Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

to be bored of the open season on "posh" accents?

123 replies

Asteria36 · 21/10/2015 17:32

I am unbelievably bored of people treating my "posh" accent as a totally acceptable object of ridicule. Is this just me, or do other people find that in groups with mixed accents they feel honed in on and ridiculed for the way they speak? I wouldn't dream of singling out and poking fun at someone for the way that they talk, but in the past when I have suggested that perhaps, like most people, I can't help the way I speak I have been met with hostility.
One particular acquaintance of ours has decided that it is perfectly acceptable to minimise comments I make in conversation by saying "rah rah rah" and accusing me being a snob - but in my opinion she is actually the one with the problem, not me. I don't care what you sound like, just don't behave like a cockwomble.

OP posts:

MyFavouriteClintonisGeorge · 22/10/2015 14:11

RP= received pronunciation. I'm not sure why it is called that and I don't endorse elevating it as an ideal or official accent.

To me, the people who speak the most beautiful English are educated Irish people (e.g. Garret Fitzgerald) and people with softened Northern English accents like my DM and DH.

I do love a Hull accent too-all those soft flat vowels. THis has some good examples.

Sgtmajormummy · 22/10/2015 14:26

I have had a lifelong interest in regional accents and can do most of them pretty well. I might even go so far as to say I have no regional accent but I do know the power of them.

They are a visiting card, a way of pinpointing someone's origins, class, educational background and probably work sector. That's why people bristle at "phony" or "put on" accents because they feel the speaker is denying or trying to hide their origins. And if you commit the sin of slipping up (baeth instead of baaarth) you will be free game!

I am always amused at people who can't "place" me in social situations like the pub. They get really irritated by it, and I can guarantee that within 20 minutes they will be asking where I studied or what my job is. All of which I studiously avoid. Being accentless has given me freedom, and I'm sure other people have discovered it, too.

wasonthelist · 22/10/2015 14:37

Some aspects are inescapable though. Lots of people tell me I don't have an accent but I do and if you listen for long enough ( or demand certain words) you will hear it.

RP is regional. It is supposed to have orignated in Northants, but it is an accent of Southern England, in origin if not in use. All accents are regonal.

derxa · 22/10/2015 14:45

I should imagine that RP was the accent one used when one was received at Court.

Sgtmajormummy · 22/10/2015 14:46

Let's just say my accent is my own, and has no inconsistencies.

People often speak for their audience, in fact I remember Prince Charles addressing an audience of teenagers on ecology. He went all the way, pronouncing "graess" instead of "grarss" and I was kicking myself.

"Instructions" is the word to listen for!
(Aww, shucks, all the accentless people will be unmasked now!)

wasonthelist · 22/10/2015 14:49

There is no such thing as acentless.

IAmACuboid · 22/10/2015 14:53

Sgt the problem with that is when you don't fit into the expected box - I was bullied to various degrees through five schools, college, uni, then workplaces for my apparently posh voice, as people made incorrect assumptions about me based purely on my accent and wide vocabulary. .

A strongly accented Northener at uni was very overt in his assumptions about 'daddy's money' and the pony I must have had, it was ridiculous. He didn't find me asking him how his whippets were FFS. Inverted snobbery is seen as a joke and acceptable teasing, when in fact it's just as nasty.
The class system in this country is utterly poisonous, due to the twats in each section who use it to put the others down.

My accent has changed massively since childhood in an effort to blend in, which is a shame as there was nothing wrong with how i spoke. I am now making an effort to annunciate more clearly as I don't like my morphed accent.
Posh is most definitely an insult.

IAmACuboid · 22/10/2015 14:57

Sorry Sgt that was in response to your 'visiting card' comment, glitchy iPad takes forever to type on!

cleaty · 22/10/2015 15:13

Posh is not an insult. And I believe that you have had hassle for your accent. I have also seen those with posh accents be treated much better than myself with my common accent. There are pros and cons. But there is no doubt in the right circles, a posh accent does help you.

squoosh · 22/10/2015 15:20

Even the Queen sounds very different these days, if you compare more recent speeches to those she made when she was much younger. Much more 'that' and 'hat' rather than 'thet' and 'het'.

Yes, the Queen's accent has changed massively since she her younger days. And if you listen to 'posh' Eton alumni actors like Tom Hiddleston and Eddie Redmayne their accents sound a little posh but nothing like the voice of an old Etonian of yore.

IAmACuboid · 22/10/2015 15:45

cleaty it's all in the perspective tbh - you may not hear it used an an insult, I generally do, or as a snide/dig meaning pretentious.

It's like 'skinny' - an overweight person rarely sympathises with someone slim complaining that they've been called skinny in a disparaging way.

It all depend on context, and while being well spoken can absolutely be helpful in some circs it is a huge disadvantage in others.
I used to run into a fair bit of street harassment and soon learned to never speak, as it would escalate the situation pretty badly.

derxa · 22/10/2015 15:46

One of my favourite films is Brief Encounter. I love Celia Johnson's accent.

MrsJayy · 22/10/2015 15:58

I think celia sounds south African her accent is so clipped. Accents change and evolve I think. i was called posh at school because I didnt use slang op it really isnt your problem its theirs your accent (we all have 1) is your if anybody else has a problem with it then its their daft issue

squoosh · 22/10/2015 16:00

'No Alek pliz'

'I do lev you so veh much'

A lot of long gone accents in that film from Celia's to the 'cor blimey love-a-duck' café woman's.

MrsJayy · 22/10/2015 16:07

Did people really say cor blimey love a duck or was that made up for dick van dyke

FairNotFair · 22/10/2015 16:14

Swings and roundabouts. I was born and brought up in the North East. My whole (Northern, born & bred) family speaks with RP accents. It didn't make things easy at school, but I can't imagine that it hurt my job prospects - unlike my Essex-accented DH, who had a tough time breaking into his chosen profession.

BertrandRussell · 22/10/2015 16:21

I judge posh accents by which side of Alexander Armstrong they come. I am about the same as him- I say "Pley" instead of "Play" - as in "Let's pley Pointless"

Damselindestress · 23/10/2015 14:52

I was also well spoken because I was well read
"Do you mean you had a wide vocabulary?"
derxa

I hope I'm doing this right, it's hard to reply to people on here! I mentioned that I had a wide vocabulary later in the comment you quoted but I was also referring to being able to understand and pronounce words more easily because I was familiar with them since I was well read and preferring 'proper' words rather than slang, which was seen as some of my classmates as being posh. I hope that was clear enough for you.

derxa · 23/10/2015 15:40

Damsel I'm sorry if I offended you. You used words which were unfamiliar or less vernacular and that marked you out as different to the rest. Therefore they picked on you which was nasty. However you can't learn pronunciation from a book unless you have a phonetic transcription in front of you and you know the IPA.

Sgtmajormummy · 23/10/2015 17:02

(Or you ask someone, derxa.)
Out of curiosity, what regional accent would you all say the newsreader Simon McCoy has?
I think he's a pretty good example of a regionless, non-posh accent.

LisbethSalandersLaptop · 23/10/2015 17:05

if a "friend" of mine was shutting down debate by chanting 'rah rah rah' at me when I spoke, I would dump them pronto.

FartemisOwl · 23/10/2015 17:10

Do you know what works without fail to shut someone up when you're well spoken? Saying either fuck, cunt, fucking cunt or cunting fuck. Trust me, their jaws drop long enough for you to change the subject, leave with a wave or just laugh. I discovered that because I'm sick of others thinking it's ok to be rude about it.

LisbethSalandersLaptop · 23/10/2015 17:10

also, (warming to theme now and feeling riled on OP's behalf) if 'snob' means you treat people differently depending on what class you think they are, then who is the snob here?

wasonthelist · 23/10/2015 17:15

Haven't heard Simon McCarthy, but most accents cited as "regionless" or "accentless" tend to be some variant of Southern English, cited by people with similar accents imho.

LisbethSalandersLaptop · 23/10/2015 17:15

My brother used to punch me in the face regularly for 'talking too posh'.
Now guess who has the fakest aristocratic accent you ever heard?
You couldnt make it up actually.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5