Monthly Archives: January 2014

Stray Thoughts on Theatrical Accent Traditions

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Ben

Slate ran a recent piece on the history of women playing Peter Pan onstage. This got me thinking about other theatrical or filmic traditions with regards to fictional characters. In particular, should we question why certain characters are played in … Continue reading →

Share

Posted in Miscellaneous Accents and Dialects | Tagged | 19 Comments

The “Awesome” Trajectory

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Ben

Regarding the subject of my last post, I was struck this passage from Alice Munro’s story, To Reach Japan: They opened the compartment curtain to get more air, now that there was no danger of the child’s falling out.”Awesome to have … Continue reading →

Share

Posted in American English | Tagged | 3 Comments

Canadian and American /T/

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Ben

I recently read Alice Munro‘s famous short story collection Dear Life, my interest piqued after the Canadian writer’s recent Nobel Prize win. I enjoy watching interviews with authors I’m reading, so I looked up several with Munro on YouTube. I … Continue reading →

Share

Posted in American English | Tagged | 16 Comments

Pre-R Raising in Cleveland

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Ben

One of my favorite Food Network personalities is Michael Symon, a decorated chef from Cleveland. Celebrity chefs, refreshingly, tend not to alter their accent much (all those fancy French terms belie the industry’s working-class ethos). Symon is no exception, with … Continue reading →

Share

Posted in American English | Tagged | 23 Comments

That Tricky “Oh”

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Ben

Over the holidays, I watched Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake, an excellent miniseries about a beautiful but troubled community in New Zealand’s South Island. American actress Elisabeth Moss plays the lead role of a police detective who has returned to … Continue reading →

Share

Posted in Miscellaneous Accents and Dialects | Tagged , | 12 Comments