To wonder why it's acceptable to make fun of posh accents?

[stranton18]

I have a cousin who lives in Ireland but has lived in the UK and Canada. She has a hybrid accent from all places.

One annoying thing she has noticed about living in Ireland is how acceptable it is to mock posh accents. Her accent would be described as D4 and Canadian but it's not put on at all. Despite this, posh Irish accents seem to generally be the target or ridicule. She hasn't experienced this much at all while living in London and some people even complimented her accent.

It seems like a double standard because if she/posh people made fun of working class accents, it would be seen as horrible but the reverse is fine.

I think all accents are funny if they're not your own and it's fun to try to copy it. My DS has an ear for language/ accents/sounds. He can do a fantastic Nigerian accent, his Dad's Indian/ American accent, a brilliant Liverpudlian accent, Essex and 'London street'. He even likes to do an Argentinian accent when speaking Spanish (he's doing A level). None of it is meant to punch up or down - he just loves the different sounds and trying to copy and we enjoy his skill.

Never heard anyone make fun of a non posh accent but poshos were mercilessly bullied and mocked in school.
Don’t agree with the comments on here saying it’s ok

Because when people are “privileged” they’re fair game in this country.

Personally I take the piss out of loads of accents whether common or posh!

Lilly Allen sprung to mind there😂

It’s the same with London. When I was
moving to London in my twenties I was 🙄 at the number of people who felt it was fine to be outright rude to my face about it. Saying it would be too busy / expensive / urgh tube. Yet if I had slagged off their hometowns to them that would have been rude and socially unacceptable.

Because many posh people highly exaggerate their accents to the point it’s like nails on a chalkboard. I’m thinking of all the whiny MIC lot. I have a standard middle class accent myself (ex private and grammar pupil). But I can’t stand the way they talk on MIC. Especially the men who try to act cool “how was the pardy, man?”. Just yuck.

I was also bullied at primary school for sounding "posh" aka as having a southern accent in a northern school.

I decided to change my accent when I went to secondary school. Since coming south, I occasionally get people asking where my accent is from, but no making fun of it nor assumptions about me due to my accent.

If anyone wishes to tell me as I've had before that the bullying was "gentle banter because they liked my accent" as I've had before on here then, no it wasn't. Posh is never meant as a compliment for accents.

Yes, exactly this. A D4 accent isn't 'posh' at all, it just sounds affected and pretentious, because quite frankly it is.

It's the ubiquitous accent of people who've attended certain private Dublin schools who want to be seen as 'better' in some way because parents have paid for their children's education. It's mad really, because here in Ireland state schools are generally really good and private schools don't cost anything like what they do in England so they are not really a status symbol or indication of a particularly privileged background at all.

Many people in Ireland think that sending a child to private school means you have 'notions', which means thinking you are getting above your station in life. Which is also a bit daft because Ireland doesn't have a class system in the same way the UK does.

Also, it seems that so far OP is getting responses from English people. It would've made far more sense in this particular context to post in Craicnet, because the accent OP is talking about isn't anything like British RP which has been around forever. This D4 accent is a relatively recent thing.

Actually, I'm going to say it - I'm pretty sure OP is stirring here.

Oh, and finally, of course it's not OK to take the piss out of someone's accent, posh or not. But a 'posh' accent isn't what OP is describing here.

If mocking someone's accent makes them feel embarrassed and uncomfortable, it's not OK, regardless of the people doing it claiming it's fine as it's punching up. It's for the person being mocked to decide whether it's fine or not.

Same as why people can be nasty about beautiful people. They have to be the only group it’s acceptable to be mean to. Dare to get upset and face the onslaught you’ll be ripped to shreds.

I’d rather be mocked for having a posh accent than be called a thief, carjacker and scum for having a Scouse accent by the people with posh accents as I have been.

It's acceptable to make fun of ALL accents and it doesn't matter at all if people get offended. Happens to me all the time (my accent being mocked).

People will never stop doing this, so it's easier just to accept that which we cannot change.

I’m from Ireland but was brought up by an English parent who had a RP accent. I was teased in school for sounding ‘posh’ however haven’t experienced it as an adult. What I have seen in the workplace though is the assumption that people with a strong regional accent (in this case, North inner city Dublin) are a bit rough when it’s not necessarily the case at all, it’s just an accent.
That said, the D4 accent is one that’s put on to sound wealthy and it’s really very affected. That has the piss ripped out of it more than any other, ime, because it’s fake and pretentious.

ears!