Posted on 10/28/2016 12:18:38 PM PDT by MUDDOG
In the Golden Era of Hollywood, actors such as Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn spoke with a strange form of English that placed them somewhere between America and Great Britain.
The so-called Mid-Atlantic accent actually wasn't an accent at all, but an affectation concocted by a Canadian elocutionist.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
A local weathergirl here in DC still uses the Mid-Atlantic accent. WMAL.
I always liked Thurston Howell's lockjaw way of speaking.
Whhhheeeeellll
Nice!
The last one I noticed was Dr. Crane’s, but I haven’t kept up.
I’ve heard it called “Locust Valley Lockjaw” or “Larchmont Lockjaw”.
I’ve never heard of a “Mid-Atlantic Accent”.
Am I the only one that read that as a “Canadian Electrocution Expert”?.....LOL!
I only heard it called that within the last couple of years, I think in a magazine article, then I saw wikipedia had an article.
Before, I would’ve called it an upper-class New England/New York accent, old-line Boston Brahmins and such.
Different from the Kennedy accent though.
LOL! We could definitely use one of those too!
Yep.
In Washington, D.C., natives, black and white, spoke this way for many decades. A hint more Southern than the Hollywood accent.
It’s NOT the lightly British, New England accent of Dr. Frasier Crane or PBS, but Kelsey Grammer does use it as Sideshow Bob. Although associated with elites, It’s a very bold accent, and most bold accents are working-class. If you think of worlds like “copper” for policeman or “doll” for a girl, you’ll probably hit on it.
Think Hepburn or FDR. Jon Lovitz parodied it as the Master Thespian, but like Kelsey Grammer, he added a little extra Shakespearean accent. Amy Adams put it on in “Night at the Museum.” Also, Carey Grant, William Buckey, George Plimpton, Bette Davis, Princess Leia, Emperor Papatine, James Earl Jones’ Darth Vader,
It was invented to have very strongly enuniciated consonants, particularly of certain consonants that don’t get picked up well over a microphone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpv_IkO_ZBU
I watched this last night. Is that what WFB's accent would be described as?
No you are not. :)
Interesting about the DC accent.
I’m only familiar with the Mid-Atlantic accent from movies and TV.
William F. Buckley, definitely.
Wikipedia doesn’t likie your linkie.
How would one describe the Millennials' blather today? Dirty snowflake?
Oh so sorry, this linkie much better!
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