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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that we're all a little bit weird

26 replies

SoGoodToBeBackHomeAgain · 12/12/2017 07:47

I've been working with someone for a little while now and had assumed, from her broad Liverpudlian accent, that she is from Liverpool. Oh no, she and her family are local to where we are (Channel Islands) but she went to Liverpool for a holiday in the 1990s and came back with a full-blown accent which she has never lost.

Any other oddities out there? I'm not at all odd or weird obviously! Wink

OP posts:
Anymajordude · 12/12/2017 07:50

I'm not! Grin

QueenNefertitty · 12/12/2017 07:53

I know someone that happened to. He worked in Liverpool for 6 weeks when he was a student, and had a scouse accent for life.

He was from Buckinghamshire.

Sanshin · 12/12/2017 07:54

I remember in secondary school people used to go on holiday and come back pretending that they had the accent, reminds me of Perry from Kevin and Perry when he comes back from Manchester.

My irritating ex step daughter once asked if the reason she talked "posh" was because she went to London once as a toddler 🙄 No love, you don't sound posh at all, you sound confused.

Errr in answer to your question, I think it's very rare to genuinely pick up an accent after a short time away but saying that, people reckon my accent has changed in recent years, no idea how though!

Original poster
SoGoodToBeBackHomeAgain · 12/12/2017 15:26

I do love a regional accent but not sure I'd pick one up after two weeks!

OP posts:
HarrietKettleWasHere · 12/12/2017 15:29

I sound pretty neutral but I can slip roight into a very convincing Norfolk accent if the mood takes me. (I am from Norfolk, but I never had the accent) it's a hard one to pull off so I'm often asked to do it so people can try and copy.

They can't. They just do Somerset. Ent narely the same.

LordSugarWillSeeYouNow · 12/12/2017 15:48

That is hysterical! I actually am from Liverpool and live there so to me that's really funny.

Saying that, my ds is obsessed with football and often comments when watching Match Of The Day about certain foreign players or managers who are interviewed have a scouse twang along with their own language. It must be easy to pick up :)

Tinselistacky · 12/12/2017 15:51

I haven't lived in my home town for over 25 years but still get asked if I am from there!! Still a twang!!

Trinity66 · 12/12/2017 15:53

I went aupairing in Boston for a few months when I was 18 and became very good friends with an Australian girl, when we used to drink together she used to start talking with an Irish accent (I'm Irish) we're still friends now 20 years later, she lives back in Oz and I'm back in Ireland but everytime we've met up since then she always goes back into an Irish accent when we go drinking

RestingGrinchFace · 12/12/2017 15:56

I was raised in Australia and told all my life that I had a British accent (I didn't but it was fairly neutral BBC pre-let's be more representative by having every second person speaking some northern dialect type speech which sounded to untraveled Australians like British but it was still odd. Lo and behold I ended moving to Britain and have picked up a bit of a British accent now (although the Australian comes through when I say words like kangaroo-it's no fun if you don't do it in a thick Aussie accent). It's certainly possible for people to pick up accents, some are more susceptible to it than others but it's quite unusual to pick up an accent quickly and never loose it.

BenLui · 12/12/2017 16:02

I met a woman my first year of working whose accent gradually changed over the year.

She’d been to Cambridge and had picked up the prevailing accent in order to fit in.

A year working in Scotland and she was wholly back to her native Belfast accent! Grin

TieGrr · 12/12/2017 16:17

I pick up accents stupidly quickly. I came home from three months in California with an American twang which took me quite a while to lose. I also unconsciously change my accent to mimic whoever I'm talking to.

userabcname · 12/12/2017 17:51

I've a weird one - was working abroad in an organisation that had a real mix of nationalities and people kept saying "oh you must meet X, he is British too!" Finally met this guy, spoke to him and there is no way in hell he was from anywhere in the UK! His accent was the most bizarre thing I have ever heard; I can't even describe it. When I questioned him, he couldn't say exactly where he was from and explained his accent by saying he "grew up in Australia" (he didn't sound Australian either). It was most odd.

loveisevol · 12/12/2017 20:23

When I speak English I just sound English. When I speak Welsh this weird welsh accent comes from nowhere. It's quite funny! I can't speak Welsh in my normal voice iyswim.

Janetjanetjanet · 12/12/2017 20:25

Lived across the pond for ten years but still broad Lancashire.

lemony7 · 12/12/2017 20:57

Tiegrr me too! Some people think I’m being a dick when it happens, but I can’t control it! Accents are fascinating.

HildaZelda · 12/12/2017 20:59

I grew up in the country, have lived in the suburbs of a city for about 16 years now but still have a strong country accent. DH grew up quite close to where we live now but has a very neutral accent.

TeaAndAMarmiteSandwhich · 12/12/2017 21:09

Tigr and lemony - me too! Although I was told once I was being patronising and another time that I was 'trying too hard' (quite the opposite was true, I literally slipped into it and really wished I hadn't). Now I try really hard not to change my accent when talking to people - but then I just get confused with what my accent actually is and it all gets really complicated and I feel really self conscious when I speak :(

Is there any research on this?

DianaPrincessOfThemyscira · 12/12/2017 21:12

But on the flip side I’ve lived in Liverpool since 2002 and don’t have any trace of an accent. I’ve picked up some slang but no accent. I’m originally from Herts if that makes a difference!

KindergartenKop · 12/12/2017 21:16

We had a party a while ago. My friend turned up and spoke in an Australian accent the whole time. She's from Bridgewater.

NormHonal · 12/12/2017 21:21

I'm another one who picks up accents very quickly and easily.

Spend years doing business trips Stateside and my speech is still peppered with annoying Americanisms even though my accent is normal.

I say normal. I grew up in a region with a strong accent and never picked it up in childhood.

I'm definitely a weirdo!

WrenNatsworthy · 12/12/2017 21:31

Picking up accents is the way we show acceptance for one another.
On the flip side - maintaining your accent can also help to create a divide between you and someone else.
A 'telephone voice' is a good example - putting on your best Hyacinth Bouquet Smile

OhforfucksakeFay · 12/12/2017 21:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

YouTheCat · 12/12/2017 21:36

I pick up accents very quickly. I lived with Mancs in halls of residence. That was fun when I went back to Lincolnshire. My accent is totally dependent on who I'm talking to. It's a curse.

LordSugarWillSeeYouNow · 12/12/2017 21:48

My 14yr old says I sound "posh" which makes me laugh.

I do not have a broad scouse accent and was at uni in a different part of the country and have spent a summer in New York and that's it really apart from the normal holidays abroad.

I have noticed that me and dd (6) have started to use American words and phrases quite a bit which is a direct result of YouTube:)

iamghosted · 12/12/2017 21:49

My behaviour is in reaction to the situation. Your behaviour is who you are.

Classic situation/disposition bias.

The Liverpool accent is weird though.

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