Discussion Groups / British English / November 2008

The broadcast media seem to have decided that "Ralph" should be
pronounced "rafe". I've known of, for example, Ralph Richardson and
Ralph Vaughan Williams for most of my life, but suddenly and fairly
recently they've become "rafes". Any justification for this?

"Convince" seems to have replaced "persuade" almost completely in UK
broadcasting. It seems totally wrong to me to say, for example, "I
convinced him to come with us to the cinema"

How democratic is your ESL classroom?
Who gets to speak in class? Whose ideas count? Who chooses the
assignments? How do students receive feedback? Do students have a
chance to conference with their instructors? Can YouTube be a valuable

Does anyone know the English word meaning 'almond-eyed'.
Many thanks
Pete