British Accents are, like, the Coolest
POSTED BY Andrew Peterson
I just got a proof for the audiobook of On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness and posted the first few tracks at http://www.myspace.com/andrewpetersonmusic. Peter Sandon, a bona fide British guy is the reader–they asked me to read it but I always imagined it being read with a British accent so I begged until they succumbed and tracked down Mr. Sandon. The only thing I don’t love is that he pronounced Gnag and Gnorm like “Ga-nag” and “Ga-norm”. Ah, well. But he’s a great reader, and as soon as the audiobook is available I’ll let you know.
Enjoy!
15 Responses to “British Accents are, like, the Coolest”
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Must be a British thing. N. T. Wright does the same with “Gnostic”. Instead of “nos-tic”, he pronounces is “guhnos-tic”.
The tracks you posted sound great, though.
I had a literature professor who argued that the British have a kind of national pride in mispronunciation, particularly of foreign words. He used the audio edition of “The Four Loves” as evidence, where in C.S. Lewis pronounces agape as “uh - gape.” It’s hilarious.
this. is. so. cool.
Just got word from the audiobook producers that they’re going to fix the Ga-nag and Ga-norm pronunciation for the next press of the CDs. This is very good news.
Gawesome!
I only had time for a bit of the first chapter, but I had trouble listening to it. Maybe it’s just me.
Congratulations on your audiobook, though.
[...] Over at The Rabbit Room, Andrew Peterson has a few audio tracks of Peter Sandon reading Andrew’s new novel On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. Sounds [...]
I had wondered if the G was supposed to be pronounced in Gnorm. “Norm” just seemed so ordinary compared to other Fang names.
Barliman…sounds great! Professor Tolkien would be proud. Reading The “Book Of The Dun Cow” at the moment, per your recommendation, so, ironically this work will have to wait.
Richard: “I had wondered if the G was supposed to be pronounced in Gnorm. ‘Norm’ just seemed so ordinary compared to other Fang names.”
That’s why I thought it was funny.
I still think you should have read it yourself Mr. Proprietor. I do love the British accent, but you could have pretended to be British for the day (no one would have known you weren’t
But it does sound great as it is!
Oy ‘ave to question the whole Bri’ish fixation, mayte.
The thing about British accents is that they sound great, but there are some pronunciations–like the gn-words you mention–that are the Achilles Heels of the supposed civility and sublimity of the way they say things.
I’m not sure if these words were in ‘Darkness,’ but I submit to you the following anomalies:
America or Australia–ah-MER-ih-KER, aw-STRAY-lyer (drives me up the wall)
Herb pronounced with a hard ‘H’–yes, it’s true!
Pasta sounds like the word ‘pastor’
and Banana is…it makes me too mad to even write that one, but it’s along the lines of potato-potahto, tomater-tomahto.
The audio sounds great, Andy. He has a wonderful, story-teller’s voice. He sounds like he’d be at home among the Coalbiters.
I pronounced it G-Norm my own self. I think Peter Sandon and I are right on this one, AP.
I agree that the British LOVE mispronouncing foreign words. When I lived there, I marveled that they loved to say “fill-et” for “filet”.
The “r’s” on the ends of words also drive me crazy. Cheeta(r), America(r). I was scolded for saying “pecan” pie and not saying “PEEK-in”. I was like…uh…I live in the South. Don’t we own that word? Then they said “but there’s no “R” in pecan…that’s why you say it that way”. No foolin’.
The Teeside accent is not pretty.
I think it’s funny how many Americans are lulled into thinking England is an endlessly dreamy place…when sometimes it’s very ugly and sad. But I guess dreaming is fun