I was going to say the same thing about footballers. The weirdest one for me is listening to foreign players who play or have played for Liverpool!

Also, these days lots of non-English speaking people learn or improve their English by watching TV. That's why some people speak English with an American twang. So many English language TV shows are now shown worldwide with subtitles. It's one of the disadvantages of English speaking people looking to improve their skills with a second language.

I think Ola's English is great and I'd much rather hear her speak naturally, than watch her struggle to think of the correct way of saying things. It bugged me a little to hear Vanessa say she corrected the way James spoke (as a way of getting a sneaky breather). There's an element of smugness about this a lot of the time. If you understand what a person means and correct English is not essential, why not just let it go? The English language is always changing. That's one of the meanings of a living language.

Ah well looks as it I will have to settle for old fogeydom. I would need an operation to pronounce those two. MLE will have to go on without me alas!

Who was the English footballer who did a press conference speaking English with an 'allo 'allo French accent?

Or indeed when he means "Ola and me". But that is a question of courtesy rather than grammar.

OTOH "Myself and Ola" or even "Ola and myself" is (usually) just plain wrong.

Not hears of that one!

Jan Molby was the first footballer I remember hearing with a Scouse accent! I was mesmerised!

It's not. If someone writes 'would of', then what they meant to write is 'would've', not 'would have'.

And if you're referring to people using these expressions verbally, then I'm not sure how you can even tell whether they're saying 'would of' or 'would've', since that's why it's become a common written mistake. There's very little difference in the pronunciation of those two expressions in most accents.

Joey Barton

http://youtu.be/23wfajiTbt4

Steve McLaren

http://youtu.be/2ZnoP4sUV90

Brilliant! I'd forgotten the Steve McLaren Interview, but the Joey Barton one was new and so typical of him! You can see they are both trying to mimic the rhythm too!

Orally inni' ?

[sorry ]

On holiday in Majorca once, a friend and I taught two German girls to say "Aw my gawd!" with a perfect East London accent.
I'm sure it came in handy for them.

I assume you were in Madge auk ah! Its a novel chat up approach though!

No worse then half of Britain, who cares !

Ola's English is amazing for a second language! Although, I have thought before that some of the other pros who also have English as a second language are slightly better at it.


In some contexts "me and Ola" is correct.

Unfortunately I can't think of any - other than in the scripts of EastEnders and Strictly Come Dancing of course ...

Was those what you had in mind?

"me and Ola" is not wrong / bad grammar. It is just impolite putting oneself first in set.

well, my son lives in Weybridge and has a Polish girlfriend who has lived in England for twelve years, her English is excellent but she doesn't sound much like Ola



yes, I agree with the first BIB and I only correct my son's Polish girlfriend if she makes a huge mistake, because she asked me to, but it doesn't happen very often

really? what context?

No, those examples weren't what I had in mind. I'd counter-argue your point but you've already done that yourself in your last point. Haha.

I know it's not the most polite of the two but this isn't a question of politeness; we're talking about grammar. As you said, "me and Ola" isn't always grammatically incorrect.

You wouldn't say "someone is talking to Ola and I", you'd say and "someone is talking to me and Ola" (or Ola and me).

"Ola and me" would be grammatically correct when used in place of the object pronoun 'us'.

This thread is unbelievable !!!
Now you have people criticizing pros diction . What's next ???

Oh and waiting for someone to bring up Abbey's scouse accent

I love Ola's accent.

Apparently I not only speak French very badly, I speak it badly with a Dutch accent.
I'm Irish !

Mum and dad have lived in england for more than 40 years and yet their English is still terrible, however they do make themselves understood. A few idiosyncrasies from them. Mum says "yox pudding" when she means Yorkshire pudding and dad has his own unique way of saying things. At a hospital once waiting a delicate examination, he sat legs apart and told the nurse, "I'm ready, take what you want"

Brilliant!
He sounds like a (male, Italian, older) version of Iveta

That's a lovely story stefthepest, if people can make themselves understood then that's all that matters the preoccupation with miniscule details isn't important, its people that matter.