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What do you sound like ?

(156 Posts)
NanKate Sun 17-Sept-17 07:16:31

I had a dreadful stammer as a child brought on by the stress of being separated from my family at 3 years old and put in an isolation ward in hospital. 10 days later I was reunited with the family. Anyway I digress.

I had speech training or elocution as it was called then, so instead of having a Brummie accent I have an accent that I can't define, some say it is cultured, really don't know.

I am on hols in the Midlands and it feels like home to hear the Brummie and Black Country accents.

What do you sound like ?

trisher Mon 18-Sept-17 11:30:12

I've used "oop" for "up" when writing something gillybob it's just a way of indicating the word is to be pronounced with a Northern accent. Much as if I was writing something with a Somerset accent I might add the occasional "r" to words.

gillybob Mon 18-Sept-17 11:31:58

I love real accents of all kinds. "Posh" (RP) is not an accent, it's a deliberate non-accent and is more identified with a particular social group than anyone from a given region.

Anyone, with any accent can speak plainly and properly.

gillybob Mon 18-Sept-17 11:34:15

But we don't say "oop" trisher we say up with an "u" sound.

There is no "oo" . Even more confused

annodomini Mon 18-Sept-17 11:34:38

Indefinable Scots. My sons can 't hear it - they both have an indefinable English accent. But when I hear myself on an answerphone, it's perfectly clear to me. I was born in West of Scotland, to local Mum and Fifer Dad. We've lived in several parts of England so DSs were never in any place long enough to pick up a local accent. Biggest puzzle is 9-year-old GS who has a very 'posh' accent, quite different from his father and brother and his Northern Irish mother.

trisher Mon 18-Sept-17 11:47:49

gillybob having lived down South for most of her life my mother-in-law's Northern origins were still obvious in her 'u' sounds which were much longer than the standard 'u' "oo" is just a way of indicating this. I still say a longer "u' on words like buses and butter. How else do you think we should indicate a northern accent? - and we don't pronounce "u" properly. Standard pronunciation is a short "u" think of the difference between how you say umbrella and bus

Hildagard Mon 18-Sept-17 11:48:07

I come from Bath and it is Ba'ath always remember on the station hearing Baaaath Spa coming home

Greyduster Mon 18-Sept-17 11:51:04

I have always considered the Black Country to be Midlands, Blinko, but as for North, there are those who say that once over the Derbyshire border into South Yorkshire you are in the North - others say, and it was said on here a while ago, that South Yorkshire had no right to consider itself as North (in fact, no right to consider itself as anything at all!), and the North didn't start until you got to Manchester - or Leeds (hereinafter known by some curmudgeons hereabouts as T' Eternal City oop t' road! Now that is having a chip on your shoulder!). Personally, I have no strong views on the matter either way grin!

Legs55 Mon 18-Sept-17 12:06:19

I was born & bred in West Riding of Yorkshire, briefly lived in Lancashire then in Middlesex (Surrey) for 23 years working in the Civil Service so have a "well spoken accent". I then moved to Somerset for 3 years & now live in Devon (past 2 years). My Yorkshire accent is still lurking there although people find it hard to know which part of Yorkshire.

I do find now I'm away from Surrey my accent is reverting back to more dialect based. My DD can always tell when I've been speaking to my DM (never lived any-where but Yorkshire) as my accent broadens into more Yorkshire. Probably pick up bits of Devon the longer I live here "proper job" as the locals saygrin

gillybob Mon 18-Sept-17 12:10:31

Thank you for your explanation trisher but a Geordie accent does not differentiate between the "u" sound in bus or umbrella. I certainly don't say boos.

leeds22 Mon 18-Sept-17 12:13:22

I wish southerners realised they DO have an accent. One which sounds a bit odd to us up north. One of our son's has adopted a strangulated accent with long A's, etc and we think he sounds proper daft.

And why do most people ask for a 'Lartey' coffee, even those with strong regional accents. The Italians call it a cafe latte (with a flat a) so where has the r come from?

Diggingdoris Mon 18-Sept-17 12:16:03

Born in Lincolnshire, but moved to Essex aged 3, so even if I put on a posh voice I still sound like an Essex girl. But if I visit the Midlands I find myself reverting to the local dialect. I don't know I'm doing it but DH thinks it's amusing.
Strangely each time I visit Cornwall I'm asked if I'm Australian.

gillybob Mon 18-Sept-17 12:17:33

I think some peoples perception of how others speak is obviously very wrong.

JanaNana Mon 18-Sept-17 12:21:18

Still have a very pronounced Yorkshire accent even though I have,nt lived there for over 50 years. Have lived in various parts of England, Scotland, and abroad as part of being a military family and having to upsticks at regular intervals. Having lived on the south coast now for 20 years I thought my accent might have become more southern ....apparently not. I am teased quite a lot for my northern vowels ....but can soon shock people in my replies as I am a very good mimic and the look on their faces is priceless!

gillybob Mon 18-Sept-17 12:23:57

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gyuo9ZH3frE

Pretty much my voice....

not an "oop" to be heard. wink

gillybob Mon 18-Sept-17 12:42:46

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyyT2jmVPAk

One woman 17 accents !

grannyactivist Mon 18-Sept-17 12:49:13

I was once interviewed in a radio studio about my job and before going in it hadn't occurred to me to think about what I might sound like, I was just concerned to answer the questions correctly and conscious that my colleagues were listening and wanting me to get the right message across.
Later, when I heard the recording, I was really shocked to hear how 'posh' I sounded and even more so when my family and colleagues assured me that it wasn't a trick of the radio but actually how I sound (I'm NOT from a posh background at all). I did a good job answering questions and so my boss asked me to do a TV interview a day or two later. I was really conscious of my voice during it and felt very unnatural when I was talking. Now, after twenty years of teaching English as a second language I think I sound much better. smile

trisher Mon 18-Sept-17 13:18:33

Sarah Milligan is not a Geordie- she's from South Shields and admits she's a Sand-dancer. So not a Geordie accent- much as Southerners may think so.

blue60 Mon 18-Sept-17 13:18:55

Well, I'm Welsh and have a Welsh accent. Occasionaly I do some radio work about gardening for Radio Wales, but I never listen back.

gillybob Mon 18-Sept-17 13:25:56

grin trisher I don't know wher you got your facts from but Sarah Millican is absolutely a Geordie.

I think you will find a "Geordie" comes from Newcastle, Blyth, Ashington, North Tyneside, SOUTH Tyneside and Gateshead.

trisher Mon 18-Sept-17 13:36:38

Sandhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandancer-Dancer
Somewhere in the future Geordie comedy hall of fame, there’s a plinth reserved for Sarah Millican. Sure, she’d be the first to admit she’s technically a Sand-dancer, hailing from South Shields as she does
narcmagazine.com/comedy-review-sarah-millican-tyne-theatre-31-7-16/

trisher Mon 18-Sept-17 13:39:00

Who is permitted to call themselves a Geordie?
Again there are various viewpoints. Originally, it would appear that the name applied only to miners, colliers, or inhabitants of Newcastle. Later it became applied to resi- dents of Tyneside in general. Local Folklore has it that a Geordie is someone born on the north side of the Tyne, within a 1 mile radius of Newcastle. Dictionaries also record that the word is used to describe natives of Tyneside, or things pertaining to Tyneside.
www.newcastle.gov.uk/wwwfileroot/legacy/libraries/Geordiemainbody.pdf

meandashy Mon 18-Sept-17 13:39:08

I'm very London sounding (not cockney) living in Scotland for last 12 years. Haven't lost my accent at all but do use the odd local word (aye ?)
And phrase (bin is a bucket, worktop is a bunker).
My dd was bullied for being 'Australian ' when we arrived (never understood that) and quickly adopted the local accent. Dgd was born here but as she lived with me for 4 years is a mix of London & Scottish much to my dd disgust!
Apparently when I speak to friends back home on the phone infront of my friends here my accent gets stronger.
My dm is Scottish. She has been in England so long you wouldn't know unless she's speaking to her sister who still lives here!
We are funny creatures. I've never been able to take off a different accent either hmm

gillybob Mon 18-Sept-17 13:53:31

This is getting silly trisher I can send you an almost identical link saying exactly what I printed earlier:

a "Geordie" comes from Newcastle, Blyth, Ashington, North Tyneside, SOUTH Tyneside and Gateshead

South Shields is in South Tyneside. (unless it has moved without my knowledge).

The (old fashioned) term Sand Dancer is very specific to someone from South Shields and does not mean they are not Geordies.

When referring to the people, as opposed to the dialect, dictionary definitions of a Geordie typically refer to "a native or inhabitant of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, or its environs", an area that encompasses Blyth, Ashington, North Tyneside, Newcastle, South Tyneside and Gateshead
Geordie - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geordie

pollyperkins Mon 18-Sept-17 14:01:50

I was brought up in the north so had short 'a's but moved south aged 13 and quickly learnt to use long 'a's - here described as barth etc. But we really dont put an 'r' in there , just a more drawn out vowel. That is as wrong as describing tge northern 'u' as oo. It's just very difficult to describe a sound in writing. I think the person who said that 'up' rhymes with 'put' in the north came closest. But a Yorkshire accent is different from Lancashire and the northeast is different again so it's too simplistic to call them all Northern! And I agree that in TV programmes and films set in a specific place in the north all sorts of northern accents are used which is just not right.
I'm told I sound posh but don't think I am. I hate my voice when I hear it recorded!
I now live in the midlAnds and Im interested to hear a sort of in beween long and short 'a' in really local people. Sort of laaaf (not laf of larf, ) for laugh. It's got to change gradually if you think about it. But there are people living locally from all sorts of places so a real mixture of accents.

gillybob Mon 18-Sept-17 14:08:21

I love, love, love the (Southern) Irish accent. Its so dreamy.