Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > General U.S.
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 09-28-2009, 12:28 PM
 
Location: Center of the universe
24,645 posts, read 38,520,167 times
Reputation: 11780

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by lammius View Post
There are tons of Brits in many US cities, but I cannot think of an area of recent Brit immigrants that you could call "Little London" or Englandtown (although there is a place called Englishtown, NJ but I don't think it's majority Brit these days). The dozen or so Brits I've worked with in recent months who live in NYC are scattered all over the place. They tend to be able to afford, and hence live in, some of the most affluent neighborhoods in the City.

Edit: I'll add that I think the closest thing you may find to a community where most people speak a form of British English is if you look to places like Tangier Island, Virginia. It's an isolated community where the local dialect is said to be sort of a fossilized or remnant of 17th Century English

I was going to mention places like that in Va. and Md.......also some "Yankees" (old, rich Anglo families) in New England have a very British sound to their English.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 09-28-2009, 12:39 PM
 
1,638 posts, read 3,623,678 times
Reputation: 1421
There are more ethnic English in the United States than Italians. The English form the third largest white ethnic group in the nation, after the Germans and the Irish. However, the overwhelming majority of this group came to the country centuries ago and has obviously since abandoned their accent. Immigration from Northern Europe was replaced by the immigration of Poles, Jews, Italians, and various Eastern Europeans. There are very few English in the U.S. that don't go back several generations.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-28-2009, 03:24 PM
 
Location: Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne
17,919 posts, read 24,178,739 times
Reputation: 39021
Quote:
Originally Posted by ReluctantGardenStater View Post
However, the overwhelming majority of this group [the English] came to the country centuries ago and has obviously since abandoned their accent.
Most linguists would say that is the other way around; that the British accent has changed substantially since English colonization of the New World. The reason there are elements of 'British' pronunciation in New York and New England is because of a more continuous contact with Britain as its accents developed into the modern British accents.


ABQConvict
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-28-2009, 07:45 PM
 
Location: Bergen County, NJ
594 posts, read 1,192,631 times
Reputation: 156
In Orlando, FL lots of British people visit, particularly Disney World.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-30-2009, 10:19 PM
 
207 posts, read 323,197 times
Reputation: 165
The Southern accent in general comes from certain dialects of the British accent. Listen to how we pronounce certain words down here, and then put in a Charles Dickens movie and you will see a lot of similarities.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-30-2009, 10:37 PM
 
Location: New England & The Maritimes
2,114 posts, read 4,890,558 times
Reputation: 1114
Quote:
Originally Posted by ABQConvict View Post
Most linguists would say that is the other way around; that the British accent has changed substantially since English colonization of the New World. The reason there are elements of 'British' pronunciation in New York and New England is because of a more continuous contact with Britain as its accents developed into the modern British accents.


ABQConvict
Yup. I was going to say the same thing but you beat me to it. And very well put. REPS!

PS- Tangier Island folks sound like Newfies.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-30-2009, 10:59 PM
 
Location: Massachusetts
9,487 posts, read 16,377,694 times
Reputation: 14482
Quote:
Originally Posted by gr99a05 View Post
The Southern accent in general comes from certain dialects of the British accent. Listen to how we pronounce certain words down here, and then put in a Charles Dickens movie and you will see a lot of similarities.
Many British actors claim when portraying American characters and accents, that the New England and Southern accents are the easiest for them.

My view is the New England accent especially Eastern Mass, definitely has similarites to a British accent however subtle it is. The dropping of the letter r at the end of words. The British pronunciation of can't, half, bathroom, Aunt, and the use of the word tonic for soda. Those are just a few of the words that are pronounced in a British accent, there are many others. The entire region was originally settled by the English, hence the name New England. No wonder some of the accent remains thru the generations since.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-02-2009, 04:59 AM
 
Location: New England
48 posts, read 93,285 times
Reputation: 48
I feel I should point out that there are as many different New England accents as there are British ones. Outsiders may not be able to tell, but Mainers don't sound like Bostonians and rural Vermonters don't sound like people from Providence.

Accents aside, I occasionally see British spelling used (realise, recognise, centre, programme, etc.) and Brit vocabulary is gaining in popularity.

In response to the op: I don't think there are many, if any, "Englandtowns" because our cultures are very similar and recent immigrants are able to intergrate easily. The same goes for Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders. Anyone within the anglosphere, really.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-02-2009, 05:34 AM
 
Location: 30-40°N 90-100°W
13,809 posts, read 26,452,459 times
Reputation: 6783
I think the old upper-class Connecticut and Massachusetts accents, like the one associated to Katherine Hepburn, is sometimes seen as a tad British. I think it might've even been an intentional attempt by educated Brahmins to sound British. However I believe that accent is in decline. They did have a video of it on that connected to that youtube deal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwvON...eature=related
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-02-2009, 03:00 PM
 
7,871 posts, read 10,091,328 times
Reputation: 3240
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wilshire81182 View Post
There are a lot of British tourists and residents in Orlando. In the areas of town by Disney World and Davenport, there are a lot of English transplants, restaurants, bars and businesses.
You can identify them as the pasty whitle people sitting on stretchers suffering from heat stroke and dehydration in the middle of July whilst wearing their sweaters and sandals with white socks.

Notice I said "whilst." It feels so British.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > General U.S.
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top