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www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/golf/49016675
Now I'm not a player of the Scottish game; golf is, for me, something that other folk do. I have tried it; my ex's family are all golfistes of skill and dexterity, and I played for a term at school as it was a long relaxed bunk-off from other more onerous scholarly pursuits, or worse, other sports or games that weren't cricket, swimming, or table-tennis. (I seem to recall a term with the épée too; the things our childish conceits put us through.)
Anyway, gratuitous history aside, this exchange between Mr Woods and Gavin Andrews shows that British regional accents, no matter how euphonious or otherwise, don't necessary translate into the wider media. I've said before now that some forms of spoken English facilitate greater understanding, whereas others occlude meaning. Mr Woods may well have been in a similar fix if he had been in Tyneside, or Glasgow. Gavin Andrews has a nice voice, and is no doubt a good journalist but in merely asking a question he has highlighted the problem of regional inclusivity when it comes to accents on the Beeb.
It was once the case that "RP" was synonymous with "BBC English". It promoted understanding and comprehensibility by setting the standards from which we were then all free to deviate. But that someone, asking a question of an American (who uses English as his mother-tongue), would do so in an accent that is literally incomprehensible to the interviewee, is slightly bonkers.
There needs to be a middle ground between putting regional accents to the fore and comprehensibility. Obviously I'd prefer a return to old-fashioned RP, because that's my default mode; but I accept that's not going to happen. So instead I'll put my weight behind maximising comprehensibility. I'm sure everyone has a right to their own handwriting, but when it comes to printing, some typefaces are just more legible than others; and when it comes to speaking, some accents are just more intelligible than others.
Now I'm not a player of the Scottish game; golf is, for me, something that other folk do. I have tried it; my ex's family are all golfistes of skill and dexterity, and I played for a term at school as it was a long relaxed bunk-off from other more onerous scholarly pursuits, or worse, other sports or games that weren't cricket, swimming, or table-tennis. (I seem to recall a term with the épée too; the things our childish conceits put us through.)
Anyway, gratuitous history aside, this exchange between Mr Woods and Gavin Andrews shows that British regional accents, no matter how euphonious or otherwise, don't necessary translate into the wider media. I've said before now that some forms of spoken English facilitate greater understanding, whereas others occlude meaning. Mr Woods may well have been in a similar fix if he had been in Tyneside, or Glasgow. Gavin Andrews has a nice voice, and is no doubt a good journalist but in merely asking a question he has highlighted the problem of regional inclusivity when it comes to accents on the Beeb.
It was once the case that "RP" was synonymous with "BBC English". It promoted understanding and comprehensibility by setting the standards from which we were then all free to deviate. But that someone, asking a question of an American (who uses English as his mother-tongue), would do so in an accent that is literally incomprehensible to the interviewee, is slightly bonkers.
There needs to be a middle ground between putting regional accents to the fore and comprehensibility. Obviously I'd prefer a return to old-fashioned RP, because that's my default mode; but I accept that's not going to happen. So instead I'll put my weight behind maximising comprehensibility. I'm sure everyone has a right to their own handwriting, but when it comes to printing, some typefaces are just more legible than others; and when it comes to speaking, some accents are just more intelligible than others.
