accent-ism

gumdrops

Well-known member
accents which rub you the wrong way basically. i went to see an exhibition the other week, got the date wrong, so it wasnt even ON yet, but the woman at the desk was one of these aggressively posh early 20s girls with one of those ultra cut-glass accents that i happen to like in drama (and some sexual daydreams), hate in real life (also doesnt help that early 20s ppl, women in particular these days, it would seem, obv carry the arrogance of youth like all men in east london now seem to carry those stupid fucking handbags, so couple this with the arrogance of class, affected or not, and well, thats a lot of arrogance for one person to carry, never mind inflict on others). this might make me a classist or something, i dont really care. its the accent to have if you want to be the most patronising, condescending, up your own arse cunt in the world imho. apologies to anyone who has an accent like this here. maybe you all do, i dont know, im sure youre all lovely.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I've got what I consider to be a very generic, neutral, Southern, middle-class accent. I certainly don't think I sound "posh" - well, maybe I sound posh compared to Katie Price or Dappy from N-Dubz, but then so do most people. But a few months ago this guy who I think was from Northern Ireland decided I must be third in line for the throne or something and spent a good hour or so grossly and unprovokely insulting me to my face for no reason whatsoever. It happened to be my last day at my old job and I was in the pub with a load of my now ex-colleagues, most of whom I got on with pretty well - this guy worked on a different floor from me and I hadn't even met him before. I saw him again afterwards as I got on the train and told him in no uncertain terms that I thought he was obnoxious cunt.

My girlfriend has a pretty similar accent to mine but when she's reading poetry out loud (she's studying it for her PhD, so it's allowed) she goes all Radio 4, it's most amusing.
 
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gumdrops

Well-known member
it's most amusing.

as i read this i heard a very radio 4 accent in my head. (sorry, couldnt resist lol)

my accent is/can be a bit of a mess. im trying to find some netural common ground which i can use to make it all cohere but im still working on it. my last gf always made (crap) jokes about me sounding very essex, which i didnt quite understand as there are people who talk a LOT more essex/east london than me, but i chalk it up to her just knowing fuck all about people outside her own little bubble. when we split i told her to find someone more 'proper' but she didnt get what i meant.

my first post conflates being condescending with a certain accent, which is maybe a bit unfair. but its almost as if in order to carry off that accent well, the tone has to come with it.
 
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grizzleb

Well-known member
If I encounter RP in the real world (which has only happened a couple of times) it makes me feel serious cognitive dissonance, it's like meeting someone from a separate frame of existence, one that only exists only the bbc circa half a century ago. They don't seem like real people.

I've had to modify my accent since coming down south so that people understand me, but I like that nobody can tell anything about me here from my accent other than that I'm Scottish.
 

crackerjack

Well-known member
I've had to modify my accent since coming down south so that people understand me, but I like that nobody can tell anything about me here from my accent other than that I'm Scottish.

Where are you from in Scotland? The difference between Edinburgh and Glasgow accent seems as clear to me as the difference between, say, Newcastle and Leeds. Generally, if I can work out what the fuck you're on about, you're not from Glasgow :D
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I hate to admit that my accent does vary depending on whom I'm talking to, not on purpose but I notice it.
 

Ulala

Awkward Woodward
I'm from Suffolk, though my parents are not, so I never developed an accent per se - like Mr Tea, I'd consider mine to just be a generic southern accent. (You know - 'grarse', 'barth' - elongated vowels and, I suppose, leaning more towards RP than not.) The Suffolk accent is incredible, though, it can be almost impenetrable when speaking to 5th or 6th generation Suf-folks. There's all manner of curious dialect, too, which I've never encountered elsewhere (vastly different from, say, Norfolk and Essex, which are both right next door.) "Mahn't no" for "must not", things like that. I like it, though it doesn't confer an air of intelligence on the speaker.

Subconsciously or otherwise, people definitely favour certain accents over others. Loads of call centres use Scots or Geordies because these are, supposedly, soothing, trustworthy voices. (I can't find a link to back this up, but I'm certain I've heard this espoused before - QI, perhaps?) By contrast, you rarely hear Brummie voices anywhere, in the media, advertising, radio, whatever. Does that constitute accent-ism? I suppose it does, but then I'm pretty sure accents are tied up in other regional prejudices so I don't know if it's a demonstrable phenomenon in itself.

Looking at your original post, gumdrops, I'd rather in some ways that people who had had the benefits of an expensive education did stick to their guns and keep the plumminess in their voices - far worse for me is when they try to 'estuarise' their accent and vocabulary in order to disguise their privileged upbringing. Keep it real, you fuckers, even if that does mean being hoity-toity. I've been to clubs where there are various fucking Henriettas and Arabellas and sundry other double-barrels loudly exclaiming, "Oh my gohhhd, this is so sick, isn't it, girls?" whilst taking pictures of each other to put on Facebook. I silently fume and 'accidentally' tread on their feet in my grubby trainers. I've no problem with the adoption of slang, but it should be the slang of your social group, not another's - there are some words that just don't suit certain accents.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
there are some words that just don't suit certain accents.

dahhhhhhhhhhhhhhling, you are just SO peng! (actually that prob sounds alright)

what about ppl that move 'up' the accent ladder then? should they have to keep it real also? cos thats a tricky one. i know some ppl who obv didnt grow up speaking RP but have started doing it since starting work and becoming more professional etc. i dont personally knock it, and if youre say, a teacher, you really should speak 'properly' i think. but there are some where it sounds like a bit of a strain. not try hard, but you can tell some work has gone into cleaning their voices up.
 

Leo

Well-known member
just as an FYI...if any of you come to america, you'll be able to score with members of the opposite sex (or same sex, if that's yr thing) like no tomorrow. american guys and gals melt at the sound of a british accent, makes no difference to them if it's posh or cockney (they don't know/care about the differences, just makes you sound so clever and cool.) trust me. i fell for it and married a brit. :)
 

you

Well-known member
I've been told I go all brummie when I'm really cross at work, otherwise I don't know what my accent is, I know I say Grarrsss and GrAs all the time depending on the sentence..... I know people sometime exaggerate their accent on purpose to exclude/include people - you see it all the time, not just plummy yah yah yah stuff but scousers (SP?), mancand the like all do it too...
 

slowtrain

Well-known member
Wow.

I always knew accent was a big thing in the UK, but I didn't know it was that specific.

In NZ there are definitely different accents, but a lot of people (I dunno, English parents or something?) seem to have that sort of 'accent-less-ness'. You got the more nasal 'noo zild' accents down south more, in more rural areas.

My accent is kind of drawn out and nasal I suppose, but (I dunno, southerner Mum and Grandparents?) I think its still pretty well-defined. It's definitely not one of the TV One news anchor abominations.


Aside: we always have to have subtitles for Scottish films.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
ok so how do you say scone? (supposedly this is a good test)

is it SCOAN (like sloane, although you can say this in a very posh RP way AND a london-y cockney way too)

or is it SCON?

the other test is 'garage' but i think people say that in all sorts of ways now so im not sure if you can still tell much about someone and how they say 'garaaaaaaaj', 'garaj' or 'garridge'.
 
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STN

sou'wester
'garij'

but with 'scone' I just say whatever the person I'm talking to says, anything for a quiet life...
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
"ok so how do you say scone? (supposedly this is a good test)
is it SCOAN (like sloane, although you can say this in a very posh RP way AND a london-y cockney way too)
or is it SCON?"
I've literally never known how to pronounce this word. I just think it's up to you - I don't think that anyone actually says it consistently, I certainly don't, I can't remember how I said it the last time I said it, which wasn't long ago I'm sure because I ate one the other day. Think I'm a garaj kind of guy - though how does that differ from garridge? Definitely not a garaaaj person anyway.
My accent is a bit strange in general in that it's generic southern but I say bath not barth and grass not grarse purely because my Dad is a manc I guess - I didn't pick up an accent as such but when I learned the words I copied the exact sounds he said so got the pronunciation without the accent.
 

bandshell

Grand High Witch
I'm not sure what my accent's like. I presume it's quite Yorkshire. Apparently, I slur my speech a fair bit.

I say 'garij' and 'scon'.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
ok so how do you say scone? (supposedly this is a good test)

is it SCOAN (like sloane, although you can say this in a very posh RP way AND a london-y cockney way too)

or is it SCON?

the other test is 'garage' but i think people say that in all sorts of ways now so im not sure if you can still tell much about someone and how they say 'garaaaaaaaj', 'garaj' or 'garridge'.

my poshness test is simple. if you're under 45 and say 'supper'.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I say 'sconn', I think 'scoan' sounds ridiculously affected and lah-di-dah. But 'garage' depends on the meaning of the word: a GAH-razh is a little house for your car, or where you take your car to get it fixed; GAH-ridge is the music you used to hear blasting out of a small car with tinted windows and a huge stereo about ten years ago.

gah-RAZH is strictly for Americans only.
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
ok so how do you say scone? (supposedly this is a good test)

is it SCOAN (like sloane, although you can say this in a very posh RP way AND a london-y cockney way too)

or is it SCON?

the other test is 'garage' but i think people say that in all sorts of ways now so im not sure if you can still tell much about someone and how they say 'garaaaaaaaj', 'garaj' or 'garridge'.

It's sloane as in 'pwned' except in very rough sex, when it's 'slon! slon! slohhhhn!'.
 
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