What accent do you speak in?

[ShipHill]

I was born in good old Birmingham and have lived the vast majority of my life in North Worcestershire and the Black Country and obviously I don't think I've got an accent but I clearly do and sound like pretty much everybody else round here.

So anyway I'm in a pub in Newbury in Berkshire 100 miles from home on a business jolly for a few days and I go out one evening to see a local band play. They take a break and I start chatting with the guitarist about music and all that kind of stuff and after about 10 minutes he says "You're from Bromsgrove aren't you?" Well yes I am. How did you know? I was looking for a label with my home town on it sticking out my pocket or something. "Your accent. Pure Bromsgrove that. I know a guy in Redditch and someone in Kidderminster. You're Bromsgrove to a T"

Well I was impressed.

So anyway years later and I've moved up to Ayrshire for a complete change of lifestyle with the then missus and I get a part time job as a cabbie in a wee village called Dalmellington. I'm leaning against my cab one summer day and a guy came over and asked me where a local farm was. He wasn't from the area. He was on a wee holiday. I gave him directions and we got chantting. After a few minutes he said "You're from Bromsgrove aren't you?" Impressed I asked if he knew a guitarist in Newbury. He explained that he taught English and studied accents as a hobby.

Amazing that 2 people knew my accent that accurately.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Despite my dulcet Yorkshire tones, I was once accused of being an Australian by a Canadian whilst on holiday in Mexico a few years back.

He took some convincing that not all English people sound like Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins...

Because Dick Van Dyke is from Danville, Illinois

 

[Gravity Aided]

And even I don't know what accent he's using in Mary Poppins. He had Arthur Treacher right there, he could have picked up some accent from him.

 

[classic33]

Despite my dulcet Yorkshire tones, I was once accused of being an Australian by a Canadian whilst on holiday in Mexico a few years back.

He took some convincing that not all English people sound like Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins...

Point them towards "Wutherin Heights" next time.

 

[classic33]

I was born in good old Birmingham and have lived the vast majority of my life in North Worcestershire and the Black Country and obviously I don't think I've got an accent but I clearly do and sound like pretty much everybody else round here.

So anyway I'm in a pub in Newbury in Berkshire 100 miles from home on a business jolly for a few days and I go out one evening to see a local band play. They take a break and I start chatting with the guitarist about music and all that kind of stuff and after about 10 minutes he says "You're from Bromsgrove aren't you?" Well yes I am. How did you know? I was looking for a label with my home town on it sticking out my pocket or something. "Your accent. Pure Bromsgrove that. I know a guy in Redditch and someone in Kidderminster. You're Bromsgrove to a T"

Well I was impressed.

So anyway years later and I've moved up to Ayrshire for a complete change of lifestyle with the then missus and I get a part time job as a cabbie in a wee village called Dalmellington. I'm leaning against my cab one summer day and a guy came over and asked me where a local farm was. He wasn't from the area. He was on a wee holiday. I gave him directions and we got chantting. After a few minutes he said "You're from Bromsgrove aren't you?" Impressed I asked if he knew a guitarist in Newbury. He explained that he taught English and studied accents as a hobby.

Amazing that 2 people knew my accent that accurately.

Done the same to a few on sites recently. Placed one to his town, the rest of the gang to nearby. They thought I was managment.
This in Yorkshire.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I do find accents interesting. Especially those people who move to other parts of the world. I was chatting to a guy in New Zealand who sounded as kiwi as they come. He later told me that he was from Birmingham and had only been in NZ for 4 years. I also knew some Brits over there (from Manchester) who had been there 30 years but still sounded Manc. I've concluded that in most cases, people who are generally more willing to integrate into a new culture are more likely to adopt the local accent as well. The example with the Manc woman was, not only did she not adopt the accent, she also complained all the time about how NZ was not as good as Manchester!

Being from Devon, one thing that really winds me up is the generic "Farmer" accent that seems to be used on TV shows. It's a Frankensteinian mash-up made out of Norfolk, Devonian, Bristolian and Pirate. If you've ever heard a true Devonshire Dumpling, it's actually a very pleasant to hear (but I'm biased).

I do like the fact that in the UK, accents can differ wildly even between places that are only 20 miles apart. Plymothian is quite different from broader Devonian, which in turn is quite different from the Cornish accent.

 

[summerdays]

I do find accents interesting. Especially those people who move to other parts of the world. I was chatting to a guy in New Zealand who sounded as kiwi as they come. He later told me that he was from Birmingham and had only been in NZ for 4 years. I also knew some Brits over there (from Manchester) who had been there 30 years but still sounded Manc. I've concluded that in most cases, people who are generally more willing to integrate into a new culture are more likely to adopt the local accent as well. The example with the Manc woman was, not only did she not adopt the accent, she also complained all the time about how NZ was not as good as Manchester!

Being from Devon, one thing that really winds me up is the generic "Farmer" accent that seems to be used on TV shows. It's a Frankensteinian mash-up made out of Norfolk, Devonian, Bristolian and Pirate. If you've ever heard a true Devonshire Dumpling, it's actually a very pleasant to hear (but I'm biased).

I do like the fact that in the UK, accents can differ wildly even between places that are only 20 miles apart. Plymothian is quite different from broader Devonian, which in turn is quite different from the Cornish accent.

My ex- neighbour's spend half the year in NZ and half in the uk.... Due back soon I guess, and I have to say I've not noticed a NZ accent even though they brought their family up there and lived there since the 80's. I wonder if they take on the accent of where they are at the time. I don't notice my parents accent which I assume is anglicised... having lived in England for the last 40+ years.

I usually notice the difference between say a Belfast accent and one from the other side of Lough Neagh.

 

[AndyRM]

It's a bugbear of mine when television shows just throw in an actor with any "norven" accent even if it's nothing like the one they're meant to have. Emmerdale used to be terrible for it (I haven't watched it in 10 years) - supposedly set in the North Riding, but populated by Geordies, Mackems, Mancs, Lancs and even Smoggies.

Even within Yorkshire there is a massive difference in accents - you couldn't confuse Barnsley with Bradford.

 

[captain nemo1701]

I'm orginally from the NE (born in Jarrow, so I suppose technically a geordie by birth). Have spent the last 30 years in Bristol via Liverpool, so my accent seems to have flattened out a bit into generic english. but a bit of the NE comes out now and then whenver I get excited and drunk. Sometimes, while working on secondment to our office in Castleford, I slip quite easily in t'northern twang..... I like the Scots accent a lot and glad that Capaldi kept it for Dr Who

 

[Jefferson Meriwether]

I grew up in South Glous but spent the last 20 years on the Devon/Dorset border. I've got a bit of a South Glous/Devon twang though have been known to break out in a bit of a Dorset twang on the odd occasion.

 

[jonny jeez]

London...city to be precise, not west end.

If caught in a moment of rage I can sometim s turn to sarf London pretty fast, bordering on east London cockney. Swearing in posh just doesn't seem as threatening.

 

[Fnaar]

Swearing in posh just doesn't seem as threatening.

Botheration
What a bother
Dash it
I say!
Balderdash
Oh golly gosh!
Golly
Crumbs
etc

 

[jonny jeez]

Botheration
What a bother
Dash it
I say!
Balderdash
Oh golly gosh!
Golly
Crumbs
etc

I was thinking more "Heavans to Betsy"!

 

[mybike]

I have been in the UK for 45 years but still have my French accent. On the other hand, when I go back home to see my brothers, they all say I have a slight English accent when I speak French. Can't win!

You have a very pleasant soft French accent to your English, couldn't tell you anything about your accent when speaking French tho'.

I suspect I have a London accent, my parents always used to comment on my accent when coming home from school.

 

[screenman]

Because Dick Van Dyke is from Danville, Illinois

Blimey, I thought he was born in Bow.