Keep being called posh at work

[Consciousuncouplings]

I've lived on and off in Manchester for a lot of my life but spent around 10 years of my childhood 20 miles away. I've been back in Manchester now for around 5 years, I don't really have the accent, it's quite a neutral one and it's hard to pinpoint exactly where from I think.
I work for a place in Manchester where a lot of the colleagues are from around that area or live close by, most have quite a broad accent.

I've been referred to as posh by them a few times, one the other day commented on 'my accent.'

I once said something and one said 'Oh I thought you'd be too posh to say that."

They're acting as though I speak like the Royal Family, far from it! I'm not posh in the slightest, and my accent is just very neutral, I spent some childhood in a market town about 20 miles away like I say.

I don't know why it bothers me really, but some people seem to associate you with thinking you're above others, snobby and so on and I'm none of those.
When they say it I just say 'no I'm not.'
Does anyone else get things like this and how do you deal with it?

Apparently Greater Manchester IS further broken down into Lancashire, Wigan, Manc and Posh. Are any of the the other Mancunians getting called Posh from South Manchester like me by any chance? I guess it is the Cheshire influence on our accents as alot of South Manchester is across the Cheshire border.
Makes me laugh when people call me or my extended family posh as if i mention my actual neighbourhood the most common response from anyone whose heard of the placed is 'oh it's a bit rough there'.

No not necessarily. My daughter sounds nothing like me/my (English) ex-H/my other daughter, nor like any of the local accented children she went through school with! She's got her own accent (not uniquely her own, to be clear) seemingly out of nowhere, which she used to be embarrassed about as a young teen, but I've always thought it's quite endearing!

Had this my whole life as moved from one part of the UK to another when I was little and never fully adopted local accent; most people in the UK think regional accent = working class / anything else = posh, which is a ridiculous over simplification. Just laugh it off, make a joke of it. Its a bit tedious, but worse things happen at sea!!

DH tells me I speak with posh accent (frequently references Hyacinth Bucket). We grew up in the same town!

No, it's not meant as a compliment. Its meant to make you feel excluded and othered - and it's worked. A joke's only funny if you're laughing, after all.
HR are useless on this shit though, so I wouldn't bother with that. Unfortunately you'll just have to grow a thicker skin and/or bite back.
Surprised PP's still suggesting things like this are 'just banter' Honestly thought we'd moved past that BS.

I've had this all my life. I just play up to it now and laugh at myself. I speak with a neutral accent but am neither wealthy or stuck up. I know who / what I am, couldn't give a stuff what anyone else thinks about me.

There are some people who get intimidated being in the presence of someone who articulates. They equate it with intelligence. You know, like how some Americans think every British person is a Stephen Fry or a Hugh Grant. It is not on you to defend yourself @Consciousuncouplings quite the contrary, they shouldn't be saying such things. It's no different to calling someone fat.

Well I’ve kind of had it both ways - I speak with a pretty RP accent and live in the London area. I’ve worked in offices with people who rib me about being “posh” but then again, my particular background is in telemarketing where being a bit posh-sounding is considered a big plus!

No I haven’t, I’m from the east of England! 😂 I get called posh because I pronounce my words correctly and always have, E.g I’ve never dropped my Ts and I don’t use an F sound to replace TH.
Ive always just had a “twang” to my accent and with my physical appearance people automatically assume I’m from a different country so I think that clouds their judgment as well but I’ve hair always been me and and I’ve always talked like this, personally I think I have a pretty neutral east Anglian accent.

For being vile and insulting about an accent.

I bet your co-workers hate you.

Let’s be honest, nobody living in that area is going to sound posh to anybody living outside that area.

Don't say anything, just give them a baffled side-eye.
A civil but frosty silence is great for shutting down all manner of stirring.
I mean - what on earth do you say to that? Someone is referring to you as "posh" when your accent is from X which is a £3 bus ride away! (£2 now no doubt).
People are strange!

I have a very neutral Scottish accent (originally from just outside Edinburgh). I then lived overseas (‘you sound Irish’ or ‘I really can’t understand you, you’re so broad’) - comments from Australians! Then in London (‘och aye the noo’) and called ‘jock’ on a regular basis.
I lived in Glasgow for a bit, and was the only one in the office who wasn’t from the west of Scotland. I was ‘super posh’ there. Nicknamed Portia, and asked if daddy bought me a yacht….

I’m actually from a working class background, went to a state comprehensive, etc., but my parents wanted us to be able to speak properly, and hold our own at Uni/in the workplace. As it is, I now work with people who largely sound like me, although they’re from all over the world. It’s an Edimbugh thing! 🤣

Anyway, I’ve been called both common and posh. Both are annoying. Both are a bit offensive. Try to ignore it, and tell them it says more about them, than it does you.

How do you know the intention of a stranger? Youre making a sweeping generalisation with no evidence

As I've already posted, I've had this said to me many times and it's absolutely not to exclude me, it's just as likely to be a throwaway observation. I'm really quite surprised at the number of posters who are sure it's meant offensively. Do you find yourself taking offence regularly?

They say that to your face?😯

And this is exactly why we have the shit government we do. The cap doffers, bowers and scrapers think anyone with a ‘posh’ accent is smart therefore the Etonian government are geniuses and should be voted for over and over again.

We will never have true meritocracy and the potential of the country will always be held back as long as we have people like OPs colleagues around.

I loved living in Manchester but this is a habit they have. Me, west midlands council estate with a fairly neutral accent, was asked on more than one occasion if I was 'upper class'.

My mum sounds like the queen so no-one believes she is a Manc.

I moved from the Midlands to Yorkshire when I was 5. I got teased a lot growing up because I spoke 'posh'. No, I talked correctly as I had been brought up by a mother who was very particular/strict. I'm 40 now and have moments where I'm very yorkshire, but I think I've become lazy with how I speak because of how it has made me feel in the past. Even teasing can make you feel rubbish if it's done often enough or on a day you're already feeling down.

Gosh I totally understand this, it's so frustrating because you can tell in the way it's said that it's not a compliment and designed to mark you as an outsider. I had the same in Yorkshire with a standard midlands accent. It has made me prioritise being able to subtly change my accent for each situation. Exhausting though.

My (Northern Irish) bloke refers to my”cut glass” accent. The irony is that almost all trace of his accent disappeared in the 50 years since he left. I’ve had the posh thing all my life. It just makes me laugh, it does make it more effective when I swear though!

Oh maybe you're one of the people who used to tell me off when I worked in customer service in my home town (touristy) for not sounding local enough for their taste.

Mostly they said they were from London and I used to ask them if they were sure as they didn't sound cockney. (was young and cheeky and got away with it)

There are all sorts of reasons for accents varying including where you live, your school, where your parents grew up and who "taught" them their accents, training (e.g. they used to give elecution lessons to scholarship students at some schools) and I guess snobbery is one option. Be more open minded.

OP I would go with either a previous suggestion of "I think the people at my incredibly rough school would be surprised to hear that you think we're posh" or playing up to it e.g. "yup I'm the archbishop of canterbury, make me a cuppa".

Inverted snobs. Ignore them

@GoldenCupidon I say nothing. But I do think either the person themselves is snobby or their parents were. Because it takes work to actively not have the same accent as those you grow up with.