To want to exaggerate my northern accent

[noraheggerty]

I was born in West Yorkshire, lived as a child in Co Durham and N Lincolnshire then after a few years in Cambridge I moved to Sheffield where I stayed for 20 years. People always comment that I don't sound very Northern, although I've lived in the North for about 42 of my 46 years!

I think the reason is that W Yorks, S Yorks, N Lincs & Co Durham all have very different accents. Especially in the case of Co Durham which is where I learnt to speak. When we moved from there people laughed at my accent and said they didn't understand me so I worked hard to get rid of it. Also my parents don't come from any of those regions, my mum is from Cheshire & my dad is from New York! My mum had been taught to speak "properly" by her middle-class-aspiring dad and she worked as a teacher and tried to keep that up to pass on to her pupils, and of course to me.

So I never had one particular accent that stuck, and I learned that using my mum's Teacher Voice would at least get me understood! Which was then reinforced when I studied at Cambridge with a load of poshos!

I lived down South again for a year recently & now I've just moved to yet another Northern city. I've noticed that my accent was morphing into something like RP and losing any trace of any of those regions. I hate this, because it doesn't reflect who I actually am & where I come from.

The other night I went to a party with some new acquaintances and something possessed me to exaggerate my accent so it became a broad Sheffield/West Yorkshire mix. I felt more accepted by them as I no longer sounded "posh" & felt like one of the crowd. It felt quite natural to me once I got started, as though I was expressing a part of me that I don't normally express, as opposed to feeling like I was acting or putting it on. Although now I'll have to remember to do it whenever I see them 😬

I'm quite tempted now, given that I'm living in a new town & meeting new people, to just start speaking that way and reinvent myself as it were. I can't decide if it's a pretentious, deceitful affection or if it's actually fine to make an effort to speak in a way that I feel reflects the person I feel I am inside better than the teacher voice does.

Another one: my granny apparently spoke with a very RP accent, and made sure her three children did too. I never met her, sadly- but when I met her younger sister she was proper cockney, which seemed odd at the time (the back story, which the rest of the family was incurious about, was that their father was a journalist at The Times). Anyway, a few years back I was bored and more stuff was available online- but I couldn't find any articles under his name. So I then got digging on Ancestry.com, and it turns out that side of the family were from Poplar in London- as in Call The Midwife- and Toxteth. She lied about everything. Pretty common for those days though, and I think it worked out for her in the end.

I'm irish with four brothers and sisters and every one of us has a different accent as we all moved abroad at some point and adopted a new one. My DP says he can tell which one I'm on the phone to as my accent and phrases change. I guess the Irish accent is quite malleable.

So what is the real you? You went to Cambridge to study with the 'poshos', and changed your accent. So that wasn't the real you. As for your parents? Is the real you the person who would have talked with a Yorkshire accent in accordance with your locality, or is the way you have being taught to speak by your parents the real you? Or did they teach you to speak like somebody who isn't really you? 😮😅I'm Yorkshire, stayed Yorkshire accent throughout university at Salford, but when I went to work in a professional office, in Manchester, I changed the pronunciation of certain works ('coke', 'nose') etc, simply to stop people saying 'pardon' all the time, or in some cases humorously mocking me. I moved back to Yorkshire and have worked for less poncey firms since which has solved the issue.

There was an episode of Mock the Week where Maisie Adam was talking about living int' dip and it became a bit of a running joke through the episode.

I've moved around a lot and have quite a wandering accent. It's only when I visit family in East Yorkshire that I realise I sound a bit Durham but up here, I feel like I sound a bit East Yorkshire, so "cairk" and "stern". I lived in the Midlands as a teen so that wanders in, occasionally. My ex was from Lancashire and constantly went on at me for pronouncing things incorrectly (one of the long list of reasons why he's my ex).

Go for it. I'm from Bristol and ask yourself have you met anyone that lives near you that has a West country accent. No. It's because we lose it very quickly
I love my accent. Unfortunately, Bristol is being taken over by outsiders who seem to dislike the accent and teach the kids to speak rp, the kids at my local comp make the late Queen (God bless her) sound like a bin man. until the last few years your never heard my accent on radio, not even radio Bristol. We had traffic reporters who couldn't pronounce horfield, almondsbury or gordano.

I know that my accent effect my career. In my first job in that equalitarian bastion the co op bank I was told to tone my accent down.
Now I could be rejected from the wurzils for being too broad. I've started using dialect words that I haven't used since I was a dapper (child) .

I can identify, OP. I was born in London, spent the first 4 years of my life in Kent (with my RP-speaking parents), then moved to Northumberland until I was 10 - came back south to Brighton and had the piss taken out of me at school for my Geordie accent, so I lost that and went a bit posh for a while (it was a public school). Then I spent three years in West Yorkshire in my early 20s and caught a bit of a northern accent, back down south so I lost it again, and now I've been living in the west of Ireland for the past 25 years so my phrases, speech rhythm, and vocabulary - if not my accent, are tinged with a bit of a local flavour - though locals would probably disagree!

DH was originally from York, but spent most of his life travelling the world with the RAF, so lost his Yorkshire accent - he's now picked up a bit of an Irish (well, Mayo) accent as he too has been here for 25 years.

Thinking about it, my accent has shifted towards the rhotic over the years, but I can still do a powerful RP 'do you know who I am?' if dealing with businesses on the phone :) Basically, I channel my mother (RIP).

This is all brilliant, thanks everyone, it's great to read about people's similar experiences & thanks for all the thoughts & opinions, lots of food for thought!

This is all reminding me of the contestant in the new series of The Traitors who has decided to speak in a Welsh accent to sound more trustworthy - even though she hasn’t actually got a Welsh accent in RL. Disaster awaits OP.

It’s quite normal for accents to shift depending on who you’re talking to!

My friend is originally from the north east, but you wouldn’t know it until you hear her on the phone to her dad, or telling a story about something that happened while she was up north, especially if she’s drunk! We sit and giggle while she’s talking on the phone as it’s so funny to hear her with her ‘natural’ voice when she talks in a slightly sloany drawl with us, (and presumably while at work in London!)

Just slip into whatever accent you feel comfortable with given the company.

I’m from East Midlands and went to uni in the south but accidentally came back with a Yorkshire accent due to my two closest friends there being from the north!

I spent years trying to disguise my private school accent but alas, I never managed to convince anyone and have now resigned myself to being "posh", despite the fact I've spectacularly failed to live up to my potential or my expensive education and live happily in a 3 bed terrace with a poorly paid lazy girl job.

Lol. Don't see her much.. see Sue a lot in local supermarket.
When l bought my house.. l thought she still lived in her previous one.

If you were from out Stanley way, they talk totally different to where I'm from...also a co Durham mining village! I've lived all over the place since leaving. I got a Scottish twang when living in Glasgow ( unavoidable...such a strong accent). I sound more neutral for my day job because I work with lots of people from all over the place including internationally.

BUT ..my recommendation if you want to sound more like your roots is spending time there, or chatting to your friends from home. Chatting to My bff who lives in the beautiful Durham dales and or being tired/drunk.... results in my local friends here all laughing when my accent comes out ....but I don't care. It's not meant with any harm. They just find it funny because my accent changes loads.

I've lived here in kids for twenty years and interestingly my child has no local accent because me and his Dad aren't from here...plus he's autistic. That's an interesting one. I've known several autistic people with accents that aren't like the local one. Often influenced by Americans on YouTube.

I love a local accent. I wouldn't worry about it. I certainly wouldn't affect one on purpose.

Oh yeah, and when I moved back to England from being in Scotland for a few years, people thought I was from Northern Ireland... including one person who was totally convinced I was from the same small village as him 😂

It would only be reverse snobbery if you felt that northerners were inferior.

Are Welsh accents associated with being trustworthy? I thought it was Scottish accents that employers went to for salespeople and others they want to exude trustworthiness?

I’ve been down south 24yrs (of my 48 on the planet) and my accent has changed a little, but people still know i’m northern but can’t identify a particular region. I’ll never have an RP accent

I have a whippet if that would help.
I have been able to trace it’s Yorkshire ancestry back to the early 1400’s.

I'm from Yorkshire, my husband is Southern. My accent has never been strong to begin with but now it's very mild and I much prefer it that way. I still say bath not baaarth etc but generally sound pretty neutral. DD has a hybrid accent, mostly neutral with little pops of "baaarth" and a "nooo" (Yorkshire). It's cute!

I have no idea but the contestant thinks it’s the Welsh accent and that’s what she’s channeling apparently. Although watching the show so far, it’s not really working.

Sounds a great idea until you meet up with any of your previous friends from down south. You'll end up tongue tied trying to remember which accent to use with which people 😂

Nah l'll just tell 'em I can't be arsed wi' pandering to 'em any moor