> Which was what Professor Henry Higgins made a living doing. I wonder if he could have done it anywhere else but in England?

Actually, back in the days of Norwegian Broadcasting's monopoly (before we got Jeopardy and 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"), there was a TV show where linguistic experts tried just that; to pinpoint where people came from based on hearing them tell a story of some sort. They were often able to narrow the area down to wich particular town they came from.

Trav"I was young, and had very little to do but watch TV"holt.