>>>Those who diss the classically trained voice as "operatic"<<<

I don't think anyone was criticising the operatic voice, and many of the songs under discussion sit just as well with a less 'trained' voice as they do with classically trained. However some of the more basic songs definitely sound at least odd if not hysterically funny being sung by the classically trained voice. It's more about accent and very precise diction than musical ability.

I used to really enjoy some of the songs we listened to at school on the BBC programmes 'Blow the wind southerly', 'Once there was a wild rose gay', Marianina' etc, but John Goss singing chanteys creased me up.