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.

There is NO way on earth she will ever make PM with the way she speaks. She will not be allowed to represent Britain on the global stage, liaising with other heads of state when she speaks like that.

And I say that as someone who admires how she has forged her own path to success. The way she speaks is a glass ceiling she will not smash unless she learns to speak a little less coarsely. Doesn't mean she has to go full blown Rees-Mogg, but there is a happy middle ground where words are pronounced properly.

To paraphrase the Scottish doctor in Hancocks Half Hour, We're not all Rob Roys!

She isn't illiterate. Glottal stops aren't a sign of illiteracy. She is in a position of power as she was elected as an MP by her constituents and elected as Deputy Leader by Labour Party members and as Labour won the election, she is now Deputy Prime Minister.

Do you feel the same about other politicians? Reform MP Lee Anderson, for example? He sounds uneducated and ignorant.

She makes a refreshing change from all the privileged MPs and Ministers who have come up through the Oxford/Cambridge PPE route but who do not know how to relate to the lives of their poorer, more deprived constituents.

I have my theories but I would love to hear other people’s opinions.

You is a snob? You fink people who don't speak wright are dum?

@Heronwatcher Imagine if you have grown up in a community of people you love and respect who use was/ were in one way. You’ve grown up seeing parents, teachers anyone you know using it that way. I sincerely hope that nobody in UK has a teacher who is unable to use the correct words!

@scorpiogirly classism at its worst. Look into her background. She is exactly the sort of role model the working class and women need.

Well illiterate relates to reading and writing rather than speaking so it was quite an embarrassing accusation tbh.

Those are glottal stops

Glo'al stops?

Illiterate means can't read

I have more concerns about people who don't know the meaning of simple words than people who speak those words in their own accent

Is it because you think she's putting it on, OP?

I don't mind her accent, but I haven't spent a lot of time listening to her speak naturally either, like a long conversation outside of press type things. It can be irritating when people emphasize even a natural accent for political purposes.

Or - most people do naturally code switch to some extent, they will somewhat elevate the formality of their speech, rather than their accent as such, in certain settings - the setting of "being a government minister in an interview" might be the kind of place you would expect that.

If you think she is deliberately avoiding those things to play up a working class image it could be irritating, especially since she is actually working class. However - I'm not really convinced that's she is doing that.

I wouldn't be too sure that her awful speaking voice is entirely natural-there is a difference between when she is speaking without an audience and the very gobby, nasal and discordant tones that she adopts in public.

"I'm working class me and this is how a person with no education but who nonetheless has climbed the pole-only for the workers that I clutch to my bosom- speaks, yeah right and it's my badge of working class solidarity."

It is just as much a part of the persona she wishes to put across as anyone who has elocution lessons to sound posh.

Two faces of the same coin.

You think she's putting it on ?

It's her dialect, not her accent. Should she speak all RP? How would that change her ideas or her policies?

Also her speaking voice isn't "awful" her speaking voice is fine.

Angela Rayner is impressive, hard working, empathetic, true to her roots and can connect with people from every walk of life. She isn't 'coached' in a way that many politicians are. She speaks in the same way as many of her constituents in Ashton under Lyne fgs. Why the hell should she change her accent and become something she isn't just to fit into a Westminster stereotype of how senior politicians should sound?

She isn't illiterate. She's quick on her feet in the Commons and a match for anyone at the despatch box with a nippy rejoinder. Perfectly capable of delivering long statements and debate speeches in a tough environment. If anyone can be bothered to look them up.

Find me a politician who doesn't have their public image

Not liking the public image of a politician because it's a working class public image sounds distinctly nasty , snobby , foolish

You know working class people can be clever as middle and upper class and the percentage in each class is pretty similar

( actually need to check that - the regressive interbreeding on the upper classes may have a negative impact there )

This.
She'd have people whinging and bitching if she put on a fake accent, and accuse her of trying to be posh and "abandoning her roots, who does she think she is" or some such nonsense etc etc.
Can't win
YABVU

I’m Northern and working class ( with immigrant roots) and it annoys me too. Maybe it’s irrational but it does. You can speak with a regional accent and still use correct grammar and enunciate clearly. The ability to communicate clearly means you can be understood by more people, and as a politician surely being inclusive is important?

She is exaggerating it, certainly

😂😂😂

I'm a Northern working class woman, I don't need another Northern working class woman who doesn't know the difference between was/were and says things like 'would of' representing me, thank you very much. It absolutely is a sign of illiteracy, it shows her up and whether she likes it or not, it will prevent her from reaching the top job. The alternative to the way she speaks is not Rees-Mogg's ridiculous fake accent. She could still have her Northern accent and speak properly.

There is an H is housing and a T in British, for example. The Bri'ish people don't need to get on the 'ousing ladder, ffs.

Is she .though ?

She is being judged on her speech due to her actions.

She has every speech impediment in the book - nothing to do with dialect either. Complete embarrassment having this borderline illiterate D.E.I.-hire as a prominent face of the government. Sums up the age, in part.

I just can't take to her. I think she's operating above her capabilities. Hopefully she proves me wrong.

Nothing wrong with the way she talks, that's how some Northerners speak. Sounds perfectly fine to me.
She'd have people whinging and bitching if she put on a fake accent, and accuse her of trying to be posh and "abandoning her roots, who does she think she is" or some such nonsense etc etc.
Can't win
YABVU