The UK's least respected accents?

[stevensfo]

An rather cruel article about accents:

https://uk.style.yahoo.com/revealed-uk- ... 00607.html

The “Brummie monotone” is the least respected accent in the UK, academics suggest, with Birmingham natives mocked, criticised and singled out for the way they speak.
The ratings show that the standard Received Pronunciation (RP) accent, French-accented English, Scottish, American and Southern Irish accents are all ranked highly in terms of prestige.

In contrast, accents “associated with industrial cities of England, like Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham (commonly stereotyped as ‘working class accents’) and minority ethnic accents, such as Afro-Caribbean and Indian are the lowest ranked”.

Out of a top score of seven, British people ranked various accents in 2019 and the RP accent was rated top with a score of 5.23, followed by French, 4.56, Scottish, 4.12, American, 4.07, Southern Irish, 3.99, and German, 3.88.

In contrast, the lowest ranked accent was Birmingham at 3.2. This was followed by Liverpool, 3.28, Indian, 3.38, Afro-Caribbean, 3.52, Manchester, 3.58, West Country, 3.73, and Welsh, 3.87.

Curious that there's no mention of London/estuary accent. I'd take Brummie any day over the whine I used to hear on Eastenders.

Innit?

Steve PS Personal favourite accents have always been Norfolk, Scottish (provided it's understandable) and Welsh.

[XFool]

Well, as from the Brumagen Irish, do I get first claim on being the Tommy Shelby of TLF?

[AsleepInYorkshire]

Petite blondes/redheads with Irish accents

Floats my boat every time

AiY(D)

[scotview]

There's a Sky advert where a guy says something like:

"Skaa spoats"

what accent is that ?

[kiloran]

Back in the 60s I was in a small group of apprentices tasked with a project which required interviewing various employees. We decided to go high-tech (for that era) and record the interviews on a tape-recorder. It was the first time I had heard my own voice as others heard me, and I was horrified.... very close to extreme brummie. The brummie (and black country) accents still jar.
Over time, as I moved jobs around the country, and spent a lifetime working with colleagues around the world, my accent gradually changed and became quite neutral.
I've never been able to put on an accent, but after spending 3 years in county Durham, I moved to Fife. A few days into the job and I had to meet one of our german sales guys at a hotel, where I'd arranged to meet him in the bar. I went into the bar, he had not yet arrived so I went up the bar and said to the barman "A pint of Guinness please". A couple of guys were chatting next to me at the bar, and one turned to me and asked "are you from newcastle?". Clearly while working in Durham I'd picked up enough of a north-east accent to influence the way I said "a pint of guinness please". Astonishing.

Anyway, the best accent.... Geordie, especially when spoken by a geordie lass. I seem to remember reading that a geordie accent is very favoured in call centres because it sounds honest and friendly.
And the worst.... definately brummie and the black country. Horrible!

--kiloran

[pje16]

Petite blondes/redheads with Irish accents

Floats my boat every time

AiY(D)

May I suggest it's not so much about the accent

[pje16]

Anyway, the best accent.... Geordie, especially when spoken by a geordie lass.

Cheryl Cole (or Whatever)

'Are ye alreet pet?' (whilst sitting on.....no. I'll stop there)

Mmmmm.

but she does sound a bit of a div

[stevensfo]

Back in the 60s I was in a small group of apprentices tasked with a project which required interviewing various employees. We decided to go high-tech (for that era) and record the interviews on a tape-recorder. It was the first time I had heard my own voice as others heard me, and I was horrified.... very close to extreme brummie. The brummie (and black country) accents still jar.
Over time, as I moved jobs around the country, and spent a lifetime working with colleagues around the world, my accent gradually changed and became quite neutral.
I've never been able to put on an accent, but after spending 3 years in county Durham, I moved to Fife. A few days into the job and I had to meet one of our german sales guys at a hotel, where I'd arranged to meet him in the bar. I went into the bar, he had not yet arrived so I went up the bar and said to the barman "A pint of Guinness please". A couple of guys were chatting next to me at the bar, and one turned to me and asked "are you from newcastle?". Clearly while working in Durham I'd picked up enough of a north-east accent to influence the way I said "a pint of guinness please". Astonishing.

Anyway, the best accent.... Geordie, especially when spoken by a geordie lass. I seem to remember reading that a geordie accent is very favoured in call centres because it sounds honest and friendly.
And the worst.... definately brummie and the black country. Horrible!

--kiloran

What's the difference between a Kangaroo and a Kangaroot?

One is an Australian marsupial. The other's a Geordie stuck in a lift!


Steve

PS Totally agree about it sounding friendly. Not sure about the honest bit.

[DrFfybes]

Anyway, the best accent.... Geordie, especially when spoken by a geordie lass.

Cheryl Cole (or Whatever)

'Are ye alreet pet?' (whilst sitting on.....no. I'll stop there)

Mmmmm.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... l-40274003

Paul

[pje16]

Anyway, the best accent.... Geordie, especially when spoken by a geordie lass.

Cheryl Cole (or Whatever)

'Are ye alreet pet?' (whilst sitting on.....no. I'll stop there)

Mmmmm.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... l-40274003

Paul

They need to get out more

[Dod101]

I think that in Scotland a deep seated Dundee accent would be just as unintelligible to most as any Geordie accent. My first wife, who was born in Glasgow, used to call certain staff where she worked in Dundee the 'Eh, jeez, well, bu' gang.

Native accents are becoming quite rare nowadays as there is a lot more moving around than there used to be. My father was born on Fair Isle (mid way between Orkney and Shetland). I never really thought about his accent but one day in my office in Hong Kong, a Norwegian chap came in for some reason. he spoke English to me of course and I was staggered because it could have been my father sitting there. I guess my father retained his native accent all his days.

And a native Caithness accent would be almost unintelligible to an outsider.

In Scotland the least respected accent to me would be a Dundee accent, the most respected, an Inverness one.

Dod

[Lootman]

I think that in Scotland a deep seated Dundee accent would be just as unintelligible to most as any Geordie accent. My first wife, who was born in Glasgow, used to call certain staff where she worked in Dundee the 'Eh, jeez, well, bu' gang.

Native accents are becoming quite rare nowadays as there is a lot more moving around than there used to be. My father was born on Fair Isle (mid way between Orkney and Shetland). I never really thought about his accent but one day in my office in Hong Kong, a Norwegian chap came in for some reason. he spoke English to me of course and I was staggered because it could have been my father sitting there. I guess my father retained his native accent all his days.

And a native Caithness accent would be almost unintelligible to an outsider.

In Scotland the least respected accent to me would be a Dundee accent, the most respected, an Inverness one.

At University for a while I had a girlfriend from (somewhere near) Turriff in Aberdeenshire. I could understand her fine but meeting her parents was a shock. I could understand some of what her father said, but close to nothing of what her mother and sister said. Interestingly they could understand me just fine.

I would say the accent around those parts is not really an accent but rather a dialect. It was not a matter of pronouncing words differently but rather of having different words.

My other two recollections of that trip were that (1) I have never been that cold, and (2) I am totally crap at barn/square dancing.

[gryffron]

East coast Aberdeen/ Dundee can be brutal.

I think that in Scotland a deep seated Dundee accent would be just as unintelligible to most as any Geordie accent.

Whilst I would not claim any great expertise in Scottish regional accents, one of my clients many years ago was Angus Council. They often rang me, many of their staff, and I thought they had a very soft spoken Scottish accent. The women all sounded gorgeous, the men very effeminate. Doesn't seem to fit in with your "brutal east coast". Maybe the rural areas are not the same as the cities?

FWIW Geordie then Welsh are my two favourite accents. Brummie definitely the worst.

Gryff

[Dod101]

I think that in Scotland a deep seated Dundee accent would be just as unintelligible to most as any Geordie accent. My first wife, who was born in Glasgow, used to call certain staff where she worked in Dundee the 'Eh, jeez, well, bu' gang.

Native accents are becoming quite rare nowadays as there is a lot more moving around than there used to be. My father was born on Fair Isle (mid way between Orkney and Shetland). I never really thought about his accent but one day in my office in Hong Kong, a Norwegian chap came in for some reason. he spoke English to me of course and I was staggered because it could have been my father sitting there. I guess my father retained his native accent all his days.

And a native Caithness accent would be almost unintelligible to an outsider.

In Scotland the least respected accent to me would be a Dundee accent, the most respected, an Inverness one.

At University for a while I had a girlfriend from (somewhere near) Turriff in Aberdeenshire. I could understand her fine but meeting her parents was a shock. I could understand some of what her father said, but close to nothing of what her mother and sister said. Interestingly they could understand me just fine.

I would say the accent around those parts is not really an accent but rather a dialect. It was not a matter of pronouncing words differently but rather of having different words.

My other two recollections of that trip were that (1) I have never been that cold, and (2) I am totally crap at barn/square dancing.

Quite right. Dialect is maybe the better description. And that corner of Scotland, the Aberdeen waterfront in particular must be about the coldest part of Scotland.

Dod

[Dod101]

East coast Aberdeen/ Dundee can be brutal.

I think that in Scotland a deep seated Dundee accent would be just as unintelligible to most as any Geordie accent.

Whilst I would not claim any great expertise in Scottish regional accents, one of my clients many years ago was Angus Council. They often rang me, many of their staff, and I thought they had a very soft spoken Scottish accent. The women all sounded gorgeous, the men very effeminate. Doesn't seem to fit in with your "brutal east coast". Maybe the rural areas are not the same as the cities?

FWIW Geordie then Welsh are my two favourite accents. Brummie definitely the worst.

Gryff

As Snorvey has said, Angus, a rural county surrounding Dundee, is very very different from the City of Dundee.

Dod

[tjh290633]

Odd but this subject came up at lunch today. I was reminded of "Big Frazer" from Airdrie, whose accent was totally baffling, yet McPhee from Helmsdale was perfectly comprehensible. Then we had a Doc from Orkney, whose accent was almost Welsh, and Flt Lt Jones from Bala, whose English was very sibillant.

Never had any trouble understanding those from between Tyne and Wear, but the differences between the various West Midlands accents was very noticeable. Halesowen was said to have one all of its own, while the Black Country was distinct from Brum itself. Enoch and Eli evenings were a treat.

In the Manchester area, you could find very distinct changes, like Burnley and Bacup, both very different from Rochdale. Then you could distinguish between women from various villages in South Yorkshire, with Mapplewell being distinct from Barnsley, 2 miles away.

They always claimed that purest English was spoken in Aberdeen. Hear them talk about Salmon.

TJH (Forest of Dean and proud of it)

[AsleepInYorkshire]

I recall as a young Quantity Surveyor working in the Doncaster office of a national new home builder we acquired a new Technical Director.

He decided to call his team into a small introductory meeting. There were Quantity Surveyors, Architects, Engineers, Buyers & Estimators all present.

We knew he was from Scotland. However, when he started to talk there must have been a gathered thought from all in the room for the need for an interpreter. He was from Falkirk and for us slow talking Yorkshire folk both the speed at which he spoke and his dialect were an instant surprise. Most of us managed to pick up every third or fourth word.

The man was also a feisty really bad tempered git and when he lost it, it was really impossible not to burst out laughing at him. Our Construction Director used to do an impression of him and I still find that an amusing memory.

AiY(D)

[bluedonkey]

A Welsh accent of course is not just one accent.

Swansea
Valleys
Pembrokeshire (Haverfordwest and north)
Cardiff
North Wales

[UncleEbenezer]

A Welsh accent of course is not just one accent.

Swansea
Valleys
Pembrokeshire (Haverfordwest and north)
Cardiff
North Wales

... and that's just the sheep.

[Lanark]

At University for a while I had a girlfriend from (somewhere near) Turriff in Aberdeenshire. I could understand her fine but meeting her parents was a shock. I could understand some of what her father said, but close to nothing of what her mother and sister said. Interestingly they could understand me just fine.

I would say the accent around those parts is not really an accent but rather a dialect. It was not a matter of pronouncing words differently but rather of having different words.

My other two recollections of that trip were that (1) I have never been that cold, and (2) I am totally crap at barn/square dancing.

That sounds like they were talking in the Scots language which is distinct from Scottish English and Scottish Gaelic.

Linguists these days say that a different dialect is a different language (because they use different words), so they use the words dialect and language interchangeably. There is often misunderstanding about this when two languages share a lot of common words.

A dictionary of Scots:
https://dsl.ac.uk/