"Bloody Sticky Wicket" Indeed
That was the title of an amusing article in the
Wall Street Journal last week (sorry, no link) that caught my eye. The subhead read: "The Urge to Fit In Can Leave Real Britons Chortling." Subject of said article: fake British accents acquired by Americans resident in Britain. (Exhibit A would be Madonna.) It seems that Americans who stay in Britain for a prolonged period of time often wind up either voluntarily or involuntarily developing what is known as a "mid-Atlantic accent" which doesn't please anybody who hears it.
This quote is what really caught my eye:
The irony, says Khalid Aziz, a British communications specialist, is that "the British actually quite like American accents and find it quite highly associated with success in business." His company recently completed a survey that found that 47% of British business directors interviewed considered executives with an American accent more successful than those from many British regions. "What we advise Americans to do is not try to give up their American accent but stick with it," he says.
The moral of the story? It's nothing new: Be yourself.
posted by Dr. Alice at #
