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Original poster

To once again feel embarrassed to be from Norfolk ?

131 replies

blondegirl1979 · 02/12/2011 20:18

i have been watching 'come dine with me' this week, never seen it before but its filmed in Norwich and I used to work with someone who was on it.

I was born in Norwich to parents from London and have lived here all my life, have always detested the way Norfolk people speak (i actaully dont mean to cause offense, its just my opinion, and obviously not one i go around sharing, its just my 'thing' as it were), its always cringeworthy when someone from Norfolk is being interviewed on tv/radio as it seems that the slowest speaking, thickest accented people are always chosen, almost complete with their tractor and all other stereotypes.

I travel around for my job and noone ever thinks im from Norfolk, which always pleases me (yeah, maybe shallow). Anyway my point is: that bloody chip shop woman makes me ashamed to be from norfolk, she didnt help herslef by coming across as so ignorant 'i dont eat none of that foreign muck' etc etc, and eating a meal before going to someones house becuase she couldnt read the menu ????

In her defense, the other 4 people on the program with her were very educated, non accented people who she kept saying she wasnt comfortable with, and i presume that some dodgy editing had taken place - but even so....... Rant over, she just annoyed me, ive been thinking this all week and now i dont seem to be able to make a concise point. Sorry.

OP posts:
MissBeehivingUnderTheMistletoe · 02/12/2011 21:58

I love the Naarfolk accent but them my family's only managed to move 10 miles in 500 years Grin

I sadly don't have a Norfolk accent but I love hearing it, and using our local words. It's part of what makes up the character of the area and makes it so distinctive. Havinmg a local accent doesn't make you thick.

I do wish people who don't like the accent would just fuck off to be honest and go and live somewhere else where the rest of the population isn't so offensive to them. Smile (p/a)

cocoachanneloffestivecheer · 02/12/2011 22:01

Norfolk? Is that in East Angular?

Sorry couldn't resist....Xmas Wink

usualsuspect · 02/12/2011 22:01

LadyBeagle .everyone on MN talks with an RP accent and lives in London

Didn't you know that?

Seabright · 02/12/2011 22:02

Am v hurt about the anti "shewing" and "driv"! These are part of my normal vocabulary!

My family & I refer to ourselves as "carrot crunchers", love the accent, hope it never fades away completely

serin · 02/12/2011 22:02

I bloody love Norfolk Xmas Smile

Hassled · 02/12/2011 22:04

It's a great accent. It's a slow accent - not as fast as something like Geordie, so I guess you're thinking slowness of speech = sounding stupid. I can sort of understand that, in fairness.

It's so interesting how people in Norfolk talk relatively slowly, with elongated vowels etc, whereas only a couple of hundred miles up the coast people speak much more quickly. Presumably we've had the same level of Viking/Roman/whathaveyou invasions and influences on speech along the way.

LadyBeagleBaublesAndBells · 02/12/2011 22:07

Nah Usual, they don't except on this thread
Otherwise I wouldn't be on MN.

MissBeehivingUnderTheMistletoe · 02/12/2011 22:08

Oh hassled stop being so reasonable Grin Grab a pitchfork and let's man the barricades at Thetford Wink

cocoachanneloffestivecheer · 02/12/2011 22:09

What's wrong with an RP accent and living in London LadyB

You're offended on the part of people from Norfolk but us Londoners are fair game?

Hmm
usualsuspect · 02/12/2011 22:12

yeah you are fair game ,just like the rest of us plebs

bamboobutton · 02/12/2011 22:16

i love the norfolk accent.

we moved away from norfolk for a few years and i was so homesick that i almost cried with joy when we moved back and i heard the accent again.

marriedandwreathedinholly · 02/12/2011 22:17

We had two of our nicest holidays in Norfolk: Cley-next-the-Sea and Blakeney Point. We also have very close friends who moved to Norfolk a decade and a half or so because of the quality of life there. We haven't been offended by any accents we have heard in Norfolk. We have adored the county. The Queen's holiday home is there and we would quite like one too but the roads to all the other counties are better.

What's wrong with a Norfolk accent? We live in Lundun and the accent can be well awful innit blad.

MegBusset · 02/12/2011 22:18

DH managed to 'lose' his Norfolk accent when he moved to London 20 years ago but it always crept back in when he was talking to his old dad, he would suddenly start saying like WAAAAAR-lit instead of wallet and HOOJ instead of huge, was especially funny as he swore blind it didn't happen Grin

LadyBeagleBaublesAndBells · 02/12/2011 22:19

Is RP London though?
Apart from Cockney, there must be so many variations on accents there, it's such a huge meltingpot.
But, having said that, I love all accents and that includes RP.
But I don't make nasty posts saying a certain part of England are thick because they speak funny.

MegBusset · 02/12/2011 22:20

Marriedandwreathedinholly, the crap road access is one of the wonderful things about Norfolk, means nobody bothers coming here so the beaches are nice and quiet all year round. I am a little concerned about a possible influx when the A11 gets widened

Dawndonnathatchristmasiscoming · 02/12/2011 22:21

My Dad was a GP. Trust me, the acronym NFN exists!

Esta3GG · 02/12/2011 22:30

We had two of our nicest holidays in Norfolk: Cley-next-the-Sea and Blakeney Point

You mean Chelsea-on-Sea?
Not surprised you didn't hear many native accents!

cocoachanneloffestivecheer · 02/12/2011 22:30

No it's not Lady, but there are a few of us who have it (although I'm not from London originally), who live here and have RP accents.

DH who is South London born and bred has an accent that is definitely not RP, but to the trained ear very definitely from a certain postcode group.

marriedandwreathedinholly · 02/12/2011 22:34

Esta3GG - nowhere as near Chelsea as Padstow, Roc and parts of the Isle of Wight Grin - was a long time ago though - think dd was pram bound and perhaps they hadn't been found. Loved Holt, and Wells Next the Sea, and the St Mary's too.

cocoachanneloffestivecheer · 02/12/2011 22:36

Eek. For anyone who might think South London plus 'certain postcode group' equals gang, if he is a gangster he's hiding it well under his Civil Servant alter ego. Xmas Grin

Anyway, I was only messing around LadyB. It was just that you were defending people, quite rightly, then you comment in a way that implies there's something wrong with RP accents and living in London.

No worries. We can take it. Hard arse us city girls! Xmas Wink

LadyBeagleBaublesAndBells · 02/12/2011 22:38

Is it just me, or do people really get judged on their accent these days?

SaggyoldCHRISTMASHUMBUGcatpuss · 02/12/2011 22:40

My boss makes me work in SAAARF END occasionally. Its dead skanky there innit!

Matronalia · 02/12/2011 22:42

DH apparently had the accent, although he lost it before he met me. All his family have it but I am just glad I can understand them - BIL's brother is a cattle farmer north of aberdeen and his accent was so thick that when he spoke it all sounded like one incomprehensible word. We gave up on verbal communication after an hour and one sentence.

Apparently much of East Anglia used to be marsh and the people who lived there were quite insular until the marshes were drained in the 17th century (I think). They were excellent with their small boats, hence the jokes about webbed feet etc. I guess that might have helped concentrate the accent.

Has anyone seen on youtube.

schroeder · 02/12/2011 22:46

Matronalia That's Cambridgeshire I think.

rubyrubyruby · 02/12/2011 22:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.