to love regional accents

[Owllady]

And love having one myself :) ?

(Has this been done before:o)

I have the worst one too, black country ay it bab

"Accents are lovely, but people's perceptions of some of them are definitely not helpful."

I agree. Sadly, a lot of people do seem to harbour prejudice against particular regional accents. IMO, the solution is not to give in to that prejudice but to challenge it.

OH is a soft spoken Manc, I love his accent.

I love a good accent, I skyped an Australian friend and he's got a lovely accent but he had real trouble with my broad Yorkshire.

Owl, I was born and bought up in Burntwood so about 4 miles from you and it's fascinating how the accent changes in such a small area, it seems to dilute and by the time you've gone 4 miles further and into Lichfield it's bordering on posh!

I'm a softly spoken Lancastrian. My original dialect must have been corrupted from childhood as I've been mistaken for Manc, Welsh, Geordie, Yorkshire and Australian (?!) ever since, in order of frequency.

And one idiot salesman thought I had a Cockney twang. What the.

I want my proper Lancastrian dialect back! My Mum and Dad are soooo much broader than me - I've moved around too much. Now I live miles away and want to hug those with Northern accents in particular. There int enough of them.

We''re in Yorkshire.
Dh (Leeds born) has a slightly different accent to me (closer to Barnsley). It regularly becomes a topic of conversation when I say a word or phrase that he's never heard of!

This is worth a watch.

Dogs, I am from worcs/bham border, used to be "carrot cruncher" aimed at us, now very brummie due to being a newtown, so every generation gets more brummie. When I go back or speak with family I feel all comfy and safe.

(should say what it is - a dialect coach going on an accent "tour" around the UK and Ireland, although he misses the Midlands and North East completely.)

tabvase, I sometimes feel like that, I don't and my kids certainly don't, sound like my family.

Where is the Black Country? No idea why but I always thought it was Birmingham?

I'm from Yorkshire, love listening to most accents but cannot stand it when people put on a scouse accent when they are not from Liverpool. It makes my skin crawl

I love voices and accents, possibly because mine is just dull RP (don't know why, dad a Londoner, though not cockney, mum weegie, so no idea how I ended up with what I've got!).

My boss has a Humberside accent, it's lovely. The way she says 'tek' instead of 'take', tis positively dreamy. I hadn't heard it before I started this job.

Black Country is not the same as Birmingham! It's part of Birmingham plus part of Staffs. Most stereotypical 'Brummie' accents are Black Country, not actual Birmingham accents!

Also I can spot an East Mids accent! Gok Wan still sounds very Leicester, for instance.

MyrtleDove the Black Country is not "part of Birmingham"! How very dare you!

Fcukfifa it is an area, (the boundries are often disputed), north and west of Birmingahm (and not part of Birmingham) that is generally thought to have Dudley as its "capital".

It is the area where the Industrial Revolution began and has a very dstinctive accent - and dialect - that is much maligned, often badly mimicked but, IMHO, never bettered

I like Irish and scottish accents.

MyrtleDove are you trying to insult us..?? Brummies do NOT have Black Country accents, as Brum isn't in the BC

I was born and brought up in West Bromwich, and my accent is very different from the one in Wolverhampton, where I worked, or Wednesbury, or Dudley - and especially the Gornal accent which is really broad and which nobody can understand

Fascinating isn't it? Especially the fact that our accent is the one that Shakespeare spoke/wrote in......

Bit I thought Smethwick was part of Birmingham now? Sorry if that's wrong! I meant that it includes part of Birmingham, not that it is just part of Birmingham iyswim, sorry. But yes it's around Dudley.

Sue haha not at all! I just meant that what people think of as 'Brummie' accents are BC accents, and actual Brummie accents sound different. Just like Coventry accents (where I am from) are quite different, but everyone thinks they're the same as Brummie accents.

My Dad can do the northern Scottish equivalent of Henry Higgins, he can tell accents just a few miles apart and can also tell where someone's parents are from. That I can see, there are certain words that my urban children only hear from their rural Scottish family and so they are said with a Scottish accent (bull, byre, the location I grew up in). It is quite funny it.

My regional accent is not as strong as it was before I left home, I had to drop a lot of dialect as soon as I went to Uni (in Glasgow) but obviously there was still the common Scots English I could use (I ken, it's time fir the bairns tae go tae bed) but then had to change it again when I came to England (aka the battle of 'outwith'). I have 3 accents now, one for when I'm at home, one when talking to Scots and one when talking to the English.

No wonder I was confused!

Myrtle don't worry, I'll allow you Smethwick although it's actually in Sandwell, not Brum!

Sue I'm from the next "village" along from Gornal and it's perfectly understandable

I haven't lived in the BC for many years but I still consider it to be "home" and the accent is one of the many things I miss now I live in the south whereeveryone sounds either posh or glottal-stoppy

I love regional accents. My mum is from London, but her grandparents were from Manchester and she cannot talk about them without the accent. It's a bit adorable.

I have to wonder at the people saying Americans think they're Australian, if it's their regional accent or just ignorance. I have a friend who admits she can barely tell the difference between 'English' (I assume RP) and Australian.
Years ago, my mum was asked if she was from Germany! On more than one occasion, what's more.
This goes both ways, there's no such thing as a generic 'American' accent, but a lot of non-Americans don't seem to hear the difference.

Probably my favourite accent in the world is a Donegal accent. I like Belfast too, only I can't understand a bleeding word of it because they talk too fast. Although Dublin sounds more like 'home' to me, because it's the one I heard a lot when I was small.

I don't think anyone had said, but YANBU to love regional accents, they are glorious, I love them too.

I have a northern twang, a cross of mild scouse and Lancashire, although a bit more muddled now as have lived in several parts of the UK and have a Scottish DH. Usually say aye for yes, y'wha for pardon with a few nowts and ayups for good measure

to games re outwith. I am English but say that too due to DH influence on my accent, I've had similar discussions when I've used it at work.