What is Estuary English?
“Estuary English is a name given to the formulation(s) of English widely spoken in South East England and the East of England; especially along the River Thames and its estuary, which is where the two regions meet. Estuary English is commonly described as a hybrid of Received Pronunciation (RP) and South Eastern Accents, particularly from the London, Kent and Essex area i.e., the area around the Thames Estuary.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estuary_English It has been variously described as a modified regional speech that falls somewhere between Cockney and the Queen, while the Minister of Education condemned it as a bastardized version of the Cockney dialect. There are differences in vocabulary, grammar, intonation and vocalization, among other things. From that description, it does not sound unlike the many regional differences we have among the different communities in the U.S., sometimes differences within single communities.
