Well, not really. The duo seems to be getting the gong on Major Bowes:
You have to admit, though, that it’s kind of catchy. Thanks again to the Jesus and Mo artist.
Jesus and Mo got talent!
June 13, 2012 • 8:22 am
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Needs more cowbell?
+1
(I swear to both Jesus and Mo that I had the exact same “cowbell” thought as you did, before I saw your comment!)
Quantum entanglement, perhaps?
All I know is that I had no choice in the matter.
I’m envisioning a CMA award.
Ophelia Benson writes on their page that “war” and “law” don’t rhyme for North American speakers of English. Can someone give examples of what they each rhyme with, to give me some idea? Does this explain why Americans can spell “whore” as “ho”?
I suppose we knew already from the fact that they were in a bar where a barmaid pulls them beers that they were in the UK.
I could say that war rhymes with roar, and law with raw, but it’s not clear that helps much if you think roar and raw sound alike.
Perhaps you should imagine law, raw, saw and so on spoken by Dumbledore, and war, roar, lore etc. spoken by Hagrid.
For most Americans, whore rhymes with war. Ho is inner-city slang popularized by rap music and adopted by suburban middle-class teens trying to sound cool. Grownups don’t talk that way.
(Apologies in advance if I mess up the italics.)
Where I come from raw and roar rhyme beautifully.
I was shocked to learn, when I was young, that (US) Americans don’t rhyme “port” (“purrrrrrt”) and “thought” (“thot”).
Unfortunately, Americans can’t rhyme, for example, “I had a clever thought,/So I drank a glass of port.”
That li’l thot aside, I’d have assumed, in those naive days, that “August”, “war”, “law”, “thought”, “saucer”, “port”, “snort”, “sport”, “shore”, “whore”, “roar”, “raw”, etc., contain exactly the same diphthong.
Of course, we do know that Americans pronounce “surely” as “Shirley”.
But I’m always surprised when I hear folks from the UK pronounce “auction” as if it contains that sound: “ORC-shin”. In my neck of the woods, it’s pronounced “OCK-sh’n” … so go figure.
Nothing dresses up the spoken word in intellectual duds like a classy British accent. I’m thinking Dawkins. Love his accent.
That writ, I think most Americans, unless they are sorely afflicted with one of the regional accents (or with poor education) are at least a little bit more faithful, when they speak, to the letters before them.
Why would one not pronounce “R”?
On the “intellectual duds”…as in the U.S., it depends on who’s talking, and where. My Lancashire grandfather pronounced “look”, “book”, “took”, and “cook” as if they all rhymed with “kook”.
He also pronounced “where” as “whirr”, which I’ve also heard in eastern Kentucky in the U.S.
Oh, I realize there are many and varied British accents, and not all would have that “dressing up” effect. But I don’t know which fall into the “intellectual” category or what, specifically, to call them.
So I just went with the general term “classy.”
Dawkins = classy
Ringo Starr = notsomuch
Nothing against Liverpudlians.
I don’t care for my own accent, which I try my best to neutralize.
North central USA/Scandinavian. If I’m not careful, my “Os” are ridiculous.
My mother’s phrase for the “classy” ones is “BBC English”. Her accent (not as strong after 40 years in the U.S.) was modified in grammar school where students had to take elocution lessons, so it is not typical of where she grew up but is not “posh” either.
The problem is that in many parts of *England* people add on the letter “r” after the “awe” sound in any word. Hence the expression “Law and order” comes out as “Laura Norder” (whoever she is). This does not generally happen in Scotland, but I can’t speak for other parts of the UK.
“War” ends with an “r” sound. “Law” ends with a diphthong.
With the exception of some regional accents, we pronounce “r”s in American English.
Catchy lyrics, indeed! Especially the refrain!
Anyone care to match it with appropriate melody?
Try “Battle Hymn of the Republic”
I heard the duo had broken up already, citing ‘artistic differences’ as the cause. Apparently, Mo has already embarked on a solo career. His first release is to be a cover version of the old Bob Dylan song ‘Everybody Must Get Stoned’.
I see what you did there.