Good English

Posted by Lewis on April 14, 2003

In Reply to: Oxford English posted by TheFallen 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.

It is good English to say "Stick those gleaming spires whence you think the sunshine originateth".

"Oxford English" is presumably that dialect used by car-workers in the south midlands.

I think the confusion arrives because of the "Oxford English Dictionary" an English Dictionary published in Oxford, I believe. (OUP?) The ignorant will often conjoin the wrong parts of speech, obviously a habit encouraged by certain elitists. What they forget is that Dibley is in Oxfordshire...

....no,no,no,no,no - yes it is!

"Good" English is properly described as "received pronounciation" I opine.