Cripple. History Major. Vaguely left-wing.

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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • I heard it was Southern English which was closest to Elizabethan English.

    In any case, reality doesn’t matter. Perceptions matter. Britain is an old country, and America is a new country - so in ‘translating’ an accent to a past period, we tend to see the accent of the ‘old country’ as more appropriate.


  • PugJesus@kbin.socialtoLemmy Shitpost@lemmy.worldFantasy rednecks
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    1 year ago

    American accents sound too ‘modern’ because American English wasn’t a thing until the Medieval period had long passed, and most fantasy is medieval or medieval-adjacent.

    I’m all for broadening the use, though. I love that the Witcher games gave Geralt and the other Witchers of the School of the Wolf American accents. And Dragon Age (back when it was good) giving the dwarves American accents.


  • Okay but have you read Shakespeare? Or, for the Roman graffiti you referenced, Plautus? Or Suetonius if you want some good tabloid fodder? They’re similarly crude, and while there is a much higher level of literacy and wordplay, it’s… not that much different at its core. Even that graffiti, funny enough, has an example in the other direction - there are instances of graffiti in Pompeii which demonstrate a knowledge of classical literature amongst the urban masses.

    My point in the end is simply that history is written by writers, and writers are not necessarily less insane, less gullible, or less prejudiced than the general population.