Carny (or carney)

[aleCcowaN]

I deliberately use British spelling and as many British ways as I can remember -not many, I'm afraid- so once that mixes with the pervasive American English it looks a bit more "International". The same with the accent. Many of us have found that this hides better our strong accent and it also avoids any suspicion of we learning English while pursuing a green card. A slightly British accent sounds educated even in England, specially when you already know that "the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain".

Maybe one day I'll tell how practicing the "How can I get to Leicester Square? Could you tell me the way to Oxford Street?" and being "racially correct" opened a lot of doors for me in the States, particularly when I answered "Guess!" to "Where are you from?" and they placed me in the Alps or the bluest Danube. My experiences in customs and migration are unbelievable -or sadly, are not-.

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by Luna Azul

Do they call them "carnivals"?

Parece que estás bromeando, pero no lo cojo.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Luna Azul

Wow, Perikles, that's lovely. You "used to" have one? Don't you have it anymore? what happened to it? It's really nice. Probably expensive too..

Yes, that's the idea. What do you call "carnies" in the UK?. I wonder if they also have their "cant". Probably so.

I had to sell it to a friend when we moved to Tenerife. Very sad. I suppose the nearest to "carnies" is "showmen".

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

I A slightly British accent sounds educated even in England.

There is no such thing as a British accent - Welsh, Irish and Scots all sound totally different to English as spoken in England, and even there, you have a huge variety of accents. And you can't even use the term "English accent" meaningfully, because English can't have an English accent, by definition . How about "Queen's English" or "English without a foreign accent" ?

[pjt33]

The Queen has changed her vowels, but even so her accent is a strong upper class indicator.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by pjt33

The Queen has changed her vowels, but even so her accent is a strong upper class indicator.

Yes, I suppose "Standard English" is as good as anything. The problem here is that any 'standard' can be accused of being an upper class indicator, because lower class speech is always (?) a non-standard regional accent. How about "BBC English"?

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Yes, I suppose "Standard English" is as good as anything. The problem here is that any 'standard' can be accused of being an upper class indicator, because lower class speech is always (?) a non-standard regional accent. How about "BBC English"?

BBC English used to be lower-upper-middle class from the Home Counties. I suppose it might have been upper class back in the 20s. But the modern BBC is very keen on regional accents.

I wondered about something like "neutral London accent", but there's really no such thing as a neutral anything accent. What I was really trying to do was exclude Sarf London and the East End.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by pjt33

BBC English used to be lower-upper-middle class from the Home Counties. I suppose it might have been upper class back in the 20s. But the modern BBC is very keen on regional accents.

I wondered about something like "neutral London accent", but there's really no such thing as a neutral anything accent. What I was really trying to do was exclude Sarf London and the East End.

True - I can't think of anywhere in England where your 'ordinary Man in the Street' speaks without some kind of regional accent. West London is not bad, what about Surrey? Even there, a road accident is a crêche

[aleCcowaN]

Yes, "British English" BBC from the 60's and 70's accent, preferably English as spoken by Antiques Roadshow's experts in the first seasons. English pronouncing /ˈɑːftəʳ/ instead of /'ærfter/ like a Nova Scotian or /?ftə/ like a folk from Edinburgh. Hybridizing such accent with some neutral American accent limes off any hint of affectation in it. Some people call it Mid-Atlantic English here -it involves the same risks as Titanic's-.

About the variety of accents, some 20 years ago I began to watch a movie in TV a few minutes after it started and as I read the subtitles I thought that it may be Polish by their accent, the looks, the industrial thematic and the slow pace. Some minutes later I started to understand one word here, another word there and, wait a minute, I ain't speak Polish. The whole thing was set in Liverpool or Manchester.

Nowadays I've imposed myself a weekly dose of Antiques Roadshow, Britain's Got Talent or documentaries by Iain Stewart, and watching Billy Elliot without subtitles, as just watching Downton Abbey won't do any good on this subject. I hope it suffices so I shall never ever need to watch East Enders or Coronation Street.

[Perikles]

I suppose this woman has a fairly neutral English accent. The Frenchman has no hope.

[aleCcowaN]

Yes, nice accent. I'm going to read some good-a-books on the subject while I'm eating spaghetti with meat-a-balls.

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by pjt33

Parece que estás bromeando, pero no lo cojo.

Oh, no, querido pjt. Me gusta bromear de vez en cuando pero esta vez va en serio.

Te hago la pregunta porque dices que en Kent los "carnivals" son.....

Perikles, who is also British, said he had never heard the word or doesn't know the concept, or whatever.

So, I was wondering if they were actually called "carnivals" in Kent. That's all.

I'm sorry if I confused you..

*Edit: I'm sorry I switched to English withoug realizing it.. (too many 'sorrys')

originally Posted by pjt33
The Queen has changed her vowels, but even so her accent is a strong upper class indicator.

How has she changed her vowels? It's been a long time when I heard her speak, it was when I lived in England.

Incidentally, when I came to the US people said I had a British accent. There must be something left, I ended up with a "german accent". Go figure.

Many people have asked me if I'm German and I don't speak a word of that language..

originally Posted by Perikles
I suppose this woman has a fairly neutral English accent. The Frenchman has no hope.

Hilarious

[pjt33]

I can't see how my post would make sense otherwise, but anyway. Here's some evidence: http://www.faversham.org/pages/event..._PageID=111129

It seems to mean the same thing in the West Country: http://www.somersetcarnivals.co.uk/

and the North:

So I'm not sure what lies behind Pericles' comment.

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by pjt33

I can't see how my post would make sense otherwise, but anyway. Here's some evidence:

It seems to mean the same thing in the West Country:
and the North:

So I'm not sure what lies behind Pericles' comment.

Oh, ok. Now I know. Maybe he grew up in a "non-carnival" place

Thanks a lot ptj, I'm very enlightened now..

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Luna Azul

Perikles, who is also British, said he had never heard the word or doesn't know the concept, or whatever.

Not quite, I said it is more or less defunct in England compared to, say, Spain. I was aware of it, but there must be regional differences as suggested.

[Luna Azul]

Perikles; Well sort of, but because it doesn't actually happen in the UK, I used Spanish spelling out of habit.

Originally Posted by Perikles

Not quite, I said it is more or less defunct in England compared to, say, Spain. I was aware of it, but there must be regional differences as suggested.

I hope you didn't take it as an offense. I just want to learn new things. And that is what I understood when you wrote the above. If I missunderstood, I apologize dear Perikles.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Luna Azul

I hope you didn't take it as an offense. I just want to learn new things. And that is what I understood when you wrote the above. If I missunderstood, I apologize dear Perikles.

I was a bit too extreme about there being no carnival in the UK, hence the confusion.

Absolutely no need to apologize, I can't see any reason why anyone might be offended (but then you never know on the internet). Anyway, it is almost impossible to offend me.

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Absolutely no need to apologize, I can't see any reason why anyone might be offended (but then you never know on the internet). Anyway, it is almost impossible to offend me.

That's good to know..

Yes, that's the problem with internet. You try to make a joke or something and people end up being offended and furious..

Thanks for the clarification

[Sancho Panther]

"Luna Azul
Well, it's "carnival" , but you're right. You call that "fairground" in GB."

Sorry that's not so - a fairground is a group of travelling showmen with transportable rides, sideshows, slot machine booths, etc; while a carnival is a local municipally organized festival with competitions and displays for such as local dance troupes, marching bands, dog obedience, falconry, motor cycle skills etc, etc. A carnival almost invariably includes a fair ground, but the two words are not synonymous.

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by Sancho Panther

Sorry that's not so - a fairground is a group of travelling showmen with transportable rides, sideshows, slot machine booths, etc; ...

That's a carnival in the States

car·ni·val (kärn-vl) [IPA /ˈkɑːʳnɪvəl/]
n.

...
2. A traveling amusement show usually including rides, games, and sideshows.
...

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

[Sancho Panther]

A carnival in the US - yes; a travelling fairground in the UK!