Dialects and lazy speech - there is a difference

Nannarose

There are plenty of accents and dialects that 'drop' certain letters or words.

I had my speech 'corrected' so much that I now only speak a 'received' version of my natural speech. This is also slightly to do with the fact that in my adult life I moved around, which knocks the corners off a local accent.
Everywhere I went 'posh' people would tell me 'oh it's not a proper accent they speak here, it's just lazy'. No-one seemed able to define a 'proper accent'.

Now I am back where I belong, and 'local historians' want us to record 'old folk' talking, so our 'lovely local speech' is not lost, dropped letters & ungrammatical constructions and all!
I feel patronised, as if only middle-class people get to decide whose speech is worthy.

Sorry, Franbern, it's a real 'red flag' for me!! And I have lived in areas where the dropped 't' is a feature of the speech.
Of course I don't dispute your right to be irritated by certain ways of speaking.

I could not agree more. I personally love hearing different accents and dialects, it makes us who we are.
There are very few (if any) areas in the UK who speak "properly".

Like SueDonim, I had to ask someone from the phone company to speak more slowly the other day. The accent was quite strong, but intelligible once the speed was reduced.
Real-time captioning on TV sometimes makes speech look really funny, as does saying your messages into a GN post. I often have to go back and check what I’ve said in case it’s auto corrected it into something really weird.

I loved from India to Scotland to Liverpool to Birmingham to Manchester to Sussex - each area influenced my pronunciation. I always thought less of anyone who “picked me up” on my speech. What values do they have? And some call centres employ folk in areas with a strong local accent for a good reason - research shows we trust them more than those with a generic or RP voice. So, there is a clue there…

I should imagine everyone, wherever they're from, have had that problem.

My heart sinks sometimes when the phone is answered by people with a strong accent.

I find Geordie quite difficult to decipher.

I think the type of speech pattern referred to is nothing to do with snobbishness but everything to do with the BBC trying to be 'with it' or whatever the current parlance is, sick, perhaps?

When listening to some of the continuity presenters I wonder if I am deliberately being disenfranchised.

I listen to Radio 3 and the continuity announcers and presenters have the most beautiful voices. Every word is discernible, they sound interesting and dare I say it, intelligent (I shall be slaughtered for that but it's true).

I'm not "with it" (sick is not the in word now. It's "lit")

It’s good to see Paddy McGuinness and Freddie Flintoff with Lancs. accents on mainstream TV! ? Makes a change from Rylan Clark (he’s annoying?). I must admit that I’m biased.?

i think - but please correct me- that people from Kent say "war-er" and not water. Free and not three. there is no T in the words that have a T
It is annoying at times but the most annoying is those people that keep saying"like" several times in a sentence

Although originating from South Wales (love that accent!) I was brought up in England and my school teacher father ensured that we children had an RP accent. This is much appreciated by Mme SS who is French as she finds UK regional accents very difficult to follow.
We moved to Hampshire in the early 60s where the local accent was, in my view, a pleasure to hear. But no longer! It has almost completely been replaced by what I can only describe as a Cockney snarl, thanks, it seems, to the popularity of programmes such as East Enders.
A German friend who spoke excellent English was very puzzled when he heard a couple talking. They mentioned 'Snahs ess'. I translated. They meant 'It's a nice house'.

Franbern….I absolutely agree with you. I don’t speak ‘posh’ but my pet hate is bad grammar and lazy speech. The BBC are always ‘box ticking’ nowadays and in my humble opinion have gone downhill rapidly.

Totally agree. I found him incomprehensible and certainly not using an acceptable form of English.

Any form of english is acceptable, if it is a means to communicate with others.
For those who say they can't understand, well, I feel sorry for you.

Perhaps that illustrates why it isnt a good idea to be too rigid in our thinking.

It seems that there is a difference opinion about dialect /accents or lazy speech. I hate to hear firty free farsand rather than 33,000. pronounced with th Also th replaced by v. (uverwise) Sentences starting with SO.
I do like to hear regional accents and dialects. There are some fascinating and very descriptive words used in dialects Long may they continue.

I never, ever, say firty free, but the strange thing is, it sounds as if I do, with my accent.

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.

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 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 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!

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

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'!

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

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

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 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.

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.