The Fake American Accent Problem.

The person who uploaded the lyrics of Dreadlock Holiday to YouTube (see earlier post) gives the following line:

I heard a dark voice beside me say

“Would you like something harder?”

When that song was current, I heard the line as ‘...like something hotter,’ because the context suggests the soliciting of a whore. And therein lies an important point.

Rock and pop music was invented in America in the 1950s, and there’s always been a tendency for British singers to effect a vaguely American accent. It seems to go with the territory and people do it unconsciously (just as we British kids effected a poor American accent when we were playing cowboys and Indians.) But English and American speakers pronounce the double ‘t’ in words ending ...tter differently. The Englishman clips it more precisely, so ‘hotter’ and ‘harder’ sound quite different. The American, however – at least to an English ear and especially if the first syllable is vocally extended – hardens the double ‘t’ so it sounds like ‘d.’ ‘Better’ becomes ‘bedder,’ ‘fatter’ becomes ‘fadder,’ and ‘hotter’ becomes ‘harder.’

So which is it, because the choice between ‘harder’ and ‘hotter’ completely changes the meaning of the last verse?