Page 2 | Does anyone else get bored of hearing "You don't sound like you're from X place."

SocksAndTheCity · 23/07/2022 12:09

misssunshine4040 · 23/07/2022 11:55

How long have you lived in England to pick the accent up so much you lost your Scottish accent?

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I know it wasn't me you were asking, but I've lived in England for forty years out of fifty and haven't had a Scottish accent since not long after starting school in a small, insular northern town. I soon learned that me and my family being obviously different drew attention to me so it went, although like a PP the odd word and phrase creeps in.

Now I live in London where nobody cares how anyone else speaks, and I'd be more than happy to have it back again.

woolwinder · 23/07/2022 12:13

RhymesWithAntelope · 23/07/2022 11:49

@x2boys

Yes they do. Everyone thinks I'm from here and is surprised when they find out I'm not. My best mate down here is originally from Glasgow and she still has her Glaswegian accent after 30 years down here. It's really odd.

Now we are retired, DP and I are seriously thinking of selling up in Bristol and buying somewhere in Edinburgh. A traditional 2 bed apartment (in Morningside even!) would leave us with money in the bank. Leith is nice too. We'd be able to get Scottish passports if we are ordinarily resident on Day One of independence which, as we are proud Remoaners, would be handy if IndyScotland joined the EU. I aim to channel Maggie Smith's Jean Brodie accent to help me fit in.

Westfacing · 23/07/2022 12:20

It's people being patronising by thinking they're doing you a favour and you'll be pleased!

JudgeJ · 23/07/2022 12:33

Poptart4 · 23/07/2022 11:22

Im from a rough area and people always say "you don't sound like your from X area".. "you're too posh to be from X area"..

It's very insulting because they assume everyone from my area is rough, common and uneducated. Some people are like that, yes but not all of us.

I got that when because of moving around a lot I lost the edge from my Northern accent, my usual reply was 'We're not all Rob Roys' which either puzzled people or started a long Hancock discussion, depending on the age of the person!

JudgeJ · 23/07/2022 12:35

woolwinder · 23/07/2022 12:13

Now we are retired, DP and I are seriously thinking of selling up in Bristol and buying somewhere in Edinburgh. A traditional 2 bed apartment (in Morningside even!) would leave us with money in the bank. Leith is nice too. We'd be able to get Scottish passports if we are ordinarily resident on Day One of independence which, as we are proud Remoaners, would be handy if IndyScotland joined the EU. I aim to channel Maggie Smith's Jean Brodie accent to help me fit in.

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I'd look very carefully at Leith!!

LoobyDop · 23/07/2022 12:36

All the time, and I’m also a northerner. I just shrug and say, yeah, I’m quite posh.

RhymesWithAntelope · 23/07/2022 18:01

@misssunshine4040

By the time I'd been down south for a year it was almost gone.

Weirdly I worked in the US for 6 months and began to pick up a twang there.

newyorker74 · 01/12/2022 16:08

I live in the US and some Americans struggle to tell a British accent (me) from an Australian one (def not me). I was told repeatedly once by a man that I wasn't from the UK and was obviously from Australia even after I very clearly said he was wrong and I'd never been to Australia. He was obviously a complete idiot and everyone around me was deeply sympathetic to me. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to face that kind of questioning on a regular basis. And yes, it's totally racist when it's asked of someone just because their skin colour is not white.

newyorker74 · 01/12/2022 16:10

newyorker74 · 01/12/2022 16:08

I live in the US and some Americans struggle to tell a British accent (me) from an Australian one (def not me). I was told repeatedly once by a man that I wasn't from the UK and was obviously from Australia even after I very clearly said he was wrong and I'd never been to Australia. He was obviously a complete idiot and everyone around me was deeply sympathetic to me. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to face that kind of questioning on a regular basis. And yes, it's totally racist when it's asked of someone just because their skin colour is not white.

Wrong thread! Apologies all.. I'll get my coat and leave through the back door!!

TigerRag · 01/12/2022 16:13

No one can seem to work out where I'm from. I've so far had Stevenage and Portsmouth. I'm from Plymouth...

TheYearOfSmallThings · 01/12/2022 16:16

Oh yes. I'm from Dublin - South County Dublin - but to some English people it is hard to believe I'm not from the US.

JudgeJ · 01/12/2022 16:17

Sishirunak · 23/07/2022 11:02

I get it constantly.
"That's not a Manc accent."
"You don't sound like you're from here."
"You definitely aren't from here, where are you really from?"
I get it from so many people I meet and it gets so boring and small minded. Not everybody who is from Manchester or whichever region has a broad accent. I sound like I'm from the North rather than the South.
It's likely just people making conversation but surely it can't be really difficult to work out you don't automatically have a broad accent just because you're from that place?

A fellow teacher in Yorkshire told me, a Lancastrian, that I didn't sound 'Northern', I managed to withold my inner Hancock (Tony, not Matt) and didn't say We're not all Rob Roys you know, (Blood Donor),.

In Germany I was told I sounded Danish when I spoke German, never understood that.

AuntyPeanut · 01/12/2022 16:23

It's very confusing when people say they are from X (anywhere but London where they are known to have a very specific accent) and yet they do not sound like it. They could have said I live in X or I was brought up in X but have lived in Y for that many years. It's just a conversation.

healthadvice123 · 01/12/2022 17:23

Yes but it doesn't bother me its just small talk
Soon no one will talk to anyone for risk of offence over everything

Thursa · 01/12/2022 17:59

Am American woman complimented me on how well I spoke English. I’m Scottish, don’t have a heavy accent.

LBFseBrom · 01/12/2022 18:13

I have been told a few times that I don't sound like a Londoner, by people not from London. I suppose it's because I don't sound cockney :). It doesn't bother me.

Zanatdy · 01/12/2022 18:16

RichardMarxisinnocent · 23/07/2022 12:03

You likely still have a Welsh accent though, just a North East Wales one, which a lot of people possibly wouldn't recognise as a Welsh accent.

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No I really don’t. More a north west, some people think I’m from Liverpool, there is a slight scouse hint to my accent, in fact more so than Welsh. I’m from the same town as Michael Owen

Crazykatie · 01/12/2022 18:34

Different people vary a lot how long or how pronounced an acceptable is, an uncle of mine has lived in Canada for 40 yrs and still has a broad Scots accent.
On the other side a friend who lived on a rough council estate has a lovely accent, others are mimics and pick up the local accent quickly.

lljkk · 01/12/2022 19:03

I get asked this. I don't mind.

FloresApparuerunt · 01/12/2022 19:05

Sishirunak · 23/07/2022 11:02

I get it constantly.
"That's not a Manc accent."
"You don't sound like you're from here."
"You definitely aren't from here, where are you really from?"
I get it from so many people I meet and it gets so boring and small minded. Not everybody who is from Manchester or whichever region has a broad accent. I sound like I'm from the North rather than the South.
It's likely just people making conversation but surely it can't be really difficult to work out you don't automatically have a broad accent just because you're from that place?

YES. To everything. I am a fellow non-Mancunian Manc and it was a pain when I studied at Manchester - my fellow students refused to believe I was a native. Ridiculous.

PearlclutchersInc · 01/12/2022 19:10

Not at all. I'm glad I've still got my accent after so many years away.
I'm old enough to not give a shit what people think these days (mostly!)