"Incidentally, the English started using the non-rhotic 'r' around the time of the American Revolution. According to John Algeo in The Cambridge History of the English Language, it all happened because the nouveau riche of the Industrial Revolution were seeking to distinguish themselves from other commoners and adopted non-rhotic pronunciation in order to demonstrate their new upper-class status. (Non-rhotic was a way of faking class, basically.) And once this morphed into what linguists call 'received pronunciation'— aka the way the Upstairs peeps in Downton Abbey speak — then those sneaky Brits had soon managed to pass off what was a way of hoisting themselves up the social ladder as a sign of being naturally high-born.
Meanwhile, most Americans — unburdened by English class pretensions — kept the rhotic, with the exception of New York and Boston. According to Algeo, these cities were "under the strongest influence by the British elite"—but it's not as if you need any more confirmation of East Coast stereotypes now, is it."
The same nouveau riche who tried to stay as white as possible so as not to be confused with gardeners and other outdoor scum. Ahhh, the glory of the Empire.
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
Hmmm, two posts for the price of one??? After hitting Post it all seemed to go as normal, then up popped a box telling there'd been an error of some sort (I forget what it said) - and now the post has been repeated! @NoraGW ?
Posts
https://www.livescience.com/33652-americans-brits-accents.html
"Incidentally, the English started using the non-rhotic 'r' around the time of the American Revolution. According to John Algeo in The Cambridge History of the English Language, it all happened because the nouveau riche of the Industrial Revolution were seeking to distinguish themselves from other commoners and adopted non-rhotic pronunciation in order to demonstrate their new upper-class status. (Non-rhotic was a way of faking class, basically.) And once this morphed into what linguists call 'received pronunciation'— aka the way the Upstairs peeps in Downton Abbey speak — then those sneaky Brits had soon managed to pass off what was a way of hoisting themselves up the social ladder as a sign of being naturally high-born.
Meanwhile, most Americans — unburdened by English class pretensions — kept the rhotic, with the exception of New York and Boston. According to Algeo, these cities were "under the strongest influence by the British elite"—but it's not as if you need any more confirmation of East Coast stereotypes now, is it."
https://www.bustle.com/articles/13631-who-speaks-better-english-americans-or-the-british
Doubt it's true.. but sounds good to me. 😋 Thanks goodness we have Latin plant names.. the 'international' language of gardening.
I didn't forget.. I didn't even know! You learn something every day.