Mumf.....!

May have mentioned this before. I was in Suffolk in a loaned beach hut. Most of these are owned by generations of families and some quite well off. (not me or the owner). Two women of a certain age stopped by 'my' hut and were having a conversation:

"Oh how absolutely delaitful you too lived in the Heemarlayars"

"Yes dahling I was born there, father was stationed in the Heemarlayars you know"

"Ow how fascinating, how old were you when you were born"

That's the moment I dived behind my novel trying not to haw haw too loudly.

It was the pretentious and stressed language. So wonderful to listen to, I was completely caught up in it.

On of the Chasers on the TV quiz show offers 'firty fousand pounds' or 'forty fousand pounds' drives me potty. I think its laziness not Cockney in his case. My DD drops her ts ie wa.er, she is a classroom assistant I do fink she speaks proplee when in school though, honest guvner. My ex came from a Cockney family. His mum had a real cockney accent as did his dad. I suppose I can forgive my daughter as it is in her genes so to speak (no pun intended).

Aks is another instead of ask, it is spelled ASK so why pronounce it AKS.

My son has difficulty pronouncing "th". I don't know if this is because from the age of 10-13 I lived in Romford, or becausee has spent most of his life in east London or because he's picked up some of my husband's style of speech - his first language is French (Creole) and he just cannot pronounce "th".

I think there are certain sounds that, if one has not been introduced to them quite early in life, are almost impossible to replicate. In Hindi (and probably related languages) there is a sound that is half way between "th" and "t" which is so subtle that it is almost impossible for new learners to master. I remember reading that Chinese people were unable to replicate certain European language sounds, however much tuition they received. Some of them resorted to having tongue surgery in the mistaken belief that this inability was physiological in origin.

And there is an s required at the end of pound when valuing a property.

My first experience of it was when interviewing a young girl as an accounts clerk. I had several tries at understanding where she had come from. She said 'Thoughteneef' very clearly several times and in the end I had to ask her to write down what transpired to be 'Thornton Heath'. I rather like accents, once my ear has tuned in.

KateK

Well I did say it must be the company I keep.

My grandad was 'Gramfer'. I lived in 'Baff' not 'Baath'

Am puzzled POGS...I have good friends from Plymouth, Bristol, and Stroud and they all say 'month'.

Ariadne....shades of Tony Blair!!

The glottal stop is also pervasive - drives me up the wall!

Well I guess I will be challenged, politely I am sure, but I am a Somerset girl and it sounds alright to me. I hear it when I go to Devon too.

Must be the company I keep.

A memory that stays with me is of the very pretty girlfriend of someone I shared digs with many moons ago. She came from Romford... and in her tea she liked a dash of MEE-OOK.

That's where I'm coming from Hilda... I didn't actually introduce the question of accents! My father would have called it 'slovenly' speech.

I spent ages teaching my young son where to put his tongue when saying the, these, those etc., instead of ve, vese, vose. He learnt and speaks beautifully now. Sloppy speech annoys me, not regional accents.

My husband used to work for an outer London council and one of his task was to organise the induction programme. what drove him mad was that nearly all the speakers introduced themselves with 'Welcome to Furrock (Thurrock) Unitary Authority' (that's in an Estuary accent by the way).

I grew up in the East End of London- I only use the accent to be ironic. DH is a north London boy - they talk proper there.

That's exactly what I mean....lots of Londoners never used to speak this way.

No uproar from me re working class Scots accent-I presume you mean the stereotypical Glaswegian accent? I find it very hard on the ear along with Lanarkshire -very irritating indeed. I'm not deaf to the irritations north of the border Riverwalk and cringe at them as well. We have not defined, however. what constitutes a working class Scottish accent as every region has its own accent, dialect and it's own 'working class', therefore numerous possibilities of 'working class' accent. I'm not comfortable with using class to define people though.

Chimney Nina

It's not 'Mockney' - many Londoners speak in this way.

I can imagine the uproar if someone on GN said they found a working class Scottish accent irritating!

These agents aren't all Cockney-if they are then there's a disproportionate number of cockneys going into the estate agency business. It's the ubiquitous spread of Mockney/Estuary English not a genuine accent as such. We correct small children and teach them not to say vis, vat, vese and vose but there it is on the tv. Perhaps it's because I'm a Scot living in Scotland and I don't hear this type of speech around me that I find it so irritating. To me accents are one thing, then there's dialect and then there's mispronunciation-which is just lazy. Is Mockney the future?

(Ana-I use hyperbole to emphasise annoyance, not to be taken literally)

Damn Kindle cockney not chimney.

If we're talking chimney then it's free paunds firty

I just realised I probably talk a bit like that myself , members of my family certainly do..

No, not annoying to me either - certainly not to the point of insanity!

Whats wrong with having a cockney accent... loads of people talk that way.. I don't find it annoying its no different to any of the other dozens of regional accents you'll find in our Island.

My SIL speaks just like that - he is a dear!

I thought it was a Cockney/London-type way of talking (as in Eastenders and the like). I don't think it's very common 'up north'.

On the train today I paid 'free pounds firty' for my tea and crisps.

Drives me insane too.