“what strange accents burst upon my astonished ear?”

i’ve long been interested in accents and dialects, especially from the british isles. i took a theatre class in that once upon a time, actually.

if you’re at all familiar with british dialects you’ll know the folks in yorkshire have a particular, peculiar, unmistakable and absolutely wonderful accent. the secret garden, by frances hodgson burnett, takes place in that part of england, and she made sure to capture a bit of the dialect in her writing.

 “There’s naught as nice as th’ smell o’ good clean earth, except th’ smell o’ fresh growin’ things when th’ rain falls on ’em.”

the songs sung by yorkshire characters in the broadway musical are also charming.

i didn’t realize this, but there are also gradations of accent within yorkshire itself. that makes sense, though — even in kansas there are distinct differences in accent depending on the part of the state you’re in. this video with stephen fry and poet ian mcmillan describes the differences among the regional accents.

you might be wondering where all of this is going.

“sure, amelia,” you say. “it’s a cold january saturday and not much is going on. we’ll forgive you the discourse on yorkshire accents. but really — what’s the point?”

the point is this, an interview with one of the most hilarious, adorable little girls ever (not personally known by me, that is).

for a long time i’ve wished i could marry a man from england or wales so i could live there. add to that the wish that all my kids would talk like this.