Here in Australia, dinner is the evening meal (we usually refer to it as 'tea'). Supper is a light snack after dinner/tea time. Not every eats supper but everyone has dinner/tea.

1. Once I read an interview with Anna Popplewell, and she said she couldn't "sing for toffee" meaning she couldn't do it, she wasn't very good at it. She said it was a British expression. Do you have any other common sayings?

Oh, I'm no good at thinking of expressions off the bat. But there's a lot I've had to explain to friends from abroad over the years

2. If you'd ask an American...they'd instantly know about Justin Beiber, Miley Cyrus, or Twilight. Are there similar pop culture things that EVERY Brit will know about?

Sadly, I think if you asked Brits most of them would know those too. A lot of our pop culture is the same as yours, there's a lot of hype around shows like The X Factor (similar to American Idol).

3. From my understanding...EVERY Aussie knows about Lord of the Rings...do Brits have that common knowledge as well? What about Narnia?

Everyone knows of LotR and Narnia, although not everyone's read/seen the films.

4. What did you think of the Royal Wedding? (Kate/William or Diana/Charles...if you remember it) Did it bore you? Or were you happy about it, kinda like a patriotism thing.

Didn't watch it, didn't care.

5.What was your reaction to Diana's death and what do you think of Camilla?

This question and the previous one actually veers a bit close to politics so let's be careful! Briefly, although I was born in England my family is Southern Irish and we take a notoriously dim view of the Royals. We did like Diana fairly well though and I remember my mum was a bit upset when she died. Camilla doesn't fare so well in our opinions.

Shantih, I must know...can you speak rhyming slang? I have spent hours trying to decipher how it works and all I can figure out is that it's the British version of pig Latin.

! No, I can't Well, I can understand it fairly well, but true cockney rhyming slang changes so quickly that unless you're a part of the community it's hard to keep up with. Some of it has fallen into everyday speech though, for example calling eyes 'mincers' (eyes - mince pies - mincers ) and a lot of insults

It's sort of like pig latin I guess, except but more complex because it changes so often and if you aren't in the know it's pretty hard to figure some of it out.

I'm from the Midwest and we say lunch and dinner.

SnowAngel

Shantih, I'd love to hear more examples...the "mincers" thing makes a little bit of sense when you lay it out like that, but I have to admit that without a translator present I think it'd go right over my head It occurs to me...back in WW2 we had Navajo code talkers...you guys could have had Cockney rhyming slang code talkers

I'm from the Midwest and we say lunch and dinner.

Yeah, that seems to be regional. Here in the south it's dinner (lunch, although lots of folks do call it lunch) and supper (dinner). But no matter where you go there's always breakfast

Here in the Upper Midwest, I've noticed 'dinner' and 'supper' both used to describe the evening meal (with the noon meal being called 'lunch' or 'dinner' respectively). It almost seems to be more of an urban (dinner) vs rural (supper) thing here, though my sample isn't large enough to be sure.

Thinking about accents...this query is for our UK watchers of Doctor Who.

The main actors/actresses are all from the UK, but have very distinct accents; for example, Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) is Scottish while Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) has what almost sounds (to my untrained ear) an accent reminiscent of the Cockney.

I was wondering if you have any reaction to the various accents (for example, are they distracting?) or do you just ignore them as being from another part of the country? (Sorry, that's not worded too clearly).

Also, while Amy's accent is Scottish, are there different Scottish accents? Perhaps from different parts of the country?

Lastly, the 3 doctors from the modern reboot all have English accents, but they're different from each other. Earlier in this thread, there was some discussion of the various English accents, and what they're called.

While watching an episode today with the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), I noticed how different he sounds from David Tennant (Ten) and Matt Smith (Eleven). Any comments on the variations in their accents, and what the 'official' names for those accents (and Rose's) might be?

Well, I'm not from the UK, and I don't know a ton about accents, but the Ninth Doctor's accent is somewhere from the north... because lots of planets have a north

I just watched that episode recently.

And the TV tropes site has an answer to my question on its Lots of Planets Have a North page:

The original series Doctors mostly tended towards Received Pronunciation, Seven sounded Scottish, Eight sounded Liverpudlian, Nine Mancunian, Ten had the accent of Estuary London (as opposed to the actor's native Scottish accent), and Eleven has a Northampton accent.

But any additional comments on the Doctors' accents would be appreciated.

My understanding (mostly from reading the In Grandma's Attic books) was that it all depended on where you were from. Country people said breakfast, dinner, and supper. Dinner being the noon meal and supper being the evening meal anywhere from 5 - 8 at night. City people called it breakfast, lunch, and dinner with lunch being the noon meal and dinner being the evening meal.

My family is split between those two. We call it breakfast, lunch, and supper with lunch being at noon and supper being around 6 or 7. I call the evening meal dinner on occasion but I have never called the noon meal dinner. It's just a bit odd in my mind. I think it all depends on where and how you were raised.

my mum use to call the noon meal dinner and i always wondered why? because everyone i new called it lunch.

Here in the Upper Midwest, I've noticed 'dinner' and 'supper' both used to describe the evening meal (with the noon meal being called 'lunch' or 'dinner' respectively). It almost seems to be more of an urban (dinner) vs rural (supper) thing here, though my sample isn't large enough to be sure.

Thinking about accents...this query is for our UK watchers of Doctor Who.

The main actors/actresses are all from the UK, but have very distinct accents; for example, Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) is Scottish while Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) has what almost sounds (to my untrained ear) an accent reminiscent of the Cockney.

I was wondering if you have any reaction to the various accents (for example, are they distracting?) or do you just ignore them as being from another part of the country? (Sorry, that's not worded too clearly).

Not really. It does depend on the person - some people in the UK are able to understand all accents perfectly while others tend to stumble a bit with strong Scottish accents. For me personally I find Geordie accents very difficult to understand but I get the general gist of what they are saying.

Also, while Amy's accent is Scottish, are there different Scottish accents? Perhaps from different parts of the country?

You do get those who speak with a very strong Scottish accent and those who have a small 'hint' of a Scottish accent. I think it depends on the person and also I believe that the Scottish accents far up near the Orklands do have strong accents while the Scottish people who live nearer to the English border have less strong accents. Though I can't be certain.

While watching an episode today with the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), I noticed how different he sounds from David Tennant (Ten) and Matt Smith (Eleven). Any comments on the variations in their accents, and what the 'official' names for those accents (and Rose's) might be?

David Tennant is actually Scottish and when he isn't playing Doctor ie in interviews, he has a good proper Scottish accent. So I'm not sure what sort of accent he uses when he played the part of Dr. Who. Not being a Dr Who fan - I'm not sure about the accent for Matt Smith or Eccleston. As for Rose I believe she was played by Billie Piper and used a what we call 'middle class' accent. But I can't be sure.

4. What did you think of the Royal Wedding? (Kate/William or Diana/Charles...if you remember it) Did it bore you? Or were you happy about it, kinda like a patriotism thing.

Didn't watch it, didn't care.

Haha lol. Sorry that is kinda funny.

5.What was your reaction to Diana's death and what do you think of Camilla?

This question and the previous one actually veers a bit close to politics so let's be careful! Briefly, although I was born in England my family is Southern Irish and we take a notoriously dim view of the Royals. We did like Diana fairly well though and I remember my mum was a bit upset when she died. Camilla doesn't fare so well in our opinions.

Yup most definitely. Camilla is definitely not one of our all time favourite person.

Ok I have a very strange question for anyone outside the US... I say strange 'cause I'm not sure how you could answer it in writing... but I'm rambling again.

What do you consider the "standard American Accent?" Because to me if you take a person from Texas and a person from Long Island they sound and different as a person from Scotland and a person from Ireland. But since I live here and was born here I don't know what we sound like as a whole from another's perspective.

Ok I have a very strange question for anyone outside the US... I say strange 'cause I'm not sure how you could answer it in writing... but I'm rambling again.

What do you consider the "standard American Accent?" Because to me if you take a person from Texas and a person from Long Island they sound and different as a person from Scotland and a person from Ireland. But since I live here and was born here I don't know what we sound like as a whole from another's perspective.

I always heard the midwestern accent was the "standard American" accent. Because it's at the heart of the country, and because it contains the most states. Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, etc. And when actors from other countries fake a "standard american" accent, I've noticed they usually sound like my midwestern acquaintances...

But being an American myself, I'm hardly an authority on what the views of other countries are. That's just what I heard/noticed.

~Riella

I realise there are many different American accents but when I think of the 'standard American' accent I think of the accent used in the majority of American TV and movies. I'm not sure what accent it is, probably Western something. I can definitely tell the difference between a Texan accent and others though. The Texan accent seems so slow-paced and unusual to me. But that's a personal preference, it's not reflective of what I think of Texans (I have a few online friends from Texas - and one of my favourite bands (Eisley) are from Texas.

I realise there are many different American accents but when I think of the 'standard American' accent I think of the accent used in majority of American TV and movies. I'm not sure what accent it is, probably Western something.

Hmm... I wonder what accent is used most often in American TV and movies. When I watch TV and movies, I see multiple different American accents in each show I watch. California, maybe? Since a lot of our stuff comes from Hollywood? But then, even California itself has more than one accent.

Actually, now that I think of it, I hear the Midwestern accent the most on all the stuff I've seen. And when I look up a lot of actors, I've found they were origianlly from Iowa, Illinois, etc. and just moved to California later in order to be in movies. So maybe the Midwestern accent really is "standard".

~Riella