Wish I had a regional accent?

[turnyourmattress]

I don't know why, but I don't have a strong regional accent. There are occasional hints of it, and it comes out when I'm really angry. Most people think I am southern, or sound a bit RP (not really imo).

I am from Liverpool. Went to an inner city state comp, lived around people with strong scouse accents. My parents don't have strong ones, but do have accents. My grandparents were near unintelligible to outsiders 🐲

I think my accent softened a bit at uni. Or in other words, any accent I did have, disappeared. I never ever made a conscious effort to change it.

People are always surprised when I tell them I'm from Liverpool. They don't believe me, or ask if I went to boarding school/grew up down here. Ask when I changed it. I've had other people from Liverpool claim that I am pretending to be someone I am not. Some people think I am a huge snob, others think I am trying to hide where I am from.

AIBU to wish I had a regional accent, just so that I could conform to what people expect from people from Liverpool?

Gosh, all those rude people who don’t speak the exact same as you do. Maybe if you can only tolerate people with your own exact accent you should stay in your own area.

For what it’s worth, I’m Scottish, lived all over England, and have never ever found an accent I physically couldn’t understand. I think people who insist they can’t understand have a listening problem and are very rude themselves.

Oh, also lots of Polish people, plus a big Indian community where I live. No trouble understanding their accents either. Sometimes I may have to say ‘sorry what was that?’ And that’s it. They sometimes have to say the same to me. But I think having varied and rich cultures (whether from Britain or elsewhere) is incredibly valuable. However, I’m a good listener and make the effort to understand others, rather than expecting the whole world to behave exactly like me so I never have to feel out of my comfort zone.

Have you never visited a place where people have such a broad accent that you struggle to understand them? And, on seeing that you are struggling, have them make no effort to help you? It isn't necessarily a north / south thing - many of the kids at my south coast comprehensive could broaden their accents to make them difficult to understand (if you didn't live there).

Yanbu.

I adore accents. They are a wonderful extension of dialect, culture and identity.
Only an idiot would perceive them as uneducated.

What on earth is a “polite and educated” accent?!

I always thought I was educated with an excellent set of GCSEs and A Levels, 2 first class degrees, I’m a pharmacist, an independent prescriber, and owner of 2 businesses... However, my thick Bristolian accent must suggest otherwise 😔

OP you do have a regional accent, everyone does.

I'm Glaswegian but have lived in England since I was 10 and my accent is very soft. I do wish I sounded more Glaswegian, I hate when people can't believe that's where I'm from

I’m from the East of Scotland, been in the North of England since my 20s, more than 2/3 of my life. DH is English, but lived in Scotland for much of his childhood. I’m still obviously Scottish, but have always had a moderate accent rather than a strong dialect. I’ve never had a problem being understood. DH varies between accents, a result of having to fit in as a child. He sounds more English than I do.

DC sound Northern English, but not specific to one area, they’ve moved around a bit in adulthood. No way were they picking up the local dialect where they grew up. Fortunately we lived in an area where there were a mix of people with different accents.

Moderate regional accents are great, but outside one’s local area strong dialectal speakers might need to modify their speech to be understood.

Give me strength. I am marvelling at the bigotry on display on this thread.

DH had to go on a few training courses in Milton Keynes for work. DH is from West Lothian which is quite a well known commuter area for those working in Edinburgh and Glasgow. As a result of being a commuter area it has quite a wide range of accents.

DH was asked by someone else on the course if he was moderating his accent as he always thought the Scottish accent was difficult to understand yet he could understand DH perfectly. DH was a little put out but calmly explained that he was not moderating his accent that was just the way he spoke and saying the Scottish accent was like saying that everyone from Manchester spoke the same way as everyone in Cornwall and the East End of London.

Duh is the same. No accent at all His brother sounds like a Hampshire country bumpkin

The Liverpool accent isn't particularly nice and voted the least trustworthy in some poll or other, so don't fret it

He has an accent. Everyone has an accent.

Agreed. Snobbery is alive and well obviously!

I'm Irish but over decades in London my accent became very diluted. People often thought I was Canadian or West Country. I do find 'rhotic ' accents , where the R is not dropped , easier to understand. Invernosian and Hebridreans are easy on the ear to me.

I love the Manchester accent but do find the Liverpool accent very strong and even the Scottish one and need subtitles if watching something with it but accents are lovely and what gives a person character and you should not want to lose your sense of self and who you are.

Agreed. Snobbery is alive and well obviously!

I think there's also some inverted snobbery going on too. There's nothing wrong with having a regional accent (I don't much like all the comments about how people don't like the XYZ accent) but there's also nothing wrong with only having a relatively faint accent. Someone upthread asked the OP whether she had thought about simply speaking with a stronger accent - what on earth for?

I suspect that many of the posters on here are firmly middle class. Although they claim to have a proper regional accent, I expect they can be easily understood by any English speaker (from the UK or overseas). They aren't having to say "It's water not wa'er" to their children. It isn't being Hyacinth Bucket to want your children to be easy to understand.

My brother aged 5, first day at school; Mother asked him if he had made any friends. Brother replied that he'd made friends with a boy called Mar'in. 'No, Jeff', said Mother, 'It's Martin.' 'It's Mar'in,' replied brother, 'Everyone calls him that.'

Someone upthread asked the OP whether she had thought about simply speaking with a stronger accent - what on earth for?

Because the thread is literally about OP wishing she had a stronger accent, probably.

Interested to hear what any non UK mumsnetters think of all our accents? Do you find some a bit hard to understand?

This

Wouldn’t it just sound weird and put on though?

Yes, exactly. You certainly come across the belief that It’s only other people who ‘have an accent’ a lot on Mn.

@CruCru I don't know, I don't have a massively strong accent but I lived my early childhood in Birmingham and since then I've lived in the Black Country. I can do a strong, convincing accent for either without it sounding put on.

Ah, fair enough. I have a slight accent (more when I'm cross) but if I were to strengthen it, people would think I was taking the piss.