Dialects and lazy speech - there is a difference

It seems that being able to speak correctly leaves little room in some people's heads to learn other skills.

I correct people in my head.
That's where some thoughts are best left.

anyone who corrects others' speech needs to give themselves a good talking to.

I only correct the tv and radio.

Ethelwashere1

I must be very snobbish. Im a pedant who can’t bear sloppy speech . I always correct those who don’t speak correctly. Im a geordie and our accent is well known but when slang is used it makes me mad. An accent is fine but lazy sloppy speech is ignorant

You always correct people? You must be fun at parties..

If anyone saw fit to correct my speech they'd be treated to a bit of language they wouldn't like.
Well, that's what I'd like to think, anyway.

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

Blossoming

Practically my first day at Grammar school I had my speech corrected by a teacher in front of the entire class. It was one word and definitely a widely used local pronunciation. I just wanted to curl up and die. I had to remain standing at the front of the class while she gave a mini lecture on how ‘common’ people spoke. Common people like me, as Jarvis Cocker famously said.

I remember my first days at Infants' school in SW London when I suddenly realised that my northern accent was an oddity. Other children laughed at me for saying grass in a way that rhymes with mass, and so on. There are still the occasional words that are northern, in spite of there being about 68 years since I left Accrington.
We had a very snobbish French teacher at my grammar school who declared that there was 'no excuse' for regional accents. I loathed her.

I prefer the odd missing T sound to the ‘should of’ / could of/would of and ‘somethinkt’ of at least two privately educated friends. Sets my teeth on edge !

I like a Geordie accent, e.g. Robson Green, but can’t bear Scouse or some London accents such as Jay Blades’s or the aforementioned presenter of the DNA programme.

Oh my goodness. I am a speechless, so thankfully you can’t hear my speech.

tickingbird

Geordie??? Seriously?

Agree. I live among them, and while I don't hate it, I'm not over keen either.

I must be very snobbish. Im a pedant who can’t bear sloppy speech . I always correct those who don’t speak correctly. Im a geordie and our accent is well known but when slang is used it makes me mad. An accent is fine but lazy sloppy speech is ignorant

Geordie??? Seriously?

There are certain accents that are very grating - cockney, scouse and brummie. I want to kick the set when Eastenders is on. The best accents are Scottish and Geordie. I can't stand public school voices either.

A lot of the original dialects are dying out. A pity. I remember when I was young when travelling to different parts of the country I loved to hear the different accents.
Not only in this country. My son spent some time in Reims in the North of France and my daughter in the south and their French accents were very different. I was told that I spoke French with a Parison accent.

It's not dialect that is a problem It's the slurring of words, missing half the sounds. And the use of 'like' after nearly every second word tgat irritates me. Anyone deaf and tried to lip read when half a word is missing, it's not easy.

I'm a working class North-of-the-River Londoner and can hear definite differences between Norf and Sarf London. I find the Geordie accent a bit of a challenge and Scouse is horrible, but having left a piece of my heart in Glasgow from when I lived there in the 1970s, I don't find that accent at all difficult and I love to hear it.

it's not lazy but it can point to being under educated and that feeds into class...and that can lead to prejudice. I'm a Londoner went to grammar school and into scientific research in Surrey, neither my parents had cockney accents but did slip grammarwise occasionally, which was a London thing...eg 'we was'. My brother who ended up very rich and powerful indeed on the other hand went to secondary school in Wimbledon and over time fashionably adopted a cockney accent and adopted it at will. Basically if we are socially skilled we will have many registers of speech which we apply when appropriate. This usually comes naturally. No accent is wrong in the right circumstances. Though I cannot bear bad grammar...eg there is a famous mural near me which just says ' Me and You '. I hate it. hate it hate it

Re some of the above comments ‘thes nowt s queer as fowk’

I used to work with posh people who added an extra 'R', and spoke with a drawl , e.g. 'are you carming tomorrow for drinks?'
I used to reply, 'only if its fair and calm'!

My spelling is fine.
Certainly comparable to most on here, I would say.

I think a lot of it is lazy. I hate it when people want twenny, instead of twenty or describe something as beau-i-ful - what wrong with sticking a T in it? I have to admit my accent is a hotch potch of places I've lived, but I try to pronounce words properly!

I believe proper English should be taught, so people know their spellings better. My daughter started writing f instead of th, she said 'Mum we have to take in 'free large spoons tomorrow', I gave her plastic ones!
I don't mind accents, I love the clearly spoken Scottish accent, but couldn't understand the Glaswegian accent, until I got used to a colleague who told everyone that I had a problem with my hearing. After asking her to repeat herself a few times, I just smiled and nodded!

I correct my little grandchild's pronunciation of 'wau-er' to 'water'. She has a mixture of accents picked up from nursery and different carers and seems to have fun experimenting with them all, making up her own too.

I do agree Franbern - there is such a difference between regional accents and speaking lazily- most presenters on radio and television speak clearly and accurately. They are imparting information and to me, the content of that is what is important- the voice should not get in the way. Regional accents are interesting and diverse - the only one I find hard to follow is the strong Glasgow accent. I love the Welsh, Edinburgh, West Country and Geordie accents - the latter because a lot of my family come from Northumberland. However, the lazy speech of, for example,Alex Scott and Stacey Dooley - much as I like the look of both of them, they are just unpleasant to listen to - I do not think this is snobbery - I’ve got no reason to be snobbish about it- their lazy speech just grates on my ears.