I am completely unqualified to post on this subject, because for me half the mystery in British mysteries is figuring out what the characters say. But here are a few random comments: PRESENTLY "Now I am a sensible man, by and by a fool and presently a beast" Clearly "presently" does not mean "now." GOT If you prefer "got" to "gotten" how would you like "his only begot son", "moon for the misbegot" or "While I pondered weak and weary over some ... of forgot lore"? AMERICANS can't pronounce foreign names: We can't even pronounce our own names. Just listen to a newsman talk about Norfolk VA or Appalachian mountains. My theory is the news presenter(?) is afraid that the correct pronunciation of "Norfolk" will get bleeped by the censors and that he wants to pronounce "Appalachian" as if it came from Latin (with a long A as in data, status, ignoramus, caveat etc.) Accented syllables: We Americans have a terrible time with this issue. We say de spic* able for des* picable, vague* aries for va garies*, fort A* for forte and then there's the pesky bit where the stress changes with the use e.g., the fre*quent visitor fre quents* the bar or the cabbage re tails* for 50 cents a head, so that its re* tail* value is ... Finally, we in Amereicnsa are losing nice distinctions in pronunciations: The POOR man POURED a cup of coffee as he PORED over the want ads; will MERRY MARY MARRY?