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Dialects and lazy speech - there is a difference

(240 Posts)
Franbern Fri 20-May-22 12:21:12

Was quite taken aback, just now - at BBC - hidden presenter introducing Bargain Hunt and trying to inform us that in half an hours time it would be time for The repair Shop. He actually said 'At one foree five.......'

I can appreciate the BBC having presenters, etc. with different local dialects BUT this is just lazy speech, not a dialect The word is FORTY not FOEE. AND it would have been good to hear a T at the end of Hunt..

How can we correct children's lazy speech with this sort of thing? Or am I just being picky in my old age????

Georgesgran Tue 24-May-22 22:49:37

I’m sure I read somewhere of a survey where call centre workers with Geordie accents were deemed more trustworthy and genuine.

Callistemon21 Tue 24-May-22 22:53:02

I was much relieved, when overseas on the other side of the world and my bank card got swallowed up by an ATM, to hear a friendly Scottish voice on the end of the phone.

oodles Wed 25-May-22 10:17:12

hmm well.....I have lived near Luton and the real accent as spoken by some of the [usually older] locals from there and the area to the north is different, it is more of a south midlands accent, not so pronounced as a genuine Northamptonshire accent. You do hear a lot of the London type accent though as Luton is the first place up the railway line where houses get more affordable, so many Londoners have moved up there. It is so sad when local accents start to disappear. Might I be one of the only people who actually rather like the black country accent, and when someone calls me Bab in Birmingham I am really pleased. Bit further east it is me duck, and am sure I've heard maid elsewhere in the East Midlands
I found East London dialect hard to understand when I first started work down there, bu once I'd got my ear in coped well [this is before the days of East Enders, and anyway this was an older way of speech]
I love the speech of those based on Scots Gaelic as a first language, so clear, and well most areas the old ways of speaking are lovely to hear
Apropos of older people tending to use the older ways of speaking although I do love Gentleman Jack, am not sure why she doesn't have a slight Yorkshire accent, as her father and aunt do

nanna8 Wed 25-May-22 11:17:09

I love all the British dialects, it is one thing I miss about the place, they are wonderful. I don’t miss the snobbery though. Horrible. I thought in this day and age it would have disappeared but judging by some of the earlier posts it is alive and well and ready to bite people on the bum.

MavisCabbage Thu 26-May-22 07:52:03

I speak with a received pronunciation accent. This means l am seen as 'posh'
(private school, ponies, leafy Surrey semi etc etc) The reason why is that l went to a Primary school in Horsham for two years. Then we moved to Crawley. .My younger sister started school in Crawley- and she doesn't sound 'posh'. I am, of course, lower middle class.
I had to decide whether l would stick with my accent- or speak as everyone around me spoke. I stuck with my Horsham accent as l felt more genuine . I was seven years old.
I did not think having a Crawley accent was an advantage- and when l left home , l determined never to live there again.
This is not to say l don't like regional and working class accents. Surely the very worst accent is the lazy,half -Australian, incoherent torrent of over- the-top effusion, where 'like' and 'shit' are liberally used.
Articulate speech should be the aim, whenever you speak. My own children do not speak as l do- but they come from Brighton- and they are articulate.
.

Germanshepherdsmum Thu 26-May-22 08:33:50

An accent may affect your career. The lawyers I worked in the City all spoke with a RP accent, as do I. Not necessarily cut-glass public school, but no regional accents. I’m not saying that’s how it should be, just what is still deemed ‘acceptable’ at interview. Kids with ambitions need to be aware of that.

AGAA4 Thu 26-May-22 09:20:15

This country must lose so many brilliant minds due to not having the 'right' accent.

This leads to many mediocre people getting into top jobs just because their accent fits.

Germanshepherdsmum Thu 26-May-22 09:35:46

I wouldn’t say that. We see top scientists and doctors for instance on tv who have broad accents. Top law firms and barristers’ chambers have the mindset that a corporate or wealthy client hearing a regional accent won’t identify with the person using it and doubt their ability. I’m not saying it’s right, but that’s how they are.

AGAA4 Thu 26-May-22 10:00:24

Clever people will succeed despite having a regional accent.
As you say GSM it is harder for them to be accepted into certain occupations but in the 21st century this needs to change.
Hopefully in time accent snobbery will die out.

usuallyright Thu 26-May-22 10:44:23

It ain't alus jus t' lazy speak, there's alus the self fust that should be corrected. There follows a sample of my meaning.

Say for instance, you were talking to someone who said "Me and me mother went to town today" This would break down to Me mother went to town and, me went to town as well.

Now is that proper English or is it proper, what?

Oldnproud Thu 26-May-22 12:26:46

usuallyright

It ain't alus jus t' lazy speak, there's alus the self fust that should be corrected. There follows a sample of my meaning.

Say for instance, you were talking to someone who said "Me and me mother went to town today" This would break down to Me mother went to town and, me went to town as well.

Now is that proper English or is it proper, what?

I see you are not totally fluent in accents, usuallyright grin

What is frequently misheard and mistranscribed as 'me' is often, in reality 'mi' - that is to say, 'my' with the 'y' pronounced the same way as the first 'y' in 'mystery'.

I know, because I am a native speaker of that language. grin

Where I grew up, the words 'was' and 'were' are often wrongly heard and transcribed too (subtitles drive me mad with regard to this!)
My native version of 'I was' and 'we were' would be I wa' ' and 'we we', just shortened versions of the correct words, and although I've written them differently to emphasise the fact that they are abbreviations, they both sound the same most of the time, with a schwa
I'm not denying that many people do misuse those two words, but just as often the error lies with listeners making lazy and incorrect assumptions.

Before anyone says, "that's still not the correct pronunciation", I'd like to point out that nor is the way that many a supposedly well-spoken person pronounces simple words such as 'no' - it only has one vowel in it, yet it is frequently pronounced as if it has at least three!

Germanshepherdsmum Thu 26-May-22 12:42:39

Surely saying ‘them’ instead of ‘those’, e.g. ‘them things’ is lazy speech and not an accent? I appreciate it’s often heard in many areas but I don’t believe it’s a regional accent. A regional way of speaking in some places, but also a lazy way of speaking.

Caleo Mon 30-May-22 10:50:39

Miss Adventure wrote:

"I think it's incredibly rude to "correct" someone."

It depends. I like to be simply corrected by someone who actually knows more than I do and has my interests as heart. It would always be rude and cruel to ridicule or expose their error to public ridicule.

There is often a 'school language' which kids are usually alert to without this being explained to them. The 'school language may or may not be the same as their parents and peers use when they're out to play. Kids are good at being bilingual when they perceive it as necessary.

Deedaa Mon 30-May-22 20:41:34

I don't mind accents but I was a bit taken aback this morning when an announcer told me that East Enders would be on at seven firee.