Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site dciem.UUCP Path: utzoo!dciem!mmt From: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) Newsgroups: net.nlang Subject: Re: The King's English? Message-ID: <1043@dciem.UUCP> Date: Thu, 9-Aug-84 17:19:14 EDT Article-I.D.: dciem.1043 Posted: Thu Aug 9 17:19:14 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 9-Aug-84 21:16:51 EDT References: <11557@lanl-a.UUCP> Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada Lines: 24 People have commented on "The King's English", and Dave Gurr even revised that to the "Queen's" English, as if the term referred to the current monarch. I was under the impression that the King in question was George II, not Elizabeth II. Perhaps some linguistic historian will correct me on this, but my understanding was that George II was originally a German-speaker (George I never learned English), and this affected his vowel pronunciations. To avoid embarrassing the King, the Court tried to use his vowels (long a in grass and bath, for exampe), thus speaking "the King's English", which differed from that of the cultured classes (or anyone else). Subsequently the term was generalized to mean cultured or educated English, and the "mis"pronunciations have been accepted as the "proper" way to talk. I believe the historical part about the shift in Court pronunciation to be true, and have guessed that it relates to the strange term "the King's English." Is there a "King's Swedish" or "Queen's Dutch", or is it just English that ties proper speech to the Monarch? -- Martin Taylor {allegra,linus,ihnp4,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt {uw-beaver,qucis,watmath}!utcsrgv!dciem!mmt