over the Danes "king´s English" would have been "King´s Danish"

Clever line. But the fact is that at that time the two languages were mutually intelligible. The King's English sounded a lot more like modern German than modern English and the language of the Danes was a proto-Scandinavian, one step removed from German. In a battle, the two sides could yell insults at each other in their own language and be perfectly well understood.

Wow, any soundtracks for King's English today? From your post I've more or less got the idea why Setanta's temper was ignited.

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@oristarA,

Don't flatter yourself. I don't respond to you with anger, but with contempt.

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@oristarA,

Not sure about where to find sound-tracks, Ori, but I recall that quite recently you were trying to decipher some lines from Beowulf. This is considered Old English, but it's much easier to read and understand if you have a familiarity with modern German or Dutch or Danish rather than English.

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

Don't flatter yourself. I don't respond to you with anger, but with contempt.

You've looked down on ANYONE in this forum, Set. It is statistically significant; it easily gets backfired; it reminds you of "Time to change attitude toward others".

I know my English is flawed and fallible. You've got the opportunity to show your contempt. It's okay. Go on. I'll see when you will stop. Very Happy

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@Lustig Andrei,

The "Danish tongue" the language scientiest call the common language for large parts of the Nordic countries during the Viking times.
Even though the countries did not excists 1000 - 1300 years ago future Danes, Swedes and Norwegians understood one an other better than they do today.
Guess that also counts for many Brits, Germans and Scandinavians

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@saab,

There's a wealth of anecdotal evidence about Norwegian fishermen meeting fishermen from the north of England, and understanding one another, though neither spoke the other's language.

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@Lustig Andrei,

Quote:

I used the conditional past tense (or whatever the hell you want to call it) because it's perfectly good, grammatical English and because I damned well felt like using it. Now what's your next question?

He was asked by an ignorant Yank if he were British.

"conditional past tense"?

Do you think that at the time of the original question the "ignorant" Yank asked of the British Lord,

"Were you British?"

or

"If you were British?"

How could a simple question asked of someone be "conditional past tense"?

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@Setanta,

Quote:

That's why i no longer respond to your threads. If you so goddamned well informed about English, you don't need my help.

There's not a body in the world who would benefit overall by your "help" when it comes to the English language, Setanta.

But the childish petulance that you are so famous for is noted.

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@ossobuco,

Quote:

JTT is in subjunctive denial.

You should refrain from commenting on those things that you don't understand, Osso.

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@izzythepush,

Quote:

There's a wealth of anecdotal evidence about Norwegian fishermen meeting fishermen from the north of England, and understanding one another, though neither spoke the other's language.

This is a strange thing.

We used to camp every summer, and the campsites were often a mixture of nationalities.

I have seen children, quite young children, who didn't speak each other's languages, standing and having quite long conversations. Not playing together, just standing and talking.
It was strange and wonderful to watch.

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@JTT,

Let me make the questions crystal clear for you, Merry.

1) Where is the "conditional past tense"?

2) Why did you use 'were'? in the sentence, He was asked by an ignorant Yank if he were British.?

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Public announcement to the rest of you on this thread: my one New Year's resolution was to no longer interact with trolls. I haven't put JTT on 'ignore' yet, but I fully intend to totally ignore her and collapse every troll-ey post she types on my page. I suggest you might wish to do the same. She's quite welcome to the last word.

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@Lustig Andrei,

Quote:

but I fully intend to totally ignore her and collapse every troll-ey post she types on my page.

Neat trick, Merry, how you ignore only that which you can't explain. You didn't ignore it initially but now that you're stumped, you go to this childish tactic.

1 Reply

How to speak the kings english?

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