One of them!

I'll have Darcey and her, errrrrrrrrr...... idiosyncrasies, over any of the other joodges. Especially Mediocreman

Quite so. Always agree with your opponents / colleagues and then say ... BUT there is a small point ...

Negotiation 101 innit.

Anyway she's got better grammar than the previous incumbent - and that is all that matters ...

Same as bruno with his "Len is right"

Darcey isn't really that good of a judge, she's far far better than I expected following her disastrous few episodes when Alesha was still there but she's a little limited criticism wise (but then as are both Craig and Bruno, it would have been nice to have had Karen Hardy to balance the Ballroom/Non-Ballroom Judges) which means she resorts to her 'The Boys are right' quite a lot- She does need to toughen up a tad and learn giving a bottom mark of 5's to every dance regardless of quality just means your scoring seems very oddly spread out (and ends in dangerous leader board ties like last week)

Alesha uses the grammar of her community, no worse than someone from Scotland or Yorkshire using local expressions and grammar provided it can be easily understood. I know some people want everyone to speak one particular dialect (i.e. London) but I like a bit of variety.

My home language is Spanish. I change vocabulary and grammar when I am speaking in English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan or whatever.

I don't think "some people want everyone to speak one particular dialect (i.e. London)". Certainly not me. Alesha speaks a form of Norf London / Estuary.

Pronunciation variations I accept. I don't for example have an issue with Tess or indeed Len when they mangle "Salsa" and "Rumba". I have not noticed any dodgy grammar.

And Claudia speaks Sloaney Light and not an issue for me until she utters the horrible Americanism to every participant "You did great (sic)."

Grammar and vocabulary are right or wrong. HR managers have the same approach to me and shred applications with bad grammar and vocabulary - especially if the HR manager is Polish or Swedish and her English is better than that of the applying Brit.

I suggest that any young person following your advice would be very badly advised. Only Britain glorifies incompetence.

Glorifies?

Tolerates I'd reluctantly accept but ......

The difficulty (or joy) for English speakers is that it's such a hybrid language. Even the copular verb 'to be' is made up of two once-distinct and separate verbs (the b-root for be, and the am/was verb*). WIth such an intrinsic hotchpodge or growing point of language, we are by necessity linguistically tolerant of change. (AKA bad grammar!)

Our language is the very dog of languages. Bear with me. Dogs are the species that show the greatest variability of appearance from the same basic genetic make-up, and can breed with one another to produce viable offspring (puppies to thee and me ). The English language permits a marvellously rugged and flexible usage whilst staying comprehensible, and inter-breedable, to continue the dog analogy.

I love dogs and English messiness too



* You can hear the persistence of an alternative version of that 'to be' mix in the Black Country 'Yow'm' = you am, instead of the now standard 'you are'

The language is a bit of a dog's breakfast then?

Exactly. But it means it really is a language for people rather than for dictionaries. Think how inventive Chaucer and Shakespeare are…

A problem arises when people are unaware that they are speaking a dialect. It is the inability to switch to and from standard / nationwide grammar. And I am not talking about pronunciation so long as it is clear.

It is an issue in London where so many senior managers are foreign and have learnt British Council English and will "diss" anybody not speaking and writing British Council English.

Oh I am more than capable of saying "We wuz robbed", dropping my aitches and chucking in the odd Tony Blair style pre-election glottal stop "A game of two arfs inni' " in a football context.

Darren Gough ... down to Judy and Scott

The English language drove Polish-born Joseph Conrad to distraction. He started to wish he'd become a French novelist instead of an English one, back at the point where it was possible to have chosen. He wanted a word for a thing, or a word for an idea, and found instead words piled on words with associations gone haywire. I do feel sorry for foreign speakers

But you're right, of course, there are standards that act like our 'pidgin' and help bring order.

I didn't mean to start a thread on syntax and grammar!

and now look!

Psst, keep your head down. No one has yet pointed out the spelling mistake in the OP

You started it.

Noooo! I'm only ever innocent

If there is one thing in my education that has failed me - it is the ability to disagree with lovely people (if any) like you ...

Wouldn't it be nice if there were three female judges and the one remaining male judge had to keep saying "The girls are right". But the world isn't ready for that yet- the ptb have already had to have a long lie down after choosing two women to present a show.

You are right of course. It should have been "surely" and not "surly", and I think Darcey has an "e". How nice everyone is for not mentioning it!

They weren't spelling mistakes. They were typos caused by you rushing to make your fingers work as fast as your brain.

Grammar does change in some areas of Britain as well as the accent and vocabulary so is perfectly correct for someone from that area. People learn to adjust their way of speaking according to circumstances and will often talk 'posh' for an interview. If they are understandable then I cannot see any problem with them using their normal accent and it is very rare that I cannot understand someone.

If a Polish or Swedish person has been given a job as HR manager without being fluent in all forms of English then someone has failed in the appointments process.

Back to Darcey.
It doesn't bother me at all. I just love it that there is a woman on the show who doesn't act like a 13 year old who has had too much fizzy pop.