Accents - a privilege to hear them

I do believe we all have accents we like and ones we dislike and there's nothing wrong with that so long as you don't offend or upset anyone!

It's so difficult when you can't understand someone, but it could be the way they speak rather than their accent. Some people mumble, others speak softly or too quickly, and others down in their throats instead of projecting their voice outwards. Any of those things can make someone hard to understand.

Has anyone noticed the way young women speak now? There's a tendency to 'growl' as if they have a throat infection. The voice is held in the throat instead of speaking out. It's very strange. Keep an ear out for this because I've heard it many times so it's definitely a 'thing' now. I hate it.

I find Somerset and Herefordshire accents very similar. Much more similar than Herefordshire compared to neighbouring Worcester, which is more "Black Country" to my ears.

They're both very rural, cider-making counties although don't think Somerset had hops.

I love regional accents, and am in danger of slipping into them in regional company, which can be misconstrued.

I’m from south wales originally although have lived in Surrey for 10 years . Other people often ask if I am Welsh but I think I have only a slight accent, until I go back to visit and then am much broader . I’m very proud to be Welsh and love a regional accent especially scouse or geordie

My late (and ex) husband was a Fifer, from a mining family. When I first met him my FIL spoke with a deeply incomprehensible Fife accent. He had great fun deliberately exaggerating that accent to the point where I could barely understand a word he said, despite the fact that I’d lived in Fife for several years by then. He frequently forced me into baffled silence, but perhaps that was his purpose. I remember him with great fondness.

In the West Midlands they usually use ‘mither’ to describe someone worrying

I just love all of our different accent and dialects, also the use of different regional words and expressions. We have apparently over 300 words for fool, one for almost every day of the year!

When I started my teaching career in Sheffield, the children said I "talked like the Queen".
I loved the children's voices in deepest Dorset and "where be 'e at" for "where is he?"
Living in Normandy "ils mangent les mots", so eat their words rather than swallowing them. My rural neighbours did teach me a bit of patois and it was interesting to learn that some sayings had made their way across the channel into English.
Now we are back in England I am hearing the Surrey / Kent border voices of my childhood.

Notspaghetti, I loved listening to the Dutch accents, it brought back lovely memories. I lived in The Netherlands for about eight years and could recognise an Amsterdam or Rotterdam accent by the time I left.

I am also a chameleon, love accents and pick them up at the drop of a hat much to my family’s embarrassment. We frequently visit Scotland and I slip into the Ayrshire accent so quickly.
It is interesting how accents change. My granny came from Kentish Town in North London where the accent was fast, clipped and distinctive, the ‘o’s sounding like ‘aw’ as across becoming acrawst. So different from South or East London but these days general Estuary English seems to be the norm. When we first moved to Bucks about fifty years ago, there were lots of locals with a strong local burr ( like Bernard Miles used to do ) but alas there are no longer such voices.

I have noticed that quite a few actors, when being themselves have various regional accents. David Tennant, for instance, has a lovely Scottish accent.

I believe that quite a few British actors have appeared in films and television series in the USA and their accents have been so convincing that many Americans assume they are native to the USA.

I think the opposite is also true, I saw Richard Chamberlain as Hamlet many years ago and his English accent was perfect. More recently Renee Zellweger, Meryl Streep and Gillian Anderson have all conquered RP.

I also love different expressions from around the country.
For instance the northern expression ‘mithering’ which I think means complaining, is not heard in the south, or at least I have never heard it said.

I also love the Scottish expression ‘wee besom’ referring to a small child. It’s lovely!

The first time I was aware of my accent was when I played my answerphone message back to myself.

Maybe you need to improve your listening skills, David.

I don’t really notice accents unless very broad and find it hard to identify them. I am very unmusical, can’t sing or play an instrument so I think it’s all of a piece with that. I do like to hear music, though!

After many trips to the US, I can now distinguish between east and west coast accents, the W coast ‘vocal fry’ sets my teeth on edge.

David ,thankfully the days when teachers rapped our knuckles for using the Scot’s language are gone.
Superiority doesn,t sit well here,believe me,there are many amongst us who are happy to speak in our mother tongue.
Aberdonians and the surrounding areas speak wonderful Doric ,I have a friend who writes in Doric and I love it.
Shame you are so narrow minded you can’t accept that we are all different…I am offended that you think Scots should have you learn your version of English!

Definitely different accents in the Netherlands. Holland consists of Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland. With the other provinces they make up the Netherlands. When I spoke Dutch they knew I lived in Noord-Holland.
I am, however, a Yorkshire girl and never lost that accent.

David49's remarks reminded me of a conversation I once had where I was asked to repeat something I had said in my London voice. When I did, the person I was talking to either still didn't know what I had said or affected not to understand so I repeated it a third time in my RP voice.

"There you see, you can speak proper English when you try," was the patronising response.

I'm from just outside Edinburgh and I've been complimented on my accent many times over the years. However, one time I answered the phone at work to a very posh-sounding gentlemen, and once I'd spoken to him for a bit, he said 'oh, you have the most wonderful voice. I could listen to you all day. Have you ever thought of doing those phone sex lines - you'd make a fortune'! I wasn't sure whether to be flattered or offended!

David49

Grannynannywanny
David49

Nothing wrong with a regional accent as long at it can be understood, broad Glasgow, Newcastle or Aberdeen is hardly desirable.

Did you mean to sound so snobbish? 🙄

When you have to ask a Glaswegian 3 times before you can understand the reply it's probably time they learned to speak English.

Complementing your earlier post now with rudeness? Keep on digging that big hole.

😆 🪏

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Nothing wrong with a Glasgow accent David it’s just that we tend to speak very fast.
My English Gra daughter does a great Glasgow accent she started doing it as a toddler to confuse her dad who’s from Bath.
She uses Scottish words to flummox him even now she’s 15
Her cousin who has never been to the USA has an American accent from watching to many American children’s programmes .Her mother used to sit her in front of the TV for hours.She uses American words like diaper instead of nappies .
They are hilarious.

friendlygingercat

I am Liverpool born but I began to lose my Scouse accent then I went into a profession. My family speak with a noticeable LIverpool accent. I lost it completely when I went into academia and began to speak received English so the international students could understand me. I sometimes slip into broad Scouse when I answer the phone to an unknown caller (usually someone selling) and pretend to be the "housekeeper" to put them off. I can also do a very convincing mid west accent from my time in the USA.

Hours of fun with cole callers and would be scammers.

We had family in Liverpool back when it was thought to be a pretty rough place, loved it then and love it now. Had a good friend who lived in Birkenhead and woe betide if you said she was from Liverpool. 🤣
Beautiful city, beautiful people.

I do find that a few strong regional accents are hard to understand on the phone, some as hard to understand as many from Indian call centres.
I remember reading something that said soft sounding Scottish accents are held to denote trustworthy attributes for advertising reasons and Southern Ireland the opposite! A slight regional accent is probably the best thing to have, sounds nice and all can understand you.
I guess to ourselves we don’t have an accent at all but of course we do.

Accents are all very regional, wasn't it Prof Henry Higgins who identified people to the exact area they came from? 😁

My North Welsh relatives have a very distinctive accent and when I hear someone on TV speak it I know exactly where they come from! It's very different from South Welsh.

I think we all have our likes and dislikes regarding accents. For some reason I actually love a Birmingham accent, maybe because I watched Crossroads. when young. 😂 I know it's not normally one most people like.

There was a BBC TV programme called How the Edwardians Spoke which was fascinating (no longer available). Quote: Documentary which uses the discovery of hundreds of recently-discovered sound recordings to reveal the accents and dialects of ordinary Edwardians.
The lady who did this must have been Prof Henrietta Higgins as she knew all the accents.

I don’t think it’s snobbish to want to understand what is being said to you. Ok if it’s passing the time of the day but if it the chemist giving instructions then it’s annoying to ask them to repeat . I’m from Liverpool and if I had £1 for every time I’ve been told I don’t sound as though I come from there I’d be a very rich woman.

My problem is that now I am going deaf (!) I find some regional accents very hard to understand. I won't say anymore.