3 ms·

I want to know when exactly did people stop talking like this or was this only a Shakesperean thing for media and gradually went out of fashion?

oh_sigh 6y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent
nescioquid 6y ago
I share your curiosity. I've marveled at people's diction in man-on-the-street interviews from the 30s, 40, 50s. Maybe the effect of an editorial filter or change in acculturation, or more likely co-determined by things I haven't guessed at.
dyates 6y ago
It's called the Mid-Atlantic or Transatlantic accent and was designed as a way to blend the American accent with British Received Pronunciation. It was deliberately cultivated by the upper class and actors in the early 20th century; there was a book called Speak With Distinction that taught people how to speak like this. It started dying after WWII and was basically gone from the media by the late 60s. Maybe because post-WWII America was less dependent on ties with Britain for its national identity, or maybe because people decided it sounded silly and fake. No-one spoke with the accent naturally, so it really only took a fashion change for it to disappear. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-a-fake-british-accent-took-old-hollywood-by-storm https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-a-fake-british-acc...
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  I put Suez (1957) as an end bracket for the british empire, which would agree as an inflection point with "started dying after WWII and was basically gone from the media by the late 60s." (When Orwell describes Airstrip One as always having been a part of Oceania, he's taking the early adopter "after WWII" viewpoint. This year we'll learn if the airstrippers will have always been eating chlorinated chicken...)

oh_sigh 6y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent

nescioquid 6y ago

I share your curiosity. I've marveled at people's diction in man-on-the-street interviews from the 30s, 40, 50s. Maybe the effect of an editorial filter or change in acculturation, or more likely co-determined by things I haven't guessed at.

dyates 6y ago

It's called the Mid-Atlantic or Transatlantic accent and was designed as a way to blend the American accent with British Received Pronunciation. It was deliberately cultivated by the upper class and actors in the early 20th century; there was a book called Speak With Distinction that taught people how to speak like this. It started dying after WWII and was basically gone from the media by the late 60s. Maybe because post-WWII America was less dependent on ties with Britain for its national identity, or maybe because people decided it sounded silly and fake. No-one spoke with the accent naturally, so it really only took a fashion change for it to disappear. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-a-fake-british-accent-took-old-hollywood-by-storm https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-a-fake-british-acc...

082349872349872 6y ago
I put Suez (1957) as an end bracket for the british empire, which would agree as an inflection point with "started dying after WWII and was basically gone from the media by the late 60s." (When Orwell describes Airstrip One as always having been a part of Oceania, he's taking the early adopter "after WWII" viewpoint. This year we'll learn if the airstrippers will have always been eating chlorinated chicken...)