To hate sounding a bit posh?

[zukman]

I’m from Scotland and live in an area with a mix of strong and not so strong accents.
I was brought up here but subsequently lived in London for a year and studied at university in Southern England; one thought of as very grand...

I went to the local comprehensive school, my mum is a teacher, my dad an accountant. My mum is from Glasgow and her family lived in a tenement block.

My father is from Edinburgh and went to a —great waste of money—boarding school.

People always ask if I am English. People ask if I am posh. It clouds people’s judgement of me, even in Northern England where dp is from, people think I sound posh !

Some can tell I’m scottish, others claim to have no idea. I hate sounding a bit posh, but it’s too late to change my accent now isn’t it?

OH and I are Scottish , living in Scotland, and we speak in a "posh" way too.
OH went to a grand Edinburgh Boarding school ( you can barely even tell he is Scottish from his accent) and I worked in academia for quite some time, having to really moderate my accent ( to be understood) as I worked with people from all over the world.

Our children also have gtrown up with a "posher" than normal accent because of home life.

However I fel it has been useful over the years.

My accent is still recognisably Scottish, although soft Edinburgh - think more Sean Connory than C Nesbit!

I like my accent now, seems to be universally understood, that's the most important thing.

Sorry OP I was rude. If you deliberately try to sound 'more local' you're being patronising to the locals.
Some people change their accents by osmosis almost. They're not doing it consciously. Similarly people who change their accents to make themselves understood. It's all fine.

I can definitely see the benefits of a ‘posher’ accent and I do find that people treat me differently depending on how I talk.
I know this is the case, but I do find it sad.

What’s wrong with being a bit posh?! 🤷🏻‍♀️

t actually says more about you

If you're born and have lived all your life in Glasgow and you're trying to sound like Nigella Lawson,, it's going to rise few eyebrows

What nonsense. I don't speak like Nigella Lawson and I am not from Glasgow. Even if either of those were the case why should it raise eyebrows? Brother in law is an idiot with a chip on his shoulder.

What’s wrong with being a bit posh?! 🤷🏻‍♀️

Exactly. I’d much rather edge on posh rather than rough as muck! (I’m Glaswegian too btw!)

Accents are a minefield in Britain. I think it was George Bernard Shaw who said “No Englishman can open his mouth without making another Englishman hate or despise him”.
I never fitted in, accent wise. My parents were Geordies, but we lived in the London suburbs. I then moved to Scotland as an English adult.
The only accent I genuinely dislike, (and which makes my working class chip itch on my shoulder!) is that horribly affected middle class English accent.
I don’t seem to have a problem with genuine toffs, or the roughest of regional accents, but that snotty arrogant affected middle class drawl just gets my goat!
Maybe because it sounds fake, or patronising, I don’t know? I have to mute the tv when those ads for incontinence underwear come on - that ghastly woman with her “pretty and protected” is like nails on a blackboard to me!

I have to mute the tv when those ads for incontinence underwear come on - that ghastly woman with her “pretty and protected” is like nails on a blackboard to me!
I think it's just her not her accent

MargueritaPink Your attitude comes across in your comments. I can understand your BIL's point.

In Scotland and Wales, there can be a lot of resentment towards the English so yes, having an English accent can definitely go against you even in a supposedly professional context

I think sounding a bit posh is infinitely preferable to using the glottal stop and saying things like sumfink and nuffink.

silverysurfer I think that kind of snobbery is pretty hateful.

I personally don't care about anyone's accent. But if you look down on some accents, I do judge you.

I don't judge people for their accent however I prefer my own regional accent and wouldn't like to have a generic 'posh' type South East accent that most people I went to uni with had. I really like how I and my family talk.

Judge away! Doesn't change my opinion.

@southnownorth

Can you pick up regional accents from the UK?

I can, but only in the most superficial way. I listen to BBC Radio news every morning on my Echo Dot, so I know what that accent sounds like, and I assume it's what everyone here would consider "posh". If I hear someone from the UK whose accent is substantially different from that I can tell that they are from the UK (or Oz, or Scotland, etc.) but I can't identify where they are from, what social class they might be, etc. I can't hear the fine differences and associate them with a location or class in other words.

(or Oz, or Scotland, etc.)

My apologies, I am well aware that Scotland is part of the UK. I plead a severe caffeine deficit, it's still quite early here and I'm on my first cuppa.

menztoray

MargueritaPink Your attitude comes across in your comments. I can understand your BIL's point

What point? I don't have an accent like his and that entitles him to make fun of me?Brother in law thought it was fun to ridicule my accent and try to embarrass me because I didn't speak with an accent he approved of as being suitably Scottish.

Brother in law and sister in law talk about "white settlers" too.