Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2018 April 6

= April 6 =

H G Wells' accent
Just stumbled upon some H G Wells' interviews, like this and felt he spoke with a slight accent, somewhat resembling Russian accent. Is this Kentish dialect (since he was born in Kent) or something else? Brandmeistertalk  20:11, 6 April 2018 (UTC)
 * I'm sure there's some Kent in there somewhere. Perhaps even bordering on the South London suburbs. But it's pretty polished up with BBC RP. To me he sounds a lot like Clement Attlee. But so high pitched. Martinevans123 (talk) 22:17, 6 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Bromley was a suburb of London, even in the 1860s. Agree there's some slightly odd vowels, but I can't hear anything Kentish. Alansplodge (talk) 00:08, 7 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Wells's original accent was usually described by his contemporaries, and by himself, as Cockney, but a technical analysis of it by the academic phonetician Sidney Wood here reckons it was Kentish becoming Estuary English. --Antiquary (talk) 09:20, 7 April 2018 (UTC)
 * And we should remember that historically the county of Kent runs right up to the south bank of the Thames, as far west as Deptford Creek. 92.19.170.76 (talk) 10:35, 7 April 2018 (UTC)
 * I used to work with a girl from Folkestone who spoke mostly Estuary English but had a slight hint of rural Kent in her vowels, which she denied vehemently. People she'd just met would say, "Oh, you.ve got a bit of a country accent there haven't you?" and she would reply "Oi doan't!", the accent becoming more obvious the angrier she got.
 * In Wells's case, well brought-up children were strongly discouraged from acquiring any hint of a regional accent, even if they had any contact with the working people that used one. Alansplodge (talk) 11:01, 7 April 2018 (UTC)
 * I wouldn't want to suggest Wells was a snob, but I imagine any appearance in front of a camera in 1940, would have brought out the Mr Cholmondley-Warner in most folk. Many middle-class people the UK still have a Hyacinth Bucket telephone voice. In the 1940s people were expected to demonstrate acceptable elocution when appearing in public. Martinevans123 (talk) 11:56, 7 April 2018 (UTC)
 * U and non-U English may be relevent to the discussion here... -- Jayron 32 15:15, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

Risk it for a biscuit
BBC Weather presenter Tomasz Schafernaker just came out with "You might want to take your brolly with you Or risk it for a biscuit." What on earth does he mean? Is this just another one of his obscure Polish things? 86.187.175.25 (talk) 21:44, 6 April 2018 (UTC)
 * He's trying to be funny. See this for one explanation of the term. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:37, 6 April 2018 (UTC)
 * It's a fairly common but meaningless phrase in London, like "see you later, alligator" or "a pound for a round". Just banter really. The consensus on various forums is that it comes from a 1970s advert for a muesli bar called "Swisskit" . This page has a picture of the offending item (cost: 4p) and says that the slogan was "Don't risk it for a Swisskit". I confess that I have absolutely no memory of this. Alansplodge (talk) 23:59, 6 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Sharp's? Would that be Edward Sharp (1854 – 1931) of Maidstone, Kent, who "created one of the largest toffee manufacturers in the world" : . He doesn't seem to have an article? It looks like Trebor bought Sharp’s in 1961, but the brand name continued for a while. Martinevans123 (talk) 21:42, 8 April 2018 (UTC) ... poor Tomasz he's probably missing his Krakowskie pierniki
 * I've been racking my brain to try to remember the Sharp's product which I actually did buy as a kid and eventually found Butter Snap. Isn't the internet wonderful? Alansplodge (talk) 18:20, 12 April 2018 (UTC)