Is anyone else disappointed by declining standards in spoken English in Britain?

It's bad enough hardly hearing an English word on a trip through parts of your home city (London), or, when you do hear it, it's spoken in "this language which is wholly false, which is this jamaican patois that's been intruded in England. This is why so many of us have this sense of literally a foreign country" (Starkey, 2011). Hearing it start to 'intrude' on the BBC is, for me, still more disquieting..

Here is a letter of complaint I've just sent to them:

Having once been a bastion for proper English it seems that the BBC is now so keen to demonstrate diversity that it actually risks contributing to the decline in standards in spoken English in the 21st century.



Does anyone else agree that this sort of thing is a shame/concerning, or is this fundamentally unimportant in modern Britain?


(would be handy to state your own standard of English/cultural background in posting, for context e.g. my spoken English is decent and I'm from a white, middle class/suburban North London background)

Allow me to refer you to my above comments to Ms.Bellissima..



Know what I'm sayin'?

Bun all the haters, real talk! Inshallah the mandem buss slugs at you wasteman kmrct!

The eloquence, the imagery that such poetic language conjures up. It's just beautiful.

I have a dream that one day Trevor Macdonald will address the audience as mandem and threaten to shoot them.

It's bad enough hardly hearing an English word on a trip through parts of your home city (London), or, when you do hear it, it's spoken in "this language which is wholly false, which is this jamaican patois that's been intruded in England. This is why so many of us have this sense of literally a foreign country" (Starkey, 2011). Hearing it start to 'intrude' on the BBC is, for me, still more disquieting..

Here is a letter of complaint I've just sent to them:

Having once been a bastion for proper English it seems that the BBC is now so keen to demonstrate diversity that it actually risks contributing to the decline in standards in spoken English in the 21st century.

I was watching the BBC Weekend News, the national news mind, and was disappointed to hear the reporter, Naomi Grimley, pronouncing several words as one might expect a slang-speaking South London schoolgirl to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17720269

The words: “Independent” and “effect” end in a ‘T’, “Labour” is not pronounced ‘LAYBA’, and “ever” is not pronounced ‘EVA’.

This sort of thing is not congruent with the rich and exemplary tradition of the BBC in this domain, and I think that (news) program producers need to take a view on this. Positive discrimination/equal opportunity are all well and good, but the number one priority must surely be high standards and a high quality of service?

Does anyone else agree that this sort of thing is a shame/concerning, or is this fundamentally unimportant in modern Britain?

Where do we draw the line between comedy RP newsreader accents of the early 20th century and having people who wouldn't sound out of place in Kidulthood reading the news?

(would be handy to state your own standard of English/cultural background in posting, for context e.g. my spoken English is decent and I'm from a white, middle class/suburban North London background)

Bun all the haters, real talk! Inshallah the mandem buss slugs at you wasteman kmrct!

I'm sure Chaucer would have wept at the language of Shakespeare's language too. Likewise he would decry the way the BBC radio presenters of the 1930/40s would speak.

The point is, language changes over time. The way people cry over the decline of our langauge is one of my pet hates. If you look at language over time, you see it changes constantly. In the past, words were pronounced in a completely different way to the steriotypical BBC accent you speak of. A 'Great Vowel Shift' took place in the Medieval period, changing the way we speak completely.

Many people, including yourself, speak as if there has been a pinnacle of our langauge. In truth, there hasn't. It hasn't. From the invasion of the Vikings and before it has been changing.

You want to know my background? Degree educated, white middle class, privately educated. Not that it means anything.

It's bad enough hardly hearing an English word on a trip through parts of your home city (London), or, when you do hear it, it's spoken in "this language which is wholly false, which is this jamaican patois that's been intruded in England. This is why so many of us have this sense of literally a foreign country" (Starkey, 2011). Hearing it start to 'intrude' on the BBC is, for me, still more disquieting..

Here is a letter of complaint I've just sent to them:

Having once been a bastion for proper English it seems that the BBC is now so keen to demonstrate diversity that it actually risks contributing to the decline in standards in spoken English in the 21st century.

I was watching the BBC Weekend News, the national news mind, and was disappointed to hear the reporter, Naomi Grimley, pronouncing several words as one might expect a slang-speaking South London schoolgirl to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17720269

The words: “Independent” and “effect” end in a ‘T’, “Labour” is not pronounced ‘LAYBA’, and “ever” is not pronounced ‘EVA’.

This sort of thing is not congruent with the rich and exemplary tradition of the BBC in this domain, and I think that (news) program producers need to take a view on this. Positive discrimination/equal opportunity are all well and good, but the number one priority must surely be high standards and a high quality of service?

Does anyone else agree that this sort of thing is a shame/concerning, or is this fundamentally unimportant in modern Britain?

Where do we draw the line between comedy RP newsreader accents of the early 20th century and having people who wouldn't sound out of place in Kidulthood reading the news?

(would be handy to state your own standard of English/cultural background in posting, for context e.g. my spoken English is decent and I'm from a white, middle class/suburban North London background)

I'm surprised you understood!

It's bad enough hardly hearing an English word on a trip through parts of your home city (London), or, when you do hear it, it's spoken in "this language which is wholly false, which is this jamaican patois that's been intruded in England. This is why so many of us have this sense of literally a foreign country" (Starkey, 2011). Hearing it start to 'intrude' on the BBC is, for me, still more disquieting..

Here is a letter of complaint I've just sent to them:

Having once been a bastion for proper English it seems that the BBC is now so keen to demonstrate diversity that it actually risks contributing to the decline in standards in spoken English in the 21st century.

I was watching the BBC Weekend News, the national news mind, and was disappointed to hear the reporter, Naomi Grimley, pronouncing several words as one might expect a slang-speaking South London schoolgirl to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17720269

The words: “Independent” and “effect” end in a ‘T’, “Labour” is not pronounced ‘LAYBA’, and “ever” is not pronounced ‘EVA’.

This sort of thing is not congruent with the rich and exemplary tradition of the BBC in this domain, and I think that (news) program producers need to take a view on this. Positive discrimination/equal opportunity are all well and good, but the number one priority must surely be high standards and a high quality of service?

Does anyone else agree that this sort of thing is a shame/concerning, or is this fundamentally unimportant in modern Britain?

Where do we draw the line between comedy RP newsreader accents of the early 20th century and having people who wouldn't sound out of place in Kidulthood reading the news?

(would be handy to state your own standard of English/cultural background in posting, for context e.g. my spoken English is decent and I'm from a white, middle class/suburban North London background)

Changes in language are natural and too be expected. Standard are not 'declining' but evolving. Everything evolves, including languages and culture.

As long as the point can be communicated, language serves it purpose.

What did you think happenned before the dictionary was written? They was no official 'right' way of spelling something, so people spelt it how they wanted to and how it would best reflect the crux of what they were saying. Some of the most wonderful, beautiful poetry is written in what you would call 'shamefull' language... However as I suspect you are a disgruntled, pretentious adolescent with nothing better to do, I would suggest you pull yourself together and get over it- you're not fighting for the cause, there is no cause and you're being narrow minded and pathetic.

Once again, my contention is not necessarily with ease of comprehension..

Wud yoo be happy den if dey went da whole hog an started talkin like dis on da BBC?

It's in entirely the same vein, and still perfectly discernible, but I would ****ing hope not

i don't think that's very easy to understand though... i think that's extreme.

Quite possibly

For the upteenth time this issue does not merely concern speech that is not easily understood

Quote me where I've asserted that?

Yet another person seeking to ridicule/misrepresent the OP rather than deal with the bread and butter of the thread

You do yourself, and those who have invested in your education, a disservice by demonstrating poor quality argumentation by deviating as per the above

This is what we'll end up with if language continues to 'evolve' (read: revolve) at its present rate, Insha'Allah

Precisely what I thought, until things like Rastamouse and now News reports like this came along. I'm afraid that using shortened endings to words like dropping 'T' sounds and changing 'er' sounds to 'a' sounds is just one step down the slippery slope to people talking precisely in the manner that I indicated in that passage:

Wud yoo be happy den if dey went da whole hog an started talkin like dis on da BBC?

Pretty much the only time you ever see the name Chaucer pop up on here: pseudo-intellectual cites for effect

Again tangential, no-one is arguing that dialects don't evolve over time..

The merits are relative to the setting. For example, I think the scouse dialect suits comedy well, or Jamaican suits more laid back ting an ting, Scottish suits urgent, instructive language, and so on..

My contention primarily concerns BBC News and settings in which proper English would be most welcome e.g. formal situations/day to day speech between strangers, and particularly young people talking to older people or those in positions of authority. The winder issue is not so much a dialect one as making a decent effort - most of us are capable of pronouncing things properly with little effort, whevever we're from

It's indicative of wider, malevolent trends of slackening, as per the above

Standards, variable/subject specific. The absolute standard in select regions remains good, but, unfortunately, across most areas relative standards are markedly in decline. Capeesh?

I have no problem with the incorporation of neutral colloquial terminology here and there, I would just prefer not to hear my language bastardised/reduced to shorthand modes of speech, problem?

At what point did I claim to be either? As for being a pretentious brat, you don’t know me from Adam son and the term relates to minors, whereas I am a 27 year old thanks