British Accents

My friend David Ramsay Steele is blogging at the London Libertarian, and I was amused by this paragraph:

'Walking in Chicago’s Loop a couple of weeks ago, I was stopped by a pleasant young woman who asked me to sign something for Greenpeace. I said, apologetically, that she was wasting her time on me because I am opposed to Greenpeace. She donned a maternal frown of concern and asked why, and I responded: “Because I’m evil” (though with the twinkling smile of a rough diamond, and if I’d had a mustache I would have tweaked it roguishly; the English accent always counts for something too; in England my voice betrays me as a prole, but over here the natives can’t tell me from Hugh Grant).'

David is being ironic here. He's highly educated, and a professional editor, so I don't think he could really count as a prole in anybody's book. But I suppose his accent must be less than posh by British standards.

I think his accent is charming and very intellectual sounding. Typical American, that's me!

In London, perhaps, his speech is a bust.
But here in Chicago, he's so upper-crust!