15-12-2018, 11:09 AM
Posh as fuck!
JRM's RP and 'superiority' harks back almost 1000 years ago. When the Normans arrived they brought with them Norman French and a lot of words began to change, especially among the nobles. William I declared all of England his property and started doling it out to his mates. Prior to the Conquest the land was worked on a more equal basis among the Anglo-Saxon and British (or Romano-British descendants). Suddenly these farmers and craftsmen had their lands taken from them and became beholden to the local lord, parachuted in from Normandy. For centuries the language among the nobles while the commoners (including the newly made commoners who'd previously been a thane or lord) retained Old English. Over time the two languages began to merge and the English commonly spoken today is a hybrid. However you will notice that a lot of the English spoken by everyday folk is more Germanic in its roots whereas the RP English has more in common with French, particularly in vocabulary.
The two class Norman and Anglo-Saxon-British is still alive even though serfdom was largely abolished years ago. People like JRM are taught that they are superior to the 'common folk' because they are from a better class of stock. We still speak two different, but mutually intelligible languages. It is still very much 'us versus them'.
JRM's RP and 'superiority' harks back almost 1000 years ago. When the Normans arrived they brought with them Norman French and a lot of words began to change, especially among the nobles. William I declared all of England his property and started doling it out to his mates. Prior to the Conquest the land was worked on a more equal basis among the Anglo-Saxon and British (or Romano-British descendants). Suddenly these farmers and craftsmen had their lands taken from them and became beholden to the local lord, parachuted in from Normandy. For centuries the language among the nobles while the commoners (including the newly made commoners who'd previously been a thane or lord) retained Old English. Over time the two languages began to merge and the English commonly spoken today is a hybrid. However you will notice that a lot of the English spoken by everyday folk is more Germanic in its roots whereas the RP English has more in common with French, particularly in vocabulary.
The two class Norman and Anglo-Saxon-British is still alive even though serfdom was largely abolished years ago. People like JRM are taught that they are superior to the 'common folk' because they are from a better class of stock. We still speak two different, but mutually intelligible languages. It is still very much 'us versus them'.