Regional accents
- Thread starter notb665
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a pasty?Richardp said:
am i bovverd 
do i look bovverd my accent belongs reading the BBC news
do i look bovverd my accent belongs reading the BBC newsWoodYouLike said:I don't have an accent
Everyone has an accent of some kind. I thought you were Dutch, and that you might speak like the Dutch policemen off Harry Enfield done by Paul Whitehouse, who also does those kitchen paper adverts on the telly, set in Amstcherdam. "A pain in ze glaarse."
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notb665 said:WoodYouLike said:I don't have an accent
Everyone has an accent of some kind. I thought you were Dutch, and that you might speak like the Dutch
(I can be very cynical sometimes, most be Dutch
)
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When I'm oop North, people say I'm a Posh Londoner. When I'm darrn sarf, they say I'm a Northern Git. When I'm in Brum, they say "You What?"
I have two Londoners for parents, and I stayed in Golders Green for a few years as a young boy.
Then I spent 6 years in West Yorks at secondary school. But the rest of my years, I have lived in and around Stockport & Manchester.
Def. not your average local accent!
I have two Londoners for parents, and I stayed in Golders Green for a few years as a young boy.
Then I spent 6 years in West Yorks at secondary school. But the rest of my years, I have lived in and around Stockport & Manchester.
Def. not your average local accent!
No accent here I'm afraid: RP!
What is excellent is that I can go anywhere in the UK and people never ask me to repeat myself... apart from certain words that they find hilarious. For instance a "nawlf landan" friend of mine thinks it's amazing I can say "graduate" without introducing the letter "j"
My favourite regional accent is a proper Bristol one. That accent on a slightly ditzy girl really does it for me!
Worst one... probably whatever the accent some of the characters use on that "Eastenders" programme. I have a theory that they actually have a mouthful of broken glass whilst they read their lines... it sounds that painful.
I have noticed though: accent is barely half the story. English has no bad accents, only bad speakers. Any accent has good speakers and bad speakers. East-Enders (as opposed to "Eastenders" ) don't all sound like they are sucking on rusty nails as they speak. It just happens to be an accent that suffers when people speak sloppily. I have heard people with such an accent who say "butter" instead of "buh-ah" (I HATE glottal stops).
For ease of understanding, after RP I think posh Scottish (i.e. Edinburgh) is about the easiest to understand. Glaswegian is a mystery to me.
I have also noticed that when people move to an area with a different accent, whilst they generally adopt the accent of their new home to an extent, it all comes back after a few pints 90% of my friends are originally from more than 50 miles outside the M25, but after a few pints they all revert back and you end up having a conversation with about 15 different accents. I get lost very easily after that
What is excellent is that I can go anywhere in the UK and people never ask me to repeat myself... apart from certain words that they find hilarious. For instance a "nawlf landan" friend of mine thinks it's amazing I can say "graduate" without introducing the letter "j"
My favourite regional accent is a proper Bristol one. That accent on a slightly ditzy girl really does it for me!
Worst one... probably whatever the accent some of the characters use on that "Eastenders" programme. I have a theory that they actually have a mouthful of broken glass whilst they read their lines... it sounds that painful.
I have noticed though: accent is barely half the story. English has no bad accents, only bad speakers. Any accent has good speakers and bad speakers. East-Enders (as opposed to "Eastenders"
) don't all sound like they are sucking on rusty nails as they speak. It just happens to be an accent that suffers when people speak sloppily. I have heard people with such an accent who say "butter" instead of "buh-ah" (I HATE glottal stops).For ease of understanding, after RP I think posh Scottish (i.e. Edinburgh) is about the easiest to understand. Glaswegian is a mystery to me.
I have also noticed that when people move to an area with a different accent, whilst they generally adopt the accent of their new home to an extent, it all comes back after a few pints
90% of my friends are originally from more than 50 miles outside the M25, but after a few pints they all revert back and you end up having a conversation with about 15 different accents. I get lost very easily after that Old Rab, yes certainly understood him (although my parents would watch "Naked Video" with the subtitles on )
I have known a glaswegian for four years. When sober I barely understand him if I concentrate hard. But, get a few pints inside him and I don't have a clue. In the pub I thought he was telling me to "eff off" the other week, turned out he was asking how I was!
)I have known a glaswegian for four years. When sober I barely understand him if I concentrate hard. But, get a few pints inside him and I don't have a clue. In the pub I thought he was telling me to "eff off" the other week, turned out he was asking how I was!
notb665 said:
Ah, here I would disagree but only on a technicality.
RP is the "baseline specification" of English pronunciation. An accent is a modification to this baseline. Therefore if one speaks RP, one has no accent.
In practice of course, no-one actually speaks RP. Can't help little bits of accent getting in, it's just not possible. Even the Queen does not speak the Queen's English
I read somewhere that the British Isles has more dialects of English than the rest of the English-speaking world combined.
That's because they sound all like foreigners speaking EnglishAdamW said:
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