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When listening to an old Petula Clark song, I noticed that she said "fortune"- for -chun, not for- choon. I asked an obviously English person why that was. She said that petula is from wales and that's the way that they pronounce it. I heard another song from "swing out sister" and noticed that she said "appreciate"- ap pre shiate, not ap pre see ate. What is going on?
I would say 'for-choon' and 'app-ree-shi-ate'. We've probably got more regional variation in pronunciation than the US even with our much smaller area and population, particularly in the north of England. People the age of Petula Clark (70? 80? I know hardly anything about her) will generally have stronger regional accents than a younger person, and some accents have modified a lot over the years.
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Petula Clark was born'n'bred in London. Her accent is pure Southern English.
I've heard both pronunciations of 'fortune' but I thought 'for-tun' was actually more American. Most people say appreciate the way Petula does, appre-siate sounds a bit posh.
I knew of some Brits who asked for water in a restaurant in Houston and were brought vodka. So much for pronunciation.
lol, my English husband was in a bar in LA with some friends (also from England)... one of them asked for "a budweiser, please" and the bartender looked very confused before a few minutes later returning with a bowl of melted cheese.
When listening to an old Petula Clark song, I noticed that she said "fortune"- for -chun, not for- choon. I asked an obviously English person why that was. She said that petula is from wales and that's the way that they pronounce it. I heard another song from "swing out sister" and noticed that she said "appreciate"- ap pre shiate, not ap pre see ate. What is going on?
Presumably, when Petula was recording, the main market for her music was the USA. If you listen to the old Beatles records, often they sound like they are from Jersey as in "New Jersey" rather than their homeland.
Most singers avoid having any accent at all when they are singing. My guess is that old Pet was simply trying to lessen her accent on her song when she recorded it.
20yrsinBranson
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