Accents - a privilege to hear them

I used to be able to pick the different Northern town accents when I was at Manchester uni. Now, to my shame, I can’t tell the difference between Yorkshire and Lancashire. My husband, from Manchester, can still. I used to like the Somerset accent, lovely. We do have slight differences here, Queenslanders speak a little more slowly ( I think ) but it is pretty similar. Different words,though, for things.

I find that if I use my London accent people treat me differently and feel the need to simplify their language and to mansplain or womansplain things to me far more than if I use my RP accent. I think they are probably more likely to check to see if anything is missing after I've gone if I have spoken to them in my London voice.

I don't think this applies to all regional accents, some of which seem to add to the speaker's perceived honesty, common sense and intelligence.

That’s why a lot of call centres were set up around Newcastle Magenta. The so called Geordie accent is perceived as honest and trustworthy. There’s a spoof call centre skit on YouTube - a bit OTT, but quite believable.

Sorry David got out of the wrong side of the bed today?

I found, as a girl, my friends from public school found my accent funny and teased me about it... But I went to a state grammar school and my schoolfriends there thought I talked "posh" and teased me about that. Obviously it was the sane accent. Too posh and not posh enough.

We always went to the same place on holiday and it was nice to be in a very mixed accent group there.
Mine was, and is, quite a muted one I think - so on holiday mine was totally ignored.
It was the same when I went to university. I did have an accent but not broad enough for anyone to comment on.

David49

Nothing wrong with a regional accent as long at it can be understood, broad Glasgow, Newcastle or Aberdeen is hardly desirable.

Desirable to whom David49?

I love the Australian accent, it sounds so easy going and happy go lucky.

I married ‘up’ as they say. moved away and lost my regional accent. An friend introduces me and says “She sounds posh, but she isn’t really”😁

I think David49 had a point. It’s not necessarily snobbish to want to understand what someone is saying. Haven’t we all been frustrated on the telephone or having medical treatment etc.when you just can’t make out what is being said?

Yes - some of the people who ring up trying to sell things are extremely difficult to understand. I have no idea where they come from but it isn’t local. I politely say, sorry, can’t understand you, and hang up.

My problem is that now I am going deaf (!) I find some regional accents very hard to understand. I won't say anymore.

I don’t think it’s snobbish to want to understand what is being said to you. Ok if it’s passing the time of the day but if it the chemist giving instructions then it’s annoying to ask them to repeat . I’m from Liverpool and if I had £1 for every time I’ve been told I don’t sound as though I come from there I’d be a very rich woman.

Accents are all very regional, wasn't it Prof Henry Higgins who identified people to the exact area they came from? 😁

My North Welsh relatives have a very distinctive accent and when I hear someone on TV speak it I know exactly where they come from! It's very different from South Welsh.

I think we all have our likes and dislikes regarding accents. For some reason I actually love a Birmingham accent, maybe because I watched Crossroads. when young. 😂 I know it's not normally one most people like.

There was a BBC TV programme called How the Edwardians Spoke which was fascinating (no longer available). Quote: Documentary which uses the discovery of hundreds of recently-discovered sound recordings to reveal the accents and dialects of ordinary Edwardians.
The lady who did this must have been Prof Henrietta Higgins as she knew all the accents.

I do find that a few strong regional accents are hard to understand on the phone, some as hard to understand as many from Indian call centres.
I remember reading something that said soft sounding Scottish accents are held to denote trustworthy attributes for advertising reasons and Southern Ireland the opposite! A slight regional accent is probably the best thing to have, sounds nice and all can understand you.
I guess to ourselves we don’t have an accent at all but of course we do.

friendlygingercat

I am Liverpool born but I began to lose my Scouse accent then I went into a profession. My family speak with a noticeable LIverpool accent. I lost it completely when I went into academia and began to speak received English so the international students could understand me. I sometimes slip into broad Scouse when I answer the phone to an unknown caller (usually someone selling) and pretend to be the "housekeeper" to put them off. I can also do a very convincing mid west accent from my time in the USA.

Hours of fun with cole callers and would be scammers.

We had family in Liverpool back when it was thought to be a pretty rough place, loved it then and love it now. Had a good friend who lived in Birkenhead and woe betide if you said she was from Liverpool. 🤣
Beautiful city, beautiful people.

Nothing wrong with a Glasgow accent David it’s just that we tend to speak very fast.
My English Gra daughter does a great Glasgow accent she started doing it as a toddler to confuse her dad who’s from Bath.
She uses Scottish words to flummox him even now she’s 15
Her cousin who has never been to the USA has an American accent from watching to many American children’s programmes .Her mother used to sit her in front of the TV for hours.She uses American words like diaper instead of nappies .
They are hilarious.

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David49

Grannynannywanny
David49

Nothing wrong with a regional accent as long at it can be understood, broad Glasgow, Newcastle or Aberdeen is hardly desirable.

Did you mean to sound so snobbish? 🙄

When you have to ask a Glaswegian 3 times before you can understand the reply it's probably time they learned to speak English.

Complementing your earlier post now with rudeness? Keep on digging that big hole.

😆 🪏

I'm from just outside Edinburgh and I've been complimented on my accent many times over the years. However, one time I answered the phone at work to a very posh-sounding gentlemen, and once I'd spoken to him for a bit, he said 'oh, you have the most wonderful voice. I could listen to you all day. Have you ever thought of doing those phone sex lines - you'd make a fortune'! I wasn't sure whether to be flattered or offended!

David49's remarks reminded me of a conversation I once had where I was asked to repeat something I had said in my London voice. When I did, the person I was talking to either still didn't know what I had said or affected not to understand so I repeated it a third time in my RP voice.

"There you see, you can speak proper English when you try," was the patronising response.

Definitely different accents in the Netherlands. Holland consists of Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland. With the other provinces they make up the Netherlands. When I spoke Dutch they knew I lived in Noord-Holland.
I am, however, a Yorkshire girl and never lost that accent.

David ,thankfully the days when teachers rapped our knuckles for using the Scot’s language are gone.
Superiority doesn,t sit well here,believe me,there are many amongst us who are happy to speak in our mother tongue.
Aberdonians and the surrounding areas speak wonderful Doric ,I have a friend who writes in Doric and I love it.
Shame you are so narrow minded you can’t accept that we are all different…I am offended that you think Scots should have you learn your version of English!

Maybe you need to improve your listening skills, David.

I don’t really notice accents unless very broad and find it hard to identify them. I am very unmusical, can’t sing or play an instrument so I think it’s all of a piece with that. I do like to hear music, though!

After many trips to the US, I can now distinguish between east and west coast accents, the W coast ‘vocal fry’ sets my teeth on edge.

The first time I was aware of my accent was when I played my answerphone message back to myself.

I also love different expressions from around the country.
For instance the northern expression ‘mithering’ which I think means complaining, is not heard in the south, or at least I have never heard it said.

I also love the Scottish expression ‘wee besom’ referring to a small child. It’s lovely!

I have noticed that quite a few actors, when being themselves have various regional accents. David Tennant, for instance, has a lovely Scottish accent.

I believe that quite a few British actors have appeared in films and television series in the USA and their accents have been so convincing that many Americans assume they are native to the USA.

I think the opposite is also true, I saw Richard Chamberlain as Hamlet many years ago and his English accent was perfect. More recently Renee Zellweger, Meryl Streep and Gillian Anderson have all conquered RP.

Notspaghetti, I loved listening to the Dutch accents, it brought back lovely memories. I lived in The Netherlands for about eight years and could recognise an Amsterdam or Rotterdam accent by the time I left.

I am also a chameleon, love accents and pick them up at the drop of a hat much to my family’s embarrassment. We frequently visit Scotland and I slip into the Ayrshire accent so quickly.
It is interesting how accents change. My granny came from Kentish Town in North London where the accent was fast, clipped and distinctive, the ‘o’s sounding like ‘aw’ as across becoming acrawst. So different from South or East London but these days general Estuary English seems to be the norm. When we first moved to Bucks about fifty years ago, there were lots of locals with a strong local burr ( like Bernard Miles used to do ) but alas there are no longer such voices.

When I started my teaching career in Sheffield, the children said I "talked like the Queen".
I loved the children's voices in deepest Dorset and "where be 'e at" for "where is he?"
Living in Normandy "ils mangent les mots", so eat their words rather than swallowing them. My rural neighbours did teach me a bit of patois and it was interesting to learn that some sayings had made their way across the channel into English.
Now we are back in England I am hearing the Surrey / Kent border voices of my childhood.