91Èȱ¬

A celebration of the riches of the web.

Today in Web Monitor: star predictions, the rise of the super-accent and male ballerinas.

• In the for the next 10 years. Among his thoughts about piracy (which ), car design and future polluters is one about a music festival for the three Abrahamic religions:

"Here's something that could never have happened in the Naughts but will maybe be possible in the Tweens or Teens - if there's a breakthrough in the Mideast peace process. The idea is an arts festival that celebrates the origin of the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Every year it could be held in a different location; Jerusalem would obviously be the best place to start. In Ireland, at the height of the 'Troubles,' it was said that the only solution for rabid sectarianism was to let 1,000 punk-rock bands bloom: music helped create a free space for dialogue (of a high-volume variety). So no politicians allowed. Artists only."

with the list, asking Bono to be more partisan over international conflicts. He gave his own scathing recommendations for Bono including:

"Stop it with the Jesus complex. Are you Bono? Yes. Are you Jesus? No."

• The accent, it seems, is not dying out, . They report the resilience of urban accents in the UK as one of the most marked trends of recent years. And outside cities, language experts at York and Lancaster's universities have found regional "super-accents".

If you're underwhelmed not being able to hear the differences in the written article, take an audio journey around the UK's accents with the 91Èȱ¬'s Voices project, or there is also the charting the change in accents over the past 50 years.

• Desert Island Disc's interview with opera director John Copley brought up an uncomfortable moment for presenter Kirsty Young. Copley, whose father called him a "pansy", didn't always want to be an opera singer, instead opting for ballet, which led to this exchange between the two (half an hour in):

"Young: You did want to be a ballerina.
Copley: Well a ballet dancer.
Young: Yes sorry, all this talk of pansies has rather thrown me.
Copley: I probably did want to be a ballerina."

Once Web Monitor's toes had uncurled, the question remained: what do you call a male ballet dancer? Thankfully this has been :

"Okay, here it is. Male ballet dancers are called Danseurs, sometimes Danseur Nobel if they are a 'star'. Most refer to themselves as the same as the women do, as 'ballet dancers.' Ballerinas are only called that if they are the star principal dancers in a company. Sometimes you are referred to by your rank in the company such as Principal (Etoiles), soloist, or corps. de ballet."

Links in full

91Èȱ¬ | Voices

Kirsty Young | 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4 | John Copley on Desert Island Discs

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• - What's this?