215 réponses à ce sujet

[Cavegeta]

Jonny_Evil wrote...

Darth Obvious wrote...

But within the English language (in other words, comparing two or more English language accents) it doesn’t really make sense to say “English accent”. We ALL have an English accent, so to speak. So we differentiate: it could be an American accent, or an Irish one, or an Australian one, or a “British” one. It may not be the most accurate term, but that doesn’t matter. It represents something within our culture, and that’s precisely what language is supposed to do.

Again, it just seems like you are missing the entire point of my obviously harmless statements.

*sigh*

I'm not missing your point, I understand completely where you're coming from and I don't think you're out to annoy, but I'm just trying to get across to you what your argument says to an English person.

My country is England, my language is English and my accent is an English one. The above quote says to me "America is a country, Ireland is a country, Australia is a country, but England doesn't exist."

I'm not offended by being called British, I'm not arguing points with you for the hell of it. An English accent is an English accent no matter where you're from in the English speaking world. England and Britain are no longer synonymous, there is literally no such thing as a British accent no matter how misinformed anyone may be. All you're doing to me is repeatedly denying my country's right to it's own accent, on the basis of "that's what we've always called it".

Tell me, do you still call people from Russia Soviets?

There is no argument here. Several English people have grumbled about  the accent being called a British accent. Every time before now when I've corrected the use of the term people have just said "Sorry, I didn't know", you're the first I've ever encountered that's tried to argue it's use. The bottom line is an English person has asked you to stop using it, so why are you arguing for it's use?

Yeah I know it seems petty to you, but just imagine your annoyance if the next ethnic monitoring form you have to fill out has Canada, Mexico and North America as it's only choices. I'm not even joking with that, I recently filled one in where the choices were Scottish, Irish, Welsh and White British.<_<

soteria wrote...

It actually makes pretty good sense to
call it an English accent. The country has been known as England for a
long time, right? Britain is the land, and doesn't really refer to the
English specifically.

England has been called that for 1500 years nearly. Britain is only slightly older than America and refers to the Isles as a whole, adopted after England and Scotland signed the Act of Union.

Okay, please let this go.  A few pages back I made a comment about using a British accent when playing the game.  At the time I almost used the term "Scottish" accent until I realized that it wasn't really Scottish but more of a hodge podge of accents used from the British Isles.  I then used the term "British."  As a resident of the U.S., I can see the original point, however, in lieu of the discussion I would say that to be more specific would be the way to go.  As a resident of the United States South, I don't like stereotypical accents.  I don't like hearing a bunch of Georgian accents placed in Louisiana.  So just let England be England with all of their varying accents (Staffordshire, Manchester, cockney, Scouse...whatever.  I mean no offense to my English brethren in my ignorance if I got something wrong there.)  Just let it lie at Scottish, Irish, Welsh, whatever.  Out of curiosity, I skipped a page in this thread..So to all the people of Spain, does the Spanish/Catalonian difference come into play? 

[Darth Obvious]

Jonny_Evil wrote...

I'm not missing your point, I understand completely where you're coming from and I don't think you're out to annoy, but I'm just trying to get across to you what your argument says to an English person.

My argument is that the vast majority of Americans call it a "British accent", just as we have done for over two-hundred years, and absolutely no amount of belly-aching will change that.

Whether one's accent is American, Australian, or British, they are ALL English accents as far as we are concerned. Honestly, I don't see why you care so much. If I was British then I would have no problem with my accent being called British. It's so insignificant that it isn't even worth it.

[Jonny_Evil]

Cavegeta wrote...


Okay, please let this go.

Okay, mate. It's a sensitive topic to me so I've been more pedantic and defensive than I would be about anything else and I got a bit carried away. Sorry Darth Obvious, and everyone bored silly in the last couple of pages.

*edit*

Darth Obvious wrote...

If I was British then I would have
no problem with my accent being called British. It's so insignificant
that it isn't even worth it.

Now I know you're trolling for an argument, when I've repeatedly stated that I hate being called British instead of English.

Modifié par Jonny_Evil, 13 janvier 2010 - 12:57 .

[Thoron Draugohtar]

Darth Obvious wrote...

Jonny_Evil wrote...

I'm not missing your point, I understand completely where you're coming from and I don't think you're out to annoy, but I'm just trying to get across to you what your argument says to an English person.

My argument is that the vast majority of Americans call it a "British accent", just as we have done for over two-hundred years, and absolutely no amount of belly-aching will change that.

Whether one's accent is American, Australian, or British, they are ALL English accents as far as we are concerned. Honestly, I don't see why you care so much. If I was British then I would have no problem with my accent being called British. It's so insignificant that it isn't even worth it.

Right listen,

You come from the USA, right?

How would you react if I called you "north american"? You will probally reply with "I would be fine with it" so you can "win" the argument.

However if I then gave the option to a Canadian of "Canada" and "north american" they would have their country recognised unlike you. That basicly says "Your country is nothing but a name and you are lumped in with the rest of them, even when we have a different culture and different traditions.

If you can't see this then I really cannot be bothered to explain again.

__________

I always thought that the accents varied greatly depending on where the characters came from rather thanwhat race they were.

Oghrens accent was great! I loved hearing him talk, really gruff. Zevrans just annoyed me because it was obviously put on.

Lelianas was ace, I had to listen to her instead of skipping the dialogue......unless the "Maker" comes into the sentence, then its skip the entire convo and turn off the computer....

[Darth Obvious]

Jonny_Evil wrote...

Now I know you're trolling for an argument, when I've repeatedly stated that I hate being called British instead of English.

Seriously, what's the big deal? I've never in my entire life heard of anyone being offended by the word 'British'.

I asked my friends at dinner about it, and every single one of them referred to it as a "British accent". They also all agreed that the term "English accent" sounds bizarre, and is not specific enough to really mean anything to us. We ALL have English accents, as English is our first language.

As an American, I couldn't care less what you call us or what you call our accent. Call us 'colonials' and you'll see that we don't really care.

[Cavegeta]

Jonny_Evil wrote...

Cavegeta wrote...


Okay, please let this go.

Okay, mate. It's a sensitive topic to me so I've been more pedantic and defensive than I would be about anything else and I got a bit carried away. Sorry Darth Obvious, and everyone bored silly in the last couple of pages.

*edit*

Darth Obvious wrote...

If I was British then I would have
no problem with my accent being called British. It's so insignificant
that it isn't even worth it.

Now I know you're trolling for an argument, when I've repeatedly stated that I hate being called British instead of English.

No don't be sorry.  In the U.S., I'm thinking of two movies exactly that illustrate your point, Steel Magnolias and Fletch Lives.  One took place in Natchitoches, LA and the other in Thibodeaux, LA.  In both cases, the actors used Georgian accents.   The Natchitoches accent is more like mine (Cenla accent).   The Thibodeaux accent IS Cajun.  The point is that nobody sounded like Scarlett O'effing Hare.

As to the OP,   I understand what you're saying too.  I called it a British accent just because we are honestly confused to all hell about what Britain is, thus British accent makes sense.  My mind was blown when I heard a Dublin accent and it didn't sound like Lucky the Leprachaun (actually it was when I was in Dancing at Lughnasa but whatever).  You're point is that  United Statesians (I don't want to use the term America) use "British" whenever we talk about an "English" accent.  Aussies, feel free to chime in. 

[Darth Obvious]

jojojordmeister wrote...

How would you react if I called you "north american"?

I would shrug because I couldn't care less.

-----------------

House: I assume "minimal at best" is your stiff-upper-lip British way of saying "no chance in hell"?

Chase: I'm Australian.

House: You put the queen on your money... you're British.

[Creature 1]

jojojordmeister wrote...

Darth Obvious wrote...

Jonny_Evil wrote...

I'm not missing your point, I understand completely where you're coming from and I don't think you're out to annoy, but I'm just trying to get across to you what your argument says to an English person.

My argument is that the vast majority of Americans call it a "British accent", just as we have done for over two-hundred years, and absolutely no amount of belly-aching will change that.

Whether one's accent is American, Australian, or British, they are ALL English accents as far as we are concerned. Honestly, I don't see why you care so much. If I was British then I would have no problem with my accent being called British. It's so insignificant that it isn't even worth it.

Right listen,

You come from the USA, right?

How would you react if I called you "north american"? You will probally reply with "I would be fine with it" so you can "win" the argument.

However if I then gave the option to a Canadian of "Canada" and "north american" they would have their country recognised unlike you. That basicly says "Your country is nothing but a name and you are lumped in with the rest of them, even when we have a different culture and different traditions.

If you can't see this then I really cannot be bothered to explain again.

This is silly.  I hear all the time about "American" accents.  What is an American accent?  Which one?  The US has regional accents like any other geopolitical entity.  Yet I don't get offended when people talk about American accents. 

The closest I can figure is you want us to not call it a British accent, which is a widely accepted and perfectly appropriate label, but an "English accent"--which defeats your entire alleged purpose.  Which English accent are we speaking of?  Are you lumping all of the disparate accents found on the island together??  

As it is, we may not know where exactly a particular version of British accent comes from, like you probably couldn't distinguish a West Virginian accent from a Georgian accent from a Texan accent (and of course each state has multiple accents), but we recognize it as coming from that geopolitical region.  Alistair and Taliesin both have British accents, but they're different accents. 

I actually wonder where Taliesin is supposed to have come from in game.  Not Antiva, somewhere in Ferelden?  It would be nice to know.   

[Creature 1]

Apparently even British scientists studying British accents recognize that they're British. 

• Vowel normalization for accent: an investigation of best exemplar locations in northern and southern British English sentences.
• Strength of British English accents in altered listening conditions.
• The shape of nuclear falls and their effect on the perception of pitch and prominence: peaks vs. plateaux.

Since all of these scientists are in London I figure they know what they're talking about. 

Modifié par Creature 1, 13 janvier 2010 - 01:49 .

[Thoron Draugohtar]

Creature 1 wrote...

jojojordmeister wrote...

Darth Obvious wrote...

Jonny_Evil wrote...

I'm not missing your point, I understand completely where you're coming from and I don't think you're out to annoy, but I'm just trying to get across to you what your argument says to an English person.

My argument is that the vast majority of Americans call it a "British accent", just as we have done for over two-hundred years, and absolutely no amount of belly-aching will change that.

Whether one's accent is American, Australian, or British, they are ALL English accents as far as we are concerned. Honestly, I don't see why you care so much. If I was British then I would have no problem with my accent being called British. It's so insignificant that it isn't even worth it.

Right listen,

You come from the USA, right?

How would you react if I called you "north american"? You will probally reply with "I would be fine with it" so you can "win" the argument.

However if I then gave the option to a Canadian of "Canada" and "north american" they would have their country recognised unlike you. That basicly says "Your country is nothing but a name and you are lumped in with the rest of them, even when we have a different culture and different traditions.

If you can't see this then I really cannot be bothered to explain again.

This is silly.  I hear all the time about "American" accents.  What is an American accent?  Which one?  The US has regional accents like any other geopolitical entity.  Yet I don't get offended when people talk about American accents. 

Sorry, what I meant was refering to the whole country related accents.

So for example, an english accent is an accent from any region in England. A USA accent would be from anyone within the USA, my point is, that being an english person you don't get called english but called british instead which some people find insulting.

I wasn't talking about ragional accents because thats a whole different story. You can get many different accents within one country but everyone of them will be named by the countries name not by the regions if used in discussion globally, if it is used within the country itself then most people in the country will know the regional accents and would be able to call them by their proper names.

[Descartian]

In the USA most hillbilly rednecks believe they speak American and are unaware of the English language. Americans can't even spell English: color iso colour, donut iso doughnut, flovor iso flavour etc. Some lazy ****** (dumbarse) redneck called Webster decided to change the English language to make it easier on his fellow illiterate countrymen, hence the change in spelling.

Apologies for using the term "British accent" earlier, just meant the use of the different English accents like Scottish English etc in games. As far as I know Scottish and Irish are languages on their own (different Gaelic dialects, but not sure?)

[RoninOmega]

I'd have to disagree with the elves being american part, Zathrian is far from sounding like any american imo but I can agree they all have mixed voices.  But Zathrian sounds more asian.  Also the guy in the redcliffe bar sounds asian too.

I'd say a mix between the two...

EDIT:  Actually, nevermind, I don't actually get how elves except some city elves even sound american, let alone dalish.  The ones in the alienage sound like them I guess.  Dalish though...  I have disagree

Modifié par RoninOmega, 13 janvier 2010 - 06:39 .

[Bann Duncan]

Eisberg1977 wrote...

Given that Canada still pays some kind of homage to the Queen of England, perhaps that makes them feel like second class citizens?  :happy:

The Queen of Canada you mean. Given Canada's status as a dominion, Her Majesty serves as Queen of Canada as an additional role to being Queen of England (and Scotland, since the passage of the Acts of Union in 1707 joining the two kingdoms). While both powers are vested in the Crown, they are not technically part of the same role.

[Bann Duncan]

Darth Obvious wrote...

Jonny_Evil wrote...

Really? A "British" accent would by it's very nature include people who speak Gaelic and Welsh, my example was chosen with this in mind to display the ludicrous nature of lumping different countries with different languages together under one accent.

Every other english speaking nation seems capable of discerning an English accent without confusing themselves because "they also speak english". The concept of a "British" accent has become entrenched in America for some reason, but that doesn't mean it's accurate or right or should continue.

You are completely missing the point.

It is just what we call it. It is a name to represent something, since it would literally make no sense to us to call it an English accent.

In OUR language, we call the accent "British". You may not like it, but that's how it is. And of course we are not referring to Welsh or Gaelic.

You know, if you are familiar with American history, you would know that Paul Revere said, "The British are coming!" Guess what? No one thought he was referring to Gaelic tribes, now did they? That would be absurd.

I certainly don't believe Americans lack the mental capacity to cope with the concept of their main language coming from another country with the same name, as you seem to suggest.

Ok, this is starting to get sad.

What in the world are you talking about? I never said any such thing. You are completely misconstruing everything I have been trying to explain.

It's just a word, dude. Get over it.

Stop getting so offended over a perfectly reasonable criticism of your strange terminology. Additionally, you do know that Paul Revere never actually said that, right?

[Tamyn]

Most (minor role) elves speak with a Canadian accent. Listen to their vowels. Local actors, I would guess.

[elys]

From a french point of view, I also call British Accent what I associate to England.

I'm sure there is many english accents in England like there is in France, but usually when referring to the "nationality language", it's refering to the capital accent.
Now I add "british" because "English" has a large common meaning and I want to specify English from England.

e.g:

French accent = Accent spoken in Paris
British accent = Accent spoken in London

And usually when someone wanna talk about a specific regional accent, it's precised:
e.g: Southern French Accent, accent spoken in Marseille (southern city of France)

With the "british accent", I can just enjoy them directly without subtitles, but with some specific american accents (sorry I can't tell from which region), I really need subtitles because they munch on halve the words making it hard for me to understand.

Modifié par elys, 13 janvier 2010 - 09:12 .

[RavenholmeCP42]

Balek-Vriege wrote...

Darth Obvious wrote...

I couldn't help but notice that most of not all the Ferelden humans in this game speak with a British accent (and presumably Orlais humans sound French like Leliana), and most if not all the elves seem to speak with an American accent (except Zevran, whose accent sounds eastern-European). Dwarves are mostly American-sounding, except for Bodahn who sounds Australian or something...

Thoughts? Comments?

In Star Wars, the British accent is tied mostly to the Empire, and the American accent is tied to the rebels. This is a corollary to the British Empire and the American Revolutionaries.

In DA, the British accent corresponds mostly to those belonging to the kingdom of Ferelden, and the American-sounding elves are like second-class citizens.

Coincidence?

I think not.
I also think by giving Elves North American accents symbolizes the fact that they're the true natives to the continent, while the Humans and their European accents are more the colonizers who have conquered their lands.

Well, if  that's the intention then that's hilarious. Americans are definitely not the natives of their continent, being as they're descended from the colonists of the various countries who rushed to North America. And indeed, you fought the true natives of the nation into submission.

[Jonny_Evil]

Creature 1 wrote...

Apparently even British scientists studying British accents recognize that they're British. 

• Vowel normalization for accent: an investigation of best exemplar locations in northern and southern British English sentences.
• Strength of British English accents in altered listening conditions.
• The shape of nuclear falls and their effect on the perception of pitch and prominence: peaks vs. plateaux.

Since all of these scientists are in London I figure they know what they're talking about. 

Irrelevant. The British government is seated in London, it's not an English government. The deeply annoying ethnic monitoring forms without English as a nationality are printed in London, that does not mean that England does not exist.

Creature 1 wrote...

This is silly.  I hear all the time
about "American" accents.  What is an American accent?  Which one?  The
US has regional accents like any other geopolitical entity.  Yet
I don't get offended when people talk about American accents. 

The
closest I can figure is you want us to not call it a British accent,
which is a widely accepted and perfectly appropriate label, but an
"English accent"--which defeats your entire alleged purpose.  Which
English accent are we speaking of?  Are you lumping all of the
disparate accents found on the island together??  

As it is, we
may not know where exactly a particular version of British accent comes
from, like you probably couldn't distinguish a West Virginian accent
from a Georgian accent from a Texan accent (and of course each state
has multiple accents), but we recognize it as coming from that
geopolitical region.  Alistair and Taliesin both have British accents,
but they're different accents. 

I actually wonder where
Taliesin is supposed to have come from in game.  Not Antiva, somewhere
in Ferelden?  It would be nice to know.   

As I've pointed out before, England does not mean the whole island. It's an independant country. I'm not talking about recognising scousers, geordies, londoners or cornish, which would be the same as the American accents you mention. I'm talking about recognising the country exists, England=English accent, Scotland=Scottish accent, Ireland=Irish accent, they're far enough apart that no-one who speaks english will mistake one for the other.

The situation is like calling a Canadian accent American, and continuing to do so despite repeated complaints from Canadians, "because they sound like Americans so what's the difference?" If you lump all english accents together under "english accent" like all american accents are lumped under "american accent" then I don't care, because that's perfectly accurate and I wouldn't expect anyone outside the country to recognise English dialects any more than I can recognise all American ones. When you lump them under "British" it's the same as taking all Mexican and Canadian accents and calling them "American". Britain is not one unified country,

And Alistair's accent is english, so is Taliesins. They are not a mix of Scottish, English, Welsh or Irish, they are English.

Modifié par Jonny_Evil, 13 janvier 2010 - 01:05 .

[Creature 1]

Jonny_Evil wrote...

Creature 1 wrote...

Apparently even British scientists studying British accents recognize that they're British. 

• Vowel normalization for accent: an investigation of best exemplar locations in northern and southern British English sentences.
• Strength of British English accents in altered listening conditions.
• The shape of nuclear falls and their effect on the perception of pitch and prominence: peaks vs. plateaux.

Since all of these scientists are in London I figure they know what they're talking about. 

Irrelevant.
The British government is seated in London, it's not an English
government. The deeply annoying ethnic monitoring forms without English
as a nationality are printed in London, that does not mean that England
does not exist.

Interesting.  Unfortunately I'm afraid the scholars win--what they say is the accurate terminology for an accent appearing on the island of England is the accurate terminology.  Since you disagree I suggest you write them a harshly worded email, I'm sure you can find the contact info for the corresponding author online. 

[Jonny_Evil]

The scholars do not "win" because technical terminology, in this case "British English from North and South England" does not equal every day use. I'm sure a paper on Scottish accents would be titled "British English from North and South Scotland." Everyday people from this country use Scottish and English to describe the two.

[Darth Obvious]

RavenholmeCP42 wrote...

Well, if  that's the intention then that's hilarious. Americans are definitely not the natives of their continent

Actually, many of us are (Choctaw and proud of it!), and many more have at least some native blood.

Bann Duncan wrote...

Stop getting so offended over a perfectly reasonable criticism of your strange terminology.

Uh, you need to re-read the thread, I think, because it was actually some other guy getting offended by the widespread usage of a particular terminology.

But we all appreciate your faux concern. I've been enjoying this thread thoroughly, thanks.

Additionally, you do know that Paul Revere never actually said that, right?

...and Washington never chopped down the cherry tree, etc...

The saying "The British are coming!" is legendary, meaning that it will last forever in the form of a legend, accurate or not.

Did Caesar really say "Et tu Brute?" ("Even you, Brutus?") while he was getting gutted?

Does it matter?

Nope.

elys wrote...

From a french point of view, I also call British Accent what I associate to England.

Indeed.

Modifié par Darth Obvious, 13 janvier 2010 - 04:01 .

[Creature 1]

Jonny_Evil wrote...
The scholars do not "win" because technical terminology, in this case "British English from North and South England" does not equal every day use. I'm sure a paper on Scottish accents would be titled "British English from North and South Scotland." Everyday people from this country use Scottish and English to describe the two.

Congrats.  Everyday people from other regions (which make up most of the world) call accents from England British accents.  Apparently so do philologists that live in England.  But we everyday people distinguish the Scots by calling theirs a Scottish accent.  Poor Brits from England can't get any attention, I guess. 

[Balek-Vriege]

RavenholmeCP42 wrote...

Balek-Vriege wrote...

Darth Obvious wrote...

I couldn't help but notice that most of not all the Ferelden humans in this game speak with a British accent (and presumably Orlais humans sound French like Leliana), and most if not all the elves seem to speak with an American accent (except Zevran, whose accent sounds eastern-European). Dwarves are mostly American-sounding, except for Bodahn who sounds Australian or something...

Thoughts? Comments?

In Star Wars, the British accent is tied mostly to the Empire, and the American accent is tied to the rebels. This is a corollary to the British Empire and the American Revolutionaries.

In DA, the British accent corresponds mostly to those belonging to the kingdom of Ferelden, and the American-sounding elves are like second-class citizens.

Coincidence?

I think not.
I also think by giving Elves North American accents symbolizes the fact that they're the true natives to the continent, while the Humans and their European accents are more the colonizers who have conquered their lands.

Well, if  that's the intention then that's hilarious. Americans are definitely not the natives of their continent, being as they're descended from the colonists of the various countries who rushed to North America. And indeed, you fought the true natives of the nation into submission.

This is what I get for being to lazy to post in-depth what I was trying to convey.  My original post was understandably misunderstood since I made certain assumptions of how it would be read so I could save myself time and not type an mini essay on the subject.  I did clarify later on but I tried to keep that short and sweet as well.  So I will do some more clarification anyways to make sure my point is understood correctly:


I think we can all agree that the Human lands in Thedas are based off of Medieval Europe.  Ferelden and Orlais are similar to medieval Britain and France respectfully.  Are the nations of Thedas exactly the same historically as real world earth?  Of course not since Thedas humans are not the natives to the continent, colonized it, conquered the rest from the Elves, superimposed a fantasy version of Rome followed by a Medieval Europe on top of a "New World" continent.

Based on Thedas accents being based off countries of origin which are then based off of real world locations, my original point was that when I noticed that most if not all elves were given American accents, Elves might be based off a North American type origin.  This is where the similarity to what we consider to be North Americans in general today ends and the similarities to Native Americans actually begins.  Although the accent is modern, Elves seem culturally and historically similar to Native Americans.

Based off the Dalish origin where the PC asks whether Elves ever lived in caves and the NPC responds that Elves were as varied as the humans but smaller in number, the continent under the Elves may have been very similar to the peoples of the Americas (except with an obvious Fey-like feel to it since Elves were said to be immortal) before Europeans (In Thedas this would be Humans in general) arrived. Are Thedas Elves exactly the same as Native Americans?  Of course not and in some cases not even close, but there are similarities and they also have similarities to other cultures and people as well.

Just a thought.

[Jonny_Evil]

Darth Obvious wrote...

Uh, you need to re-read the thread, I think, because it was actually some other guy getting offended by the widespread usage of a particular terminology.

I'm not offended, I just pointed out that I find that particular terminology irritating and asked you not to use it here. As I'm an English person, referring to what my own country's accent is called, it would only have been polite to acquiesce. I even went so far as to explain why I found it irritating, and you've continued to argue for it's use, belittling my views on my nationality in the process.

If a black person objects personally to the terms black, coloured, African American or any other widely used terms then it is accepted to stop using those terms in their presence regardless of whether or not others may object or what description you use with your own friends. I had a rational objection to my nationality being overridden by a political entity I neither support nor consider myself a part of, and the polite response would have been to accept that, not spend untold posts arguing why it should not be so.

As far as I'm concerned the time we've spent in the Union has been a black mark on our already aggressive history, marked by brutality towards others, especially in Ireland with the famine, aggressive Imperialism throughout the globe, and repression of our own working class by aristocrats made wealthy by extortion of the poor at home and abroad. I truly and sincerely despise it and would like nothing more than to see it dissolved, that is how much I dislike being called British, if you really must know.

[Cr4sh Dummy]

Iris562 wrote...

It could have just happened that way; I'm guessing they wanted to distinguish the differences between the two races, seeing as with "long hair" the female elves and humans look entirely the same bar a few pounds.

Exactly. They also probably wanted the humans to seem akin to medieval England, albeit they didn't speak modern English back then.