AIBU to think how you speak does matter in a professional environment?

[makingitupaswegoon]

I've moved around a lot for work and as a result have lost a lot of the dialect that I grew up with. I try not to use the slang words that are common from my area because people don't understand what they mean.

While this may be old-fashioned, I do think if you want to get on in a professional environment it's best to speak relatively correct English. I'm not talking about accent here - I think that is something different.

I try and get my DC to pronounce their words properly and speak well. I don't think there is any harm in them knowing the slang / dialect words where we live at the moment but I don't want them using these routinely.
Sadly I do think that people still judge other people's ability / intellect by the words they use. AIBU?

Honestly I think you can get away with a lot depending on your accent! Just watch Made in Chelsea for e.g. - most of them are as thick as two planks but their accents mask it.

I think it’s pretty obvious not to use slang at work generally, it’s not a snobbery thing it’s purely about understanding. If I asked people what were they having for nammit only people from the area I grew up in would have a clue. It is however quite fun to discuss local slang when you move from one area to another.

Seriously, most reasonably intelligent children can grow up understanding the idea of different vocabularies for different occasions without the need to spend time stopping them from ever using slang. "Don't swear in front of grandma" is a rule that most of us have managed to memorise.

As for "pronouncing words properly"- how do we define that then if it's not to be about dialect? Down here, people use the glottal stop. It's as much a regional accent as my Scottish colleague's triller r's.

I agree with @corythatwas - you seem to be confusing two different things. There's not really any such thing as 'proper' or 'correct' ways to say words. Unless you work in a very small/provincial industry, you are going to run into people whose ideas of what sounds 'correct' differ a lot, and it's much more important to be sensitive to those differences than to be rigid about the way you speak.

I'd expect most people to recognise what you can/can't say at work, for sure. But again, that varies from workplace to workplace. Where I work, I'd be very cautious about using some words, but 'cunt' would be quite acceptable in context. I'm sure that's extreme, but it's a good illustration of how diverse 'professional' environments might be.

I knew a woman from Wolverhampton who got turned down by an employment agency because of her accent. The recruiter told her that she couldn’t put her forward for interview as a receptionist, because high profile clients wouldn’t hire her.

The experience gave her a chip for life.

I think it's about the use of words rather than accent. I'm a hiring manager - any regional accent is fine. However 'ain't' or 'should of' and the inability to adapt tone of voice to a situation would make me question whether I should employ someone.

I do think there are generally accepted ways to pronounce words - regardless of accents - the guy from Bros completely mispronouncing 'epitome' in the recent documentary springs to mind. This isn't about pronouncing words in an accent.

I also think speaking correctly means speaking at a pace that people can understand and choosing the right words to express yourself / that are grammatically correct.

Everyone tone shifts, as the “don’t swear at Grandma” post above makes clear.

I think we owe our kids to make them aware of more formal and standard English ways of speaking if they use a lot of dialect or slang. That doesn’t mean those ways of speaking are more correct, but they are more appropriate for different occasions, some of which are professional.

@makingitupaswegoon - I think even with examples like 'epitome' it's actually much less clear-cut than that. If you have someone who communicates in quite a confident, professional way and who says 'it's the eppy-tome of courtesy - wait, sorry, I'm not sure if I said that word correctly' - you will likely not notice it. OTOH if you have someone who never corrects themself or seems unaware they might be wrong, you might worry more.

Most Scots are bilingual in this regard.

Interesting. I maybe have come across a lot of people who have no idea of amending their tone /language in their workplace which has coloured my perspective.