Interview with Tom McArthur,

Linguist and lexicographer, the editor of the Oxford Companion to the English

Language and the scholarly journal English Today

Q: Насколько распространен так называемый «королевский ан­глийский» в наши дни? Не канула ли в Лету мысль о том, что Ве­ликобритания устанавливает общепринятые мировые стандарты английского языка?

A: Phoneticians refer to the Queen's English as Received Pronunciation, or RP. That isn't so much the accent of the royal family as the middle and upper classes, especially in Southern England. It has been put forward as a standard accent, first for England, second for the rest of the world. But it was always a minority usage, spoken by 3 to 4 percent of the population in social positions of great authority and prestige. Over time, RP has slowly lost its central position and is being increasingly challenged.

Q: Действительно ли американский вариант английского языка уже подавил своего английского собрата? Каково ваше личное мнение по этому вопросу?

A: The United States is for many people around the world a symbol of modernity. People at the cinema or watching TV are absorbing American English all the time. There are 250 million people in the United States and 59 million in the United Kingdom. The language's centre of gravity is now nearer to Ohio than Oxford. So it's probable that a kind of American accent will become a model for vast numbers of people around the world.

Q: Неужели и английская королева будет говорить с американ­ским акцентом? Пока это представляется немыслимым...

A: The Queen won't change. Prince Charles won't change. But it's impossible to imagine now how a later monarch might speak.,

Комментарии

канула в Лету — to sink into oblivion, to become obsolete (ant. it is still true);

Received Pronunciation — приобретенное (в результате обучения) произношение.

7. Have your say

Ознакомьтесь с текстом, обращая внимание на разговорные формулировки. Выскажите собственное мнение по проблематике.

Should underweight models be banned from the catwalk?

В августе 2006 году в Италии во время показа коллекции модных изделий прямо на подиуме одна из манекенщиц упала в обморок. Подоспевшие врачи смогли лишь констатировать смерть в результате истощения. Этот случай вызвал бурную реакцию мировой общественности. Несколько месяцев спустя в Италии был введено ограничение на вес манекенщиц занятых в этом бизнесе. Примерно 30% манекенщиц, приехавших на осенний показ мод были отстранены ввиду недостаточного веса.

Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, has urged the organizers of London Fashion Week to follow the example of the Madrid fashion show and ban underweight models. The rules for the Madrid show state that models with a body mass index below 18 are not allowed to appear. The British Fashion Council has said that restrictions on skinny models would be a knee-jerk reaction and would interfere with the aesthetic of the shows. Should underweight models be banned from the catwalk? 

 1.These people live in an unreal world. Most women do not buy the clothes that are shown at these top fashion shows so that's a bit of an irrelevance. Personally I find overly thin women to be totally unatractive and I am sure I am not alone. If you look back in history most of the memorable beauties I remember were not skinny. Name and address withheld The present crop of models are on the emaciated side of skinny. It would be pleasant for us male chauvinists around the country to see some young ladies on the cat walks who are just a bit on the cuddly side. Toulman, WALKINGTON, UK

2.Nah! Keep the skinny models employed. It’s the only way for designers to ensure that their pieces look "good" – the optical illusion. I mean, it’s not that complicated to dress a stick, is it? Anonymous, London

3.What right do any of the people commenting here have to define certain people as unhealthy or not adhereing to the physical standards of society? These models may be thin, however this is their concern and not the concern of anyone else. Keep your minds on your own issues and not other peoples. Apologies if this means that you have a little less to discuss but in this case your comments may be causing significant pain to other other members of society who are underweigt and may not wish to be so. Anon, London

4.I don't think they should be banned from the catwalk, but I think my opinion is probably a bit biased. I'm underweight myself and am not this way on purpose. I eat just as much junk food as the next person, and rarely find time to excercise, yet I can't seem to gain weight. For some people, being underweight isn't something they can help. However, this probably is not the case with every underweight model they are trying to ban. Some do it on purpose. Others don't. That's not really the issue. If clothing designers want skinny models on the runways showing off their clothes, that's their prerogative. Name withheld, Texas, U.S.A

5.We tend to think that competition is a good thing. However, there seems to be something like "ruinous competition", where the competitors, just to stay in the game, do more harm than good to themselves. In sports, we try to prohibit doping (although unsuccessfully, so far), because it does not seem right that someone is forced to take anabolica and potentially ruin his health, just because he likes to participate in, say, competitive bicycle racing. Why not take some of the thinness pressure off the models for similar reasons; they may have more fun doing it. And it would leave us, the audience, with a little less bad aftertaste. Wolfgang Schlage, Boulder, Colorado, USA

6.I think fashion has a lot to answer to, from using tiny mannequins in shops to showcasing Audrey Hepburn in an advert for a skinny pants, which no normal woman would be able to fit into without starving. Not forgetting that she did in fact have an eating disorder which killed her in the end. Should we all be aspiring towards that? Has anyone noticed only the small sizes remain on the racks? Eloise, San Francisco, California

7.Although we often think that fashion sets the tone for the way we look, this is a misconception. Fashion is a reactive organism, responding to what society wants to see. It's a business, for god's sake! Today, having a thin body is an enviable symbol of success and self-control. Plus clothes hang better on a lean frame and a slim person is more likely to be healthy than their overweight counterpart. We all want to be happy, healthy and in control of ourselves, which is why fashion is showing us these noticeably emaciated young models wearing ridiculously expensive drapery. And yes, it's true that fashion is an art. Who would want to watch a parade of mundane size 12/14s wearing everyday anoraks? What's remarkable about that? Fashion is meant to be provocative. Victoria, Shrewsbury, UK