Are accents snobbish

[678somean]

I know this is going to get me a lot of backlash. But I love a good debate so thought I'd pose the question....
I hate regional accents. I know they can't be helped but they sound so thick.
There was an article in the Guardian recently where they mentioned that people with regional accents go to speech therapy before moving to London in order to apply for jobs!
I think it's a smart move. But of course not a popular opinion.
I've worked with lots of people in high profile roles and honestly, whether people like it or not, the ones with RP are definitely taken more seriously and respected.
I've noticed all over England that the ones who are highly educated with good jobs rarely have their local accent and most have admitted that it's undesirable to have a regional accent and they are middle/upper class so don't speak with one.
Do others feel the same when applying for high status roles?

Well i posted this question for a reason.. so I value all responses..
I don't know what you meant by a xenophobic cunt though?

It’s not faux outrage @Wsmi. It’s very real outrage that these lazy attitudes still exist

You obviously didn't read the OP's deleted post being derogatory about "northerners and lower class southerners". This thread is about as far from being in good faith as it gets.

Prejudice against accents is a real thing, but the OP isn't trying to have an interesting discussion, they're just prodding and goading until they get a response, ramping it up whenever they need to. And MN apparently leave this sort of thing up these days.

🤣 'prodding' and 'goading'.
What a load of nonsense.
I've just made a post and invited people to comment.

Don’t delude yourself @678somean You are a troll. I have an accent and I am proud of it. I’m also a high-achiever if that’s important to people like you. Snobbery and prejudice is not a good quality and something you may want to work on. Perhaps start with asking for the fees back from your boarding school because they obviously teach their pupils to be awful human beings.

Hey, fantastic you've done well for yourself.
I wasn't being mean, just commenting on what I've seen.
Who knows, we might have been friends if you weren't so angry!

I don’t think we’d be friends. Not in a million years.

Mostly tyre noise I'm guessing

I think it is ‘we’ trolls.

Your thread title makes no sense, as others have pointed out. Accents cannot be snobbish.

You say, oh it’s just social media. But if you really were as well-educated as you make out, your default literacy would be much higher than that demonstrated on this thread.

You are the Hyacinth Bucket of literacy snobbery and trying to come across as something that you are not. Glass houses etc.

Oh and I live in MC London too and have friends in senior City positions with a variety of accents. So hopefully things are changing.

I love different accents. I am drawn to Scouse and Geordie accents. But I married a Yorkshireman so missed out.

I like my yorkshire accent that much I used to teach the Polish at work how to speak with my accent. They loved it

Ok: well they won't have known any difference

@678somean

Who knows, we might have been friends if you weren't so angry!

Who knows if you weren’t snobbish and bigoted, writing off a swathe of the population as “thick” you might find people more friendly towards you.

Particularly as your own literary leaves much to be desired.

That's ok. I have plenty of friends thank you.

Not sure if you've worked with many Europeans but they move all over the country. And are also taught correct English at school.

I don't understand the thread title "Are accents snobbish"? It makes no sense.

Anyway, despite the goadyness, OP does have a point. Some people in England do still look down on those with regional accents. That's why we end up with the likes of Jacob Rees Mogg in Parliament. His accent makes some more gullible folk think he is more capable than he is and that he should be looked up to.

Sheltered life! I've gone to schools up and down the country. I've attended many schools too:
I think I throw what I'm taking about.

Perhaps start with asking for the fees back from your boarding school because they obviously teach their pupils to be awful human beings.

And to have awful punctuation.

We are doing a lot of work on this in my work. You’re right in that there’s people who would automatically believe someone with a RP or southern accent to be more intelligent than someone with a strong regional accent. But this doesn’t mean that the RP accent is more intelligent or the information they are giving is more valuable. I love regional accents. I’ve got staff who feel held back by their accent and it really saddens me as they are so capable, much more so than many of those with the so called intelligent accent. So yes it’s true that it happens, but it’s definitely not true that someone who sounds posher is more educated or has something more worthy to say. I manage someone from Liverpool and someone from Birmingham and trust me they suffer from this daily. Give me a training course delivered by a scouser any day of the week. I hope attitudes like yours die out OP

I don't have a regional accent from the area I grew up, and have experienced inverse snobbery from a local employer who thought I was too posh to hire.

You'd hate me. Successful London professional. Full on Scottish accent (if you are actually Scottish I'm "posh", if you're an average Southerner all you'll get is Scottish).

Yes, there is discrimination.

No, my accent doesn't mean I'm stupid although sometimes people make that mistake.

I’m fairly adept at detecting if a person is “thick” or not regardless of their accent. It’s a skill I have - listening to what they actually say, watching what they do etc. Have you tried that?

I’d say a posh sounding attractive person will fool many a fool though, but many fools there are. So yes, they will do better on the whole compared to someone of equivalent intelligence. I find putting my specs on has the same devastating effect.

You're stereotyping just like the OP, if you are from the South East you will no that there is no such thing as a generic southern accent. People in Essex do not sound the same as those in Hampshire, people in North London don't sound the same as south London or even West London. I grew up in South West/West London and now live in Brighton, my DS who is 16 does not have the same accent as me, I would say mine is a bit more upbeat at the end of words. I have family in North London, as does my husband who is Jewish and they very much have a different accent again, it is not bland!

My post above was in response to this post

You will know not "no"

I hate accent snobbery, and it is a true phenomenon. I went to a top uni, and I have a thick northern accent, and the amount of passive-aggressive looks I got when I spoke in class was staggering. I never said a word in retaliation, but what I did was to play people with RP and middle-class people, probably like yourself and your friends OP and the top student on my course. I never went to boarding or private school, but many other students did.

Career-wise, I think I know what I can achieve now, and it shouldn't matter what accent you've got or your background and where you come from, but if anyone did mock me for my accent, it's probably the last thing someone could do, as I prove you all wrong.