mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (08/10/84)
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!mmtmarcus@pyuxt.UUCP (M. G. Hand) (08/11/84)
Who knows, maybe George II was a queen, too?