Local accents

[Dave 123]

To be reasonable - which reduces the humerous and argumentative potential so I normally avoid it
It is complicated by Wirral being an administrative district as well as a peninsular
and the district boundaried do not match the geographic boundaries

so being On the Wirral covers much more ground than being In the Wirral administrative area

but where is the fun in that

when I was little the peninsular was split between Cheshire, Birkenhead, Wallasey - and I think there was another small district somewhere on the Mersey coast - not sure where

but Wirral was the peninsular -hence always ON
IN made no sense

Then - in 1971 (?) we got dumped into the new Merseyside - much to my Mum's annoyance - she had always lived in Cheshire!

anyway - then Wirral became 2 things


bit like taking half the Isle of White and saying RIght the people on the Western bit are still The Isle of WHite
but the Eastern part are now in Hampshire
so then you can be IN the Isle of white - or IN Hampshite but still ON the Isle of WHite


Hope that is clear


the exam will be on Tuesday

Having grown up in Ellesmere Port, the postcode was L for Liverpool, it is now CH for Chester.

With accent the example word I’ll use is NO.
As it crosses the river from Liverpool and comes down the Wirral peninsula it stretches from a hard

NO

to a more elongated

Neehww.

 

[AndyRM]

My accent is properly bonkers, a combination of Scottish, LA drawl and Geordie. I like how it's fluid, and I enjoy noticing how it changes depending on my surroundings.

Generally people guess that I'm Irish, Canadian or from the West Country. I had Australian once, which was weird.

 

[figbat]

https://www.theguardian.com/science...-harry-has-stopped-speaking-the-kings-english

I suspect I am SSBE.

 

[swee'pea99]

Touring Norfolk a few years back, before google and that, and I got a bit lost on my way to Happisburgh. I knew I wasn't far, so I was surprised at the repeated blank responses to 'Am I right for Happys-burg?' Eventually someone, after looking similarly baffled, suddenly broke into a broad smile: "Oh, you be lookin' for Hares-bruh."

 

[classic33]

To be reasonable - which reduces the humerous and argumentative potential so I normally avoid it
It is complicated by Wirral being an administrative district as well as a peninsular
and the district boundaried do not match the geographic boundaries

so being On the Wirral covers much more ground than being In the Wirral administrative area

but where is the fun in that

when I was little the peninsular was split between Cheshire, Birkenhead, Wallasey - and I think there was another small district somewhere on the Mersey coast - not sure where

but Wirral was the peninsular -hence always ON
IN made no sense

Then - in 1971 (?) we got dumped into the new Merseyside - much to my Mum's annoyance - she had always lived in Cheshire!

anyway - then Wirral became 2 things


bit like taking half the Isle of White and saying RIght the people on the Western bit are still The Isle of WHite
but the Eastern part are now in Hampshire
so then you can be IN the Isle of white - or IN Hampshite but still ON the Isle of WHite


Hope that is clear


the exam will be on Tuesday

That'd have been on the same day we lost the Three Ridings.

 

[yello]

Generally people guess that I'm Irish, Canadian or from the West Country. I had Australian once, which was weird.

I worked in the US for near on 2 years, mainly in Boston. Bostonians thought I was an Aussie. A 'nope' had them suggesting Irish (that I can understand given the number of Irish there) but they didn't think I was English. They could hear a difference between my accent and that of an English work colleage - yet that Englishman thought me English.

Admittedly my accent does shift but I reckon the perception of accents does vary too, according to what you are used to and who is around you etc. That is, the Bostonians I knew drew a national line between accent differences where others didn't. I'd haved loved to have known/felt, as they did, that difference they heard.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

That'd have been on the same day we lost the Three Ridings.

Interesting point from the time
A friend of the family was very high up in the administration of one of the old coucils - one of the small ones

SOme time after the event he pointed out that signposts before Merseyside came into existance were few and far between
Finding you way around on the Wirral required local knowledge or a map

by the time Merseyside took over there were signposts everywhere - and every little town and village had signs saying you were entering e.g. Moreton
And - suddenly a load of big leisure centres were being built
Leasowe, The Oval and West Kirby come to mind

They were all started and the politicians took the credit for being wonderful people who did good things

then the debts of Wallasey and Birkenhead were happily handed over to Merseyside to sort out

anyway - that's what he said

 

[classic33]

Interesting point from the time
A friend of the family was very high up in the administration of one of the old coucils - one of the small ones

SOme time after the event he pointed out that signposts before Merseyside came into existance were few and far between
Finding you way around on the Wirral required local knowledge or a map

by the time Merseyside took over there were signposts everywhere - and every little town and village had signs saying you were entering e.g. Moreton
And - suddenly a load of big leisure centres were being built
Leasowe, The Oval and West Kirby come to mind

They were all started and the politicians took the credit for being wonderful people who did good things

then the debts of Wallasey and Birkenhead were happily handed over to Merseyside to sort out

anyway - that's what he said

We're going through that sign issue for the third or fourth time.
"Welcome to" and "Please Drive slowly through" are once more sprouting up on the roadside.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

I sometimes get accused of talking 'posh' by some at work
I guess it's because I have to deal with all walks of life, I even used to talk to 2 Lords, one hereditory, the other 'nominated'
- hereditory was wifes ex-landlord, at her previous office
- 'nominated' (or however it happens) was an ex-Miner, & a wonderful chap, he was our Non-Executive Chairman

I still think I have a Yorkshire accent, even if I don't use dialect words/phrases (I can use it/speak that way)

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

 

[DRM]

Most people from outside Yorkshire think we all talk the same, but it's a big county with a big variation, ie Barnsley v Yarm etc.

Definately, the Differences between Leeds/Wakefield/Bradford are discernible, never mind between Huddersfield & Hull, or Rotherham to Whitby, which are huge, not forgetting that as well as some parts of Lancashire & Teesside were in Yorkshire too

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Attitudes make a lot of difference
When I was at University our group included a lad from the South
although he was a nice bloke and very inclusive - he did clearly have a default thought process where the North was somewhere in the Middle Ages

A few years later, after we had left university, 2 of our group got married - in his home town of Yarm
We were all invited - including Keith and we arranged to pick him up from the train station

As we parked up outside the station we suddenly realised

"Oh Damn - Keith will get off the train and come out of the station and the first thing he will see is a cobbled street!!!"

He did
and he never stopped mentioning it all weekend!

 

[ColinJ]

"Oh Damn - Keith will get off the train and come out of the station and the first thing he will see is a cobbled street!!!"

He did
and he never stopped mentioning it all weekend!

My first visit to Yorkshire was to stay in Main St, Haworth. I caught a train from Leeds and changed at Keighley to a STEAM train to Haworth (think The Railway Children)!

There were several local school children chattering away on the train and I could barely understand what they were saying.

I got off the train at Haworth and then had to walk up a hill steeper than anything that I had experienced in the Midlands.

I was expecting 'Main St' to be a wide tarmac road. What I discovered up there was a steep, narrow, cobbled one!

The accents, hills, and cobbles left a deep impression on me so I was wittering away at work about my trip for weeks!

 

[Red17]

Living in Croydon I've noticed a definite change in the typical South London accent compared to 20+ years ago.

Can still pick out a Croydon accent from a general London accent though.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Attitudes make a lot of difference
When I was at University our group included a lad from the South
although he was a nice bloke and very inclusive - he did clearly have a default thought process where the North was somewhere in the Middle Ages

A few years later, after we had left university, 2 of our group got married - in his home town of Yarm
We were all invited - including Keith and we arranged to pick him up from the train station

As we parked up outside the station we suddenly realised

"Oh Damn - Keith will get off the train and come out of the station and the first thing he will see is a cobbled street!!!"

He did
and he never stopped mentioning it all weekend!

He must have thought he’d got off the train in Lancashire!!
Cobbles, or Setts?
(Cobbles are rounded, when laid, discounting wear patterns)

Yarn’s a nice town, been to it a couple of times
(stayed at ‘Tall Trees’ hotel??)