Oxford English

Posted by TheFallen on April 10, 2003

In Reply to: Oxford English posted by James Briggs on April 10, 2003

: : Some people say Oxford English is the most standard English. Is that right? What is Oxford English after all?

: This used to be the term for 'proper' English in the UK - people at Oxford University were supposed to speak the best English of all. This is no longer true. Most regional accents are now acceptable - some almost desirable. Today, however, if you need to define one type of UK English as the 'best', then perhaps 'BBC English' would be the chosen term.

I have to disagree emphatically with James here. It's a well-known fact that Oxford, the city of the gleaming spires, is the centre of all that's worthy, good and linguistically perfect in the English-speaking world. Even better, the Dark Blues really stuck it to those low-browed knuckle-dragging fenlanders last weekend. There clearly *is* a God.

• Good English Lewis 04/14/03