Hull Accent

I have never pronounced it 'ull

It was me pronouncing it like that in me Staffordshire accent, djen

Didn't Philip Larkin used to run the university library in Hull?

Yes he did.

Roseq, lots of people in Hull do call it 'ull. My mother's family were from Hull as far back as five generations before her, but we would still have been told off for saying 'ull.
The strange thing is that if you ask them to say the alphabet, many will also say haitch for H.
Nowt so queer as folk.

I was told off if I said 'haitch' instead of 'aitch'.

Some words I was brought up with I thought were normal but, after I left Staffordshire, I realised they were not! They were not words used in other parts of the country but pronounced differently.

My DM used to say 'give me your donnies' if she either wanted to put my gloves on or hold my hand across the road.
I can't find the origin of 'donny' for hand - does anyone else know?

'dannies' here in S. Yorks. I haven't heard that one in a long time!

Arthur Gnome - I though he might be selling semi-detached houses.

I'm from Hull, although, as my mother always told me, Hull is the name of the river! (The town is Kingston upon Hull but no-one calls it that). I don't have a Hull accent (it was drummed out of me when I was a child-speaking properly was important). I now live in Newcastle where they speak almost another language, and I can't do a Geordie accent. The word which most annoys me and it is said in the same way in both places is the word "film"
which so many people insist on saying as "Fillum" Drives me mad!!!

I had a friend from NI who pronounced it 'Fillum'

'Shall we go to the pictures to watch a fillum?'

Two of my GSs (7 and 9) take the mick out of their mum who comes from NI and talks about fillums. Brats!

When my Dad first moved up to Hull from North London, he bought himself a new car and the neighbour across the road called out "I see thee've tret thissen" - Dad said "pardon' a couple of times then had to just smile and nod politely!

Isn't it good that regional accents survive, I think so anyway!

Our sil is also from NI and we all take the mick about his watching a filem.

I really do love accents, be they French or English- and I find it a shame that so many young people are all losing their local accents, both here and there.

OH grew up with Surrey style Grammmar school RP- and as we moved around the country from London, I was always much better at understanding local people, and picking up the accents- bot in Stoke-on-Trent and then Leicestershire. I loved to say 'a louke in a bouke' and 'I was stood standing there'- as a furiner, all these expressions I picked up so cheered up the locals ;)

Will always remember the first time I came across a strong Scouse accent, walking up DoveDale in Staffs- a girl was up by the cave and shouting

I'm stochhhhh on a rorchhhhh and I wanna get bachhhhh!

It sounded a bit like Swiss German, lol. Apparently 'she was stuck on a rock and wanted to get back'- explained the social workers who were with her and her friend.

Trisher- Well done to your Mum-it is Kingston upon Hull and proud to be.

Gardeningsuey-Your Dads neighbour doesn't sound much like a 'Hullite' with that accent.

No matter where you go the Hull accent is always recognisable

Nobody thinks I'm from Hull, having been married to a Geordie for 45 years.
They quite often guess Durham, or they did before I moved to Durham.

Perhaps it's your name that gives them a clue

hulljen

Sorry, I do not introduce myself as durhamjen when I am talking to people!
Nobody on here knows what I sound like.
I lived in Hull for 18 years, then moved away. We moved back when I was 40.
People I had not known before did not think I came from Hull.

Rose

I didn't think that hulljen had quite the same ring to it [ wink]

Nothing to do with Kingston-upon-Hull she hastens to add!

When I talk to people I don't know here in Sheffield they always say "you're not from around here are you?" I was born and raised here but after travelling around with soldier husband, living and working in other places, I have lost most of my accent (no bad thing some would say!). I have a Geordie friend who also travelled around with her service husband and has never lost her accent. It was always a joy to listen to and, whenever we speak on the phone, it still is! My hairdresser is from The Wirral and we always describe her accent as 'posh scouse'.

Yorkjen?
That's where we lived for ten years before moving to Durham.
Didn't call myself that, though.

Nobody in York guessed I was from Hull, either.
I am just saying this because granjo39 said that no matter where you go the Hull accent is always recognisable.

As a furiner, I imagine I would not be able to pick out Hull from 'normal' Geordie. Geordie is the one accent I am totally unable to imitate. I can do a bit of Brum and Scouse- but not Geordie. How does Hull differ- any examples?

Just wondering what Philip Larkin would have thought of Hull as a City of Culture! He was rude about it - but he stayed...

@granjura - It's a fair old distance from Hull to Newcastle-upon-Tyne - I doubt there would be much similarity between their accents.

Well, lol, both in the North East after all- so with Danish roots perhaps.

My accent in English is more than weird- and nobody has ever guessed it right (French speaking Swiss)- I've been 'accused' of being Welsh, and also South AFrican- but my mother-tongue is definitely French and not German. Go figure. Only 2 current GNeters have heard my accent, not sure what they would say.

When I first went to visit my in-laws in Northumberland, I used to just nod and shake my head, then ask what they had said after they went out of the room. I could not understand the accent at all. So yes, Hull and Geordie are completely different.

There's a Philip Larkin trail in Hull.
I think Larkin would have appreciated it being a city of culture. It wasn't just Hull he was rude about, he was just a curmudgeonly man.
They are after having the Turner prize there in 2017, in Ferens Art Gallery. It is being spruced up. The last time it was done was over 20 years ago, when my husband was the assistant chief architect there. I'll have to go and see it again before it happens.