PRESTON folk want nowt teken owt of Nick Park's Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit.

But distributer Oxford University Press have other ideas. They want to take the Lanky slang out of the Preston-born Park's new video, which will be sold overseas.

The proud plasticine ambassadors of all things Lancastrian are being forced to speak proper to help foreigners understand the fun-packed script.

The overseas release of The Wrong Trousers must adopt the Queen's English, and that means that some of their best-known phrases have been axed in favour of more easily understood soundbites.

Out goes "I could just fancy some cheese, Gromit," and in comes "I'd like a nice piece of cheese, Gromit." The phrase "a bit steep" has also fallen foul of the dialect police, who have replaced it with the universally understood "expensive."

Even the phrase "wrong trousers" has been deleted. Instead of saying "It's the wrong trousers", Wallace tells his canine companion "They are the wrong trousers."

Just to make sure any remaining remnants of a Lancashire accent don't confuse foreigners, Ballykissangel and Drop The Dead Donkey star Steven Tomlinson has been brought into narrate the tale, while actor Peter Sallis has re-recorded the voice of Wallace.

Preston Mayor Coun Rose Kinsella is disappointed at the changes. She said: "I don't know what to say. It seems a strange thing to do, especially because the Lancashire dialect is so unique. I like it and it is seems a shame to have to lose it."

The video will be used as part of an English educational package to be used abroad.

An Oxford University Press spokesman said: "Some of Wallace's crucial phrases are just too colloquial which meant foreign students wouldn't have been able to understand them."

Three Wallace and Gromit tales have been produced. The Wrong Trousers was the second, winning three Oscars three years ago in Hollywood.

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