I haven't actually heard him speak (or at least listened properly at any rate) - that's how much I pay attention to politics - but I won't waste my vote! Eenie meenie miney mo will suffice. After all, we're hardly spoilt for choice.

I met Michael Howard once, a very long time ago when he was a junior minister in the Thatcher government. I thought he was really strange - his pronunciation, his mannerisms, everything. He made me very uncomfortable. This didn't seem important at the time, but later, with his rise and rise... Unfortunately, I think politics attracts very strange people - it's such a strange lifestyle. Their pronunciation is the least of our worries, really, but like you I find it hard not to get irritated.

It drives me bonkersm especially when he says "local people" which sounds like low-kill peepil. If you watch the League of Gentlemen you will see that the (murderous and cannibalistic) shopkeeper speaks in a very similar way.......

It's a Welsh thing -- Welsh doesn't have a dark l, so I presume the Welsh tend not to use it in English either. See this page: "l: a ‘luh’ as in ‘lava’, but never an ‘ul’ sound as in ‘milk’."

http://unkemptwomen.blogspot.com/ , another blog (not about language per se, but by an English expat living in Portugal) addressed your concern in yesterday's post (4 May 05). As soon as you mentioned the word "people" I thought of the blog I just read yesterday!

Good luck with the election and many the BEST candidate win. :-)

Janet in the U.S.

I just spent 4 months in Wales, touring the country, and not one Welsh person had a problem saying 'people' like that man Howard.

"We're hardly spoilt for choice", you say? Eenie meenie miney mo would not have done for me, with a National Front candidate on the ballot paper.

Very interesting what Language Hat said about Welsh, but also agree that one doesn't constantly notice this so much, even with those who speak Welsh as their first language. One quirk too far on top of all MH's other unfortunate quirks!

Ah, I've just seen that he's quit, so I guess we'll be hearing less of his l's.

"It's a Welsh thing" - language hat

Phonetically this may be true but acoustically it certainly isn't. I have lived in Wales for 13 years and have never heard anyone talk (in English or Welsh) with an /l/ like Michael Howard.

I listened to Howard when he did Question Time last week. His accent seems to be pretty much RP, with the exception of his final /-l/, which also has a knock-on effect on the surrounding vowels. It's quite similar to the way many Germans pronounce -l.

Neij

Yes, I'm definitely thinking what you're thinking. In fact, I fear that it may be indicative of an alien plot to take over the UK government (see URL below).

Fortunately, we seemed to have escaped that eventuality for a few more years, although it's interesting to note that MH seems to have improved his pronunciation of 'peepil' lately - maybe he's had some vocal coaching after seeing what Rory Bremner made of it? :-)