Trying to do a throaty French r in ‘en route’, for example, or saying ‘Barthelona’ with a lispy Spanish c, or telling everyone that you are going to Firenze rather than Florence – even if you pronounce them correctly – is affected and pretentious, which almost invariably betrays lower-middle or middle-middle origins. The upper-middle, upper and working classes usually do not feel the need to show off in this way.
