31 replies to this topic

[JohnM]

see http://www.bbc.co.uk...1_feature.shtml

I lived and worked in the area from 1972 to 1992, so things may have changed, though visiting there implies it has not.

[nadera78]

I spent a couple of hours in a pub recently explaining the differences between the various London accents to an Aussie friend. Not sure she came out any the wiser tbh.

The word 'house' is an obvious one. East and south Londoners mangle it into aars. West Londoners (like me) simply drop the h so it becomes 'ouse. Greenwich is an interesting one. My paternal granddad, from south of the river, used to say grenidge (with a hard d) whilst the maternal grandfather, from north of the river called it grinich. Places like St Marylebone and Holborn were pronounced differently too. The south Londoner also called onions ungions, and rhubarb rhubub.

These would all be working class varieties of course, posher folk from the same locations would sound different again.

The accent I have and the ones I grew up with (I'm only 33 btw) seem to be disappearing as people get priced out of living here and move to the edges of the city and to commuter towns. London has huge numbers of immigrants, from across the UK and around the world, and the accents are changing noticeably. The varieties now seem to be based more along ethnic lines rather than location.

[longboard]

I speak with an old downtown Leeds accent I.E Liz Dawn,maurice Bamford etc,and I live near Philadelphia PA and very few locals recognise it as a regional English accent."what of Ireland do you come from?oh you sound irish,but its a lovely Scottish brogue?"I never thought a Leeds accent could be described as a lovely brogue

A lovely brogue! That slack Leeds accent! By 'eck.

Americans often struggle to distinguish Scottish, Irish, English, Welsh, Australian and South African accents, never mind regional accents in my experience.

[longboard]

One thing I've often wondered about is the odd distinctiveness of the Liverpool accent, compared to the surrounding (quite close) areas.

The Scouse accent has the nasal quality that is found in the Dublin accent. The Liverpool accent has spread well into North Wales also.

[The Crab]

My Dewsbury accent has mellowed slightly after living in NZ for 14 years,but it is still strong enough for Kiwis to think I am Scottish or Irish.
I love to hear any accents from home,there is so much variation.In NZ the accent tends to be all the same unless you come from the bottom of the South Island which has a slightly different accent to the rest of the country.I find Brits struggle to pick the difference between Kiwi and Aussie accents until you have heard a few then you realise the Aussie accent is simply awful!

[Wiltshire Rhino]

Speak like a Pirate day allows the rest of the country to speak proper!

[hindle xiii]

Luke at er ercut over thur with a cuke buke on a buzz.

F*cking Lancashites.

[fieldofclothofgold]

Luke at er ercut over thur with a cuke buke on a buzz.

F*cking Lancashites.

nar then

[Bleep1673]

A lovely brogue! That slack Leeds accent! By 'eck.

Americans often struggle to distinguish Scottish, Irish, English, Welsh, Australian and South African accents, never mind regional accents in my experience.

A female Australian collegue was watching S4C the other week, and she was sitting there for a good half an hour during her lunch break until someone started complaining about having the Welsh language channel on, she was very surprised as she just thought it was some regional English accent that she was struggling with! There was no need to take the P*ss as she wouldn't have understood what we were saying anyway

[Severus]

A female Australian collegue was watching S4C the other week, and she was sitting there for a good half an hour during her lunch break until someone started complaining about having the Welsh language channel on, she was very surprised as she just thought it was some regional English accent that she was struggling with! There was no need to take the P*ss as she wouldn't have understood what we were saying anyway

And she's working for the NHS

[Wolford6]

And she's working for the NHS

No worries. It's down South.

[Marauder]

I was in Wainwright, Alberta in 1973 supporting a Geordie Regiment, we used to go down town drinking and the locals thought I was a Austrailian because of the different accent and they kept buying me drinks because they thought I was there on my lonesome with all these Englishmen, after about 3 days an old guy dressed up in all his cowboy gear came up to me and said "Your not Australian" I just looked at him and he said "Your from Doncaster" I asked how he knew, he said "I'm from Hexthorpe (Near the town centre) and came here when I was 24 to work in the mines".

The guy must have been in his 70's but still recognised a Doncaster accent.