To think that many Mumsnetters despise regional accents and dialects?

[binnibonnieboo]

I'm Irish, and I've been on Mumsnet for years. I've seen so many threads fulminating about pronunciation, spelling and grammar. These so often ignore the diverse accents and dialects across the UK and Ireland. There seems to be a view that anything not RP or standard southern English is common, ill educated, Americanised (wrong), and just Not Right. Sometimes (not always) I sense a thinly veiled contempt for how I and others (Scottish, Northern Irish, Welsh, northern English) talk. AIBU to feel this?

I actually love all those threads, and mentally hear myself saying all the words and all the pronunciations!

I was intrigued when I met DH- he cannot say nor hear a difference between bold and bald, tong and tongue, won and one among many others.

I grew up in Wales and remember my work being corrected for words like ‘cwtch’. I had no idea it was Welsh not English. It was just how we spoke.

But that's all fine. You have the self-awareness to realise that things sound different depending on where you're from, and that means people say words differently. It's not right or wrong, it's just different.

The issue comes with the sneering and looking down on those who don't speak like the late Queen.

I love them too, because I love variety in speech. I just don't like it when the tone implies a right/wrong way to speak. I also can't hear any difference between won and one, what is the difference, can you describe it for me? The other examples you give all sound different to me, but not this pair.

I agree, but notice it a lot more with regional ways of expressing things than with accents. For example, when there's a thread about things you hate people saying, there is particular anger vented towards, for example, 'gotten' and 'can I get?', both of which are perfectly acceptable in Ireland (north and south), in many areas of Scotland and some parts of England. I'm in NI and have seen 'gotten' used in official government documents and other letters, brochures etc. I don't mind that people don't like these expressions, but the vitriol with which it is expressed is shocking. They are referred to as 'Americanisms' which isn't even accurate, but worse still, displays a degree of snobbery and thinly disguised xenophobia towards Americans, who also widely use these expressions. It's the snootiness and patronising tone that annoys me, especially when those expressing it are, in fact, wrong in their assumption.

I don't care whether people speak with regional accents or use regional vocabulary - some dialects I like the sound of, others I don't but that's on me and we've all got our preferences. Regional grammar and spelling however really sets my teeth on edge.

The majority of mumsnettters will have a regional accent themselves OP. RP is relatively limited in the UK.

Regional accents and dialects are great but an effective communicator will always consider their audience, even if that means using RP in order to be easily understood. The same goes for unconventional grammar: Fine with friends and family but outside of that you need to consider how it might detract from conveying the intended message.

Yes and no.

I have no problem with accents and dialect words, but I cannot stand bad grammar, particularly in writing, and unfortunately I think it is partly social media influencing this, as it has become more acceptable for people to write the way they speak. In my opinion, there is never an excuse for "you was", "I seen", "them books", "should of" etc. in writing. Ever.

It is also really annoying when you see an odd mixture of formal and informal English in the same sentence, such as a former beautician of mine who writes similar to this on her Facebook, "For those of you wishing to book an appointment, i left me appointment book at home, so give us a message and al (I'll) get use booked in."

Mumsnettters despise a lot of random obscure things I’ve never known anyone in real life to give a shit about toilet brushes being one.
Apparently names like lily -may or Lola -rose etc are absolutely horrific and only a complete scumbag would ruin their child’s life by bestowing such a name. But clementine and olive are apparently lovely names?

I wouldn’t worry about what gets said on here

Absolutely YANBU.

As someone with a strong regional accent and a degree in English and Linguistics, I'm regularly stunned by the sheer ignorance of Mumsnetters about accents, dialects and what constitutes 'correct' in English.

I regularly see posts on here where people confidently make negative statements about accents and dialects, thinking they're being terribly clever and educated, when in fact they know absolutely jack-shit about language and how accents and dialects actually work.

It's particularly noticeable that the accents that Mumsnet seems to most despise are the ones they most associate with working class urban communities. Rural accents often seem to get a pass, presumably because people associate them with living in nice villages full of people with farmhouse kitchens and jolly Labradors and hearty children who wear wellies all the time, but woe betide anyone whose accent suggests they're from London, Manchester, Birmingham, or Liverpool. Same with Scotland - a gentle Highland lilt seems to go down well, but not Glaswegian.

It's all class bias, basically. I've never seen as much class snobbery on any other forum as I've seen on Mumsnet. It's particularly notable when it's women who claim very vehemently to be feminists, but cannot wait to rip other women to shreds if they perceive them to fall into the category of A Bit Common.

Why is this a problem for you? What impact is it having on your life beyond alerting you to the fact that not everyone expresses themselves in the same way that you do? You understood what your beautician meant, I assume.

"There are a lot of MN posters who think their way is the right way and anything else is wrong"

I don't think a truer sentence has ever been spoken!

Indeed. When the OP says "accent" I think she really means dialect.

I have a Yorkshire accent and occasionally, when speaking to family, will find myself using dialectic speech (the glottal t' instead of the, for example).

But I always write in standard English - we were all taught to do this at school and it's correct and appropriate to do so.

Haitch might be incorrect in RP, but it’s the standard pronunciation elsewhere (eg Ireland). What I don’t like is that even when this is explained, posters often persist in labelling haitch as ‘incorrect’ and won’t accept that there are different English standards elsewhere.

I think they’re basically saying that their English is superior to the other persons then. That’s what they truly believe I think 🤷‍♀️

Funnily enough, my natural SE home counties accent was constantly derided, "corrected" and laughed at by a man from Yorkshire (friend of my ex). The Yorkshire accent was the only way to speak, according to him. Midlands accents got a pass though, as they were "Yorkshire lite", but heavens forbid anyone dared gave a Southern (south East, in teality) accent in his esteemed presence! It honestly made me hate Yorkshire people for a long time, as I thought they were all going to be cold, pedantic boors.

Thankfully, after splitting with the now ex, I don't have to deal with that twat any more, and have mellowed towards Yorkshire folk. The accent still makes me twinge internally when I hear it though, but that's probably a relic of the past trauma I suffered at the hands of the biggest Yorkshire twat to ever tread the earth (or at least, Leicester!).

Bloody hell I bet your popular at parties 🤣

Yes, I'm continually pointing out things on here, which are confidently pronounced to be 'wrong' by posters who may not have ventured 20 miles from where they grew up, are standard Hiberno-English. Correct, but by a standard that isn't yours.

Yes I did know what she meant and I have the right to be annoyed about her usage of English, which I clearly explained through examples of what I don't like.

Why is it a problem for you to be so annoyed with that, eh? 🤔

I love regional accents even if i sometimes struggle to understand them all. I'm northern and my children are southern.(i sound like im in Coronation street and my daughter sounds like the late Queen Elizabeth) my daughter came home from school (reception) and said theres a boy in my class who speaks like you mummy, he's having electrocution lessons .......

That’s the point I was making. Something which is incorrect if you were brought up with RP as your standard might not be if you weren’t.

You can be annoyed by it all you like, but you also said there is 'never an excuse [...] Ever' and that it isn't 'acceptable'. That's very different from finding something a bit annoying. Being annoyed by something doesn't mean you set the benchmark for what's excusable or acceptable.

I write and edit for a living. From that perspective there are a few things in your posts that I'd flag as poor writing, and which I'd edit or rewrite in my professional capacity. But I certainly wouldn't say there's 'never an excuse' to write like that in a web forum like Mumsnet, or on social media because - newsflash! - in this context it simply doesn't matter provided your meaning's broadly clear.

Another reason for me is as an ND person, I firmly believe the communication issues we are supposed to have, are actually the fault of NT people for not using language clearly and precisely enough for us. So I suppose that is why it annoys me so much.

Good for you. It really annoys me so I will express my opinion, just as you are being vocal abput expressing your opinion to me!

Draw & drawer do sound identical don’t they?

Not sure I’ve heard either pronounced differently 😁.

I think it's not the accent or local differences it's what appears to be half illiteracy eg chest of draws, spelling etc.

I'm of an age where you spoke colloquially with your family and friends but "properly" in public and that included writing.

I couldn't care less about accents personally so long as I can understand people, and that can be a big problem sometimes.