http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3U-r8T31Ns
In defence of Joey Barton and Steve McClaren, an English footballer and manager who’ve headed abroad and adopted comedy foreign accents, it’s almost impossible not to.
Back when I worked at KOTO, I spent the whole day speaking pidgin English - later in the bar us volunteers would continue even among exclusively English speakers, as we found it hard to shake off.
Let's be honest, we all do it. In Nairobi, every expat I knew adopted an odd, cod African way of speaking with a frankly bizarre syntax. Pakistan is a little different in that most English-speaking Pakistanis have posher Brit accents than I do. But I find myself pre-editing everything that comes out of my mouth in the patronising hope that I'll be more easily understood.
I am still trying to rationalise it beyond simply being understood and all I can say is – I am a comedy foreigner. Like Dell Boy I have a load of stock foreign phrases (Vietnamese in this case) and I use them to relative comic effect while continuing to play the daft big lug westerner. I know my place and it works for me.
It’s a great post. Wish I’d thought of it. Would have made a good one for The Telegraph blogs today
Very occasionally I keep up. Barton defended it well – started Twitter the next day with a “good moaning”.