Talk:Mid-Atlantic English

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Describing Mid-Atlantic English as some kind of half-American, half-British hybrid is vague and unsatisfying. The term was used to designate a very specific variety of English that is now historically defunct. I have moved the historically specific definition of the term to the top of the article. -Sewing - talk 19:36, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)

The general description is still unsatisfying, but I'll leave the paragraph order the way I found it (giving prominence to the general description) until I've done more research on the historical definition. -Sewing - talk 19:50, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Peter Jennings?

There's a line in the article "Canadian English in some ways approaches this ideal, as was demonstrated by the well-known news anchor Peter Jennings." I'm not an historical linguist, but I'm pretty sure Peter Jennings adopted an American accent, and Canadian sounds nothing like mid-atlantic anyway.

In fact, that whole section called Features, about Canadian and spelling, does not belong here. Should I just delete it?

Aren't we talking about "Main Line Lock Jaw?" This is typical of Philadelphia's main line elite. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.224.27.66 (talk) 05:26, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

I'd say. I am a Canadian and I have never seen anyone who would use "colour" use "labor" or vice versa. This seems rather unsourced and completely spurious. I will delete it.GBMorris 01:26, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Need for disambiguation

There's a redirect to this page from "mid-atlantic" that should probably be turned into a disambiguation page. Mid-atlantic also refers to US States along the Atlantic seaboard south of New England and north of the "southeast." (Roughly, from Virginia to New Jersey.) The USGS has a page on these states, if someone wants to write up an article. I'm far too lazy at the moment. User:Exia 11/09/04

[edit] Mr. Burns

Would anyone consider Mr. Burns from the Simpsons to have a Mid-Atlantic accent? His accent is intriguing, would it be considered a "posh" or educated North American accent?

I think so. I would also consider Frasier and Niles Crane to have it.

The old Boston Brahmin accent(not obsolete) seems similiar to this accent, which I've never heard of before(I never heard of this category). FDR was from upstate NY, so I considered his dialect Northern New England since my impressions of upstate NY were that it was closer culturally to New England than NYC.

  • I agree.--FrickFrack 20:08, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fix it up, if you can

This article goes around in circles and says nothing. Does any-one know what mid-Atlantic English is, and could you please make the article clearer? Thankyou. Felix the Cassowary 07:05, 5 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean?

and also 9/11 Commission Head is also a good example of this accent

He used to be on TV and radio with these ads for NJ tourism --"New Jehsey and you...puhfect togethaa"

The origin of his accent is discussed on the Brian Lehrer radio show from New York public radio wnyc, with William Labov (referenced in this wikipedia article) as a guest.

A link can be found here...

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2004/03/25#segment28346

Maybe include this as a footnote to the article? ShmorgelBorgel 17:37, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Possible references

--129.21.179.34 22:43, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Actual examples

Compared to lots of other articles, this one doesn't really give solid examples. It describes well enough what one is from a dictionary standpoint, a dialect of the English language which is neither purely America, British, or Canadian and was used by frequently in the past by many actors, media people, and rich folks. But it doesn't really describe their patterns of speech. So, while one can walk away from this article knowing what Mid-Atlantic English is from a definition standpoint, unless you're really familiar with the actors listed (luckily I am) and with other dialects of English, you don't get a firm understanding of what it would actually sound like in its spoken form. Anyone know enough about it to try and tackle this? If I can find enough about it elsewhere I'll try, but someone out there has to know more about it than I do.Gorovich 06:49, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

I think it is important to stress that mid-atlantic is english devoid of any regional inflections (i.e. : "perfect/standard english"). I added some trivia about the fact that many americans who live abroad for a very long time tend to develop this speech pattern. Wedineinheck 12:35, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] More speakers of Mid-Atlantic

These include actor-producer John Houseman, journalist-broadcaster Alistair Cooke, and TV chef-presenter Lloyd Grossman. The former two represent Americanized English, the latter Anglicized American/Canadian.

I'm not an expert here and would not argue with the two examples you have given, otherwise though, in many cases is the natural dialect of parts of New England (Boston in particular) being lablelled "mid-atlantic" simply becasue it sounds more similar to an English accent than other American dialects. I think of Frasier as a good example of an accent and good diction appearing deliberatly anglicized where it is perhaps just the natural accent of a certain group of people in that area ? Dainamo 00:35, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

John Barrowman has stated that his accent is often called Mid-Atlantic. Wedineinheck (talk) 21:08, 14 January 2008 (UTC)