Judging People by How They Speak…?

People are judged on 3 things, the way they speak ie., their accents, the house they live in and the car they drive.

If you have a Northern accent, you are perceived by some as being a bit thick or not intelligent.

DD told me when she was in London for her internship, the Londoners made fun of her when she used a Midland slang like cob instead of bread roll.

Her public relations boss was like the boss in 'The Devil wears Prada’. When someone came to the office, her boss hugged the person and called that person Darling. DD overhead her boss saying to this person that DD was as thick as 2 short planks which is not a nice thing to say!

DH moved up from London thirty years ago but still speaks with a strong London accent whilst I speak with a foreign accent.

Accents are interesting things! Having grown up in Essex all my brothers have Essex/London accents but I moved away from home at 18 and don't. Mum grew up in Durham and consciously set about losing her Geordie accent when she came south and was teased.

I come from Liverpool and since I left (45 years ago) my accent has mellowed -not on purpose as I like the Liverpool accent but I have lived in many places which has changed my accent somewhat. However, I am still judged by other people. When I go home my family says I am now 'posh' and when I am away the first thing people say is 'are you from Liverpool, you accent is strong' Most of the time the people who say this have never been to Liverpool and therefore haven't got a clue.

I love accents / dialects!
I find them musical & magical. :-)
Wouldn't it be boring if we all spoke exactly the same way?

Cars are not such a thing here, more practicality than looks. I have a very old car which fits like an old shoe and I don’t want to change it. I don’t care that it is old . I could certainly afford a new one but can’t be stuffed. I guess the suburb you live in and the school you went to are the ‘class’ symbols here. There are a lot of private schools and they definitely have a pecking order or status order and everyone knows it. Bizarre.

Like Joseanne, I am easily capable of modifying my accent to suit the people around me.

I taught in a reasonably posh private school and my accent matched.
When I'm in the local market, I'm broad Yorkshire.

I seem to be able to do it almost unconsciously, which is a bit of a problem when I'm with my Scottish sister-in-law, because after a while I start sounding faintly Scottish. I only hope she doesn't think I'm mocking her.

I have read - somewhere - that it's a mechanism for social acceptance, which it probably is.