To ask if you have a posh telephone voice?

[Applejaxx]

I can recall as a child whenever my DM had to make or receive a phonecall from someone who wasn't a close friend or family member she would put on this ridiculous fake, slightly higher pitched posh voice that DB and I would always take the piss out of. She'd always start with 'Oh Hello, I wonder if you could help me?' and end with 'thank you, bye bye'.It was so fake and far removed from her proper voice and I can remember one of my friends saying her mum did it as well and thinking it sounded equally ridiculous.

I really hope I don't sound like that when talking on the phone. Did this used to be a thing or do people still do it?

No I don’t but my mum does it’s hilarious!

Oh hello this is Mrs. X 😂

She never calls herself Mrs. X other than the phone

I go from Cockney to speaking like the queen in seconds. Then again I can go from English to my second language quick enough too, and flip between the two.

I often go more Northern when calling people based in the South who clearly hate getting a polite bollocking from pesky Northerners - the job they do means they really hate it. Particularly if I am planning to outsmart them on a nuanced legal point. They don't expect people who say "bath" rather than "barth" to outthink them.
Kind of the Steph McGovern effect.

I have a telephone voice - I can't stop myself doing it and it makes me cringe. DH and my colleagues think it is funny.

I used to work in a call centre dealing with people from all over the world and I think it is a hang up from that. I was used to making sure I was understood by people who didn't have English as their first language

I hate speaking on the telephone. I actually get annoyed hearing myself speak as I'm so irritating (especially on crappy internet calls with a slight delay where you hear an echo of yourself)

I have a speech impediment which years of private school elocution lessons (see, I'm annoying already ) didn't cure but just resulted in me speaking more slowly with a raarther 1920s newsreader accent, especially over the phone. I'm sure people think I'm a patronising knob

DH has a different background and completely different accent and the different way we get treated when we speak to people (RL and phone) is actually quite horrific.

I used to work with high net worth individuals and pretty sure my voice was a factor in getting the job If we have an issue with a company fuck you Sky and your broadband the treatment DH receives is eye openingly different and ironically he genuinely gets patronised quite a lot.

It's pretty shit (even if it works in my favour) that in 2020 people are still assigned different "status" based on how they speak but I don't think it will ever change.

Interestingly only one DC sounds exactly like me, the rest are a mix of DH and I so they will say barth for bath then drop the t in water...

My experience is that many Americans can't tell the difference between various English accents (in terms of class and region), and are as likely to coo over a working-class Mancunian accent as 'so British' as the Queen's.

Those that don't think you're Australian that is.

My Mum did, she was a GPO telephonist and used to answer with the area and telephone number, and as trained an upward inflection on the last digit. “chestnut hay four seven twoooo”. Even funnier when our budgie imitated it perfectly.

I flit between sounding rather 'posh' and a bit 'street', dependant on whom I'm speaking to. I had to be a chameleon growing up and I've been unable to shake this tendency off as an adult!

😆@Papergirl1968

I always thought that it was an old school thing as my DM occasionally did it, & an aunt used to say that we have to speak properly when we're out 😏

However, my sister actually does it, then criticises other people for doing it. I did ask her why seeing as we both come from exactly the same place, but she seemed to think that I was the one playing the cunt.

I've been known to sound my H's so that people can understand me, but I couldn't put on a full show. Or if I'm out of the country I speak in a broken English accent sometimes, I know, I know. MrG tells me not to do it, but they understand me, & they never understand him.

I love my posh phone voice. I learned from the best: my mother

I am from the south east, and sound as such, nothing special. I was on the phone to the US office one day and speaking to someone I’d not spoken to before. She tried to put me on hold but pressed the wrong button and I overheard her saying to someone “she’s so fancy, I feel like I’m talking to the queen”.

In a similar situation recently, a US colleague asked me if I actually work for MI5 (well I am a MNer ) and he said "you sound just like Diana Rigg". Made my day!

So, yes I clearly do have a telephone voice and since I've been wfh, DH has been ripping the piss non stop.

I have very fond memories of sniggering at my DM’s “telephone voice” as a child/teen/young adult as I found it so ridiculous. She always said it was due to working on the switchboard when she was younger (before my time).

I’d forgotten all about it until recently when I overheard her making a phone call a few months ago. I don’t know why, but it made me feel lovely hearing it again.

Love that the budgie imitated your DM’s posh telephone answering voice, MrsDrudge!

I definitely turn a bit posh in certain work situations and a bit more regional (ie where I'm from) in others. It feels entirely outside of my control, but someone told me it's a sign of emotional intelligence to change your accent depending on the audience! I still sometimes worry (in quieter moments where there's ample time for overthinking) that my home friends will encounter my work colleagues (unlikely) and wonder wtf I'm doing with my voice.