To say it’s “because my parents were professionals”?

[seegulle]

Ok yes - it is generally BU.

But what do you say when someone asks you why you don’t have a regional accent?

Where I grew up, there was a strong regional accent. Not everyone had it, but most did. Unfortunately it was drilled into people of a certain generation that speaking like that was not proper.

And so, despite my family having lived in the area for time immemorial, with my parents having gone to university in the 1950s/1960s, they had no strong regional accent. Perhaps a bit of a twinge but most people wouldn’t tell.

Recently I was chatting to a stranger in the pub who asked where I was from. I told him I was from the next town over. But he wouldn’t have it.

He kept asking me why I didn’t sound like everyone else. I told him that maybe it’s because I went away for uni. That wasn’t enough. He suggested maybe I moved here as a child. I told him no, I was from here. Then he kept asking why I or my family didn’t sound local if we were local. So the best I could come up with was “well I guess it’s because my parents were professionals”. Then queue all the lah di dah comments.

YANBU. I'm from Yorkshire and so is my best friend. She has no discernable accent and neither does her mother - who was a very neutrally-accented teacher before she retired. No dad on the scene.

I'm not sure if I would say "professionals" though. I would just say my parents didn't have strong accents either.

He was rude to keep pressing you but I do know what you mean. I live in an area with a strong regional accent and know/knew people whose parents actively discouraged the accent so they don’t have it.

Did you go to a posh school? Children don't really get their accent from their parents, they much more closely emulate their age peers.

I don't think there's anything upsetting about what you said however I and my husband are professionals and we both definitely have a regional accent as do the children as I think it's picked up from school/friends as well as parents. I don't think them being professionals is the reason. One of my children has quite a proper accent and less of a regional one and I've no idea why 😄

I'd have just said that my parents didn't have an accent so I guess I picked up my non accent from them. Saying that it's because they were professionals does sound a bit up your own arse!

Erm, well, I don't have an accent or professional parents 😂. Not only that, I have (had) parents with fairly strong regional accents; and 2 of my siblings have mild accents; but neither I nor my other brother do. So NB to say it to shut the twat up, but I don't think it's the entire answer...

He was being a bit of a dick, wasn't he. No doubt whatever you said, you'd've been wrong.

The "because my parents were professionals" was perhaps a little unfortunate and does not sit well with me. It could come accross as snobby and is inaccurate because doctors and the like often have regional accents, sometimes pronounced ones.

You were a bit under pressure though. It does sound as though you were cornered by someone who was strangely persistent, to the point of being unpleasant, so l would not judge you. You are entitled to speak the way you speak without having to explain yourself. HTH

My Dad was an electrical engineer with a regional accent, and my mom was a nurse and also had a regional accent. They were professionals.

I was born in a different part of the country to where they were originally from and my Dad sent me to elocution lessons when I was a kid so that I sounded posh. His reasoning was that throughout most of his adult life, when on site, people had assumed he was a general labourer rather than the engineer in charge of the whole job because of his regional accent. Sounds as if you're making the same assumption, i.e. that having a working class accent means you can't also be a professional.

My mum and dad were both Irish. I was brought up in Nottingham and don’t have an Irish accent.

Maybe it’s because they weren’t professional people with Irish accents.

I grew up in Yorkshire and had a strong accent as a child, my mum discouraged it and corrected my speech despite having a strong accent herself (she still does). She also moved us to a 'nicer' more MC area for high school to encourage me to drop the accent. She wanted me to not have any barriers in the way when I was an adult, and I disagreed at the time but now I get it. Honestly I'm someone who over shares so I probably would have just told the guy the whole story 😅 I do feel like saying "because my parents were professionals" might come off a bit patronising/snooty which probably didn't help your rapport with him.

Edited to add - I now have what I call a "generic Northern accent" as in you can tell I am northern but most people can't place it. Then again I have been mistaken for southern...I slip back into it a little when I am speaking to other people from Yorkshire or who have strong northern accents.

You don't have to answer any questions you don't want to. You could have said, I don't know, and changed the subject.

I grew up in the west of Scotland but don't have a typical accent - in fact most people here (i live in London) think I'm Irish.

My dad was from north east Scotland and had a lovely, soft accent, and he wasn't keen on the local dialect. Sobi think that's where it started.

But also I am on the autistic spectrum and it is completely impossible for me to do accents. My brother was always able to speak like everyone else outside the home and in a more toned version with our parents. But I couldn't do it, and I was often teased for it and accused of being posh.

Anyway, I just tell people my dad was from a different part of the country and so I speak more like him.

People really ask this?
you need to go to better pubs!

I get questioned about my accent too, mainly because in the 70s/80s the council built masses of estates and housed people from Liverpool. So because I don’t speak with a scouse accent they think I’m not from my town lol. It can be quite annoying but I’m used to it now.

You didn't do anything wrong, it was his fault for being rude and pushy.

This doesn't seem to be a thing in the north east (Newcastle/Sunderland). The 'professionals' born in the area have the local accent.

He sounds tedious.

You have my sympathies. I am from the north east and moved away for University 20 years ago. Naturally, this is somewhat watered down an accent that was never very strong
When I was younger, at work social/drinking events, young men would frequently mock my accent, probably trying to charm me or get a laugh. I would then go home to the north east and my family who still lived there, would mock my lack of accent.

I only ever found this incredibly tedious.

I’m entirely on your side. Perhaps you said the wrong thing, but honestly if it was me, I would’ve told him where to stuff it as soon as he started this line of conversation.

Agree, I would have turned it back on him, why is this so concerning to you John, can we change the subject it's really boring.

He shouldn’t have kept on at you but your answer was a bit odd. It implies that unprofessional people have regional accents

I don't think your parents being "professionals" has much to do with your accent. If just have said that your parents had been away to uno and didn't have strong accents either, so your accent had never been that strong and had faded further during your own time away at uni.

I don’t sound like where I grew up.
Pretty sure it’s because my parents spoke RP and I listened to lots of RP films, children’s programmes and audiobooks. My mum corrected me when colloquialisms or an accent slipped in.
I remember parroting to my friends “It’s ‘school’ now ‘skewel’ “. Cringe…

So the best I could come up with was “well I guess it’s because my parents were professionals”
Oh dear, you let your inner snobbery and superiority slip out!

A better answer would be 'I guess neither of my parents had a strong accent so I just took after them'.

Similar experiences to you. My Mother and her husband were foreign but I am British. I try to speak without an accent because I want to be easily understood