Angela Rayner’s glottal stops are infuriating

[Ilovecleaning]

AIBU to be so irritated by the deputy PM’s lazy speech? I was listening to her being interviewed this morning and I was distracted by her Bri-ish/righ-/wai-ed. I googled her and apparently when asking a question about the lockdown parties she said ‘Was you there or not?’
Why does it anger me so much? It is not her accent. I am northern but I don’t drop my t’s and I know when to use was and were.
Her lazy speech distracts from the content. I have my theories but I would love to hear other people’s opinions.

OP, can I introduce you to this hilarious comedian:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=oBaARuqvQiA&pp=ygUdbm8gYnJhaW5lciB3aXRoIGFuZ2VsYSByYXluZXI%3D

It's totally possible to have that background and still be RP!

Being poor is not synonymous with dropping your Ts.

I think she's chosen to keep her accent and even emphasise it as some kind of solidarity with The Workers.

As a Northerner, I object!

The way politicians speak can get under your skin. Priti Patel's 'pleecin' drives me crazy. Michael Howard's 'pee-ople'. And Brown's dropped jaw.

I don't mind Rayner, though

Only if you think quite ordinary facets of a WC regional accent make you sound ‘unintelligent’. I feel sure people thought that when I arrived at Oxford, but it wore off quickly enough when I got to work.

I can’t bear the way she speaks. Her grammar is atrocious. But, it’s the way she speaks, so there’s not much she can do about it now.

It's her accent and how/where she grew up. I find it really refreshing that she doesn't try to change her accent to fit in. I really admire her actually.

There are many people in the public eye who retain their accents as part of their persona.

I can think of a few off the top of my head- Ant and Dec, Robson Green, Sarah Millican...

It's actually quite hard to maintain a strong accent from the north if you move south or work with people who don't the same strong accent.

I have no idea how anyone as illiterate as her can be in any position of power.

Wow.

So you don't agree that some accents grate and can be rather tiresome.
It's not really sensible to call someone an idiot just because they find some accents hard to understand or even grating.

Northerner here.

Well, the irony is that some politicians deliberately used a glottal stop to appear more 'with the people', e.g. Tony Blair.

I don't agree with her politics, but Rayner has worked hard to get where she is today - no Oxford PPE, not from SE England, etc.

This said ... Mayor Khan's diction, I find him very hard to understand - it's not his accent, I'm very used to - and I like - British Asian accents from North and South - it's something to do with his diction.

Not a single qualification to her name except sign language I think.

No, it isn’t ‘a thing.’ Why would it be? But when Angela Rayner has been criticised for her sloppy speech she has come back with ‘I’m a northerner and I say it as it is’ kind of responses. I was saying ‘ So am I but I know when to use was/were…’

The problem you have, OP, is that you think some ways of speaking are better than others. That is called snobbery. So maybe stop being a snob.

Can the Tories not manage a proper argument that isn't discriminatory?

How is she illiterate?

Do tell. Examples would help.

I don't think she has worked hard at all.

She has a 'voice' which is what most politicians have- the gift of the gab that goes down well .

She worked her way up using her 'gift of the gab' through unions.
She's like an over promoted shop steward.

You’re right. I don’t know why I find it so irritating. That’s why I think I BU.

It's not her accent that annoys me, it's her grammar. It makes her sound thick, which she's obviously not.

@Ilovecleaning
"Why does it anger me so much?"

I could tell you-but I'd probably get deleted.

Imagine being a working class northern girl / young woman interested in politics and finally someone comes along who looks and sounds like you, in a senior position. Representation matters.

I definitely don’t think only RP speakers deserve to be listened to. I’d have to be an idiot to think that.

It's just her accent isn't it ? But some mumsnetters hate Angela Rayner for being working class and northern ! "They " think she's common.