Accents

callgirl depends where in Wales, if in the north it is very
much their first language,

Parsley
No accent, to me, is possibly only bring able to determine if the speaker is from the North or South vowel-wise.

bring being

I have a northern accent and once dated a Geordie but could not understand a word so unfortunately we did not get very far. I could listen to a Scottish or Irish accent forever but once they have had a few drinks their speech speeds up and I have to concentrate

I dont like RP ...its ridiculous to expect everyone to speak the same ,accents give us colour and a different slant on peoples lives .I come from an irish background my granny had her Donegal accent until the day she died even though she had lived here for almost 70 years .It always makes me smile when I hear that accent .

I was born in Leicester. Then to Northamptonshire then Bristol.
I have now lived very near the potteries for 30+ years. I find myself picking up the accents. Particularly the lack of prepositions . I do tend to pick up accents if I am with someone for a while and I can't always help it.

What I find amusing is that one person will absolutely love a particular accent and another person will find the very same accent unbearable! There has to be a reason for it! I'll give an example; I am not keen ( that's an understatement) on French but I can listen to Italian,Spanish or Portuguese all day . I don't care that I can't understand everything that is being said, the words just sound delightful. If anyone can offer a scientific explanation I would be obliged.

When we were children we lived in a small town, my granny had relations in a village about three miles away, their accent was so different to ours , I had a job to understand them!

Sara, where was this please? How interesting.

West Country Elvive

Well I have a Geordie accent. Common as muck.

There is a scale of accents, graded from the best to worst liked.
The Birmingham accent is the least liked.

I love the Scottish accent and Geordie.

Not particularly keen on my own Yorkshire accent if it is spoken in what my mother used to call 'scruffy'.
A proper, Yorkshire dialect is a different thing altogether.

People who glottal stop the middle of 'butter' and 'water' etc. sound horrible. Mum always insisted that we sound those tee's clearly, which is probably why I don't sound much like a Yorkshire person these days, although I do sometimes say 'summat' and 'nowt' if I'm in a forgetful mood.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/ampp3d/what-uks-ugliest-accent-4789870

Lancashire lass here...but I hate the old Lancashire dialect.

"does tha want some dinner" etc

" it's there ore yonder" etc."

If anyone has ever listened to the "Bradshaws" used to be on the radio in the afternoons. Must admit I did enjoy .

Anyone who doesn't like the Welsh accent cannot have heard the wonderful Philip Madoc.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jG5RfFm1W0

Mmm, I could listen to him for ever.......

I taught English as a second language. I am used to accents from different countries and allover the UK but increasingly I have trouble understanding what people say as my hearing is deteriorating. An accent, other noise going on, people who speak less clearly all interfere with the message. I have got hearing aids and the loss is not yet huge but an accent, if strong and the speaker speaks quickly, does make it hard for me, and I think many others, to understand. Also radio programmes with music over the speech or simply just bad sound levels. Also tv. I couldn't watch some series where they speak fast and have accents. I have to have the subtitles on for quite a few programmes now anyway.

I'm rather amused at the mentions of a Shropshire accent. I've lived in the county for almost all my life and, like many counties, it has accent variations throughout it and they are all very distinctive. For a local, it's easy to tell what part of the county people are from, with influences from Welsh in the West and the Black Country in the east, with touches of Cheshire & Herefordshire thrown in as well. My parents are from Devon although they moved away when they married 70 years ago but all my relatives are there & my husband had awful trouble understanding them when he first joined the family. His mother was from Lancashire, she came to Shropshire as a Land Girl but died aged 89 having never lost her accent. My BIL is a Geordie, he came to Shropshire over 30 years ago & had to change his accent a bit to make himself understood. He still has a soft twang. A good friend is a Glaswegian - it's another language! It took me ages to realise what "going to the shop for the messages"meant. I wouldn't say I dislike any accents, some are harder to understand though. It's an odd thread, almost racist GG....

I love accents, I havent a Liverpool accent although grown up there, but when I come home (dont live in the UK) I love the first time I hear the accent,I know I am "home"
Love the Cornish accent and New Zealand accent, lets hope they will all survive.

I often have the subtitles on when watching TV, though I know my hearing is OK. So many actors (with all sorts of accents) speak fast or mumble! I find that it's generally not an "accent issue" but is all about "delivery". It's my understanding that the most "popular" UK accent is Scottish (Edinburgh) and that the least liked is Brummie.....which I am......oh dear.

Ex husband used to deny anyone in his family. All southerners, the PIL had very distinct accents from where they came from, his brother had a local accent from where he was brought up, ex had a localish accent heavily overlaid with an RP Accent but he would imitate the accent of whoever he was talking to.
I'd no problems with them having southern accents, just the assumption that they didn't have them. I get that it's normal to them but it's still an accent.

Born in Merthyr Tydfil, very special people born there ?

The Welsh are rather good at reading poetry , perhaps because they are very emotional people , and they do talk a lot

I think that what this thread proves is that the axiom " one man's meat is another man's poison " is definitely true. I also think that some times we aren't just talking about accent but also dialect. When a "strong " accent is coupled with dialect words which are unknown to the listener or used in a different way then confusion can begin . I think that applies to all of us.It can be very isolating if we can't communicate effectively , particularly if we think we are !
And to further add petrol to the fire , I would rather listen to Liam Neeson or the much missed Terry Wogan or the lovely Neil Oliver(archaeology was never so intetesting!) .

They said “they done this” instead of “they did etc” ??
Ye gods, a hanging offence!
I love our myriad accents and dialects and if it is normal to say “I were” and “you was” in any part of the country, that is part of our richly varied heritage.
I love Brummie accents, Welsh accents, Geordie , West Country, and all the Scottish accents
Not entirely seriously I would add “You can always tell a Yorkshireman” (but you can’t tell him much!)

PS which part of the country is Scotand ?

It's not so much the accents it's the bad grammar that gets to me. As in done instead of did and all the 'fs' instead of 'ths' and missing off the 'h'.

I have noticed that when a footballer from another country, Spain for example, plays for a team such as Liverpool they acquire a Spanish/Liverpudlian accent. I love it!