To think that if you have a southern English accent you are allowed to speak less at parties?

[interuptus]

Because people think you're posh therefore rich, therefore wrapped in cotton wool by your family, therefore an ignorant snob, therefore judgemental, therefore unable to contribute anything of value or funny or interesting.
I live in the north but grew up in the south and I've lost count of the amount of times I've been treated like I'm a "soft southerner" No one knows (because they haven't asked) that I grew up on a council estate, had a heroin addict step parent, my mum left us when I was 1, I failed all my GCSEs and have had to work really hard to get qualified in a reasonably good job and lead a stable happy life.
It's just assumed I'm posh so I need to shut up.

I think you’re just hanging out with arseholes tbh..

What?

Inverted snobbery is real.

And I'm a working class northerner!

Hmmm... might not be related to your accent.

only if you hang out with chippy arseholes. You need new friends OP.
And by the way it sounds like you're very fixated on this and probably over-interpreting heavy-handed banter.

I have a fairly clean accent as I was taught how to speak International English, but nobody would describe me as a soft southerner as my vocabulary is fairly pedestrian. I’m also fairly vicious in an argument.

Yeah I always think that when I listen to e.g. the party that is Radio 4, or the news, or any kind of tv commentary really, ‘there goes that poor, marginalised south eastern accent, barely ever given a voice, stuck in the shadows, hugely underrepresented, proportionally under-heard...’

I'm another southerner in exile, and get the same thing. My upbringing was stable/comfortable and I did well academically, so I am not in exactly the same position as you, however I am far from 'posh' - just average, with a southern accent.

House! You were lucky to live in a house!

Good one Mueslibox.

Unfortunately, people can be idiots, and behave towards you according to their own weird and offensive stereotypes -- I'm Irish in England, and am no longer even surprised by responses from apparently normal total strangers who, having clocked my accent, turn on the full begorra/leprechaun/pigs in the kitchen/priest-ridden/must have fifteen siblings and be drunk, thick and belligerent act. And total incredulity should they discover my DPhil and that I have one child.

Oh well. That'll balance all the times I've been made to feel like a Northern oik by posh twats in London won't it?

I got called a "dumb northerner" a lot when i lived in the south. I worked behind a bar and was only ever refered too as "Rovers Return" for 2 years.
People like to point out differneces. It didn't bother me because they were my friends and they were arseholes but in a fun way. I'd go to better parties if i were you.

Inverted snobbery is real, but it sounds like you hang out with twats.

Why the hell would you go to the north?

I had the same thing happen when I lived in the NW. Fortunately, I was able to rediscover my Yorkshire accent, unlike OH who only speaks posh SE and had people take the piss and even hang up on him.
I think it’s a manifestation of an inferiority complex, so not everyone does it. Back south now, OH still sounds posh.

I'm a soft southerner who lives in the North and works in an ex mining town. I'm reasonably well spoken - don't know why, but can't help it. Don't tend to find that my accent causes me issues though. My vowels have naturally flattened and I'm quite down to earth and self-effacing. DH likes to take the piss and call me a 'posh southern bird' knowing full well his family comes from a much wealthier background than mine. It doesn't actually bother me. I have no affinity to the south and feel really odd when I'm occasionally back in my (mn fave) old home town - everyone does indeed sound 'posh'.

Haha. Try speaking to pretty much anyone in a Birmingham accent and count the seconds before they go “BURRRMINUM!”

I wonder OP if what is being said to you is banter, or is meant? There is a certain kind of banter which is very good natured, that people from some places don't seem to get. The rule with banter is you only say these things to people you really like.

There are assumptions made on the basis of Every accent and I speak as someone with the accent that's often voted as Britain's least favourite

I think SE England accents are amongst the most "acceptable" to be honest

What very strange and unpleasant people you must hang around with OP!

Muesli

I think it's a defensive tbh, I'm from the north, living in the south, and people do impressions of my accent which are quite offensive but they don't realise. They act like we sound thick or like we must be rough and a bit poor - so the northern monkey laughs at the southern sissy. It goes both ways and it's all stupid but much like me, you just plow onwards.

Although yes my northern mates are much meaner in their banter than my southern ones - I've had southern friends be shocked when they hear me talking with my northern friends because how can we be friends when we're so horrid to one another?
We understand each other because we grew up together like that.