Around the world in 80 cities

Macavity · Post by **Macavity** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:56 pm

Whilst planning our big trip to Canada, which we’ll be doing in a couple of years, I had a sort of Jules Verne moment and started thinking what if I developed this into a course. My idea is to go around the world in 80 cities, stopping off each week at various ports-of-call around the English speaking world (3 or 4 a week with one main town of special interest). I want to make it as multi media as possible , and the whole project is in its infancy; I hope to offer the course later this year or perhaps in spring 2008. I need to research a lot of stuff and then write the course material, linking the language points with the ostensibly real travel material. My problem is which 80 cities to choose. Would you be willing, if you have the time, to tell me a little about your home towns, or the cities you now work and live in . There’s nothing to beat the personal view. Thanks.

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:03 pm

If you can provide funding, I would very much like to participate in your project. I have a lot of qualifications and bags of enthusiasm. My hometown is Honolulu, and I lived for a while in, erm, San Fransisco, Sydney, Cape Town, Auckland and Vancouver.

Macavity · Post by **Macavity** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 7:04 am

Sorry Woodcutter, I'm as strapped for cash as the next ESL bod, so only bags of good will and gratitude are available. However, should a book come out of it at the end, you'll get a signed copy (for a reduced price, of course!) Now, I see you were in Vancouver......

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 3:09 am

I can't say I think this is a good idea for a thread Mac, it's a bit like asking us generally curmudgeonly bunch how you should spend your 10 million quid lottery money. However, in the hope of seeing where some other people are from exactly, I'll post this. (Maybe we'll see just what kind of accent Jones really did grow up with). If you make an effort to go to this place on a global tour, you'll be the first and last person in history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wymondham

Macavity · Post by **Macavity** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:09 am

Thanks Woodcutter, I hadn't thought about East Anglia but I'm sure it's got to be worth including. No, I realise this is a bit of a thin thread, and it's not anything that's going to generate discussion or even very much interest, if any. However, it's a serious project and all info will be gratefully received and put to good use.

Neath is where I am from, which is a bit on the small side for inclusion but could get a mention along with Swansea and the Gower. Neath has got quite a lot of points of interest but the Wikipedia entry is a little disappointing. Perhaps a spot of editing would be in order.

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:36 am

I was thinking about this a bit and it would certainly be interesting if someone put a travel series on youtube detailng the 80 most "important" accents in English. From a British Isles point of view, I think most English people can generally possibly distinguish the following:

(British Isles)
Yorkshire
Lancashire
Welsh
Geordie
Scouse
Birmingham
London - *beep* and AliGish!
Aristocratic Posh
Home counties/BBC
Somerset
Southern Irish
Ulster
General Scots
Glasgow
Edinburgh
Highland and Islands
East Anglia

In the US British people might commonly identify the general mid-west kind of accent, general southern, Texas (?), Boston and west coast. A few people would be able to spot a Canadian, and might at least notice the "strangeness" of a Newfoundland/Far East Coast Canadian accent.

Some British people can spot a Kiwi from Aussie, and a few people might notice a "rough" Queensland or "smooth" Adelaide kind of accent. Elsewhere we would probably identify a South African, Caribbean, Indian sub-continent, Singapore/Hong Kong or general African accent, only considering native speakers.

That's about all the accents we are generally aware of in England really, so Macavity can cut the trip short. Do other Brits agree? How does this list look in other countries? (Apart from hopelessly Britocentric, of course) What accents would you come up with?

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:11 am

I used to be able to distinguish five different Lancashire accents. Scouse is certainly very different from other Lancashire accents.

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:45 pm

Liverpool (where Scouse is spoken) is in Merseyside. Well, maybe it used to be Lancashire, and I was talking in the very broadest sense I suppose, including Manchester (and maybe Cumbria?? Who do Cumbrians most resemble?). Anyway, personally I am very bad at telling Lancashire from Yorkshire, I don't think many outsiders can do better than a general recognition of a "Coronation Street" accent going on. Northern people usually can't tell South West accents from East Anglian accents though, so I needn't feel too bad.

My list is an attempt to list the kind of accents you would recognize as a non-local, and could casually identify without sounding like Prof Henry Higgins. I should have mentioned New York, and maybe Appalachian (hillbilly) and East Midlands (again from a British perspective). Since I am only including native accents based on geography (not Italian-American, for example) I suppose I shouldn't have mentioned "posh" accents, although you could perhaps place them in West London.

I guess that most non-Brits would have a much shorter list. In fact for a lot of Americans the list would be something like accent/no accent maybe!

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:05 am

These kind of accent articles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estuary_English have an interesting list at the bottom. Some of these are completely new to me. Hudson valley accent? Buffalonian accent? Yooper? Yat?