Brits

I once asked our Flemish teacher how to pronounce a particular word. He thought for a minute trying to come up with an English equivalent. Ah, he finally said, it's like you would say "bath".

Well, not really, I thought, 'cause we don't say "bath" the same way we say "moth", but I get it.

But all Brits say their "a's" that way and Flemish "a's" are pronounced just the same. As a matter of fact, when Belgian children learn to speak English, they are taught to pronounce words as the British would.

Apparently that's proper English. The British accent wears on me just the same as any other accent does. And just the same as mine likely does too.

When I worked at a hospital in Arkansas we had a lot of foreign-born doctors mostly because it's much easier to get a visa to work in a rural, under-served area. Many accents can make one very tired. Even when the person is speaking English, concentration on your part is essential when an accent is involved. So once these foreign-born doctors got the required paperwork in order, they typically moved on to bigger and better things. It's the truth, but usually a win-win at the same time.

The actual term for the way most Britons talk is Received Pronunciation (RP), sometimes called the Queen's (or King's) English, or Oxford English. There's nothing about RP that makes it superior, but it is often associated with power, money and influence. However, according to Wikipedia, in recent years it has also been criticized as a symbol of undeserved privilege and viewed negatively.

I'll let you form your own opinion about that.

General American (GA) is considered the pronunciation of English speakers in the U.S. and is most closely related to a Midwestern accent like you hear on television and movies. A newscaster, for example.

Two-thirds of native English speakers are American so I guess that would make GA the standard now. Maybe the Belgian school officials could move towards that Midwestern accent?

I guess the goal for some might be to sound like you could be from anywhere.

The other day I figured out how to make my very own playlist on YouTube. There's nothing to it, I just never tried before. I noticed that about half my playlist consisted of British bands. I had no idea and really never thought about it before. When it comes to music, it's not so easy to detect an accent.

Did you know all these are British?

The Rolling Stones

Elton John

Coldplay

Iron Maiden

Sting/The Police

Queen

George Michael/Wham

Dido

The Who

Led Zeppelin

David Bowie

Eric Clapton

Phil Collins/Genesis

Duran Duran

Eurythmics

Culture Club

Rod Stewart

The Hollies

Spice Girls

The Kinks

Van Morrison

Pink Floyd

Fleetwood Mac

Adele

and of course, The Beatles.

Not every band on this list made "my playlist", but this one did. Hope you like it.