KENSINGTON

views updated May 18 2018

KENSINGTON, also Kensingtonian, Kensington Hay. An affected or overly refined ACCENT considered typical of the middle-class residents of the London borough of Kensington, especially formerly: ‘Hilda had been deprived of her Five Towns [Staffordshire] accent at Chetwynd's School, where the purest Kensingtonian was inculcated’ ( Arnold Bennett, Hilda Lessways, 1911). The phrase Kensington Hay satirizes both the affected pronunciation of ‘high’ as in Kensington High Street, and the aspirations of the speakers. Compare MORNINGSIDE AND KELVINSIDE.

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